Two operators who stay until the system runs

Operating by Design designs and implements the management systems that turn strategy into consistent execution: priorities, goals and OKRs, KPIs and dashboards, ownership, meeting cadence and business reviews. We work with the team until the system is in use. We are not a strategy consultancy that leaves a deck, an HR consultancy or a software vendor.

Founder-led companies, growing SMEs and scale-ups, typically with 20 to 300 people, in Portugal and across Europe. We work with founders, CEOs, COOs and leadership teams facing a founder bottleneck, unclear priorities, weak accountability or a plan that does not turn into execution.

A traditional consultancy recommends; we implement with your team. An interim manager runs the business for a period; we build the system so your own leaders can run it. The same two co-founders you meet at the start do the work, with a fixed scope and a fixed price.

Every engagement starts with a conversation and a written proposal that states the problem, deliverables, timeline and fixed price. We do not publish a rate card and we do not sell hours. The Operating Assessment is a short project with its own scope and price, agreed before it starts.

No. Client names stay confidential by default, and we do not publish a logo wall or named case studies. Where anonymised examples are useful, they only appear with explicit approval.

Request an Operating Assessment through the form, or write to the email shown in the footer. The first conversation is free and without obligation. We reply with an honest read on whether we can help, what we would look at first and what the work would take. If there is a fit, you receive a written proposal before anything is signed.