Need an in-house operations manager to fix operational problems at a remote location, help you hit growth targets, or launch a new office?
I am an expert at high-performance operations management in engineering-first tech companies — usually marketplace companies (ride sharing, deliveries, and e-commerce).
My work has spanned every stage of operations, from building high-performing teams, implementing a culture of excellence, integrating technology to support amazing ops, and strategic planning.
Submit an enquiry below and if it’s something I can help with we’ll start arranging a time for an initial chat.
In the past, I’ve been everything from an engineer to a management consultant at top-tier firms (see my resume here). So I am comfortable everywhere from the factory floor to the executive suite. My speciality is knowing how to span all those tiers.
I usually work for or consult to engineering-first marketplace/tech companies, like ride sharing, logistics, and e-commerce companies. These companies build platforms, apps, and killer business models. But they usually leave physical operations to people like me.
Tech company founders often think things like: “OK, we will get a warehouse and hire a manager. It’s expensive short term, but once we prove the unit economics, we’ll get more efficient with our physical operations.” But while they’re great at hiring engineers, finding specialists to work on the physical ops and delivering those unit economics is very hard.
These companies create software to match drivers, scooters, motorcycles or cars to passengers and drivers.
They’re good at building apps, matching algorithms, and running sophisticated marketing campaigns, to constantly lower customer acquisition cost, manage a balanced marketplace to optimise for profit, and to maximise customer and supplier retention.
But marketplace companies are NOT good at physical operations. This is usually an afterthought and something that companies say “We’ll get more efficient over time”.
The realm of physical ops is “Where the rubber hits the road” for companies like Lyft, Uber, Amazon, Rent the Runway, Groupon, Bird, Lime, or Scoot. It’s where people meet products and products get to customers.
These tech-first companies run physical ops like driver training centres, in-person customer support, car-rental sites, scooter repair warehouses or charging centres without clearly knowing how to optimise them and run them like machines. This is what I do.
Unfortunately, the physical operations aspect is never the core of a tech business. But that doesn’t mean it can be ignored.
In my consulting work, I answer questions like
- How do you massively scale deliveries by drone while improving efficiency? (Wing, 2021)
- How do you run an efficient scooter warehouse/deployment centre? (Wind, 2018-19)
- How do manage teams of chargers to maximise scooter supply? (Wind, 2019)
- How do you run a driver service center that solves problems and maximises retention? (Lyft, 2017-18)
- How do you run an efficient car rental site? (Lyft, 2017-18)
- How do you do anything more efficiently?
Examples of Past Work
Here are a few companies I’ve worked for recently in this field, all as a consultant (sometimes as an “in-house” consultant).
Wing (A drone delivery service, with ops in Australia, owned by Google / Alphabet) — 2021
- Restructured organisation around growth verticals
- Defined strategy for short term (6-month) 20x growth in deliveries
- Built a system to maximise throughput and defined a team and processes to manage it
- Managed and delivered the growth
Wind (A European scooter company) — 2019, now owned by Yango
- Launched “Wind 3.0” scooter — Bordeaux, France
- Improved operations to increase deployment ratio — Malaga, Spain
- Restructured warehouse ops to get supply back up — Tel Aviv, Israel
- Redesigned charger incentives — Tel Aviv, Israel
You can find a description of my work with Wind here.
Lyft (all across USA) — 2016-2018 (USA, Canada)
- Built the “Lyft Retail” team from a few disparate sites to an integrated organisation, growing to 200 sites across 20+ cities and with 750 team members. Rolled out training, tech, culture, processes, etc.
- Designed and built the Lyft Retail tech platform, coding it myself before we got any engineering budget
- Implemented extended hours in-person support — coordinating every city in a 2-week effort that won me an award
- Launched the Toronto office (first in Canada)
- Launched the “Express Drive” rental program in four major cities
An overview of one of my major projects at Lyft, improving in-person customer service, is here.
Groupon (Beijing, China) / Gaopeng — 2011
- Led the Revenue Management team for all of China
- Built and ran the “Deal Management” team of people designed to ensure that our front-page deals were ready to be published (every day)
- Ran China operations integration for all lead-generation practise
If you want an overview of my experience, check out my resume.
Operations Management Consulting Fees
My fees are (all USD), current as at:
| Per | In-country fee* (+ expenses**) | Remote fee* |
|---|---|---|
| Week | $10,000 | $7,500 |
| Month | $30,000 | $20,000 |
I’m also available for initial consultations (schedule time).
If I need a larger team to support you, I have other consultants on standby.
* Fees include all applicable taxes
** Expenses include accommodation and per diems, capped at 15% of fees.