The Scaling Trap: A Founder’s Guide to Recognizing the Signs You’re Ready for a Fractional COO Nov 7, 2025

Part 1: The Success Penalty: When Growth Becomes the Bottleneck As a business consultant and Fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO) with over 25 years of experience, I have had the privilege of advising on over 650 engagements. This work has allowed me to observe a near-universal pattern among successful, driven entrepreneurs. I call it the “Founder’s Paradox”: the reward for building a successful company is a new, crushing level of complexity that threatens to destroy it.Source: The Scaling Trap: A Founder’s Guide to Recognizing the Signs You’re Ready for a Fractional COO