Fractional COO
A senior operator, embedded in your business
We come in as the operating leader with real ownership. The goal is the same every time: a business running on a cadence its own team can hold after we leave.
Waiting can be costly
Five ways growth breaks an operation
We have seen each of these up close. All of them were cheaper to prevent than to repair.
Wrong-sized manufacturer
Outgrew the contract manufacturer mid-scale. Quality and capacity broke under demand.
Scaled before the math worked
Unit cost and breakage unproven. Sat on inventory it could not sell.
Shipped without a quality gate
No drop, field, or real-use testing. A defect reached customers.
Built what nobody asked for
No senior operator to say no. Capital burned on features, not launch.
Outgrew fulfillment mid-peak
The 3PL broke under a demand spike. Stockouts, missed ships, emergency freight.
What we're good at
The work, in six parts
Most engagements are some mix of these, weighted to wherever the business is stuck.
- People Ops and Org DesignRole clarity, management layers, and org design that lets teams scale.
- End-to-End OperationsSupply chain, inbound and outbound logistics, contract manufacturing.
- Product Launch ManagementCross-functional coordination and go-to-market execution.
- Field Operations and Service DeliveryBuilding and running distributed service teams and rollout execution.
- Operational InfrastructureWhere technology and physical delivery intersect: ERP, systems roadmap, KPIs and dashboards.
- AI Strategy and ImplementationUsing AI as a real operating advantage: reporting that assembles itself and follow-through that doesn't depend on someone remembering.
How it works
Three steps, one owner
Scoping
We find the highest-leverage problem, align leadership on the real bottleneck, and define a clear scope with an honest sequence.
Embedded work
One senior operator owns the engagement start to finish, inside your team and at the speed of the business.
Handoff
We leave you with processes, documentation, and automation your team can run without us.
Results
We've done this before
Before Longlight we ran operations at venture- and PE-backed companies through exactly these transitions.
Faster order-to-delivery, with logistics cost cut in half, at a $300M tech-enabled services business.
Capacity, with product cost down 50% and gross margin doubled, through 300% annual growth at a consumer hardware company.
SKUs launched across six formats at a national consumer brand, alongside its long-term ingredient and manufacturing strategy.