When the next stage needs an operator, not another plan.
Sydney-based · Supporting startups and scaleups across Australia and New Zealand
I help founders and leadership teams remove operating friction, unblock execution, and reduce the work that keeps returning to the founder. The work is hands-on: I agree the mandate with you, take responsibility for implementation, and leave the team with clearer decisions, reliable information, and practical ways of working.
Founder and operating experience.
These organisations reflect my founder and operating experience.
B2B SaaS file-transfer platform. Commercial and operating leadership across go-to-market, revenue operations, customer success, partnerships, and compliance.
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Cloud data-migration platform. Commercial and operating leadership across product positioning, partner development, and delivery coordination.
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Operational software for hospitality teams, connecting uniform stock, staff handovers, laundry movement, and reporting.
Visit websiteThese are organisations I have founded or worked with. They are not C2 client engagements or paid endorsements.
When coordination starts to cost the business.
Growth adds hand-offs, decisions, exceptions, and more information to manage. When ownership is unclear, reporting arrives too late, or every difficult issue returns to the founder, the business slows down. I make the work visible, assign clear responsibility, and build a reliable rhythm for decisions and delivery.
Too much returns to the founder
Decisions, exceptions, and context still sit with one person. The team waits for clarification, work pauses, and the founder becomes the route through every important issue.
Important work has stalled
The business has capable people, but priorities are competing, ownership is unclear, and follow-through depends on someone repeatedly chasing it. Critical projects lose momentum between meetings.
Routine work consumes too much time
Information is copied between tools, routine work is rebuilt by hand, and reporting takes too long to assemble. Leaders need useful data and clearer signals before they can make confident decisions.
Fractional leadership, founder advisory, and practical systems.
Fractional leadership, founder advisory, operating readiness, data and insights, and workflow systems for founders and leadership teams. Available on site in Sydney and remotely across Australia and New Zealand.
Fractional COO & Chief of Staff
Senior operating leadership for founders who need the company to run without them holding it together.
Embedded operating leadership for growing companies. The engagement takes a COO shape where the constraint is company-wide operations, and a Chief of Staff shape when the founder's attention is the constraint. Either way, the mandate, decision rights, and implementation responsibilities are agreed upfront. Available as a defined project, hourly support, or an ongoing retainer.
- ★Operating model design and execution rhythm
- ★Decision rights and accountability systems
- ★Executive leverage, synthesis, and follow-through
Founder Advisory & Strategic Projects
Senior judgement and practical support for decisions with long consequences.
Focused support for founders with a decision, transition, or project that needs senior operational judgement. Commercial model, pricing, partner development, launch coordination, operational hires, and investor diligence all start from how the business actually runs. Available as standing advisory, a defined project, or hands-on transition support.
- ★Commercial model, pricing, and margin
- ★Go-to-market and partner development
- ★Operational hiring and launch coordination
Operating Model & Scale Readiness
A focused operating reset for companies preparing for their next stage of growth.
Flexible support for founders and leadership teams preparing for growth, investor diligence, significant hiring, customer assurance, or a major operating change. I clarify accountabilities, handoffs, data capture, and decision rhythm, then create a practical 90-day plan the team can execute. Available as a defined project, hourly support, or an ongoing retainer.
- ★Operating model, decision rights, and accountability design
- ★Leadership cadence, OKRs, and quarterly planning
- ★Data capture, KPI definitions, and management reporting
AI & Workflow Systems
Lean automation and internal systems that remove manual operating drag without adding another layer of complexity.
For teams losing time to manual process, fragmented tools, and repeated administrative work. C2 maps the operating workflow first, then implements the smallest useful system, from connected SaaS and AI-assisted automation through to a dedicated internal workspace. Available as a defined project, hourly support, or an ongoing optimisation retainer.
- ★Workflow design and process automation
- ★AI-assisted internal operations and knowledge
- ★CRM, document, and system integration
Engagement Model
Engagements are shaped around the work, not a fixed format. Defined projects set deliverables, dependencies, acceptance criteria, and an end point. Hourly support suits bounded advice or execution. Ongoing retainers set available capacity, priorities, decision rights, cadence, and a review point.
The first conversation focuses on the constraint, the outcome needed, and the engagement shape that fits.
Articles for founders who want the business to keep moving as it grows.
What Investors Actually Check in Diligence
Diligence rarely fails on the pitch. It fails on whether the business can evidence how it runs. What gets checked, and where founders get caught.
What Automation Costs You When You Use AI Instead
Using a model for work a rule could do has four costs, and the invoice is the smallest of them.
Your First Operational Hires, and the Order to Make Them
The first few operational hires set the shape of the company for years. How to decide what to hire, and in what order.
Automation Is Not AI: Where the Boundary Sits in a Small Business
Automation follows rules you write. AI produces judgement you did not write. The difference determines what you can rely on.
Frequently asked questions
What is a fractional COO?
A fractional COO is a senior operating leader engaged part-time to build and run the systems a company needs to scale: planning cadence, decision rights, accountability, and cross-functional delivery. The work is the same as a full-time COO's; the commitment is a defined number of days rather than a permanent seat.
How is your fractional COO work different from advisory support?
Advisory and consulting can take different forms. My fractional COO work is an operating role: the mandate, decision rights, and implementation responsibilities are agreed upfront, and I work alongside the leadership team until the agreed practices are in use.
What size company do you work with?
I usually work with founder-led businesses that are gaining traction, adding people, or approaching a defined growth milestone. The right fit depends more on the operating constraint and need for senior ownership than on a funding stage or headcount.
Where are you based?
Sydney, working with startups and scaleups across Australia and New Zealand. I am available on site in Sydney and remotely elsewhere.
How do engagements start?
With a conversation about the operating constraint, the outcome needed, and any deadline. From there the work can be shaped as a defined project, hourly advisory or execution support, or an ongoing retainer, with scope agreed before work begins.
Practical operating support.
I work with businesses at the point where capable people are working hard but decisions, hand-offs, and priorities are no longer moving cleanly. I make the work visible, clarify ownership, and focus attention on the decisions that matter.
The work is hands-on. I agree the mandate, priorities, and decision rights, then work alongside the team to put the changes into practice.
The C2 name draws on the military concept of Command and Control: clear communication, disciplined execution, and decisive leadership.
Jayden Bartram
Jayden has 12 years of leadership experience across military service, B2B SaaS, and startup environments. His service includes two Regular Force engagements and Reserve Force service, alongside civilian and company roles.
He is the founder of C2 Consulting and co-founded Couchdrop, where he held CEO and COO roles. His work has included go-to-market, revenue operations, customer success, partnerships, compliance, and cross-functional delivery.
His approach combines direct operating support with lean systems, useful data, clear accountability, and an operating rhythm that can continue without founder intervention.
LinkedIn ProfilePractical support that holds.
Clear accountability, useful data, and senior operating support for founders and leadership teams navigating growth.
Start with what is getting in the way.
Every engagement begins with a focused conversation about the constraint. I determine whether a defined project, hourly support, or an ongoing retainer is the right fit, then agree the priorities, decision rights, and practical next steps.