Fractional COO + AI Capability
Helping small businesses unlock their bottom line — and grow faster with AI.
Unleashing Flow works with owner-operated businesses doing $2M to $20M. We find what's slowing your operation down, fix it, and build the AI tools that compound the result — without hiring a $200K full-time COO.
A note from Elliott
I spent twenty years running operations inside organizations much bigger than yours — the Pentagon, Morgan Stanley, healthcare, pharma, a telehealth division I built from scratch. I'm now working with small businesses for one reason: they have the same operational problems as a billion-dollar enterprise, but the leaks are visible, the fixes pay back faster, and the owner is in the room when the decision gets made.
Most of what's costing your business money isn't visible until someone looks carefully. That's the work. I find it, quantify it, and use AI as the leverage that lets one senior operator serve a $5M business at a fraction of what a full-time hire would cost.
Elliott English Founder, Unleashing FlowHow we start
Four ways to begin
You don't sign up for a long engagement. You buy a first piece of work — fixed scope, fixed timeline — and decide what's next from there. Most produce direct ROI you can measure inside a few weeks.
Bespoke App
You need a specific tool built.
Production planner, intake form, supplier portal, custom workflow — software designed for the exact way your operation actually runs.
4–12 week project
Dashboard
You need to see your business clearly.
Margin by SKU, throughput by hour, capacity by shift. The view of your operation you should already have but probably don't.
2–6 week project
Throughput Diagnostic
You know something is leaking but can't tell what.
We find the one binding constraint in your operation, quantify the annual leak, and tell you specifically what to change first.
2 weeks, written report
AI Capability Audit
You want to understand what AI can actually do.
A structured review of where AI would produce real ROI in your business — and where it wouldn't — before you spend a dollar.
2 weeks, written report
After the first piece of work
Two ways we work together long-term
You're not asked to commit to either upfront. The first engagement earns the right to propose the second.
Throughput Cycle
Recurring quarterly diagnostic plus a monthly cadence call. We keep finding the next constraint as the business grows — because the constraint always moves.
- Quarterly mini-diagnostic
- Monthly operating cadence call
- Async access between sessions
- 12-month minimum, renewing
Fractional COO Retainer
Senior operational leadership embedded into your business 15–40 hours per month. Strategic execution, operational improvement, AI tooling — without a $200K hire.
- Advisory, Operating, or Embedded tier
- Monthly P&L and pipeline review
- Hiring oversight for key roles
- AI tools built alongside the relationship
Honest fit
Who this is for
The wrong fit hurts both of us. So we name it sharply.
You're a fit if
- You're the owner-CEO of a business doing $2M to $20M
- You're working too many hours and most decisions still flow through you
- You believe AI is real but you're skeptical of the people selling it
- You want senior operational counsel, not another vendor
You're probably not a fit if
- You need a full-time C-suite hire on the leadership team
- You're looking for an AI vendor selling a product
- Your business is pre-revenue or experimental
A thirty-minute discovery call.
Free, no pitch. I want to understand what you're trying to fix; you want to know whether I'm the right person for it. If we're a fit, we'll scope a first engagement that produces something measurable in 4–6 weeks. If we're not, I'll usually be able to point you toward someone who is.
Book a call