Everything runs through me. I cannot grow because I am the bottleneck, and a full-time COO is a hire I cannot justify yet.
A Chief Operating Officer for the days a business your size actually needs one. We take ownership of the operating rhythm — the reporting, the supplier relationships, the processes that only exist in somebody’s head — and hand it back documented and running without you.
Dinmore Bell provides a fractional Chief Operating Officer for founder-led businesses: ownership of the operating rhythm, reporting, supplier relationships and process, on a fixed monthly fee. It suits a company too large to run informally and too small to justify a full-time operations hire.
How we own it
Take the operational load off the founder
The recurring decisions, the supplier escalations, the things that reach you because there is nowhere else for them to go. We take them, run them to a standard, and report on what happened rather than asking you what to do.
Write down how the business actually runs
Most founder-led businesses run on knowledge held by three people. We document the real process — not an idealised one — so it can be delegated, audited, and eventually handed to a permanent hire without the business stopping.
Build the reporting that makes a decision
A short monthly pack that answers the questions you actually ask: what came in, what went out, what is late, what is at risk, and what needs you. Built once, produced without you, and readable in ten minutes.
Where specialists come in
We run operations and the commercial function; we do not undertake reserved legal activities, we do not act as a statutory director unless separately appointed and agreed in writing, and we do not provide regulated accountancy, audit or tax services. Where a matter needs a licensed insolvency practitioner, an auditor, a health-and-safety consultant or regulated HR advice on an individual dismissal, we instruct the appropriate specialist and coordinate them.
Sectors we run this for
- How many days a month is this?
- It is scoped to the work rather than sold as days, and it is a retainer rather than an hourly arrangement. In practice most engagements at this tier settle around two to four days a month once the first quarter of setup is done.
- Will you manage our staff?
- We can hold operational responsibility for a function and work with the people in it. We do not become their employer, and formal disciplinary or dismissal processes are run with instructed employment specialists.
- What happens when we are ready to hire a full-time COO?
- That is the intended ending. Everything we run is documented as we run it, so the handover is a working system rather than a conversation, and we help you specify and interview for the role.