HOW WE WORK

What an engagement actually looks like.

We work three ways — we advise, we operate, and we invest — and we scope to the problem, not to a rate card. Whether you need a plan you can act on, a person to step in and run it, or capital alongside you, here is the shape of an engagement, so you can decide whether it fits before you spend twenty minutes on a call.

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Four shapes. One way of working.

The Read and On Call are how we advise; the Build and In the Seat are how we operate. Each is a fixed-fee engagement, scoped to the problem.

THE READ

3 weeks

One operator, on site and in the numbers.

A written point of view on what is actually holding the business back, ranked by impact
A clear view of what to fix first — and what to leave alone for now
A straight answer on whether you need us after that, including when you don't

THE BUILD

8 to 14 weeks

One operator leading, specialists in and out as the work needs them.

One play, run properly, start to finish
The system installed and your people trained on it
Handover documents, so it keeps running when we go

IN THE SEAT

3 to 12 months

An operating seat — COO, GM, or alongside yours.

A defined mandate and a scoreboard we both look at every week
We hire, fire, decide and are accountable for the number
A leaving date, written into the scope before we start

ON CALL

ongoing

A standing line to a senior operator.

For the decisions that don't justify a project but shouldn't be made alone
Monthly, or when it matters
No minimum term

And where it fits, we invest — backing a business with capital as well as advice, so our incentives sit with yours. If that's the conversation, tell us on the call.

Diagnose. Scope. Run. Hand over.

01 · Diagnose

A 20-minute call, then a longer conversation if it looks like a fit. We are trying to work out whether your problem is the kind we are good at. Sometimes it isn't, and we say so.

02 · Scope

One page. The mandate, what success looks like as a number, who is doing it, how long, what it costs, and when we leave. Fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start.

03 · Run

We are in the business, not adjacent to it. Weekly scoreboard, monthly written update to you and anyone else who needs it — your board, your sponsor, your lender. No surprises in month three.

04 · Hand over

Every engagement has a leaving date in the scope. We write it before we start, because a firm that can't say when it's leaving isn't planning to. You get the artifacts, your people get the training, and we check in at 90 days to see whether it held.

When we're the wrong call.

If you already know the answer and just need extra hands, a contractor or a staffing firm is cheaper. We earn our keep when the judgement is the hard part, not the labour.
If the owner isn't ready to change anything, an outside operator makes it worse, not better. We've learned this the hard way.
If you need a permanent hire, hire one. Sometimes the right answer is a full-time COO. We'll say so, and we've helped people find one.

What it costs.

We price to the mandate, not to a rate card — a three-week read on a 40-unit franchisee and a three-week read on a single-site manufacturer are different pieces of work. Every engagement is a fixed fee agreed in writing before we start, so you are never billed for a surprise.

You'll have a number in the first conversation. We don't make people work for it.

Us, a big firm, a full-time hire, or doing it yourself.

	Mulwala Water	A large consultancy	A full-time hire	You, at night
Time to start	Weeks	Months	3–6 months	Now
Who does the work	The person you met	Often a team you haven't met	The person you hired	You
Accountable for the number	Yes	Rarely	Yes	Yes
Cost shape	Fixed fee, ends	Fixed or T&M, ends	Salary, permanent	Your weekends
Leaves when it's done	Yes, by design	Yes	No — that's the point	Never
Best when	The gap is real but temporary, and needs someone who has done it	The problem is genuinely enterprise-scale	The need is permanent and you can attract the person	It's small enough that you can

Book a 20-minute call.

Twenty minutes, no deck. We'll tell you whether this is a problem we're good at.

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