Fractional COO engagement: UK DTC beauty brand at scale.

A UK DTC beauty brand growing fast off the back of a strong social and content engine, with multi-territory presence and further markets being added. The marketing instinct that built the brand is the founder's, and protecting it is part of the engagement. The structural problem at this stage is bandwidth: cash flow conversations, supplier issues, channel operations and team supervision had progressively eaten the founder's working week, leaving the demand-generation engine that drives the business under-resourced. The Fractional COO engagement is scoped to install operational structure, return the founder's calendar to growth work, and put the business onto a trajectory that does not depend on the founder sitting inside every operational decision.

What we are working on

• Working capital and cash flow. Reactive growth funding replaced with a structured working capital and stock finance framework aligned to actual sales velocity. The stock-out cycle that was forcing premium freight costs broken from the supply side, not by overpaying to expedite shipments.
• Supply chain rationalisation. Sourcing relationships reviewed, supplier base focused on the strategic core. Default freight mode shifted away from air. 3PL routing redesigned to fit the multi-territory operating model rather than the historical one.
• Operating structure. A workable management layer installed between the founder and the day-to-day team. Decision rights pushed down. Roles defined and responsibilities documented in a form the team can actually use.
• Monthly commercial reporting. Proper monthly numbers across channels and territories, replacing intuition with visibility. The founder sees channel margin, contribution and stock position in one place, monthly, not when something breaks.
• Multi-territory channel scaling. New Amazon territories sequenced into the operating model with operational readiness verified before activation. Launches happen when the operation is ready to support them, not when the marketing team is excited.
• Operational hygiene. Processes documented as they are built, financial reporting cleaned up, contracts and IP properly held. The optionality to raise, sell or scale without operational scramble is built quietly during the engagement.

Targeted outcomes

• Founder operating hours on operations reduced significantly; demand-generation time recovered
• Cash flow no longer the growth ceiling; working capital sized to the business stage
• Multi-territory Amazon presence operational and managed
• Documented operating model and clean monthly management accounts
• Operational optionality at engagement end: raise, scale or sale