When scaling breaks executive execution, we fix the leadership friction.
We embed former CEOs and senior operators with founders, executive teams, and investors to resolve the hidden tensions that stall decisions and threaten growth.Partner operating pedigree spans leadership at scale
What breaks when fast-growing companies hit pressure
Decision latency
Key hires, product pivots, and capital deployments stall because the leadership team avoids the hard call. Everyone can see the decision that needs to be made. No one is making it.
Co-founder & executive fracture
Unspoken disagreements and eroded trust between founders or C-suite peers turn into political silos. Meetings get politer. Execution gets slower.
The scale bottleneck
The operating habits that worked at 20 people are actively suffocating the company at 100 or more. The org chart changed. The decision-making didn't.
Not outside theorists. Operators inside the room.
Traditional consultancies deliver 100-page slide decks from the sidelines. Generic executive coaches ask reflective questions detached from your P&L. Kuma Partners embeds former CEOs and operators inside the high-stakes decisions to fix leadership friction and restore execution velocity.
| Traditional consultancies | Generic coaching collectives | Kuma Partners | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who delivers | Junior analysts, staffed off a bench | Solo mindset coaches, working in isolation | Former CEOs, CROs, and enterprise operators |
| The focus | Theoretical 100-page slide decks | Isolated one-to-one reflection, detached from the P&L | High-stakes operational mediation and strategic alignment, in the same room |
| Speed to value | Six-month discovery studies | Open-ended hourly retainers with no end date | 14-day scans and 60-day alignment sprints |
Three ways in, matched to how urgent the problem is
The 14-Day Leadership Friction Scan
Fixed scope: 8 to 10 confidential executive interviews, a team communication pulse check, and a board alignment review.
The fastest, lowest-risk way to identify what's blocking executive execution.
- Surfaces normalized friction patterns and cross-functional misalignment
- Names the decision bottlenecks and board exposure no one is saying out loud
- Ends with a facilitated C-suite and board debrief, not a slide deck left behind
The 60–90 Day Executive Alignment Sprint
Hands-on co-founder mediation, executive team restructuring, decision-governance redesign, and cross-functional facilitation.
- Restructured operating cadences the team actually keeps
- Signed behavioral contracts between founders and C-suite peers
- Restored execution speed, measured against board-facing metrics
Strategic Scaling Advisory
Embedded strategic counsel and executive sparring for the CEO and key executives through hyper-growth or M&A transitions.
- A confidential partner in the room for fundraising, expansion, and M&A decisions
- Direct access between board cycles, not just at the quarterly review
- Continuity across the inflection points that break newer advisors
Led by practitioners, not academics
Every partner has actually sat in the CEO, CRO, or C-suite seat, surviving board revolts, fundraising rounds, and restructuring, before sitting in the advisory one.
Vincent Azé
Commercial Lead & Deal ExecutionFormer CRO at Glownet and Sales Director at FIS. Leads commercial diagnostics and deal-side executive work, translating boardroom pressure into a plan the leadership team can actually run.
Márcio Marcos
IP & Diagnostic ArchitectureTwenty-plus years advising culture and leadership inside TikTok, P&G, and Bosch, formerly with Axialent. Owns Kuma's diagnostic method and the frameworks behind the Friction Scan.
Dr. Sven Mulfinger
Strategic Alliances & OriginationSerial entrepreneur, PhD engineer, and Vistage Chair. Leads Kuma's strategic advisory retainers and its relationships with founders, boards, and investors across Europe.
Unblock your executive execution.
Schedule a confidential 30-minute introductory conversation with a Kuma Managing Partner to assess your leadership team's current friction points.
Prefer to pick a time directly? Swap this form for a HubSpot or Cal.com scheduling embed once your booking link is ready.