Jay Novak

Fractional COO

Former Founder & CEO of a multi-location service platform

Built & Scaled a $102.5M Service Business                    

I help founder-led service companies drive growth, improve operational efficiency, increase margins, and scale profitably by building the structure and systems that reduce founder dependency.

Most founder-led service businesses don’t break because of demand.
They break because growth outpaces structure.

At a certain point, more jobs, more revenue, and more people don’t make things easier.
They make everything harder to manage.

  • $13M → $102.5M revenue growth

  • 6 markets | 300+ team members

  • 2,000+ projects annually ($50K avg ticket)

  • 55% gross margins

  • Full P&L ownership across sales, marketing, operations, and delivery.

Built and operated at scale

  • $13M → $102.5M Growth

    Scaled a founder-led service business across multiple markets

  • 2,000+ Projects Delivered Annually

    Built systems to manage volume without breaking execution

  • 6 Markets | 300+ Team Members

    Multi-location operations with full P&L responsibility

WHAT BREAKS AS YOUR

BUSINESS STARTS GROWSING ? 

  • Revenue is up, but margins aren’t

  • Too many decisions still depend on you

  • Growth feels harder than it should

  • Projects are harder to deliver smoothly

  • The business needs more of your time as it grows

Case Studies

These are examples of how operational issues show up — and what fixing them actually changes.

Margin + Conversion

Company: Service business                         

Issues:

  • Margins under pressure

  • Low conversion rates

  • Misalignment between marketing and sales

View Project

Delivery & Operations

Company: Multi-location service business

Issues:

  • Long delivery and timelines

  • Bottlenecks across teams

  • Inconsistent execution

View Project

Scaling Infrastructure

Issues:

  • Rapid Growth created operation strain

  • Owner dependency increased

  • Internal systems not scaling

View Project

Company: Multi-state service platform

WHAT’S ACTUALLY

GOING ON ?

Growth starts outpacing structure.

That’s when things begin to break — usually quietly at first.

  • Ownership becomes unclear across teams

  • Decisions bottleneck at the owner

  • Sales → ops → delivery stop aligning

  • Visibility into margins and performance drops

 

Most businesses at this stage don’t need more ideas.

They need structure, visibility, and execution discipline to make growth actually work.

WHAT I DO

Most issues at this stage of growth don’t come from one area — they come from how everything connects.

That’s where I focus:

  • Align marketing, sales, and operations so growth doesn’t break delivery

  • Identify where margin is leaking across the business

  • Build KPI systems that show what’s actually happening

  • Fix pricing, cost control, and operational discipline

  • Reduce owner involvement in decisions and approvals

  • Create structure for consistent execution across teams and locations

HOW I WORK

Step 1: Diagnostic

Identify where performance is breaking down — including bottlenecks in delivery, gaps in accountability, and areas where margin is leaking.

Step 2: Priorities

Focus on the few issues creating the most pressure on margins, execution, and team performance — and define what needs to change first.

Step 3: Execution

Implement systems and processes across teams to improve delivery, increase margins, and reduce day-to-day dependency on the owner.

If you are...

  • Running a founder-led service business where growth is starting to make operations harder

  • Seeing margins stay flat — or decline — as volume increases

  • Still the one most decisions route through

  • Finding execution harder to manage as the business scales

 

We can walk through what’s causing it — and how to fix it.

FAQs

  • A fractional COO works across the business to improve execution, align teams, and ensure growth translates into results — not just activity.

  • Typically when growth is strong, but margins aren’t improving, execution becomes inconsistent, or too much still depends on the owner.

  • A fractional COO is typically a good fit for founder-led service businesses that are growing and starting to need stronger systems, better execution, and clearer visibility as the business becomes more complex.

  • Improved margins, more consistent execution, better visibility into performance, and less dependency on the owner.

  • We identify where performance is breaking down, prioritize the highest-impact areas, and work with your team to implement improvements that translate into measurable results.

  • With some companies, visible improvements start within 8–12 weeks, while more complex changes take longer depending on execution consistency.

  • Most engagements fall in the $10K–$20K/month range, depending on scope.

  • A full-time COO often costs $300K–$500K+ annually.
    A fractional COO provides senior-level operational leadership without the full-time overhead.

  • Consultants focus on specific tasks or projects.
    A fractional COO works across the business and stays involved through implementation, not just recommendations.

Most founders don’t need more ideas.
They need the business to run without everything depending on them.

If your business is dealing with operational challenges, we can walk through what’s causing them — and how to fix them.

Get in Touch!

Book Consultation
Book Consultation