Critical Path launches fractional COO practice in Raleigh

Critical Path Executive Coaching and Fractional Leadership has launched in Raleigh to give Triangle founder-led companies access to fractional COOs, chiefs of staff and operations support. The move targets businesses growing past the point where a founder can manage every decision alone, just as the Triangle’s small-business base keeps expanding.

Why it matters: - The Triangle’s small-business economy is growing fast, but many companies are hitting an operations ceiling before they can justify a full-time COO. - Critical Path is positioning itself to fill that gap with fractional leadership, project-based operations help and executive coaching. - The launch comes as the Raleigh-Cary metro ranks fourth nationally for small business performance, according to a CoworkingCafe study released in May.

What happened: - Critical Path Executive Coaching and Fractional Leadership, LLC launched this month in Raleigh. - The firm will place fractional Chief Operating Officers and Chiefs of Staff inside founder-led companies. - The practice will also handle operations and program management work for teams that need less than a full executive. - Critical Path will coach individual leaders as part of the offering. - Brett Coakley founded the firm. - Coakley brings operations leadership experience from Google, Fitbit, NuVasive and Blue Apron.

The details: - Small firms account for 47% of total employment across the Triangle. - Small firms drove close to 90% of the region’s net new job growth over the past year. - The firm starts each engagement with a scoped diagnostic, a structured review of how the business actually runs. - Most client relationships continue as a fractional retainer or a defined project. - Fractional support can mean a COO or Chief of Staff working with a founder a set number of days each month. - Critical Path also offers lighter operations support for teams that need an operating rhythm and help keeping programs moving. - Project work includes PMO buildouts, transformation programs and repairs to operations that outgrew their original structure. - Coakley’s early career included hardware program management roles at Motorola Mobility, Google and Fitbit. - He later moved into regulated medical device operations at NuVasive and transformation leadership at Blue Apron. - At NuVasive, Coakley built the program management function from scratch across four business units and more than 400 components under FDA regulation. - At Blue Apron, Coakley rebuilt executive decision-making, cut deferred decisions by 35%, returned roughly 40 hours a month to leadership and governed a $10 million initiative portfolio. - Coakley has coached hundreds of leaders across technology, SaaS, fintech, biotech, medtech, aerospace and manufacturing. - His coaching work spans senior individual contributors, directors, vice presidents and C-suite executives. - Coakley holds PMP, Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Product Owner and Six Sigma Green Belt certifications. - He will complete an Executive MBA at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in October 2026. - Coakley earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. - More information is available at the company’s website and Critical Path’s LinkedIn page.

Between the lines: - The launch reflects a broader shift in founder-led companies that outgrow informal operating habits before they are ready to hire a full-time executive. - Critical Path is betting that many Triangle companies want experienced operations leadership without the cost of a permanent COO. - Coakley’s background in both high-growth consumer tech and regulated operations suggests the firm is aiming at companies facing execution problems, not just strategy gaps.

What's next: - Critical Path will likely grow through fractional retainers, scoped diagnostics and project-based engagements with small and mid-sized businesses. - Founder-led companies in the Research Triangle now have another option for operations leadership that sits between DIY management and a full-time executive hire. - The firm also expects to continue serving leaders who need coaching or career positioning during transitions.