We don't advise.
We operate.
An operating-model firm run by an operator. Fractional CPTO and COO, and software built in-house — for companies where the next stage depends on how the machine runs, not what the strategy says.
DIAGNOSIS / 01
Growth doesn't stall in the strategy.
It stalls in the model.
WHO / 02
You're not buying a method. You're hiring the operator who has run it.
Lucid is led by Leigh Steed-Middleton, a product and technology executive who rewires operating spines rather than tweaking products. Across five years at Sedna he put product, engineering, marketing and customer success under one system: recurring revenue grew 10× at roughly 58% CAGR, six acquisitions were integrated, and the customer base passed 700 organisations.
Structure where there's noise, velocity where there's friction, accountability where there's ambiguity. The work is done by the operator you meet, not passed to a team you don't.
Read the background ↗MODES / 03
Two modes. We operate in one or both.
We take the seat.
Fractional CPTO or COO, embedded in your leadership team. We run the operating rhythm, own the technology decisions, and build the product organisation you'll keep after we leave.
Practice ↗We build the thing.
Some problems don't need advice. Lucid incubates and operates its own software — and takes build work for clients where the product is the point, not a deliverable.
Evidence ↗| Mode | What we own | Shape | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional CPTO | Product, engineering, architecture, technical hiring | Ongoing, part-week | OPEN |
| Fractional COO | Operating cadence, delivery, spend, cross-functional flow | Ongoing, part-week | OPEN |
| Operating review | Written assessment of the model, with a plan | Fixed scope | OPEN |
| Build | Software designed, built and run by our team | Project or embedded | OPEN |
Not strategy on a slide.
The operating model underneath it.
METHOD / 04
How an engagement runs.
Four phases. The last one is the point — we're building something that keeps running without us.
FIT / 05
Who we work with.
Everything we install is written down.
An engagement leaves a paper trail on purpose. The operating review, the decision log, the architecture position, the hiring plan — documents your board can read and your team can run from. If it only lived in our heads, we didn't do the work.
EVIDENCE / 07
Two engagements on the record: one live, one in build. We publish work at the point it's real, not at the point it's announced.
Notes from inside the machine.
Operating models, product organisations and the unglamorous mechanics of getting software shipped. Occasional, and written by the person doing the work.
Forty-five minutes. Bring the constraint.
Tell us where the model is bending. We'll say what we'd do, and whether we're the right people to do it.