Less chaos.
More clarity.
Built to last.

Fractional COO support for founders who are great at building product and ready to stop holding everything else together with duct tape.

Katie Barnes

Who this is for

You're running a real business.
It just wasn't built for this size.

01

Everything runs through you.

Every decision, every fire, every question your team can't answer without checking in first. You're the single point of failure — and you know it.

02

The revenue is real. The systems aren't.

You've grown past the duct-tape phase but the structure hasn't caught up. Things fall through the cracks. The business grew. The backend did not.

03

You’re great at the work. This is a different job.

Operations, process, org design. None of that is why you started this company. And yet here you are, spending half your week on it.

"You didn't break it. You just outgrew the way you built it."

I'm a fractional COO.
Here's what that ACTUALLY means.

I come in, assess what's actually broken (not just what feels broken), and build the operations, systems, and team structures that let your business run without you in every room. It's not consulting. I'm not handing you a report. I'm doing the work with you.

Four ways to work with me, depending on where you are.

  1. 02 Thought partner

    Advisory

    $2,000/month · month-to-month

    For founders who need a senior ops brain in their corner before they make another messy hire, rebuild a process, switch tools, or accidentally become the bottleneck again.

    Includes one monthly strategy call, async support within reason, doc review, and a monthly "what's bottlenecking you now" note.

    Cancel anytime.

  2. 03 Growth mode

    Advisory+

    $4,000/month · month-to-month

    For founders in active growth, hiring, fundraise prep, or GTM change who need more frequent ops judgment without going fully embedded.

    Includes two monthly calls, weekly async review, and active thought partnership around high-stakes decisions.

    Best when monthly support is not quite enough.

  3. 04 Embedded support

    Embedded Fractional COO

    Starting at $5,000/month

    For founders who need more than advice.

    I step in as the operational backbone between founder vision and team execution: clarifying ownership, cleaning up handoffs, building operating rhythms, and making sure the right work actually moves.

    Best for teams that have outgrown founder-led everything but aren't ready for a full-time COO.

Not sure where to start? Book a 15-minute intro call. We'll figure it out together.

Let's talk

How it works.

Step 01

We talk first.

A real conversation. Not a sales ambush in a cardigan. You tell me what’s happening. I ask questions. We figure out if this is the right kind of problem for me to help solve.

Step 02

I find the actual bottleneck.

Not just the loudest problem. I look at how decisions get made, where work slows down, what your team keeps waiting on, and what you’re still holding that someone else should own.

Step 03

We build the fix.

Not a deck. Not a framework. The actual operating pieces your team needs. Clear owners. Better handoffs. Cleaner rhythms. Systems that fit the way your business actually works.

Step 04

Your team learns to run it.

The goal is not dependency. I train the team, test the handoffs, tighten what still feels wobbly, and make sure the system works when I’m not in the room. That’s how I know it worked.

Katie Barnes
About Katie

I'm not a consultant.
I'm the person who fixes it.

I've spent 15 years inside companies that were growing faster than their operations could handle. I've been the one untangling the org chart, rewriting the onboarding process, and figuring out why the same problems kept coming back.

Here's what I know for sure: most founders are genuinely excellent at what they do. They're just not supposed to be running operations, managing people, and building systems on top of everything else.

That's where I come in.

I take the ops off your plate, the stuff that's quietly holding you back, and build something that actually works. I care a lot about doing it right. And even more about making sure you don't need me forever.

When I'm not embedded in someone's chaos, you'll find me at a live show, trying a new restaurant, or wrangling a toddler and a dog with my husband in St. Louis. (The dog is easier.)


From the newsletter

Real talk about running a business.

No content calendar. No hot takes. Just honest writing about operations, leadership, and what it actually looks like to build something durable — from someone who's in the weeds with founders every week.

Read on Substack →
Let's talk

Tell me
what's going on.

No pressure, no pitch. Just a conversation about where things are and whether I can help.

Got it. I'll be in touch soon.