Operating model and commercial structure
Operating model and commercial structure for scaling companies
Building systems that scale beyond you: the structures, rhythms and commercial arrangements that let a company grow without the founders in every conversation.
Sound familiar?
Signs it's time
- Decisions wait for the founder.
- Quarterly plans are written, then ignored.
- The team has grown, but no one is sure who owns what.
- Partnership and commercial terms change deal by deal.
- Board and investor reporting is pulled together by hand every month.
- Incentives reward activity rather than outcomes.
What I do
What's included
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Structure and decision rights
Org design, roles and a clear answer to who decides what.
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Operating rhythm
Annual and quarterly planning, OKRs, and weekly and monthly reviews that people actually use.
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KPIs and reporting
The metrics that matter, dashboards and board packs that build themselves.
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Commercial and partnership structures
Deal terms, revenue shares and governance that align investors, partners, customers and the team, so everyone wins when the business does.
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Incentive design
Team, partner and, where relevant, token incentives tied to business outcomes rather than activity.
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Implementation
Running the first cycles with the team until the new way of working sticks.
How it works
How an engagement runs
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Diagnose
Weeks 1 to 3
How decisions, information and money actually flow today, and where they get stuck.
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Design
Weeks 3 to 6
The target model: structure, rhythm, KPIs and commercial arrangements, agreed with the leadership team.
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Install
Next quarter
Run the first planning cycle and reviews alongside the team.
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Embed
After one cycle
Refine what did not work and hand over to an internal owner.
Who it's for
A good fit if you are
- Companies that have doubled headcount in a year
- Founder-led businesses moving to managed growth
- Businesses with several products, markets or partner channels to coordinate
- Funds, studios and accelerators designing their own operating model
Probably not the right fit for
- Systems implementation, such as a CRM rollout, without a change in how the business runs
Proof
Recent work
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Interim leadership
Boson
Interim Chief Strategy Officer. Built the quarterly business planning cycle, integrating the product, engineering and growth teams, and set up and ran OKR and goal setting.
Result: An aligned team working to a shared plan.
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Venture studio design
Input Output Group
Scoped out the venture studio vision and concept. Consulted with senior executives and ran a two-day workshop to prioritise existing incubatee companies.
Result: A new vision and operating model for the studio.
Why me
Operator, not adviser
- Designed Outlier Ventures' Base Camp accelerator: operating model, investment process, KPIs and commercial terms
- Ran business planning and performance across AnalogFolk's global network of offices in London, New York, Portland, Sydney, Hong Kong and Shanghai
- Board experience at an AIM-listed group, including M&A for a buy-and-build strategy
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is an operating model?
How a business turns strategy into results: its structure, decision rights, planning rhythm, metrics, and the commercial arrangements with partners and customers.
When should we redesign it?
Usually after a step change: a funding round, doubling headcount, a new product line or market, or a founder stepping back from the day-to-day.
Will this slow us down with process?
It should do the opposite. The goal is the minimum structure that lets more people make good decisions without you. If it adds meetings without removing bottlenecks, it is wrong.
Working on something at the inflection point?
Let's talk about where you are and where you want to get to.