You built something real. Let's make sure it keeps running — with or without you in the room.
Most founders between $3M and $15M reach a point where the business they built starts demanding more than it should. Not because something went wrong — because something went right. Growth creates complexity. And complexity needs structure.
Fractional COO · AI-Powered Implementation · Force Multiplier™
Former CIO · CSO · VP Sales · SVP Client Success | 300+ companies
We work alongside your leadership team — not above it, not around it.
16 leadership frameworks + 21 operational playbooks + AI. Built into what you're already doing.
Limited capacity. Deep integration. Full commitment to your outcome.
You built this. The revenue is real, the team is real, the reputation is real. And somewhere along the way, the complexity became real too. That's not failure — that's what growth does. It just needs a different kind of structure to keep moving.
You make the call, but weeks later you're still repeating it. The team needs clearer ownership, not a better boss.
Execution slows because too many decisions still flow through one person. That person built the company — and now they're the ceiling.
Standards blur, accountability weakens, and the same problems keep resurfacing. The systems haven't kept pace with the growth.
Every company that grows past $3M starts running into the same friction points. They're not symptoms of poor leadership — they're symptoms of success that hasn't been systematized yet.
The business moves when you're involved and slows when you're not. You built it that way — intentionally or not — because you were the best person for every decision. The work now is distributing that judgment across the team.
You have accounting — looking backward. You don't have analytics — looking forward. Most founders at this stage are making excellent decisions with incomplete information. Cleaner data doesn't change your instincts. It confirms them.
The vision is clear. The execution disappears into daily firefighting. The strategy isn't wrong — it just needs structural support to move from whiteboard to results.
80% of businesses put on the market fail to sell — not because of what the founder built, but because of how it's documented and structured. The work is making the value visible to someone who wasn't there for every decision.
What got you here was exceptional. What gets you to the next stage is structural. The goal isn't to step away from what you built — it's to make sure it can grow beyond what any one person can carry.
The weight you're carrying right now isn't a sign that something is wrong. It's a sign that what you built has outgrown its original structure. That's a good problem — and it has a structural solution.
"What got you here was exceptional. The next stage doesn't require you to do more — it requires the business to carry more on its own."
These are the patterns that quietly cap growth long before most founders recognize what's happening.
Decisions flow upward. Execution slows. The team waits.
Everything becomes important, so execution fragments and real progress slows.
Strategy exists, but discipline fades and issues repeat.
Revenue is there. But growth created complexity faster than the leadership team matured. Everything still routes back to you. You're the bottleneck — and you know it.
You've built something real over 20–30 years. You want to protect it — the employees, the value, and your exit. You need the business structurally ready before a buyer ever looks inside.
You're managing a leadership handoff — to a son, a daughter, or a new CEO. High stakes, high friction. You need someone who's navigated this before and kept the business intact through the transition.
A consultant hands you a PDF and leaves. A Fractional COO works alongside your leadership team, adds the structure your growth now requires, and stays until it holds — with or without them in the room.
25 years of enterprise data architecture — IBM, Cognos, Business Objects — applied alongside what your team is already running. Most AI fails because the data feeding it is dirty. We fix the infrastructure first so everything works at maximum efficiency.
High-stakes decisions get stress-tested before they become expensive. Pattern recognition from 300+ companies means we've usually seen this scenario before — and can help your team pressure-test it with Force Multiplier™.
Accountability frameworks, meeting cadence, scorecard discipline — built with your team, not handed to them. The goal is structures that carry execution long after this engagement ends.
The founders who achieved the strongest exits didn't hire us to sell. They hired us because growth felt heavy. Getting the business structurally right is what made the exit possible — and valuable.
This is not a coaching program or a consulting retainer. We work alongside your leadership team, deploy Force Multiplier™, and build the systems that let the business grow beyond what any one person can carry.
We don't hand you a PDF and leave. We work inside the business with your people, build the infrastructure together, and stay until the systems hold under pressure.
The goal from day one is a business that runs without any single person — including us. When the work is done, we help hire a permanent replacement if the role needs filling.
High-performance companies require both structural rigor and leadership intelligence. One without the other creates a complexity ceiling. I install both.
The structural infrastructure. This is the "IQ" (Operations) of your business — the data architecture, automation, and technical systems that provide real-time clarity and a single source of truth.
The human intelligence. This is the "EQ" (Leadership) side of your business — equipping your team to lead, decide, and execute without the founder in the room.
Most AI consultants are building on sand. We spent 25 years in enterprise data — IBM, Cognos, Business Objects — before AI was a trend. Force Multiplier™ is the infrastructure deployed in every engagement: 16 leadership frameworks + 21 operational playbooks + AI implementation that works because the data foundation is right. Your judgment drives it. The system amplifies it.
Enterprise-grade data systems built alongside what you're already running — so AI works at maximum efficiency, not garbage in, garbage out.
300+ companies. 25 years of pattern recognition. Pressure-testing and prioritization alongside your team with real stakes.
A business that carries itself — and is worth significantly more because of the structure you built into it.
Most advisors see one function. I've served as CIO, Chief Strategy Officer, VP of Sales, and SVP of Client Success inside companies from $1M to $100M. I've seen where every decision leaks.
Reversed a –83 NPS to +7 for the Client Success organization of a $100M division within 12 months.
Hired to stabilize a leadership transition. Stayed to build the architecture. The company sold at increased valuation with every employee retained. The exit was the outcome of doing the work right — not the original goal.
Grew a stalled division from under $1M to more than $10M within 12 months by restructuring the commercial architecture, sales organization, and delivery systems.
"John played a pivotal role in transforming both me and my company. His guidance was absolutely critical to the successful sale of our business."
Darren York Former CEO, Dataline Systems"John translates complex ideas into actionable strategies that move teams forward. If you want to be challenged and grow, he is your guy."
Paul DeSmet President, Technical Micronics Control"John sees exactly what entrepreneurs must do to succeed and holds you accountable to it. His guidance helped me grow both my company and myself."
Caleb Breakey Founder & CEO, Renown PublishingYou want validation instead of challenge, prefer a shelf-ready PDF over embedded implementation, or expect quick fixes instead of structural change.
You lead a founder-driven company between $3M and $15M and want cleaner operations, stronger leadership alignment, and a business worth more — whether you're scaling it, stabilizing it, or eventually exiting.
I work with a small number of partners at a time. This isn't scarcity marketing — it's the bandwidth required to deeply integrate and unlock real value. If it's not the right fit, I'll say so.
The first step is not a long consulting engagement. It is a focused conversation to find where leadership, data, and execution are breaking down — and whether this is the right fit.
We look at the business, the leadership team, and the patterns creating drag: founder bottlenecks, decision velocity, execution inconsistency, data gaps, and leadership misalignment.
You get a clearer view of what is actually slowing the company down — not just the symptoms, but the real structural constraints.
If there's a fit, we structure the engagement. If there isn't, I'll tell you that too and point you toward what would actually help.
If we move forward, the first 90 days focus on clarifying priorities, pressure-testing key decisions, installing data clarity, and reducing execution drag. Results show up fast when the right things get fixed first.
Triwise Solutions provides Fractional COO services for founder-led companies between $3M and $15M in revenue.
Founded by John Hawkins — a Navy veteran, former firefighter and EMT, and executive operator who has served as CIO, Chief Strategy Officer, VP of Sales, and SVP Client Success — Triwise integrates into leadership teams as Fractional COO to install the data architecture, leadership frameworks, and Force Multiplier™ AI implementation system required to break through complexity ceilings.
Force Multiplier™ (fm.triwise.com) is the AI-assisted leadership and execution system deployed in every engagement: 16 proven leadership frameworks + 21 operational playbooks, built on 25 years of IBM/Cognos-level data architecture. It helps leaders pressure-test decisions, expose blind spots, and convert strategic thinking into structured implementation plans.
Work focuses on founder dependency, real-time operational clarity, leadership alignment, exit readiness, and the strategy-to-execution gap. Engagements are limited to a small number of partners at a time. Retainers begin at $10K/month.
We work alongside your leadership team — not above it, not around it. Not handing over a report. Not running weekly coaching calls. We're inside the business, building structure with your people, and accountable to the outcomes alongside you.
Neither. We embed as an operating executive and build the architecture with your team — data systems, leadership frameworks, and execution discipline. The goal is a business that carries itself long after this engagement ends.
No. The work is about protecting and structuring what you've already built — whether that means scaling it, stabilizing it, or eventually passing it on. Companies that go through that process often end up in a strong exit position, but that's the outcome of doing the structural work right, not the starting goal.
25 years of enterprise data architecture — the foundational layer most AI implementations skip. I don't just install AI tools. I fix the data infrastructure so they work at maximum efficiency. Most SMBs have dirty data. I clean the pipes first.
If growth is increasing complexity faster than your leadership systems are evolving — and you're still the load-bearing wall — it's worth a conversation.
Retainers begin at $10K/month. First, a direct conversation — no pitch, no pressure. We'll know together if it's the right fit.
At a certain stage, the issue is no longer effort — you've already proven that. It's whether the business can carry the growth you've created without everything routing back through you. That's the structural work. And it's worth doing before complexity starts eroding the value you've built.
One conversation. No pitch deck. We look at what you've built, where the structural gaps are, and whether working together makes sense — for both of us.
Small number of partnerships accepted per year · Retainers from $10K/month · 300+ companies
