Operating Partner vs Fractional COO.

Scope and accountability. A fractional COO owns the operating system: cadence, dashboards, SOPs, the hiring loop. Broad scope, steady hours, measured on the build. An Operating Partner owns the moves: the renewal, the VP hire, the comp rewrite, the customer that's 40% of revenue. Narrow scope, in the room, measured on the number.

No. The fractional COO model is part-time breadth: 10 to 20 hours a week across the whole operation. The Operating Partner model is concentrated depth: fewer things, taken all the way. One builds the machine the business runs on. The other gets in the machine and drives the part that's stuck.

Depends where the dependency lives. If nothing has a cadence and every decision routes through you because there's no system, a fractional COO builds that system. If the system mostly works but the hard calls keep waiting for you specifically, that's an Operating Partner problem. The diagnostic question: is the plan missing, or is the move missing?

Roughly. Market rate for a fractional COO is $8K to $25K a month for 10 to 20 hours a week. An Operating Partner engagement starts at $7,500 a month, with a three-month minimum, then month to month, priced against the cost of the moves you're not making. Same band. Different thing being bought.

Sequentially, yes. Simultaneously, rarely. System-building and move-running are different postures. I run the moves first, then hire and develop the person who takes the seat from me. That's the exit from the engagement: a team that runs without either of us.

With a fractional COO, the machine tells you: cadence holds, dashboards get read, hires stick. With an Operating Partner, the number tells you: the renewal closes, the VP seat fills, the deal you kept closing yourself closes without you. If you can't point at the move, it isn't working.