INTERIM CEO / COO
Protect value through leadership transition.
Leadership transitions — planned or forced — create a window where execution slows, customers sense the gap, and the VCP drifts. The risk is not the search itself. It is leaving the business under-led while the search runs.
I step in as Interim CEO or Commercial COO in PE-backed vertical SaaS and tech-enabled service businesses — taking full accountability for performance, pace and the permanent hire.
When to bring in transition leadership
Transition leadership is needed when the business cannot afford the gap between the last CEO and the next one. These are the situations where that gap becomes dangerous.
Founder transition following investment — stepping back, into a Chair role, or exiting entirely
01
CEO replacement where the permanent search will take 3–6 months and the business cannot stand still
02
Performance failure where the board needs to act decisively and requires a trusted operator in the seat while it does
03
Rapid scale where the business has outgrown its current leadership's commercial and operational range
04
Post-acquisition integration where a newly acquired business needs independent leadership through its first 6–12 months
05
Board-management breakdown where investor confidence has eroded and a credible neutral is needed to restore it
06
Typically 3–9 months, operating as CEO or Commercial COO alongside the existing leadership team.
£85m
Largest P&L operated
2x
Growth accelerated from 0 to 25%
100%
Customer retention through Covid
£250m
Gross Profit delivered
The first job is not transformation. It is control. I focus on the things that must not break: Board and leadership alignment, clear targets, customers, cash, delivery cadence and board confidence.
What I stabilise first.
Clarify decision rights, accountability, priorities and behavioural expectations. Keep the team credible while removing ambiguity.
Leadership alignment.
Protect key accounts, service levels, renewal risk and customer communication. Make transition visible where helpful and invisible where it should be.
Customer continuity.
Install weekly execution rhythm, KPI ownership and clean board reporting so the business runs between board meetings.
Operating cadence.
Review pipeline quality, conversion, pricing, renewals and near-term commercial risk. Target visible early wins.
Revenue control.
Reset cost control, working capital focus and investment prioritisation without freezing the growth agenda.
Cash and cost discipline.
Convert the VCP action; a small number of owned, sequenced priorities with clear owners and board visibility.
VCP translation.
CEO mode vs. commercial COO mode.
Two modes. One mandate: performance.
Most interim providers default to CEO. Sometimes COO mode is faster, cheaper and less disruptive — and produces better outcomes for the business and the board.
INTERIM CEO
Full P&L accountability. I lead the business, own the board relationship, and am the single point of accountability for performance and transition. The right mode when the CEO has left or needs to leave.
INTERIM COMMERCIAL COO
Targeted accountability alongside an existing CEO. I own revenue, go-to-market, customer outcomes and VCP delivery. The right mode when the CEO is worth keeping but the commercial engine needs operator-level leadership.
The distinction is scoped at the start and agreed with the board.
Founder transition. The most common, yet most delicate transition.
Founder-led businesses are where most PE transitions happen — and where they most often go wrong. The founder built the culture, owns the customer relationships, and is often still on the cap table. A poor handover destroys both value and morale.
Customers bought the founder — the relationship hand-off is mission-critical and must be managed explicitly
Team identity is tied to the founder's vision — continuity of direction matters more than continuity of person
The founder may still be present as Chair or NED — requires careful boundary management and clear role separation
The permanent CEO search will be benchmarked against the founder — the interim must raise the bar, not lower it
I have run this pattern multiple times across tech-enabled services. The model is explicit relationship mapping, fast trust-building with the team, clear founder boundaries, and a permanent CEO brief built from what the business actually needs next.
How I typically take ownership.
The first 30 days are not about change. They are about continuity — making sure nothing breaks that should not break, and signalling clearly to customers, team and investors that the business has capable leadership. The acceleration starts at day 31.
DAYS 1–30
STABILISE
→ Key accounts personally engaged; service levels monitored
→ Transition made explicit to the team; talent retention identified and acted on
→ Board and investor cadence established; no surprises
→ P&L understood; budget reforecast where needed
DAYS 31–90
ACCELERATE
→ Revenue engine: pipeline, conversion, pricing, GTM reset
→ VCP translation: priorities cascaded, ownership made explicit
→ Operating model: KPIs, cadence, accountability reinforced
→ Cost and margin: inefficiencies removed, high-impact moves sequenced
How interim CEO works.
ENGAGEMENT
CEO or Commercial COO mode. Typically 3–9 months, scoped to the transition. Full-time or near full-time for the period — this is not a fractional advisory role.
PRICING
Fixed monthly fee, scoped at the start. No open-ended retainers, no day-rate creep, no success fee ambiguity.
BOARD ENGAGEMENT
Full alignment with Chair and investors throughout. Board reporting and investor confidence treated as a core deliverable.
For funds still in diligence, I also offer pre-deal operator diligence.
HANDOVER
I define the permanent hire brief, support the search process, and run a structured transition. The business must be stronger when I leave than when I arrived.