Someone asked you this week
“How’s business?”
You had a second to decide what to say.
I’m a fractional COO for founder-led businesses, pre-start-up to £100m. You say the real answer to me, not the socially acceptable one. Then we fix it.
Free. Twenty minutes. Nothing to prepare.
Hi, I’m Gabi
The gap
What you said, and what you meant.
Everyone does it. Everyone gives the socially acceptable response, because nobody likes listening to moaning. But the problem isn’t politeness. It’s that the real answer never gets said out loud, so you never get the help you need.
Out loud
“Really busy. But good.”
Underneath
Deals are slower, the team isn’t landing, cash is tight, and some days you wonder whether to shut it or walk.
Three doors
So where does it hurt?
Pick the one that made you wince. I’ll tell you what I’d expect to find.
Or read the long version: when it’s me, when it’s the team, when it’s how the place runs.
What silence costs
It starts as one thing. It never stays one thing.
The longer it goes on, the less you can say it.
Because saying it now means admitting you saw it months ago and let it drag. So you try to fix it quietly, on your own, which is the one thing that has never worked.
Zero filter
What I am
A fractional COO.
Before the crisis,
or during it.
I’m the person they rang for seven years at J.P. Morgan when it was already on fire. A client screaming, three countries pointing at each other, and somebody needing an answer in an hour.
I’d rather you rang me before it gets to that.
Think of it as a GP for your business. You call a GP when something’s wrong and you can’t say what. I come in across whatever it touches, sales, ops, people, finance, one office or four countries, find the thing nobody is saying out loud, say it, and fix it with you. Leader first. Then the team. Then the process.
I’m not from your industry. I’m not on your payroll. I’m not attached to how it’s always been done. That’s the only reason you can believe a word of it.
I’ll catch you if you trip.
And shove you when you’re coasting.
Sixteen years of P&Ls, boardrooms, payroll and contracts. I’ve sold, hired, fired, launched, scaled and closed, and lived with what happened next.
Proof
Seven people said it. Here’s what moved.
Someone had told her they could not tell what she did.
Her own story, told properly for the first time.
Running a department he’d never worked in.
Him, then his team, then the process.
Almost every one of them already knew something wasn’t right.
Knowing is the hard part. Naming it comes nextSensing that something is off matters just as much as being able to put words to it. That’s the bit I do. I’ll help you find the words for the thing you can feel, and then we move it.
Before you close this
Please look up.
There’s another gear in you. You will not find it on your own, and you shouldn’t have to. Sitting in silence is putting distance between you and your family, your friends, your work. Let someone step in beside you.
