Most $5M–$50M founder-led companies hit the same wall. Growth creates complexity faster than leadership systems can handle it. The founder becomes the load-bearing wall — and everything slows down.
Embedded Operating Partner · Interim COO/CSO · Force Multiplier OS™
I integrate into your leadership team and install the data systems and operating architecture that make the business run — whether the goal is scale, stability, or a premium exit.
Former CIO · CSO · VP Sales · SVP Client Success | 300+ companies
Interim COO/CSO. I integrate — I don't just advise.
Data architecture + leadership frameworks. Installed, not suggested.
Limited capacity. Deep integration. Maximum impact.
Growth creates complexity. But most companies never install the leadership systems needed to manage it — and the founder keeps absorbing the weight.
You make the call, but weeks later you're still repeating it.
Execution slows because too many decisions still flow through one person.
Standards blur, accountability weakens, and the same problems keep resurfacing.
Most founder-led companies between $5M and $50M in revenue run into the same issues long before they know how to name them.
The business moves when you're involved and stalls when you're not. A buyer won't pay a premium for a company that stops working when the founder leaves.
You have accounting — looking backward. You don't have analytics — looking forward. Decisions get made on instinct instead of clarity.
The vision exists. The execution disappears into daily firefighting. A 40-page consulting PDF won't fix it — embedded implementation will.
80% of businesses put on the market fail to sell. The operational chaos that's invisible day-to-day becomes expensive the moment a sophisticated buyer looks inside.
The goal is not to step away from the business. It is to build one that doesn't require you to rescue it.
The business moves faster when you are involved and slower when you are not. That is not a motivation problem. That is a structural one — and it has a structural fix.
"None of this means you've failed as a leader. It means the company now needs better judgment across the team, cleaner data, and systems that carry execution without you rescuing it every time."
These are the patterns that quietly cap growth long before most founders recognize what's happening.
Decisions flow upward. Execution slows. The team waits.
Everything becomes important, so execution fragments and real progress slows.
Strategy exists, but discipline fades and issues repeat.
Revenue is there. But growth created complexity faster than the leadership team matured. Everything still routes back to you. You're the bottleneck — and you know it.
You've built something real over 20–30 years. You want to protect it — the employees, the value, and your exit. You need the business structurally ready before a buyer ever looks inside.
You're managing a leadership handoff — to a son, a daughter, or a new CEO. High stakes, high friction. You need someone who's navigated this before and kept the business intact through the transition.
A consultant hands you a PDF. A coach asks how you feel about it. An Embedded Operating Partner installs the systems and stays until they hold.
25 years of enterprise data architecture — IBM, Cognos, Business Objects — applied to your $5M–$50M company. Most AI fails because the data feeding it is dirty. I fix the nervous system first so the brain actually works.
High-stakes decisions get stress-tested before they become expensive. Pattern recognition from 300+ companies means I've usually seen this movie before.
Accountability frameworks, meeting cadence, scorecard discipline. The structures that carry execution after I'm gone — including hiring my own full-time replacement.
The companies I've worked with that achieved the strongest exits didn't hire me to sell. They hired me because growth felt heavy. The exit was the outcome of getting the business structurally right.
This is not a coaching program or a consulting retainer. I integrate into your leadership team as Interim COO or CSO, install the Force Multiplier OS™, and build the systems that make the business run without you at the center of everything.
Deep integration into your leadership team as Interim COO or CSO. I don't hand you a PDF — I build the infrastructure and stay until it holds.
Includes Force Multiplier OS™
Most AI consultants are building on sand. I spent 25 years in enterprise data — IBM, Cognos, Business Objects — before AI was a trend. The Force Multiplier OS™ is the infrastructure I leave behind in every engagement.
Enterprise-grade data systems that feed AI at maximum efficiency — not garbage in, garbage out.
300+ companies. 25 years of pattern recognition. Pressure-testing and prioritization with real stakes.
A business that runs without the founder at the center — and is worth significantly more because of it.
Most advisors see one function. I've served as CIO, Chief Strategy Officer, VP of Sales, and SVP of Client Success inside companies from $1M to $100M. I've seen where every decision leaks.
Reversed a –83 NPS to +7 for the Client Success organization of a $100M division within 12 months.
Hired to stabilize a leadership transition. Stayed to build the architecture. The company sold at increased valuation with every employee retained. The exit was the outcome of doing the work right — not the original goal.
Grew a stalled division from under $1M to more than $10M within 12 months by restructuring the commercial architecture, sales organization, and delivery systems.
"John played a pivotal role in transforming both me and my company. His guidance was absolutely critical to the successful sale of our business."
Darren York Former CEO, Dataline Systems"John translates complex ideas into actionable strategies that move teams forward. If you want to be challenged and grow, he is your guy."
Paul DeSmet President, Technical Micronics Control"John sees exactly what entrepreneurs must do to succeed and holds you accountable to it. His guidance helped me grow both my company and myself."
Caleb Breakey Founder & CEO, Renown PublishingYou want validation instead of challenge, prefer a shelf-ready PDF over embedded implementation, or expect quick fixes instead of structural change.
You lead a founder-driven company between $5M and $50M and want cleaner operations, stronger leadership alignment, and a business worth more — whether you're scaling it, stabilizing it, or eventually exiting.
I accept 2–3 embedded partnerships per year. This isn't scarcity marketing — it's the bandwidth required to deeply integrate and unlock real value. If it's not the right fit, I'll say so.
The first step is not a long consulting engagement. It is a focused conversation to find where leadership, data, and execution are breaking down — and whether this is the right fit.
We look at the business, the leadership team, and the patterns creating drag: founder bottlenecks, decision velocity, execution inconsistency, data gaps, and leadership misalignment.
You get a clearer view of what is actually slowing the company down — not just the symptoms, but the real structural constraints.
If there's a fit, we structure the engagement. If there isn't, I'll tell you that too and point you toward what would actually help.
If we move forward, the first 90 days focus on clarifying priorities, pressure-testing key decisions, installing data clarity, and reducing execution drag. Results show up fast when the right things get fixed first.
Triwise Solutions provides Embedded Operating Partner services for founder-led companies between $5M and $50M in revenue.
Founded by John Hawkins — former CIO, Chief Strategy Officer, VP of Sales, and SVP of Client Success — Triwise integrates into leadership teams as Interim COO or CSO to install the data architecture, leadership frameworks, and execution systems required to break through complexity ceilings.
The Force Multiplier OS™ is the proprietary system installed in every engagement: enterprise-grade data infrastructure (built on 25 years of IBM/Cognos-level architecture) combined with proven leadership frameworks across 300+ companies.
Work focuses on founder dependency, real-time operational clarity, leadership alignment, exit readiness, and the strategy-to-execution gap. Engagements are limited to 2–3 per year. Retainers begin at $10K/month.
I integrate into your leadership team as Interim COO or CSO. Not a consultant handing over a report. Not a coach running weekly calls. I'm in the business, installing the systems, and accountable to the outcomes.
Neither. I embed as an operating executive and install the architecture: data systems, leadership frameworks, and execution discipline. The goal is a business that runs without me — including hiring my own replacement.
No. The work is about building a structurally sound, operationally clear business. Companies that go through that process often end up in a strong exit position — whether that was the original goal or not.
25 years of enterprise data architecture — the foundational layer most AI implementations skip. I don't just install AI tools. I fix the data infrastructure so they work at maximum efficiency. Most SMBs have dirty data. I clean the pipes first.
If growth is increasing complexity faster than your leadership systems are evolving — and you're still the load-bearing wall — it's worth a conversation.
Embedded partnerships begin at $10K/month. Deeper architectural engagements at $15K/month. Success fees apply for exit and EBITDA growth outcomes. A conversation happens first — before any of that matters.
At a certain stage, the issue is no longer effort. It is whether the company can build cleaner data, stronger leadership, and better systems before complexity starts eroding speed, margins, and valuation.
One conversation. No pitch deck. We look at the business, find the structural constraints, and decide together whether it's the right fit.
2–3 partnerships accepted per year · Retainers from $10K/month · 300+ companies
