/ Boutique Advisory · London

You built something real.
Now it's breaking under
its own weight.

I embed inside founder-led businesses to fix the operational machine that breaks at scale. Not strategy decks. Not advisory calls. Hands-in-the-machine work.

Tell me what's breaking →

Previously worked with

Traktion Uber Urban Company Cloud Cycle Housekeep Zeelo Flylane

What I do

Where things break.
And how I fix them.

→
Operational Untangling
You're scaling fast, but everything feels chaotic. I walk in, map the knot, find the real bottlenecks, and rebuild processes so your team can actually execute. This is what most engagements start with.
→
AI & Automation
You don't need more headcount. You need the machine to do more with less. I build automations and internal tooling — Claude Code, n8n, Replit — so your ops team punches above its weight without adding cost.
→
Margins & Unit Economics
Revenue is up, but margins are a mystery. We rebuild your unit economics model so you — and your next investors — know exactly what a transaction costs.
→
Acquisition Engine
Growth has stalled and you don't know why. We diagnose the funnel, rebuild the pipeline mechanics, and get qualified leads flowing again — hands-on, not advisory.
→
CEO Partnership
You need a senior operator in the room, not a consultant. We carry the operational weight so you can focus on the decisions only a founder can make.
→
Turnkey Marketing Projects
Website, brand, content, campaigns — the full marketing build, executed end-to-end. Not a strategy deck you have to figure out how to implement. Done, shipped, measured.

How it works

I don't advise.
I embed.

01
The Conversation
30 minutes. No pitch deck. We figure out if the problem is one I can actually fix, and if there's a fit.
02
The Ops Teardown
A 2-week diagnostic inside your business. I look at your team, your numbers, and your workflows — find the actual bottlenecks (not just the symptoms), and deliver a scored, prioritised action plan.
03
The Fix
Whether it's an operational restructure or a turnkey marketing build, we do the work alongside your team. Scoped by the problem, not by the hour. When the machine is running, we step out.

The Ops Teardown

Most founders I work with
start here.

The Ops Teardown is a 2-week diagnostic. I look at your team, your numbers, and your workflows — and give you a scored, prioritised action plan for what to fix first.

Fixed scope. Fixed fee. You'll know exactly where the bottlenecks are and what they're costing you.

→ 2 weeks, fixed scope
→ Org, P&L, and workflows reviewed
→ Scored action plan with your own numbers
→ Clear ROI on what to fix first

Fixed fee. Not billed by the hour. The investment is a fraction of what the problems inside your business are costing you every month.

Start with The Ops Teardown →

Who I work with

For founders at the
breaking point of scale.

Post-Series A startups where growth has outpaced the internal org. Bootstrapped businesses pushing past £5M and feeling the operational strain. Founder-led businesses that just took on investment and need the machine to work before the next board meeting.

If you're spending all your time firefighting internally and you need a senior operator in the room — not another consultant — that's the conversation.

This isn't for every business. If your instinct is to hire three more people before understanding why the current team is stuck, or if you're not willing to use AI and automation to do more with less — I'm not the right fit.

Marketplaces SaaS Transport & Logistics EdTech ConTech Consumer Services

Results

Outcomes. Not deliverables.

60%
Unit cost reduction at Cloud Cycle — ConTech/SaaS. Redesigned deployment end-to-end, establishing the gross margin required for the next funding round.
5×
Pipeline growth for an EdTech platform — helped open their London office and execute a strategic pivot from distance learning to AI.
+20%
Transaction volume on a consumer services marketplace — supply-demand mechanics rearchitected to drive real liquidity.
3
European markets entered simultaneously at Cloud Cycle — operational frameworks and local processes built from scratch under time pressure.
£0
Engineering cost on internal tooling. I build automations and ops tooling myself — Claude Code, n8n, Replit — so you don't burn engineering cycles on operational problems.

About

/ Traktion — Founded, built, exited. B2B marketplace acquired by IDX, 2023.
/ Cloud Cycle — Interim COO. European expansion, cost restructuring.
/ Urban Company — Head of Ops & Strategic Partnerships. Reported to CEO.
/ Uber India — Launch team. 19 to 1.2 million rides per day.
/ Sciences Po, Paris — MSc International Project Finance. Emily Boutmy Scholar.

Saher Shodhan is an exited founder, senior operator, and hands-on marketer. He's been in the founder seat — not the advisor seat. That distinction shapes everything about how this practice works.

A decade operating in high-velocity environments where things break daily: Uber's India launch, Urban Company in New Delhi, founding and selling Traktion, parachuting in as Interim COO during rapid European expansion.

Technical for an operator. Builds automations and internal tooling from scratch — Claude Code, n8n, Replit, Webflow — without needing your engineering team to lift a finger. When an ops problem needs software, it gets built.

Based in London. Fixing operations across Europe.

Common questions

What founders ask
before reaching out.

Is this consulting or implementation?
Implementation. I do the work inside the business — not advise from the outside and hand over a framework. If you just want a slide deck, I'm not the right fit.
How is this different from hiring a management consultant?
Three main differences. First, I embed for focused execution rather than open-ended retainers. Second, I'm an exited founder, not an operations generalist. Third, I'm highly technical — I build the automations and tooling myself, instead of adding tickets to your engineering backlog.
What stage companies do you work with?
Founder-led businesses at any stage — post-Series A startups, bootstrapped companies scaling through £5–10M, businesses that just took on investment for the first time. The stage label doesn't matter. The problem does.
How long does an engagement take?
A diagnostic takes 2–3 weeks. A full operational restructuring typically runs 4–12 weeks depending on urgency. Engagements are strictly scoped around solving the specific problem, not a fixed monthly billing cycle.
Where are you based?
London. I work with founder-led businesses across Europe, drawing on direct experience launching and scaling markets in Europe and Asia.
Do you only do operations work?
No. About half the founders I work with come to me for turnkey marketing projects — building an acquisition engine, overhauling GTM, or executing a full marketing build from positioning to campaigns. The common thread is hands-on execution, not advice. Whether it's ops or marketing, I do the work.
Do I need to be technical?
No. But you do need to be open to using AI and automation to fix problems instead of just adding headcount. I build the tooling myself — you don't need engineering resources for it. If your default answer to every operational problem is "hire someone," this probably isn't the right fit.

Book a call

30 minutes.
No brief required.
Just a conversation.

Pick a time. We'll figure out whether the challenge fits and whether working together makes sense. No pitch, no pressure.

Prefer email or LinkedIn?

→ sahershodhan@gmail.com
→ linkedin.com/in/sahershodhan
→ London, W14