Coordinated Executive Coverage
Give Every Function An Owner.
Then Build It To Last.
What we build has to keep working after we leave.
ExecPods places coordinated groups of proven operators into the functions that currently have no owner. One engagement, several seats, working as a unit against one set of outcomes. Active in 7 to 14 business days.
Capabilities Shaped By Your Plan
We do not sell a pre-packaged menu of roles. Every engagement begins with an assessment of your targets, your timelines, and your current constraints. Whether the plan needs financial architecture, operational scale, revenue engines, technology infrastructure, or organizational design, the exact combination emerges as a finding from the diagnostic rather than a checkbox selection.
The Difference
Outcomes, Owned And Measured
Built Around The Outcome
We do not start with a title. We start with your deadline. The starting point is your target date, your milestones, and the operational functions that have to perform for that plan to hold. Every critical function gets a clear owner and a measurable target they own from day one.
Coordinated, Not Solo
Growth-stage bottlenecks do not stay neatly inside an org chart. A pipeline stall is usually a pricing crisis and a capacity wall wrapped into one. Our operators work as a single synchronized unit, solving cross-functional problems so the integration work does not land back on your plate.
Built To Run Without Us
Systems get installed, your internal team gets upskilled, and full ownership transfers back to your people. We are not here to stay forever. When we step away, your business runs independently, sustainably, and stronger than we found it.
The Moment
The business has moved faster than the leadership structure around it.
- A target mattersThe business has something important to achieve.
- The clock is runningA deadline, milestone, transaction, or operating plan is already in motion.
- Ownership is unevenCritical work is unowned, under-led, or spread across people who already have full-time jobs.
- The CEO is still the integration layerCross-functional issues keep routing back to the top.
The Pod
Example configuration
Capabilities available as needed
The assessment determines the configuration. Sometimes one operator is enough. Sometimes several functions need to move together.
Hand It Back Stronger
The leadership structure has caught up, and it holds after we leave.
- Clear OwnershipEach critical function has an owner and a number.
- Stronger LeadersYour internal team is more capable and more ready.
- Systems That HoldCadence, playbooks, and accountability stay behind.
- Less CEO DependencyThe company no longer needs the founder as the integration layer.
- 1AssessFind the gaps
- 2Execute, Coach & BuildOwn the work. Strengthen the team.
- 3Hand Back StrongerTransfer ownership
Three Shapes An Engagement Takes
Shapes, not packages. What is actually staffed comes out of the assessment, and sometimes the finding is that no engagement is warranted.
Growth
Organic growth has flattened, and the next stage requires infrastructure the current team has not built before.
Potential Pod
CRO, CFO, COO
Exit Readiness
A raise, sale, or recapitalization is 18 to 36 months out, and the asset will not read the way the plan assumes under outside examination.
Potential Pod
CFO, COO, CRO
Post-Acquisition
The first 100 days under new ownership, where performance milestones started on day one.
Potential Pod
CEO or COO, CFO
The Engagement
How An Engagement Runs
Three phases. The first one is capable of ending the conversation, and sometimes should.
01
Window set at kickoff
Assess
We spend that time with your leadership team and your systems of record, and come out with a short list: the functions the plan depends on over the next four quarters, who owns each one today, what number each owner is accountable to, and where those three do not line up. Where there is a gap, we say whether it needs a full-time hire, an operator, or a decision nobody has made yet.
Output
An ownership map, the gaps ranked against your stated goal and date, and a recommendation per gap. A working session and one page, not a bound report.
02
Months 2 to 6
Execute, Coach & Build
Three things at once, not in sequence. Operators hold the functions and do the work. They coach the leaders already in seat, because most of them are excellent at the first version of their job and this is the second. And they build the systems, playbooks and operating cadence that stay behind. Twelve-week cycles with a weekly accountability rhythm, reviewed against what happened rather than against intent.
Output
The functions the plan depends on have an owner, a number, and a rhythm that holds without the founder inside it. The people who were already there are better at their jobs than when we arrived.
03
On completion
Operational Independence
Internal teams are trained to run what was installed, and ownership transfers. Access is revoked, working copies are destroyed, and you receive everything built during the engagement, confirmed in writing.
Output
A company that no longer needs us, which is the only outcome that counts as finished.
The Bench
Who Does The Work
Every operator has run the function at the scale you are at now, not one they read about. Each has a verified track record in that function, completes a structured assessment, and works a paid trial engagement before being placed with a client.
Michelle Gordon
Chief Executive Officer
Strategic people leader who helps high-growth and venture-backed companies build the leadership teams and organizational foundation required to scale.
Works with founders and executive teams on leadership, organizational effectiveness, and aligning people strategy with business goals.
Bob Allan
Chief Operating Officer
Former AWS and Dell EMC operations leader who has scaled teams, systems and customer operations across enterprise and growth-stage environments.
Ran operations across 80+ clients and 200+ campaigns, improving cycle time 27% and reducing defects 40%.
Jimmy Sung
Chief Financial Officer
Leader in finance and accounting with 16+ years of experience, including 10+ years in high-growth VC and PE backed SaaS, services, and technology startups.
Took an automotive membership network to an M&A exit at a 20x+ EBITDA multiple, growing revenue 20%+ and EBITDA 15%+.
Don Steinert
Chief Technology Officer
Three-time startup CTO who has built engineering teams and platforms from greenfield through acquisition, following a decade in financial products at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
Led engineering for a HIPAA-compliant clinical platform serving more than 100,000 patients, and built the team that ran it.
Brian Tripp
Co-Founder And CRO
Former Capgemini enterprise technology sales and marketing leader with 20+ years of experience, including more than 10 years building revenue from zero inside VC-backed and founder-led startups.
Builds the processes, playbooks, and teams that turn founder-led selling into a predictable, profitable revenue engine.
Named operator backgrounds, with the outcome each is known for and a person who will confirm it, are available on request. If the fit is wrong once an operator is placed, we replace them.
What ExecPods Is Not
The category is crowded with things we are not, so it is worth being specific about which ones.
- Not Executive Search
- We do not take the permanent seat. If a retained search is running, keep it running. The question is only who owns the function between now and the start date.
- Not Solo Fractional Leadership
- A pipeline problem is usually also a pricing problem and a capacity problem. One operator cannot resolve a cross-functional issue from inside one function.
- Not Consulting Or Advisory
- The operator owns the work, makes decisions inside the agreed mandate, and runs the operating rhythm. We are not paid to produce a report and leave.
- Not Always A Pod
- Sometimes the right answer is one operator. Sometimes it is a permanent hire, a decision nobody has made yet, or no ExecPods engagement at all. The assessment is allowed to conclude that, and does.
Next Step
Start A Conversation
A working session to establish the target, the deadline, and the specific constraint between the two. No deck. If a pod is not the right answer for where the business is, we will say so.