Fractional Operating Partner · Interim CEO · Value Creation Partner
I step into founder-led and investor-backed businesses when growth, transformation or succession has outpaced the operating system - and turn complexity into accountable execution and measurable value.
20+ years
Operating leadership
65% growth
Pre-exit revenue growth
Built & exited
CEO and co-owner
EN · DE · NL
International leadership
About David
Engagement models
The format follows the operating need: ongoing leadership capacity, a defined transformation mandate or full executive responsibility during a critical phase.
Typically 4-8 days per month for founders, CEOs and investors who need senior operating capacity inside the business without adding a full-time executive role.
Focus:
A focused 12-week mandate for transformations that are defined on paper but are not producing enough operational movement, ownership or measurable.
Focus:
3-5 days per week for leadership gaps, transition, underperformance or rapid growth where the company needs clear executive authority and direct operational responsibility.
Focus:
Where David helps
David is usually brought in when the business is active and ambitious, but progress is no longer clean, predictable or sufficiently connected to value.
01
Revenue and activity increase, but decisions slow down, priorities blur and teams start working around weak structures.
02
The programme is visible, but ownership is diffuse and the intended change is not reaching daily operations or financial performance.
03
Founders and key individuals remain the operating system, making performance fragile, difficult to scale and hard to transfer.
04
Boards and investors need clearer priorities, stronger EBITDA and cash discipline, and a management rhythm that turns the value-creation plan into action.
Perspective
David combines shop-floor depth with boardroom accountability. He connects operational reality to commercial choices, systems, people and economics.
01
Direct involvement where decisions, ownership and execution are blocked.
02
Commercial logic, processes, data, systems, people and financial outcomes considered together.
03
Enough governance to create control and repeatability, without slowing down the entrepreneurial energy of the business.
04
Clear thinking, candid conversations and steady follow-through when the organisation is under pressure.
Selected cases
Examples from founder succession, search-fund operating judgement, venture restructuring, post-acquisition integration and commercial transformation.
Founder succession and exit
Drake & Farrell
Search fund operating judgement
H&B Mittelstands
Post-acquisition integration
Cross-border collaboration
Next step
If growth, transformation, succession or investor expectations are creating more complexity than the organisation can absorb, David can step in hands-on.
If growth, transformation, succession or investor expectations are creating more complexity than the organisation can absorb, David can step in hands-on.
