Operator first. Builder second. Both sides matter.
I run stuck programmes for boards and exec teams. The fractional / interim work is the day job. PhoenixForge, PhoenixOS, GoSnag and SchoolLife AI are mine — they exist to keep my hands on the same problems I advise on.
The short version
I came up through technology and security leadership across financial services, regulated infrastructure, and venture-backed product orgs. I have run platform teams, security functions, product portfolios, and IT estates. The mandates that sit best with me are the ones where someone has to make hard calls under a deadline and stay through to handover.
I am UK-based, working remote out of London. I do not run a bench, an offshore team, or a delivery practice. The engagement is me. When I need to bring people in, I am open about it on day one and I bring people I have shipped with before.
Most operators in this lane only advise. I keep building, deliberately. PhoenixForge ships WordPress plugins to paying customers. PhoenixOS is the platform underneath that and a handful of other products. The reason matters — it is hard to advise a CTO on platform decisions if your last hands-on role was a decade ago. I run a roadmap, a P&L and an oncall pager so my counsel stays defensible.
How I work in practice
Not a methodology, more a set of operating habits that have held up across every engagement shape.
- Written outcome before any work. If we cannot agree the outcome on a single page in the first 30 days, the engagement is wrong-shaped and I will say so.
- Weekly written update. One page. What shipped, what is at risk, what call I need from you. No status meetings to fill the slot.
- Hard calls flagged early. Vendor swaps, hires, scope cuts, exec moves. The board has time to absorb them when they land in month one, not month three.
- Permanent owner from day one. The handover person is identified, recruited or promoted in parallel with the work. I leave clean.
- No stretch contracts. If the outcome is hit early I leave early. If it is not, we have an honest conversation about why, not an extension.
What I am not
- Not a consulting firm. No deck factory, no associate pyramid, no methodology to license.
- Not a recruiter. I will help you find the permanent CxO and stay until they land — but I am not the person to run the search.
- Not a body shop. I do not staff engineers or analysts.
- Not a training programme. I will write the runbooks; I am not in the business of corporate workshops.
Bring the stuck programme.
Thirty minutes is enough to know if I can help. If I cannot, I will say so on the call and tell you who probably can.