Blind spots
You’re worried you’re missing something crucial.
Growing faster than your foundations?
Creative Grid embeds senior operations leadership inside creative and cultural businesses - so the chaos of growth gets a direction, and you get back to the work only you can do.
Sound familiar?
You built something that works. Now it’s growing, and somewhere along the way the business started running you. It usually sounds like this:
The data hunt
The data you need for a decision is never where you need it.
System sprawl
Your systems have multiplied, and you suspect you’re overpaying for half of them.
The bottleneck
Too many decisions still have to go through you.
Process fog
Processes exist, but people keep asking you what they are.
The next change
You can feel that growth, a pivot or a new offer is going to hurt.
None of this means anything is wrong with your business. It means your business has outgrown its foundations. That’s a good problem, and it’s one we love to fix.
Not a consultant. Not a heavy hire.
A full-time COO
A heavyweight salary on your P&L before you’re ready, and 3–6 months to hire.
A consultant
A deck, an invoice, and a disappearing act before the hard part starts.
Creative Grid
An experienced operator, embedded in your business, accountable for outcomes.
How I help
Fractional COO
Senior operations leadership inside your business, without the weight of a full-time hire. I take ownership of the operating engine - finance operations, governance, people, delivery and systems - so problems move off your desk and onto mine.
Transformation
For the chapters where the business has to become something new: growth that demands restructure, a pivot, a merger of teams, or a systems overhaul.
AI Operations
Clear governance for how AI serves your values, cuts your admin and protects your creativity - never the other way around.
Built in the creative industries, not observed from outside.
I built the operational infrastructure of DICE from seed round through Series A. I took a beer brand from a standing start to over a million units sold, inside a joint venture with the world’s largest brewer. I consolidated a global agency’s 22 business units into four regions on a single operating model.
Most recently, I spent eighteen months as embedded COO at Trippin & All Corners, building their complete operating engine - finance, governance, people, delivery, knowledge and AI operations - through Creative Grid.
Chaos is just energy looking for a direction.
I’ve spent 20 years turning that energy into value at some of the most exciting and entrepreneurial businesses in the creative industries. My point of difference: I’m as fascinated by the frameworks that enable commercial excellence as I am immersed in the culture in which creativity thrives.
People, process, platform and productivity.
Creative Grid works to a simple model: align these four forces, and the business delivers maximum value with minimum friction.
Collaborative by design
Partnering with you to develop strategies that align with your vision.
Practical and proven
Grounded in real-world insights and frameworks that deliver measurable results.
People-first
Prioritising trust, clarity and engagement to empower your teams and leaders.
Two ways to work with me
£900/day + VAT
Senior operations leadership embedded in your business, with ongoing ownership of the work.
Small business and startup discounts available - just ask.
£200+ VAT
A paid, one-hour session focused on a specific problem. Fixed, no strings.
When you don’t need me
I’m a builder and a fixer. I’m at my best in the chapters where things change: growth that’s straining the seams, a pivot, a restructure, a business becoming something new. If your operation is steady, your systems serve you, and the next year looks like the last one - you don’t need me, and I’ll tell you so.
Likewise, if what you need is someone in the engine room every day, that’s a brilliant ops manager, not a fractional COO - and I can help you hire one.
“Thanks to Ross’s human-centred insights, we’ve crafted a process that brings people with us and therefore drives real, lasting success.”
“Working with Ross was nothing short of transformative. Rather than simply parachuting in a solution, he got under the hood and developed a genuine understanding of our values and the leadership team’s vision. His approach brought clarity and confidence, empowering us to move forward with purpose.”
“In a period of turbulence, transformation and radical change in the creative services sector, there are few people better equipped to help companies find a path forward that is characterised by productivity, innovation and growth.”
“Ross’s diversity of knowledge across many sectors of the creative industries meant he was able to bring a multidisciplinary approach to our business mentoring sessions, leading to insights I would not have considered without him, and positive actions I would not have otherwise taken. Plus he likes food as much as me.”
“Ross’s ability to cut through the noise to conceptualise, build and execute business processes from the ground up is quite remarkable. The fact that he’s able to do so without ever losing sight of the user is his superpower - that is how innovative businesses scale.”
“Ross is the best operational expert I have had the extreme joy of working with. A builder, a leader and a great hang.”
If any of this sounded familiar, the next step is a 30-minute introductory conversation.
Book a 30-minute conversationCreative Grid Services Ltd
Camden Walk, London N1 8DZ