Tian!

Chief of Staff.

The thinking and the doing.

The role with no job description. I do whatever the founder needs that day, then I do it again tomorrow. Embedded with your team, helping the work move and the org not fall apart while it grows.

Tell me what you're building or just scroll, no pressure ↓
embedded 10–20 hrs/wk
this is the role I keep getting hired for, even when it's called something else.~ ~ ~
this is for you if

Any of these sound familiar.

if you nodded at two of those, we should probably talk.
what I actually do

Show up. Write the doc. Run the meeting.

I become part of your team. Same slack, same standup, same email thread you'd loop a real coworker into. I own work end to end, not just advise on it.

Some weeks that means rewriting the hiring loop and sitting in on first-round interviews. Other weeks it's drafting the board update, running planning, or writing the email no one wants to send.

Strategy that doesn't ship is just decoration.

I'm allergic to deck theater. The work I do shows up as things in the world: docs people actually read, meetings that end with decisions, hires that close, plans the team can repeat back to you next quarter.

If a fractional CoS leaves your org running smoother than they found it, they did the job. If they leave behind a 30-slide deck, they didn't.

p.s. — I'd rather embed than advise. I get bored writing recs nobody runs.
what month one looks like

An honest first month.

week 1
Listen. Read everything. Take no actions yet.
Sit in on the meetings that already exist. Read the planning docs, OKRs, last three board updates. One-on-ones with anyone who matters. I'm forming a real model of how the place actually works, not how the org chart says it does.
week 2
Find the two or three things that matter most.
Bring you a short doc: what's loud, what's quiet but bleeding, what's working. We agree on what I'll own in the next 30 days. No grand 90-day plans yet, just the next thirty.
weeks 3 to 4
Start doing the work.
Plus the boring-but-load-bearing stuff: a real weekly cadence, an actually-useful planning rhythm, someone (me) chasing decisions to closure. The kind of work that doesn't get celebrated but everyone notices when it's gone.
end of month one
You feel lighter.
If it's working, you'll know. The drowning feeling drops a foot. Things you put off for weeks are suddenly closed. The team is moving in the same direction. If it's not working, we talk about it openly. No drama.
also: I will read your slack. all of it. you cannot prevent this.
three shapes

Pick what fits.

Nothing here is precious. We can switch shapes mid-engagement when the work changes.

i.

Embedded.

I become part of your team. 10 to 20 hours a week. Same meetings as everyone else. Real work, not just advice.

monthly retainer · 3 month minimum
ii.

Sprint.

A specific thing by a specific date. Quarterly planning. A hiring push. An org redesign. Defined scope. Then we're done.

flat fee · 4 to 12 weeks
iii.

Sounding board.

You've got most of it figured out. You just want someone senior to pressure test it. Audit or recurring advisor calls.

hourly or fixed-scope audit
on pricing

We talk first.

I don't list rates here because every engagement is shaped differently. A founder drowning in customer ops needs a different shape than a 15-person team that needs a planning cycle.

What I'll tell you on a call: rates are fair for senior work. No agency markup. No premium-priced-because-I-can posturing. If it doesn't feel right for either of us, we don't do it.

So how do we start?

A 30 minute call. Tell me where you are, what's loud, what's broken, what's already working. I'll tell you whether I think I can help.

grab time with me →
or peek at Marketing Lead & Project work