Embedded, not advisory
We sit inside the operating cadence. We attend the leadership meeting, own the follow-ups, and ship the changes. Decisions, not deliverables.
Leadership
Operator-led. Embedded. Selective.
Partner
Paige Annunziato, MBA, PMP
Paige Annunziato has an extensive career as a Chief of Staff and operations professional, assisting fast-growing startups to scale faster, more leanly, and more purposefully. She has experience across technology, healthcare, startups, and mid- to large-sized firms. In particular, she specializes in helping venture-backed companies improve operational efficiency and implement lean operational structures.
Prior: Chief of Staff and senior operations roles across technology, healthcare, and venture-backed startups.
Stages: Seed · Series A · Series B · Series C
Meridian Fractional is a small operations firm. We embed fractional Chiefs of Staff and Chief Operating Officers into venture-backed startups that have outgrown founder-led coordination and need to install real execution discipline before the next round.
What we are
Execution infrastructure for leadership teams.
We work with founders and leadership teams to remove the bottlenecks that show up between Series A and Series B: too many decisions routing through the CEO, cross-functional initiatives stalling between owners, hiring outpacing onboarding, and meetings producing status updates instead of decisions.
The work is concrete. Better operating cadence. Clearer ownership. Fewer escalations. Faster hiring. Cleaner board reporting. We are measured by what ships and what stops breaking — not by deliverables.
We are not a marketplace. Every engagement is led by a partner-level operator who has done this work inside a venture-backed company, not advised on it from the outside.
Operating philosophy
How we think about the work.
Selective engagements
Each operator works with a small number of companies at a time. If we cannot give an engagement real leverage, we say no.
Designed for exit
Every engagement is built so the company runs better without us. The goal is durable operating discipline, not dependency on a fractional.
How we differ
Different from a management consultancy.
General management consultants are built for analysis. They scope a problem, study it, present a deck, and exit. The artifact is the deliverable.
We are built for execution. Our artifact is a company that runs better next quarter: cleaner ownership, faster cycle times, fewer dropped balls, board materials that hold up under scrutiny. We attend the leadership meeting on Monday and own a follow-up by Friday.
We also know what a venture-backed cost structure looks like. Engagements are scoped to the runway and the round — not to a billable-hour model that incentivizes scope creep.
Clear about scope
Not this. But this.
Not
Executive assistant or admin support
But
A senior operator who sits in the leadership meeting, owns cross-functional follow-through, and writes the board update.
Not
Bookkeeping, recruiting agency, or back-office services
But
Operating cadence, decision flow, hiring infrastructure, and accountability structure across the company.
Not
Generic project management or PM-for-hire
But
Redesign of how decisions get made and how work moves between functions — not just task tracking.
Not
Slide-deck strategy consulting
But
Hands-on operating work that produces shipped outcomes: hiring plans executed, OKRs landed, burn brought under control.
Not
A permanent crutch the company never grows out of
But
An engagement designed so the operating system survives and improves after we leave.
Not
A revolving door of junior consultants
But
A partner-level operator who is in the room for the full engagement.
If your company outgrew its operating system, let's talk.
Engagements begin with a structured operating review and an honest read on whether embedded support is the right lever right now.
Learn more about how we work by visiting our services page or reading our FAQ.