Run like a funded company while you are still deciding to be one.
French founders are often strong on the technology and the product. The gaps show up in the finance, the equity plan and the first commercial motion, built by whoever was free at the time.
Where French founders get stuck
The same few things recur in early-stage companies across France:
Equity plans nobody designed
Founders hand out BSPCE or shares to attract early hires without a view of the dilution, the vesting or the next round.
Public funding without the paperwork
Grants, loans and tax credits are available to innovative companies, and claiming them well takes a discipline that early teams do not have.
Selling is the founder, alone
That is fine until the founder becomes the bottleneck and nobody else can take over, because none of it was ever put on paper.
A permanent executive comes too soon
Before the model is proven, a permanent executive is more cost than the company can bear, and harder to undo if the model fails.
A fractional executive gives a young company the experience of someone who has been through it, for the share of the week required, under a services agreement between two companies. Their past mistakes save you from making your own.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Founders wearing every hat with no senior cover where it matters most
- Pre-seed to pre-Series A companies that need structure before they can fund it
- Teams that need investor-grade finance, reporting or operations at speed
- Startups scaling headcount faster than their processes can hold
- Founders who want to protect the cap table while adding senior leadership
Not for
- An idea with no product or traction to build structure around yet
- A role a capable full-time hire is already ready to own
- Founders looking to outsource a function rather than lead it
- A single deliverable an agency or contractor could hand back
How we work with founders
Founders get the judgement of someone who has built a company before, at the scale the company can carry.
Matched to your stage
Pre-seed, seed and Series A need different people. The brief says which, and the search follows.
Founders' questions answered
A question on equity, hiring or a first enterprise contract reaches someone who has seen it before.
People move on; the brief stays
Your company holds the engagement, not one individual. The brief stays with us, and so does any search for a successor.
Comfortable with ambiguity
Early companies change direction often. We match for people who stay steady when the plan changes.
From first call to embedded operator
We move at startup speed.
Tell us your stage
Where are you in the journey? What are the gaps? What does the next 90 days need to deliver?
We match the right operator
From our vetted collective, we introduce the fractional executive matched to your stage, sector, and culture.
Embedded within days
Your fractional embeds with your team, begins the scoped work, and operates with real accountability.
Scale the stack
As you grow, add further specialists from the collective. We coordinate them so they work as a coherent team.
Which leader for your stage
The gap that slows a startup changes as it grows. Here is where most founders feel it first, and who owns it.
The right fractional executive depends on your stage
Start with the widest gap today, then add roles as you scale.
Operators from the region's defining startups, and beyond
