Fractional COO & Integrator

An operator in the integrator seat — without the full-time hire.

Execution Space provides fractional COO and integrator leadership for founder-led e-commerce and DTC brands in Toronto and beyond. Erik Christensen takes ownership of operations, systems, and accountability — so the founder gets back to founder work.

Who this is for

You already know the work isn't the problem.

  • You're the founder, ten years in, still working seven days a week while the work you're paying others to do lands back on your desk.
  • Your leadership team needs an objective layer between them and you — someone to own the number and hold the seats accountable.
  • You run on an operating system (EOS or otherwise) and need the integrator seat filled by an operator, not a facilitator.
  • Your growth stalled in digital and the next chapter — retail, wholesale, B2B — needs systems your team hasn't built before.
    •
    What you get

    The seat, and the systems the seat has to run.

  • Operational ownership with a defined scope — decisions made, not escalated back to you
  • The systems built or fixed: commerce stack, data and reporting, wholesale infrastructure
  • Leadership-team accountability rhythms that outlast the engagement
  • A founder who exits the day-to-day on a schedule, not a promise
    •
    Most integrators are generalists. Erik has spent his career building and running the systems commerce brands actually operate on — Shopify and Shopify Plus builds since 2013, wholesale and B2B channel launches, data and reporting stacks. You get the seat and the systems the seat has to run.
    How an engagement works

    Diagnose before prescribe.

    1. Short paid discovery

      A defined diagnostic with a standalone deliverable — you keep the assessment whether or not we continue.

    2. Scoped fractional engagement

      A scope written from what discovery found, typically starting at one day a week.

    3. Adjusted at 60 days

      Cadence and scope re-cut against evidence, in whichever direction the business actually needs.

    Questions

    Fractional COO & integrator — common questions.

    What does a fractional COO do?

    A fractional COO takes ownership of how a company runs day to day — operations, systems, and accountability — on a part-time, ongoing basis. For a founder-led commerce brand that usually means owning the operating rhythm, making the systems and vendor calls, and holding the leadership team to the number, without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire.

    Fractional COO vs full-time COO — which do I need?

    A full-time COO makes sense when the operational load is permanent, well understood, and large enough to fill a week. Fractional fits when the need is real but the shape is still moving — you need judgment and ownership now, and you'd rather define the permanent seat from evidence than from a job description written in a hurry.

    How does an integrator differ from a COO?

    The titles overlap. In practice the integrator seat is defined by what it absorbs: it's the layer between the founder or visionary and the leadership team, responsible for turning direction into execution and for holding the seats accountable. A COO title can mean that, or it can mean running a specific function. We scope the seat by responsibility, not by title.

    Do you work with companies running EOS?

    Yes. We work with companies running EOS and with companies running their own operating system or none at all. We're not an EOS-certified implementer and don't present ourselves as one — we fill the operator seat and work within whatever operating system you already run.

    Where do you work?

    Execution Space is based in Etobicoke, Toronto, and works with brands across the Greater Toronto Area and remotely throughout North America. Engagements typically combine on-site time with your team and a remote operating cadence.

    Not sure whether this is the work you need?

    Email contact@executionspace.com and we’ll set up a time — twenty minutes, no deck.

    Or start a project →