The Operator’s Growth Fellowship
A 12-month engagement reserved for one AgTech, FoodTech, or premium food brand founder per quarter — builders with the vision for institutional-grade financial architecture, but not yet the resources to access it.
The best financial architecture is built before you can afford it — not after.
Most founders building in agriculture, food technology, or premium food brands learn the hard way: the moment you need a clean financial model, a defensible cap table, or a real capital roadmap is usually the moment you can least afford to build one. This Fellowship exists to close that gap for one builder at a time.
For AgTech Founders
Where the work is proving a technology can scale — and that the unit economics behind it will survive contact with real investors, real input costs, and real production constraints.
For Premium Food Brands
Where the work is transforming a producer or commodity business into a brand that can command premium pricing, compete internationally, and survive the financial scrutiny that comes with growth.
Two phases. One year. A real operating discipline, not a workshop.
This isn’t a one-time consultation or a generic mentorship program. It follows the same disciplined architecture used in paid engagements — structured as a sequence, because building a financial foundation is one.
Phase 1 — Structural Build
- Financial architecture — a real three-statement model built around your actual operating drivers
- Cost discipline framework — understanding true unit economics and burn
- Governance alignment — cap table hygiene, board/advisor structure
- Capacity & scaling model — production, supply chain, or go-to-market constraints made explicit
- Strategic capital roadmap — grant, SBA, angel, or venture pathways mapped to your actual stage
Phase 2 — Execution & Scale
- Monthly strategic advisory
- Quarterly performance recalibration
- Investor and lender readiness refinement
- Ownership and cap table structure alignment as you grow
“This Fellowship is reserved for growth-oriented builders who would not otherwise have access to this level of financial and operational architecture.” — Robert K. Wolfe, Founder, Global CFO Intelligence
What this has looked like in practice.
A second-generation olive oil producer had spent decades selling into commodity markets — reliable revenue, but no pricing power and no brand. The Fellowship year was spent building the financial case for a different business entirely: one positioned to compete at an internationally judged, premium quality level, with the cost structure, margin model, and capital plan to support it.
The work wasn’t cosmetic. It meant rebuilding how the business understood its own costs, reframing what “growth” meant for a family operation, and building the kind of financial narrative that international buyers and competition judges take seriously — not just consumers.
Built for one stage of company — not every stage.
Pre-revenue to early-revenue AgTech, FoodTech, or premium food brand founders with a credible, specific growth thesis — and no current access to fractional CFO or COO-level support.
Companies already generating revenue at a scale that can support paid advisory engagements — see Advisory, Growth, and Executive services instead.
It starts with the story — not the spreadsheet.
Before we talk about financials, we want to understand what you’re building and why. The application is in three parts.
The Story Weighted Most Heavily
- What are you building, and why — what’s your personal “why”?
- What problem does it solve, and for whom — the producer, the supply chain, or the end consumer?
- Where does it sit: AgTech, Premium Food Brand, or both?
The Business
- Current stage — idea, pre-revenue, or early revenue
- What can’t you solve on your own right now, operationally or financially?
- How does this generate revenue — today, and where it’s headed
The Fit
- What would structured financial and operational leadership unlock in the next 12 months?
- Why now?