Interim COO

Reinier de Jonge

I step into founder-led and PE-backed companies that need operational grip, fast. Scale-ups outgrowing their own processes, post-acquisition businesses that need structure, or teams where results have slipped and someone needs to own the fix.

Built and sold Frank: 0 to 180 people, €40M revenue, €2.5M EBITDA, bootstrapped, profitable, sold 2021.

See the track record

What I've actually done

0 → €40M

Frank

Founder-operator

Built Frank from a standing start to 180 employees, ~€40M annual revenue, €2.5M EBITDA. Bootstrapped and profitable throughout. No venture funding to paper over the operating problems. Sold the business in 2021. Everything on this site about operating rhythm, margin, and team structure comes from actually running this P&L, not advising someone else's.

Acquired by Vinted

Homerr

Investor and advisor

Backed and advised Homerr; the company was acquired by Vinted. Gives the other side of the table: what a PE or strategic buyer is actually underwriting when they look at a portfolio company's operations.

Co-founder

Groningen Digital Business Centre

Co-founder

Represented the Northern Netherlands digital business community (Noordelijke Online Ondernemers) in co-founding GDBC with the University of Groningen, bridging local digital companies and academic talent as Google and IBM moved into the region.

The kind of situation I'm built for

I'm strongest where the problem is operational, not financial engineering. The business needs structure, reporting, execution rhythm, or commercial discipline, not another strategy deck.

Interim COO
Interim CEO / general manager for founder-led businesses
Operations improvement and scale-up professionalisation
Commercial operations, e-commerce and digital operations
Organisational design and operating model
Post-acquisition integration
Exit readiness and M&A preparation from an operator's seat
Performance improvement and margin recovery
Founder sparring partner / operating advisor
Operational turnaround (not financial restructuring)

Not the right fit for: pure financial restructuring, pure strategy/slide work, or turnarounds where the core problem is the balance sheet rather than operations.

How an engagement runs

01

first 1 to 2 weeks

Diagnose

Walk the operation, meet the team, check the numbers. Find where execution is actually breaking: reporting, margin, team structure, or decision rights.

02

weeks 2 to 6

Install the structure

Build the operating model: reporting cadence, clear ownership, KPIs the team actually uses. A working system, not a slide deck.

03

Run it

Own the execution rhythm day to day until the business runs without needing me in the room. Handover documented, not assumed.

Two sides of the table

Most interim COOs have only run someone else's playbook. I've owned the P&L, built the team, and completed the exit, then sat on the other side as an investor. That combination is the actual value: I know what a buyer or board is checking for, because I've been checked.

Get in touch

Best reached directly. No recruiter layer needed.

Email: reinier@reinierdejonge.com

LinkedIn: LinkedIn