Fractional Chief Operating Officer · General Manager
You might be growing your business, looking for more time away from the day to day, or perhaps you feel stuck in a rut and want to break through to the next level. You need someone you can trust to share the load and help things run, while you focus on the bigger picture.
Let’s talk about your business
I work with owners and leadership teams on the practical things that make a business easier to run: clear responsibility & accountability, clear decision processes and operating systems that help people do their jobs more effectively. I can lead day-to-day operations and help improve how things work, including through technology and automation.
My experience spans owner-led businesses, software companies and consumer platforms. Based in beautiful Byron Bay, I work with clients locally and remotely, and travel to Brisbane and Sydney as needed.
A different starting point
During more than ten years in professional snowboarding, I founded multiple businesses, spanning media and talent development programs for Australia’s next best generation. Those experiences are part of who I am and the perspective I bring to business.
You’ve built a business, you have revenue and a good customer base, but too much still depends on you. You need clarity space and guidance to achieve what’s next. Some of the below scenarios might sound familiar, these are things I can resolve for you.
Too many decisions and daily problems still come back to the owners.
You want more space to focus on your next opportunity, with confidence that the business is running well.
People are busy, but responsibilities, priorities and processes aren’t clear.
Disconnected systems make it difficult to understand performance and profitability.
Technology and AI feel overwhelming, or you don’t have the time or expertise to work out what could help your business.
You’re preparing to sell or to grow, integrate an acquisition or modernise operations, and need someone to lead the work.
I help your team take on more responsibility and give you a clearer view of how the business is running. If technology or AI could help, I’ll work out where it’s useful and help put it in place.
That gives you more room to work on the business, pursue something new or spend time on life outside work.
I spend time with you and your team to understand your customers and how the work gets done. We look at what’s causing problems and what needs attention first.
I’m good at spotting risks in businesses and systems, then explaining what they could mean and what to do about them.
I help clarify responsibilities, document processes and set up meetings that are worth people’s time. I also work on financial reporting and connected systems, using technology and AI where they make a practical difference.
I stay involved while changes are put into practice and help the team get comfortable with them. Where needed, I prepare an internal leader to carry the work forward.
Operations. Leadership. Technology.
One business perspective.
Rapid growth had stretched a solar retailer’s operations. The managing director was juggling sales and day-to-day operations, job processing had become a bottleneck, and new technology was adding complexity before delivering its intended benefits.
Over six months as a fractional GM of Ops inside the business, I worked with the owners to organise the team, simplify the systems and get a clearer picture of profitability.
Documented processes, governance, contractual agreements and an operational risk assessment supported these changes. The engagement concluded with a handover to a managing director.
Clear operational roles, responsibilities and a regular working rhythm gave the team structure and allowed the director to focus on the sales team.
I cleaned up and simplified monday.com around the operations team’s daily work, giving them a clear workflow to tackle the processing bottleneck.
I organised product pricing in Xero to support job-level forecasting, giving the owners a clearer view of what individual jobs were expected to earn.
I integrated Claude across the business’s software systems, turning recurring reports and routine processes into scheduled AI automations that replaced hours of manual administration.
The owners gained a better understanding of how far their existing cost structure could support growth and what further investment would be required.
I identified structural governance issues affecting cash flow and constraining growth, explained their implications and recommended a review of the business structure. The directors acted immediately on those recommendations.
I’ve worked across operations, product, technology and commercial leadership. That helps me understand how a decision in one part of a business affects the people and work elsewhere.
I’ve built subscription revenue and developed services for business and government customers. Over the past decade, I’ve also sold more than five businesses, including businesses I built myself. My experience spans strategy, preparing small and medium businesses for sale, finding buyers, completing transactions and integrating acquisitions. Here are a few examples.
As Head of Digital then Director of Strategy, I transformed an advertising-funded website into an online subscription business for action sports, building recurring revenue and growing memberships and paying customers across related magazine businesses. We then expanded to create the 3 Crowns Media Group spanning over 10 business units. During my time leading digital & business strategy, we achieved the number-one app in the App Store and grew to over one million monthly active users, before selling all the businesses to various industry buyers that achieved a clean exit for the investors and owners.
Coastalwatch campaign imagery. A coastal business with a strong visual identity.
At 3 Crowns Technologies, I launched a new B2B venture using Coastalwatch’s hardware and back-end systems, creating digital coastal monitoring products for councils and state governments across Australia. The team delivered automated monitoring that met their coastal monitoring needs at a fraction of the cost. After stabilising and growing the operation, I focused on making the business efficient, profitable and ready for sale.
Vygo provides student-support software as a service to large Australian universities. Working in higher education meant navigating the compliance requirements and organisational complexity of major institutions. I brought structure and working practices to the senior leadership team, helping clarify the business’s vision and strategy. A shared framework for making decisions helped the team use its time and budget more effectively, while giving employees a clearer understanding of the business’s direction and priorities. That clarity also helped improve the culture and gave investors greater confidence to back the business’s growth into international and other markets.
As Head of Product, I also put customer needs at the centre of development decisions. Smaller, evidence-based releases increased delivery velocity by 50%, and an AI-first roadmap delivered more than six AI products in the first six months. I strengthened governance around AI accuracy, compliance and customer trust.
When you’re close to the day-to-day, it can be hard to see what could be different. I bring fresh eyes and practical experience to help you spot what’s holding the business back and where it could go next.
Engage with me as an embedded COO or General Manager within your businesses, this gives you senior-level experienced support without the cost of a full-time appointment. Arrangements range from 1 to 3 days per week or 5 to 10 days per month.
When you require project-based support and hands-on leadership for a specific defined challenge, such as improving operations, integrating systems or introducing AI-enabled workflows to your business. Best for shorter fixed projects with clear goals and fixed budgets. These can run as an intense sprint over a few weeks or months, or as a slow burn project over a quarter.
I provide my consulting services through my company Walking Fish. Reach me by email russell@walkingfish.tech or call 0414266747
If you’d like help running your business or figuring out what comes next, let’s talk.