We diagnose and direct. Your team executes.
Strategic operating guidance and accountability for founder-led organizations that already have people to run the work — and need an operator’s judgment on the constraint.
From $2,500/month · 90-day minimum
Operational Edge Partners works with founder-led and growth-stage organizations to build companies that perform without the heroics.
Operator Advisory is for leadership teams that can execute. We sit outside the org chart on purpose. One working session a month. A written constraint note. Async questions with a 48-hour business-day response.
We do not join your leadership team as the Integrator. We do not own execution. If that is what the company needs, that is a different engagement.
When Advisory is the right ownership
What you get
One monthly operating meeting — 90 minutes
A working session, not a status call. We work the constraint that is actually binding: margin, cadence, decision rights, leadership load, founder dependency, multi-site drift, or system debt.
A written constraint note
After the session you receive a short written note: the constraint, the decision required, the owner inside your company, and what “done” looks like before the next meeting.
Async questions
Between sessions, written questions get a response within two business days. This is not Slack-all-day coverage and not an open ticket queue.
A 90-day arc
Advisory runs in 90-day increments. The first cycle diagnoses the binding constraint and installs a direction your team can execute. Renewal is a decision, not an assumption.
What Advisory does not include
If the work requires those things, the right product is Integrator, Fractional COO, or Operational Transformation — not a stretched Advisory retainer.
How it sits against the other offers
| Advisory | Integrator | Fractional COO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership | We advise. You execute. | Embedded accountability. | We own execution. |
| Time in the business | 2–3 hours / month | 6–8 hours / week | 12–16 hours / week |
| Public floor | From $2,500 / month | From $10,000 / month | From $12,500 / month |
Operational Transformation remains the project path: one constraint, fixed engagement, from $20,000.
The four pillars — unchanged
Advisory uses the same operating framework as embedded work. The difference is who carries it.
Systems
We name the mechanism that is missing. Your team builds or fixes it.
Leadership
We identify where ownership is unclear. Your leaders take the seat.
Accountability
We make the scoreboard and the consequence visible. You run them.
Results
We measure the operating system by outcomes, not by time spent with us.
How the first 90 days run
Days 1–30
Diagnose
Establish the binding constraint. Review the economics, org shape, current cadence, and where work returns to the founder. Agree the one or two things Advisory will work for the cycle.
Days 31–60
Direct
Install the decisions, owners, and operating questions your team will run. The written note becomes the working brief between sessions.
Days 61–90
Transfer the judgment
Test whether the team can carry the cadence without expanding our seat. Decide to renew Advisory, step into an embedded offer, or close the engagement.
Investment
Operator Advisory engagements begin at
$2,500/month
The floor assumes one 90-minute working session, one written constraint note, and async questions with a two-business-day response. Additional entities, onsite sessions, or a second monthly working meeting move the fee. They do not turn Advisory into Integrator work.
Minimum initial term: 90 days.
If the company needs embedded accountability or executive operating ownership, we will say so in the fit assessment rather than under-scope the work.
APPLY FOR OPERATOR ADVISORYFit
Built for founder-led organizations from $5M to $150M that already have a team to execute.
If every important decision still has to come back to the founder, Advisory is usually the wrong product. That is a founder-dependency problem. It needs Integrator or Fractional COO ownership — or a scoped Transformation — not a monthly note.
The next stage should not require more of the founder — and it should not require us to pretend we are inside the company when we are not.
If you want operating judgment with your team executing, apply for Operator Advisory. If you need someone to own the cadence, say that. We will point you to the right offer.
APPLY FOR OPERATOR ADVISORY