Executive Operating Partner & Strategic Advisor

I run operations, close transactions, and build the leadership structures that sustain growth.

Operator first. Advisor when that is what the work requires.

Whether you need someone to run the operation, prepare for a transaction, solve a specific problem, or pressure-test a decision you cannot afford to get wrong, I have been in that seat. Fractional, interim, or advisory, structured around what the situation actually requires.

Construction Manufacturing Private Equity
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No pitch. A direct conversation about what your business actually needs.

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Jacob Schlesinger, Executive Operating Partner
JS
Jacob Schlesinger
CEO · COO · Managing Director
28+
Years as CEO, COO & Managing Director
$2.2B+
Total revenue managed
6
Countries operated in
3
Successful exits
6
Acquisitions completed
3
Mergers integrated
Why Founders Call Me
A track record most operators never build.
Built

Started companies from nothing and scaled them to institutional size.

  • Zero to $300M in six years
  • Operations across six countries
  • Institutional backing secured
Fixed

Walked into broken operations and restored margin, discipline, and control.

  • Turnarounds and restructurings
  • 37% cost reduction while growing revenue
  • 92% defect reduction as COO
Sold

Positioned businesses for the table and stayed in the room through close.

  • Multiple successful exits
  • Sale to a publicly traded company
  • Acquisition integration and value creation
01Who I Help

If your business has hit a wall, you are who I work with.

I work directly with founders and executives running real operating companies, not institutions. The depth is there for complex situations, but the work is hands-on and the door is open to a $15M company as much as a $100M one. If growth has stalled, margins are slipping, or you need the business to run without you in every decision, that is exactly the seat I step into.

Typical Client

Revenue$5M to $100M
Employees25 to 500
SituationStalled growth
Margin compression
Founder bottleneck
Exit preparation
Leadership gaps
02Background

Built, fixed, and sold companies across three continents.

I have spent nearly three decades running operations, not observing them from the boardroom. I have taken a startup from zero to $300 million and a successful exit. I consolidated sixteen companies under a single holding structure and delivered a $500 million valuation. I have walked into broken operations and cut costs by 37% while growing revenue at the same time.

I operate inside your business and own execution alongside your team, serving as CEO or COO, not as an outside consultant handing you a report. Manufacturing, construction, industrial services, distribution, and consumer products are the sectors I know from the inside, and where my experience is deepest.

Previously operated in environments backed by or alongside institutional investors, public companies, and private equity sponsors across North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Chief Development Officer
$60M National Modular Manufacturing & Construction Company
Board of Advisors
$17B Construction Corporation, Largest in North America
Chief Executive Officer
$50M Consumer Product Company, Acquired by Public Company
Co-Chief Executive Officer
$1.6B Private Equity Firm, Global Real Estate & Construction
Chief Executive Officer
$500M Holding Company, Construction, Manufacturing & Real Estate
Chief Executive Officer
$300M Global Manufacturing & Distribution, Institutional-backed, Successful Exit
Chief Operating Officer
$200M Automotive, Medical & Aerospace Components Manufacturer
03Published Work

The operating playbooks, in print.

Zero to $100M book cover

Zero to $100M

The operating principles behind building, fixing, and selling companies, drawn from nearly three decades in the CEO and COO seat. Written for founders and operators who want the execution playbook, not the theory.

Read more →
System Breakdowns book cover

System Breakdowns

The Counterintuitive Math of Running a Profitable Business

The math that quietly decides whether a company makes money: pricing, margins, cash flow, and customer profitability, broken down the way an operator actually uses them. Built from the field, for owners who want the numbers, not the narrative.

  • Operations
  • Construction
  • Manufacturing
  • Infrastructure
Read more →
04The Trigger Moment

When people call me.

It is rarely a strategy problem. It is almost always an execution problem that has been building for months. These are the situations where I get the call.

Revenue is growing but EBITDA is shrinking
Growth is masking the problem. Every new dollar of revenue is costing more than the last one.
You are still the bottleneck
The business cannot move without you. Nothing gets decided unless it goes through you first.
You do not trust your leadership team
The right people are not in the right seats. You know it. You are just not sure what to do about it.
You are preparing for a raise, sale, or lender scrutiny
The business needs to look and operate like a professionally managed company, not a founder-led one.
Operations are breaking under growth
You have outgrown the systems and the team that got you here. The cracks are showing and customers notice.
You need a COO but cannot justify a full-time hire
Not yet big enough for a $300K executive, but too big to keep running without one.
05How I Work

Three ways to engage, depending on what the business needs.

Every engagement starts with a direct conversation about what the business actually needs, not what fits a pre-packaged service model. Some situations call for embedded leadership. Others call for a sharp outside perspective on a specific problem.

01
Fractional CEO / COO
1 to 2 days per week
Embedded operating leadership on a retained basis. I join your leadership team, own KPIs, manage people, and drive execution. For companies that need senior leadership but are not ready for a full-time hire. Minimum six-month engagement.
02
Interim Executive
Full-time, 3 to 12 months
When a business is in transition, turnaround, or preparing for a transaction and needs a full-time operator right away. I step in as acting CEO or COO, stabilize operations, execute the plan, and transition to a permanent hire or stay through the closing event.
03
Strategic Advisory
Project-based or ongoing
For founders, CEOs, presidents, and boards who need someone who has run the business before. A problem to solve, a transaction to evaluate, a decision to pressure-test. Typically 30 to 90 days with clear deliverables, or ongoing as a trusted sounding board.
06Fractional vs. Full-Time

The decision most founders get wrong is the timing, not the title.

A full-time COO or CEO is the right answer eventually. The question is whether the business is ready for that cost and commitment today. Here is how to think about it honestly.

When fractional makes sense

Most $5M to $50M operators
  • You need executive leadership now, not in nine months
  • You are not yet ready for a full-time COO or CEO
  • You are preparing for a sale, raise, or lender scrutiny
  • The founder is overloaded and the business stalls without them
  • You want senior judgment without adding fixed cost and equity

When full-time makes sense

The right next step, later
  • You have a stable leadership team already in place
  • You are building toward long-term succession
  • Revenue comfortably supports a $300K to $500K executive
  • The role is steady-state operating, not turnaround or transition
  • You can absorb a six to nine month hiring and ramp cycle

Most engagements recover their cost within 60 to 90 days, through margin improvement, cost reduction, or a transaction that would not have closed without the right operator in the room. Engagements are structured around the size of the company, the urgency of the issue, and the outcome required. If full-time is the better call for you, I will tell you that in the first conversation.

07Selected Results

Outcomes from companies I have led.

These are results from businesses where I served as CEO, COO, or Managing Director. Companies are described by sector and scale.

Consumer Products · Turnaround & Exit
$50M consumer products company: margin collapse, stalled growth, no exit path.
Problem
Margin erosion, a disorganized leadership structure, and a product line that had stopped growing. The founder needed an exit but the business was not acquirable in its current state.
Action
Rebuilt the org structure, redirected growth strategy, launched new product lines, led a full marketing transformation, then identified and negotiated acquisition by a publicly traded company.
125%
Revenue growth in 8 months
37%
EBITDA improvement
40%
Productivity increase
Holding Company · Consolidation
16 entities, 52 years of bloat, and a $500M valuation being destroyed by inefficiency.
Problem
A 52-year-old holding company across construction, manufacturing, and real estate hemorrhaging value across 16 entities with duplicated costs, no central purchasing, and no coherent operating structure.
Action
Stepped in as CEO. Consolidated operations, reduced headcount strategically, centralized purchasing, and rebuilt the group into a clean, sale-ready structure.
37%
Cost reduction
$10M
Annual savings captured
60%
Faster decision-making
Manufacturing · Startup to Exit
Zero to $300M in six years: built, scaled, and exited a global manufacturing operation.
Problem
Starting from zero in a capital-intensive industry with no existing infrastructure, no institutional backing, and no established customer base.
Action
Built an industrial manufacturing and distribution company across six countries. Secured institutional backing, established strategic alliances, and served leading customers in oil and gas, fire safety, and aerospace.
$0 to $300M
Revenue in 6 years
6
Countries
Exit
Successful transaction
Automotive & Aerospace · Operational Transformation
$200M manufacturer losing ground on quality, market share, and operational discipline.
Problem
A North American manufacturer serving automotive, medical, and aerospace clients was losing market share with defect rates damaging customer relationships and margins.
Action
Stepped in as COO. Instituted daily KPI reviews, launched a global supply chain improvement program, established a $55M distribution facility, and rebuilt production discipline from the floor up.
63%
Market share growth
92%
Defect reduction
30%
Margin improvement
08Operating Briefs

One-page breakdowns of how each situation was actually fixed.

Each brief lays out the situation, the operating decisions, and the result in a single page. Tell me which one fits your situation and I will send it over. Companies stay anonymous by sector and scale.

Consumer Products: Margin Collapse to Acquisition
$50M · turnaround and sale to a public company
Request →
Holding Company: 16 Entities Into One
$500M · consolidation and sale-readiness
Request →
Manufacturing: Zero to $300M and Exit
6 countries · build, scale, institutional exit
Request →
Manufacturing: Quality & Margin Turnaround
$200M · 92% defect reduction as COO
Request →
09Transactions

M&A from someone who has been on both sides of the table.

I have bought companies, sold companies, integrated acquisitions, and worked directly with PE sponsors at every stage. I do not advise on transactions from a distance. I have been inside every one.

Sell-Side

Exit Preparation & Sale Process

Most businesses are not ready to sell when the founder thinks they are. I get the business operationally and financially positioned to maximize value before going to market, and stay in the room through the process.

  • EBITDA normalization and quality of earnings prep
  • Management team assessment and presentation
  • Operational clean-up and margin improvement pre-LOI
  • CIM support and buyer-facing narrative
  • Representation through diligence and close
Buy-Side

Acquisition Evaluation & Diligence

Financial models do not tell you whether an operation can actually perform. I evaluate targets as an operator, identifying the real risks, the hidden costs, and whether the business can deliver what the model assumes.

  • Operational due diligence on target companies
  • Management and organizational structure assessment
  • Identification of post-close risk and value leakage
  • Integration planning prior to close
  • Go / no-go recommendation with operating rationale
Post-Acquisition

Integration & Value Creation

The closing is not the hard part. Integration is. I step in post-close to drive the operational changes the investment thesis depends on, before misalignment takes hold and value erodes.

  • Day 1 through Day 100 operating plan
  • Systems, process, and team consolidation
  • Culture and leadership alignment across entities
  • Synergy capture and cost structure reset
  • KPI framework and reporting build-out
PE Deal Support

Sponsor & Portfolio Advisory

Sponsors need operators who understand both the financial thesis and the operational reality. I work directly with sponsors and portfolio companies at the deal stage, during the hold period, or when a company is underperforming against plan.

  • Operating partner support for deal teams
  • Portfolio company performance assessment
  • Interim CEO / COO for underperforming assets
  • Hold period value creation planning and execution
  • Exit readiness and management presentation prep
10Sectors

Three industries. Twenty-eight years of operating depth.

I know the business models, the margin structures, the talent challenges, and the failure modes because I have lived them as CEO, COO, and Managing Director.

Construction

From national modular builders to $17B commercial contractors, I have led construction businesses through growth, restructuring, and strategic transactions. I understand project economics, subcontractor risk, bonding, and the operational complexity that kills margin.

  • General contracting and specialty subcontractors
  • Modular and prefabricated construction
  • Real estate development and infrastructure
  • Multi-entity holding company consolidation
  • Pre-transaction and exit preparation

Manufacturing

I have built, scaled, and exited manufacturing operations across six countries. From automotive components to industrial distribution, I know how to drive quality, reduce defects, build supply chains, and position a manufacturer for backing or sale.

  • Industrial and component manufacturing
  • Automotive, aerospace, and medical devices
  • Consumer product manufacturing and DTC
  • Global distribution and supply chain
  • Startup to institutional scale and exit

Private Equity

I have operated inside a $1.6B private equity firm and worked alongside PE-backed portfolio companies throughout my career. I understand what sponsors need from operating leadership and how to position a company for a clean exit on schedule.

  • Portfolio company operating leadership
  • Value creation and EBITDA improvement
  • Carve-outs and post-acquisition integration
  • Management team assessment and build-out
  • Exit readiness and transaction preparation
11Point of View

What I believe about building companies.

After 28 years running operations, the same patterns show up repeatedly. These are not opinions. They are observations from every company I have led.

01Most companies do not have a strategy problem. They have an execution problem.
02If the founder is still the decision bottleneck, the business has already hit its ceiling.
03Revenue growth without operational discipline is just delayed pain.
04You do not fix a business with reports. You fix it by changing how decisions are made every day.
05If your numbers surprise you at the end of the month, you do not have control of your business.
12What Founders Say

From the people who brought me in.

These are not endorsements. They are descriptions of what actually happened inside the business. Client identities are withheld due to transaction and advisory confidentiality.

What makes Jacob different is that he does not advise from the outside. He operates from the inside. He made decisions, owned outcomes, and carried the weight like a true COO.

Founder · $40M Consumer Products Company

We had been talking about fixing operations for over a year. He came in and did it in under ninety days. Not theory, not frameworks. Just execution.

CEO · Manufacturing & Distribution

We were not ready to hire a full-time executive, but we needed real leadership. He filled that gap perfectly and helped us get to the next stage without overbuilding the organization.

Founder · $25M Industrial Services Company

When we started preparing for a transaction, he brought discipline and structure we did not have. That directly impacted how the business was positioned and how buyers responded.

Owner · Construction Holding Group
13Start Here

Request a 30-Minute Operating Review.

Thirty minutes, direct, no pitch. Tell me where the business is stuck and I will tell you honestly whether I can help, what the right structure would be, and whether fractional, interim, or full-time is the better call for you.

South Florida · Available across North America
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