Operations Consulting for Founder-Led Agencies
Fix the bottleneck that keeps eating your week.
I help 10–75-person agencies, studios, and service firms make delivery, capacity, and decisions more predictable.
25+ years in agency and digital delivery
Senior operating and PMO leadership across agency and digital teams
Experience overseeing $10M in annual project budgets
It’s an operating problem, not a people problem.
Agencies scale past 15 people on founder charisma, but they scale past 40 on clear operational plumbing. Here is what breaking looks like in real time:
Handoffs
Creative work gets stuck moving from strategy to execution with vague responsibilities.
Ownership
Every decision scales back up to the founder because team leads avoid final accountability.
Visibility
Client health and true utilization rates are black boxes until the post-mortem.
Delivery
Projects run consistently over budget, requiring heroism rather than repeatable systems.
Leadership Overload
The founder is spending 30+ hours a week fighting delivery fires instead of growing the firm.
Margin Erosion
Revenue is up, but margins are leaking into unbilled scope creep and idle developer bench.
Start with one problem. The expensive one.
Four ways to work together. Most people start with the first.
Operations Diagnostic
For a problem that’s costing you time or margin, when the right fix isn’t obvious yet. You get a firm answer on the cause, then decide what happens next.
|
Option
|
Duration
|
Best When
|
What Changes
|
Starting Point
|
Action
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Delivery or Capacity SprintFix one operating problem and implement it, not just recommend it. |
3-6 WEEKS |
A specific delivery, capacity, workflow, or accountability problem is already clear enough to tackle. |
One defined operating problem gets redesigned and implemented with the team. |
After a Diagnostic, or with a paid scoping week |
|
Operator Office HoursAn experienced sounding board without another executive hire. Two working sessions a month, plus quick questions in between. From $1,250/month. |
MONTHLY |
You need recurring operating judgment, prioritization, and decision support but not embedded ownership. |
Leadership decisions get clearer, more consistent, and less dependent on carrying everything alone. |
Start with a Bottleneck Call |
|
Fractional Operations LeadOngoing ownership when advice is not enough. |
3-6 MOS, SELECTIVE |
There is a real operations ownership gap and a permanent hire is not the right immediate answer. |
An operating leader owns the work of establishing cadence, systems, accountability, and handoff. |
Always begins with a Diagnostic |
What I don’t do.
This is operating work with a defined problem, scope, and handoff.
It is not open-ended executive theater.
- No generic roadmap without an owner and an implementation path
- No disguised full-time COO role
- No permanent substitute for internal leadership
- No process for process’s sake
- No fractional engagement before understanding the constraint
Find the constraint before you fund the fix.
A focused first engagement for recurring delivery, capacity, decision-making, or operating problems that have become expensive to ignore.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Focused operating assessment
- Team interviews and relevant data review
- Constraint and root-cause analysis
- Prioritized recommendations
- Ownership and decision-gap observations
- Written next-step plan
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
- An open-ended transformation program
- An embedded implementation engagement
- A substitute for a full-time executive hire
- A generic report with no recommendation path
How It Works
Week 1
Align on the recurring problem, review the operating context, and speak with the right people.
Week 2
Map constraints, identify root causes, and turn findings into a prioritized remediation plan.
What You Leave With
A clear articulation of the real constraint
A prioritized set of operating recommendations
A practical workflow or cadence direction
Clearer roles, ownership, and decision rights
Risks and dependencies to resolve
A written next-step plan
Frequently Asked Questions
Most Diagnostics complete within 2 active weeks, depending on team availability and scheduling.
That is what the Diagnostic is for. Clarifying the real constraint is the first deliverable.
No pitch deck or pre-work required. Bring one recurring problem and access to the people closest to it.
You receive a written plan with prioritized recommendations. From there, you decide whether to engage further, act internally, or pause.
Operations Diagnostics start at $5,000. Office Hours start at $1,250/month. Sprint and Fractional fees are set once the problem is defined. Final scope is confirmed on the Bottleneck Call.
No. It’s the right first step when the problem isn’t clear yet. If you want ongoing judgment, Office Hours starts with the same call. If the problem is already narrow, a Sprint can start with a paid scoping week.
Bring one recurring problem. No pitch deck required.
Fewer surprises, not more process.
Principle 1: Pragmatic over Dogmatic
I do not implement frameworks for their own sake. If a spreadsheet works better than Jira for your team, I keep the spreadsheet.
Principle 2: No Disruption to Active Delivery
I change the tires while the car is moving. Changes are integrated quietly, piece by piece, without stopping billing.
Principle 3: Clear Delivery Baselines First
I establish clear operational metrics first before changing any organizational roles or hiring new project managers.
I’m Kim.
I’m Kim Howe, a senior operations and delivery leader with 25+ years inside agencies and digital teams. I help founder-led service businesses fix the bottlenecks that make delivery unpredictable: unclear ownership, broken handoffs, resourcing strain, and runaway scope.
My approach is practical: make the real constraint visible, build only the structure the team needs, and leave behind systems that work without heroic effort.
Bring one problem, no deck.
Bring one recurring problem. I’ll ask a few focused questions, tell you whether I see a useful next step, and be direct if I don’t.
Or email directly at kim@kimhowe.com