The thing slowing you down isn’t the product. It’s the operation underneath it.
A fractional COO is a senior operator who runs and rebuilds your operations part-time, the execution of a COO without the full-time cost. Bloomera embeds with fintech and SaaS founders to fix what is breaking now and hand back a system that runs without them, backed by 20 years scaling operations to $3B+.
For scaling fintech and SaaS teams whose operations haven’t caught up to their growth. A former VP of Operations steps in part-time to make the back office scale as fast as the front, then builds the system so it runs without heroics.
What does a fractional COO do?
A fractional COO runs your operations part time, with the authority of the role but a few days a month instead of a full salary. For a scaling company that usually means owning the systems that break between stages: payments and payouts, pricing, reconciliation, and the reporting the board now expects. You get senior operating judgment without hiring for it full time.
Growth outran your operations, and every new customer now adds more manual work.
Everything routes through one person
Key processes live in someone’s head and their inbox. When they’re out, work stalls; when they leave, you’re exposed. The business can’t scale past their capacity.
Manual work grows with every deal
Onboarding, reconciliation, reporting, renewals, each new customer adds steps done by hand. Headcount climbs to keep up, and margin quietly goes with it.
No one owns the operating rhythm
There is no clear cadence for how the company plans, measures, and course-corrects. Decisions get made late, on instinct, without the numbers in front of you.
A seasoned operator in the seat, part-time, building the system so it stops needing me.
I step in as your fractional COO, take the operational load off the founder, and put the processes, metrics, and rhythm in place so the business runs on a system instead of on one person, then hand it back stronger than I found it.
- Operating model & process design
- Metrics, reporting & operating cadence
- Systems & workflow automation
- Team structure & clear accountability
Operations that scaled from startup to unicorn, and held.
More on operations from Field Notes.
When does a founder actually need a fractional COO?
The real trigger isn’t overwhelm, it’s the quarter adding people stopped adding speed.
Building ops that survive the next funding round
Diligence tests whether your operations are legible, not just whether they work.
Your metrics can’t see your worst handoff
Scaling SaaS leaks at the seams between functions, not at the metrics. Find the handoff that’s costing you.
A simple way to start.
Scoping call
A short, focused conversation about where operations stand today and what you are trying to unlock.
Diagnostic & plan
A clear read of how your operation runs now and a prioritized plan you can act on right away.
Build & embed
Hands-on work to put the changes in place, and the operating rhythm to keep them working after I step back.
She’s an operator first. She doesn’t hand you a framework and leave, she stays in it until the work is actually done.
Common questions about fractional COOs
What does a fractional COO cost?
Most engagements run between $8,000 and $15,000 a month, tied to a set number of days rather than an hourly rate. The cost is predictable, and you are paying for outcomes instead of time on a clock. A full comparison against other structures is in this Field Note.
How many days a month does a fractional COO work?
Usually four to eight days a month during an active build, less once the systems are running and the work shifts to oversight. The number is set by what actually needs doing, and it comes down as the operation stabilizes.
When is a company ready for a fractional COO?
When the founder or CFO is spending real time inside operations instead of running the business, when month-end or reconciliation is starting to slip, or when the board wants reporting the current team cannot produce yet. If everything routes through one stretched person, it is time.
What is the difference between a fractional COO and an interim COO?
An interim COO fills an empty seat full time for a defined stretch, usually to cover a departure. A fractional COO is a standing part-time arrangement for a company that needs the judgment but not the full-time cost. The full breakdown is in interim COO vs fractional COO.
How long does a typical engagement run?
Most run three to nine months for the build, then either wind down or move to a lighter monthly oversight arrangement. The goal is to leave the systems and the reporting in place so the work holds without me.
What happens to the work when the engagement ends?
You keep the systems, the documentation, and the reporting. A good fractional engagement is built to be handed off, so the operation runs the same the week after it ends as the week before. If the work touched payouts, the payments and disbursement practice covers ongoing reviews.
More field notes on the operating model: the real fractional COO trigger and making operations legible for a funding round.
Is your operation keeping up with your growth?
A 30-minute call, no pitch, we pinpoint where value is leaking and what to fix first. You leave with the plan, not a dependency.
Book a CallEvery engagement is led by Neta Pyasi, former VP of Operations at Benevity ($1B to $3B+ in volume) and an early operator at Solium (acquired by Morgan Stanley).