Operators who have sat in your seat.
A fractional COO firm for founder-led businesses between $2M and $50M in revenue. Led by Ashish Gupta, who has had two founder-level exits, one to a Fortune 500 (Qualcomm), and spent five years in management in Apple’s iPhone operations.
25+ businesses scaled · 12 hand-picked operators · Founded 2024 · Leading Fractional COO Firm 2026
ScaleUpExec is a fractional COO firm for founder-led businesses between $2M and $50M in revenue. Its operators join the leadership team part-time and run operations as an embedded executive, not an outside consultant. Founded in 2024 by Ashish Gupta, a two-time founder whose companies were both acquired, it has worked with 25+ businesses across construction, real estate, healthcare, finance, professional services and e-commerce.
It started with a couple of founders who were stuck.
ScaleUpExec was not a business plan. It grew out of helping founders who had hit a ceiling.
In April 2023, Ashish sold the company he had spent four years turning around.
Soon after, he had the chance to help a couple of small and mid-sized businesses whose founders were stuck. They had hit a skill-set ceiling, revenue had plateaued, and their teams were burnt out.
Ashish retooled every part of those businesses, working inside them as an operator rather than advising from outside.
Soon he had more engagements than he could handle himself.
So in early 2024, he built a team of operators like him, people who had scaled businesses themselves. That team became ScaleUpExec.
We're both the adviser and coach, but then we actually roll up our sleeves and execute.
Ashish Gupta, Founder & CEO
He has been in your shoes.
Ashish has led two companies at the founder level, and both were acquired, one by a Fortune 500 company. He knows what it is like to carry payroll, make the hard calls, and have no one to hand them to. His years at Apple came on top of that.
Built in a garage, acquired by Qualcomm
His college senior design project became a wireless-charging startup, built with a college friend through the 2008–2009 recession. About two years later, Fortune 500 company Qualcomm acquired it. He was 25.
Acquired by QualcommBought a declining business and turned it around
After reviewing more than 200 businesses, he bought a declining e-commerce subscription company. He took no salary for the first two years, grew its community past 500,000 people, and sold it to a larger competitor.
Acquired April 2023iPhone operations at global scale
Between the two companies, he spent five years in management in the iPhone operations at Apple, leading cost optimization across the iPhone manufacturing supply chain.
Founder & CEO, ScaleUpExec
He built ScaleUpExec into a firm that CEO Monthly named Leading Fractional COO Firm 2026, in its Most Influential CEO Awards.
Leading Fractional COO Firm 2026Both shaped how he works. The founder's seat taught him what your week actually looks like. Apple showed him how world-class operations run at scale.
The operating philosophy
Every engagement is built to leave the business stronger without us in the room: a team that runs the business, and a founder free to choose where they spend their time.
Start with what the founder actually wants.
"I want to grow" is where most conversations start, not where they end. We get clear on the business and life the founder wants, then work backwards to the numbers.
Fix the few gaps that move the needle.
A first-month audit of revenue, margins, team, systems and culture often surfaces around 20 gaps. We pick the one to three that matter most and go deep.
Execute, do not just advise.
Our COOs own outcomes, drive your leadership meetings and do the work with your team. Results typically begin in week one, with a full plan by day 30.
Build systems the team runs when no one is watching.
A process only counts when your people live it every day. That is how we define culture, and it is what lets a founder step back.
Say so when we are not the answer.
Some businesses need a fractional COO. Some need a single hire, a tool, or nothing at all. A first call ends with a straight answer either way.
See how our fractional COO engagements work, from the first call to day 90.
What our engagements produce
Founders come to us with a symptom: tight cash, a burnt-out team, stalled growth or a new regulation. The cause almost always sits in one of four places.
From three straight quarters of losses to a signed offer to buy the company
A prolonged industry downturn had left a telecom construction company with underused crews, fixed labor costs and a leadership team firefighting with limited data. ScaleUpExec operator Beau Scott joined as fractional COO, built a KPI tracker and weekly leadership routines, matched labor costs to demand, and rebuilt the tech stack.
A founder-dependent firm that learned to grow beyond its founder's network
More than half of Skylatus Property Capital's revenue came from a few long-term clients, and the team relied on founder Randy Efron for daily decisions. We rebuilt the culture around precision and accountability and launched a cold email program, an underused channel in commercial real estate.
Two first-time founders, a burnt-out team, and a cash-flow problem
DockedLiving was cash-flow negative and locked into below-market contracts, with tenants tracked across scattered spreadsheets. We renegotiated transparently with customers, improving their returns while moving fees to sustainable levels, and then installed a CRM and an operating system.
A new state law that threatened a third of the profit
New state worker classification laws led counsel to advise a Minnesota psychology practice to convert every contractor to an employee, which would have cut net profit by 30%. We built an alternative contractor framework that counsel approved, wrote 14 new policies, and fixed the books.
AI, TechOps and marketing, built in. Alongside your COO, our in-house team turns operating priorities into automated workflows, tool upgrades and marketing execution. No separate vendor.
Explore AI servicesThe problems repeat across industries. The pattern recognition travels.
Most clients are traditional, founder-led businesses with 5 to 150 employees.
One dedicated COO. The experience of twelve.
Operators, not advisors. Every member has built companies, managed P&Ls and led teams, with backgrounds that include Apple, McKinsey, and 8- and 9-figure exits.
Hand-picked. Of hundreds of operators reviewed, only 12 have made the team.
Shared playbooks. Every week the team shares what is working across 25+ active engagements.
"We are not looking for decent. We are looking for the top 1%."
Frequently asked questions
What is ScaleUpExec?
ScaleUpExec is a fractional COO firm founded in 2024 by Ashish Gupta. It embeds its own team of experienced operators inside founder-led businesses with $2M to $50M in revenue, part-time, to run operations and drive growth. It has worked with 25+ businesses, giving them operator talent that was previously out of reach for companies their size.
Who is Ashish Gupta?
Ashish Gupta is the founder and CEO of ScaleUpExec. He has led two companies at the founder level, and both were acquired: a wireless-charging startup bought by Fortune 500 company Qualcomm, and an e-commerce company he turned around and sold in 2023. He also spent five years in management in the iPhone operations at Apple.
What size company does ScaleUpExec work with?
Founder-led businesses with $2M to $50M in revenue, typically 5 to 150 employees, mostly in traditional industries such as construction, real estate, healthcare, professional services and e-commerce.
How is ScaleUpExec different from a consulting firm?
Consultants diagnose and recommend. Our COOs join your team, take direct reports and own the outcomes. Engagements run on rolling three-month contracts with a two-week easy-out at the start. Compare the two
Where does ScaleUpExec work?
Most work is remote, with in-person sessions where they add value, such as quarterly planning.
How do I start a conversation?
Book a 30-minute call with Ashish. Come with your revenue range, team size and the problem that made you start looking. You will leave with useful next steps either way.
Ready to stop being the bottleneck?
Thirty minutes with Ashish. No pitch. A straight answer on what would move your business forward, even if it is not us.
30 minutes with our founder
No obligation
Actionable insights either way