Purpose in Action · About · United Kingdom
Built from inside
growing businesses.
I am David Schofield — fractional COO and operational structure advisor. I work with founder-led businesses at points of operational strain, installing structure, developing leadership teams, and positioning technology deliberately so the business can scale without the founder becoming the bottleneck.
What this work
actually involves
I work with founders and leadership teams at points of operational strain — where growth, complexity, or pressure have outpaced existing structures. The work takes two forms depending on what the business needs.
Advisory: Coming in to diagnose what is breaking, install the structural correction, and develop the leadership team to sustain it. Practical, direct, and time-limited. Typically three to six months.
Fractional COO: Staying inside the business to govern the structure on an ongoing basis — enforcing accountability, maintaining financial discipline, and continuing to develop the leadership team as the business scales.
Both levels of work include deliberate attention to technology and AI. Most growing businesses are navigating this question without a clear framework. That is part of the operational design conversation — where technology genuinely serves the business and its values, and where it does not.
The businesses I do my best work with are run by founders who have a clear sense of what they stand for — not just commercially, but as organisations with responsibilities toward the people who work in them and the clients they serve. Professional services, legal, advisory, and delivery-focused businesses where the quality of relationships matters as much as the commercial numbers.
Operational involvement
across sectors
Professional services
Collections discipline to 96%. Leadership team development alongside operational structure. HH Law, Charleston SC.
Digital services
Margin recovery from negative to positive trajectory. Founder bottleneck reduction. Get Me Links, Kuala Lumpur · OutreachMama, Belgrade.
Construction
Team scaled from 12 to 19 staff with structural discipline absorbing the complexity. Stephen Grindrod Ltd, UK.
Technology & software
Operating systems installed across leadership teams in SaaS and IT services businesses. Auxilium Software and others.
We love working with David. It may end up being the most impactful decision we have made in our business.
— Wesley Henderson · Partner, HH Law · Charleston, SC
I wouldn’t be where I am today without David’s support. His understanding of business and operational strategy took our team from chaos to a well-defined maturity model that I’m proud of.
— Bronwyn Reynolds · Chief Operating Officer
David has a rare ability to help you cut through the noise and focus on what actually matters.
— Tomaš Tašić · CEO, OutreachMama · Belgrade
The most relevant
starting points
Founder Operational Advisory
Structural correction and leadership team development for founder-led businesses where growth has outpaced internal discipline.
Fractional COO
Embedded operational leadership when the business needs ongoing governance rather than advisory correction alone.
Case studies
Real operational outcomes from direct engagements across professional services, digital and construction.
Full profile
The longer view: background, philosophy, sectors, and the thinking behind the work.
An Operational
Clarity Call
A focused 45-minute conversation that assesses structural maturity and determines the right next step. No sales script. A direct assessment.