Fractional COO · Technology Partner
You started your firm to do great work for your clients - not to become its receptionist, its IT department, and its operations manager all at once. But somewhere along the way, everything started landing on you. The tools don't talk to each other. The processes live in your head. And the business you built for freedom is starting to feel like it's running you. Your clients have you. Now it's time to think about who you have behind you.
I'm Chelsea Sugg, a Fractional COO and Technology Partner for solo and boutique RIAs - the small teams where the founder is still the one holding it all together. I've spent the last decade inside advisory firms, including a stretch with eyes on the operations of 115 of them, and the patterns are remarkably consistent. I build the systems that run the work, so you don't have to be the one running it.
Services
Most firms start with a Snapshot. If you already know you need ongoing help, or you’ve got one specific thing that needs doing, the other two doors are open. Not sure which fits? Book a fit call and we’ll figure it out together.
A fixed-scope audit of your tech stack, integrations, and operations. Delivered as a prioritized report you can act on, with a walkthrough so you actually understand it. You'll see what's working, what's costing you, and what to do first. Whether we work together after that is entirely up to you.
Leadership-level operations and technology, embedded in your firm on a monthly basis. I own the systems layer — workflows, your CRM, the tech stack, AI woven in where it fits — with compliance built in from the start, not bolted on after. Right-sized to your firm after our first conversation.
A specific pain point or a finite piece of work that needs doing — without the overhead of a part- or full-time hire. A client onboarding flow that doesn’t lose people between “yes” and the first review, a CRM migration, a tech-stack integration that finally makes your tools talk to each other, a single AI workflow built right. Scoped, done, delivered.
What IS a Fractional COO?
An assistant or an ops associate executes the tasks you hand them - they do the work you define. A COO takes this off your plate and decides what the work should be. I look at how your whole operation runs, find where it’s leaking time and money, do the research, and design the systems that fix it - so you don’t have to. Then I make sure those systems get built, documented, and used.
This difference matters because the thing slowing your firm down usually isn’t that tasks aren’t getting done. It’s that nobody’s stepped back to ask whether they should be done that way at all, or you simply just don’t have the bandwidth to. That’s the seat I sit in.
How I work
A decade inside RIAs means I know what a Tuesday actually looks like in your firm - the client who needs three follow-ups, the CRM field nobody fills in, the report that takes four hours because the tools don't talk or the data isn't where it should be. I build for the real needs of your specific business, not the cookie-cutter templated version of it.
I use AI where it removes real friction, and I leave it alone where it doesn't. You won't get a pile of half-working automations you're afraid to touch. You'll get systems you understand that do what they're supposed to, with the AI quietly doing the parts it's reliably good at.
Every operational decision in an RIA is also a compliance decision - where data lives, who can see it, what gets recorded, how AI handles information. I’m not your compliance authority, and I won’t pretend to know every rule off the top of my head. What I do know is what to watch for - the kinds of things that touch Reg S-P, Books and Records, or Marketing Rules. I check every workflow and document against current rules. All of it is built alongside your CCO or compliance consultant, never around them.
About
Founder · Fractional COO & Technology Partner
I've spent years watching good advisors - or their staff - get buried under their own operations, wearing five or more hats at once. The work for clients usually stays solid, but everything else gets held back, and the systems end up growing by accident rather than by design.
I know this because I lived it. I've built countless processes and integrations from the ground up, supporting a firm through 355% AUM growth and a transition to independent SEC registration. What that taught me was: founders don't lack the knowledge to build good systems. They lack the bandwidth. When you're the whole operation, you're firefighting - working the immediate needs, keeping the day moving. Nobody in that mode has the room to sit down and design the onboarding flow that runs smoothly inside the firm and feels effortless to the client.
That's why I set off on my own - to be the bandwidth. The stepped-back seat whose whole job is to look at how the operation runs, design what it should be, and build it, while you keep doing the work only you can do.
I work fractionally on purpose. It lets me meet each firm where it is, and it means you get real operational leadership without the overhead (or the long-term commitment) of bringing someone on full or even part-time.
I’m a San Diego native, now based in Woodstock, GA, where I run a small homestead with my husband, our two kids, a golden retriever, and an ambitious number of chickens. I'm also an Airbnb Superhost with 120+ reviews, every single one of them 5 stars. "Unreasonable hospitality" is a default reflex for me. I don't know how to operate any other way.
I mention that all because I’m not a big firm with account managers and a queue. When you work with me, I work with you. I only take on a small number of firms at a time, so each client gets my real-deal, focused support.
Let’s talk
If you’re feeling like your operations have outgrown duct tape and good intentions, that’s usually a sign for someone like me to step in, especially if you aren’t quite ready or at the point of needing a permanent hire.
Let’s chat about your firm and where it’s feeling the strain. If we’re a fit, we’ll figure out which door makes sense. If it’s not, I’ll tell you that too - and hopefully be able to point you toward something that is.