Fractional COO vs VP of Operations: Which Seat Fits Your Business?
A founder's guide to the difference between a Fractional COO and a VP of Operations, what each owns, what each costs, and how to choose without a year-long hiring mistake.
Fractional COO vs VP of Operations
A Fractional COO designs your operating system part time. A VP of Operations runs operations full time. The right choice depends on whether you are missing architecture or missing daily ownership.
The seat most founders actually need first
Many founders who search for either seat are really asking one question: who will run the moves I keep postponing?
A Fractional COO will build the system. A VP of Operations will run it. Neither one is hired to sit in the hard conversation, make the pricing decision, or personally carry the revenue move across the line.
What is the difference between a Fractional COO and a VP of Operations?
When should I hire a VP of Operations?
Hire one when the cost of not having a full-time owner is higher than the salary. That usually means you have a team large enough that someone needs to live inside delivery, capacity, and margin every day, or your operations complexity has crossed a threshold where part-time coverage creates bottlenecks.
When is a Fractional COO the better fit?
When the business is growing but the systems have not caught up. You have $5M to $30M in revenue, a small leadership team, and the founder is still the answer to too many daily questions. A Fractional COO builds the machine so the founder can step out of it.
Can a Fractional COO become my VP of Operations?
Sometimes. The right fractional operator can design the system, hire the team, and even transition into the full-time seat if both sides want that. More often they build the runway for the VP you hire next.
What if the problem is not the system but a specific move?
That is the gap neither title fills cleanly. A Fractional COO builds the system. A VP of Operations runs it. If the issue is a key hire, a pricing move, a renewal, or a stalled expansion, you need someone who takes the call and runs the move. That is an Operating Partner.
A Fractional COO typically runs $8,000 to $25,000 a month. A VP of Operations runs $180,000 to $250,000 base and $250,000 to $350,000 fully loaded. My seat starts at $10,000 a month, month to month, and sits somewhere between the two: I build the system and run the move.
Which one do I hire first?
If you have no operating cadence, start with a Fractional COO to build it. If you have the cadence but the business is outrunning the operator, hire the VP. If the number is stuck because specific decisions are not getting made, the seat you need first is an Operating Partner.
Fractional COO vs VP of Operations: which seat fits your business
How to choose between a Fractional COO and a VP of Operations: what each owns, what each costs, and the third seat most $5M-$30M founders actually need.
Michael Schuerman is an Operating Partner for founder-led businesses doing $5M to $30M in revenue, based in Atlanta, Georgia. He takes a seat inside the business, runs the revenue moves the owner has been deferring, and leaves a team that runs without them. Book a 30-minute call at michaelschuerman.co.