Cadence 90: An Operating Reset
A 90-to-120-day engagement that gets the founder out of the administrative middle of their own company.
The real estate development companies, property management firms, and commercial businesses we work with have outgrown the way they run. The conditions vary. Some founders have become the routing layer for every decision in the business. Others are absorbing the fallout from an acquisition that never fully integrated, covering a seat left empty by a key leader’s departure, stretching thin across a new market launch, or watching margins flatten while revenue climbs. The thread connecting all of them is the same: the principal is buried in operational work while the activities that actually grow the business get deferred, delegated poorly, or dropped.
Cadence 90 is how we fix that. It starts with an operational assessment of how the firm actually runs, then moves into design and implementation of the infrastructure the business needs so the principal can get back to deals, capital, and the relationships that move the company forward.
By the end of the engagement, decisions flow without the founder in the middle of every one. The team runs against clear roles, accountability, and operating rhythm. The founder’s calendar reflects the work they started the company to do.
For founders who need operational leadership beyond the initial engagement, Cadence 90 can lead into a fractional COO arrangement.
Four phases. One sequence.
Every engagement follows four phases. The sequence is fixed. The emphasis inside each phase is shaped by what we find, not what we assumed walking in.
Phase 1 — Weeks 1 through 4
Discovery
In the first four weeks, we learn how your firm actually runs. Not how you think it runs. Not how the org chart says it runs. How it runs today, under real conditions, with real people making real decisions.
We spend time with you. We spend time with your team. We sit in your meetings, review your financials, map your workflows, and compare what you see from the top with what your people experience day to day. That gap is almost always there. Finding it is the point.
Discovery starts with a single question: where is time going that it should not be? Everything else branches from the answer.
By the end of Discovery, you have an Operational Assessment. This is a working document, not a slide deck. It tells you what is working and should be preserved, what is broken or missing, and what is costing you the most in time, money, and missed opportunity. It includes a current-state picture of the organization, a directional view of where the structure needs to go, and three to five priority recommendations for the next phase. If the engagement direction shifted from where we started, the Assessment explains why.
Discovery produces actionable intelligence by day 14, and something live by Day 30.
Phase 2 — Weeks 5 through 8
Design
Design is where findings become a plan. We build the operational roadmap with you, not for you. This is your business. The plan only works if you help shape it.
We define what the firm’s infrastructure should look like: structure adjustments, process changes, accountability systems, financial controls, technology decisions, and hiring needs if they exist. We prioritize by impact, starting with what frees the most of your time, reduces the most cost, or closes the most critical gap first.
The deliverable is a sequenced, practical roadmap with clear priorities, resource requirements, and timelines. It is a working document. You review it, pressure-test it, and agree to it before we build anything. And we both understand going in that the plan will evolve. Field conditions and team dynamics will require adjustments as we move from paper to execution. The roadmap sets direction. It does not lock us into a rigid path.
Phase 3 — Weeks 9 through 16
Build
This is where the plan becomes real. We stand up the systems, put the processes in place, coach the people who will own them, and work alongside your team through implementation.
Build is not advisory. It is hands-on execution. What looks right on paper does not always work in practice, and we adjust as we go. Processes get refined. Timelines shift. Priorities may reorder based on what the team encounters during execution. That is expected. The goal is infrastructure that works under real conditions, not a plan that was followed perfectly but does not hold up.
This is the phase where you start to feel the operational weight shift. Decisions that used to require you start flowing through the systems and people we built together. Your calendar starts to open. Time consumed by internal operations starts returning to the work that grows the business.
The deliverable is not a binder of recommendations. It is an operating firm: systems in place, people trained and accountable, and you measurably spending more time on revenue-producing work.
Phase 4
Transition
The firm is running on the infrastructure we built together. The team is executing against clear roles, processes, and accountability structures. You are operating closer to the capacity you intended when you started the business.
At this point, you decide what comes next.
The engagement works because you are in it.
We are not running a process on your company from the outside. We are building something together. That requires your time, your access, and your honesty about what is working and what is not.
During Discovery, we need the following from you and your team:
Founder assessment. Before we interview anyone on your team, we need your picture of the business: where your time is going, where you want it to go, what you trust in your reporting, and what you wish you could see.
Leadership interviews. We talk to three to eight of your key leaders and operators, scaled to the size of your firm. These conversations happen without you in the room. Individual content stays confidential. Findings are presented in aggregate by theme.
Meeting observations. We sit in two to five of your regular meetings, leadership and delivery, to see how decisions actually get made, where they stall, and what happens after the meeting ends.
Core data set. Org chart, pipeline or WIP report, margin by entity or project, your last 90 days of calendar data, and your current reporting package. Missing data is itself a finding. We work with what exists.
Your time commitment during Discovery is concentrated in the first two weeks and tapering from there. Through Design and Build, your involvement decreases as the team takes on more of the operational load. The goal is to reduce the weight on you, not add to it.
The deliverables:
An Operational Assessment that tells you what is working, what is broken, and what to fix first. Built to be used, not filed.
An operational roadmap with sequenced priorities, resource requirements, and timelines you approved before we started building.
Working systems your team can run after we step back. Meeting rhythm, accountability structures, decision flow, escalation paths, and financial controls that function without you at the center.
A team that knows what they own, what they are accountable for, and how to operate with more independence than they had before.
Baseline measurements taken during Discovery and tracked through Build so you can see the impact in your calendar, your margin, and how your day feels.
What the commitment looks like
The engagement
Cadence 90 runs 90 to 120 days across all four phases. Discovery and Build are the most intensive phases. Design and Transition require focused but fewer hours.
Your time
Heaviest in Weeks 1 and 2, tapering through Build as the systems take hold and your team carries more. Your team: intermittent during Discovery and Build
Four paths forward:
When the engagement concludes, there are four paths forward. We do not push for a specific outcome. The next step should feel obvious to both sides.
Conclude the engagement
The systems are in place, the team is running, and you no longer need external support.
Advisory retainer
Periodic check-ins, strategic counsel, and accountability on the systems we built together.
Fractional COO
Operational leadership at a level of involvement that fits your size and needs.
Embedded leadership
At the principal’s request, we discuss a formal role if a permanent leadership presence is needed.
Every engagement begins with a direct conversation.
No pitch, no proposal, no commitment. We talk about where your firm stands, what is costing you the most, and whether this is the right time for the work.