Your revenue has grown
Your operating model hasn't
You built this company to run at $20M. At $50M, $100M, or $300M the same model starts costing you margin, speed, and your best people. That is not a failure of effort. It is a design problem, and it does not fix itself.
Jane Gentry is a strategic operating model advisor and former CEO of two PE-backed companies who helps mid-market CEOs redesign their companies when revenue grows faster than the business was built to run.
How do you know growth has outpaced your operating model?
If you're leading a complex mid-market business and feel your infrastructure straining, you're likely seeing this:
- Decisions drag. What took a day now takes a week.
- Best people are overloaded. Your A-players are carrying two jobs to cover gaps.
- EBITDA is thinning. Revenue grows, but margins shrink due to friction.
- Processes break. Systems that worked 18 months ago are now bottlenecks.
- Leadership calendar is full. You're in meetings all day but feel less in control.
These aren’t signs of failure. They are the predictable symptoms of success that has outpaced your operating model.
Manufacturing
In mid-market manufacturing, quote-to-cash slows as engineering and sales stop operating from the same information. Jane Gentry redesigns the handoffs so quotes move without rework and margin stops leaking between the two functions.
Logistics
In logistics, margin erodes when manual heroics cover for process gaps nobody has time to close. Jane Gentry replaces the workarounds with an operating model that holds under volume.
Construction and trades
In construction and the trades, field operations scale faster than back-office support can absorb. Jane Gentry rebuilds the structure and decision rights so project delivery and administration grow at the same rate.
Which size are you?
Jane Gentry works with mid-market CEOs between $20M and $800M in revenue. The strain shows up differently at each stage.
Company Stage
Typical Strain Point
The Risk
$20M – $50M
“Tribal Knowledge” breaks. Founders can’t be in every room.
Quality drops, decisions stall without you.
$50M – $100M
Process break. What worked at $40M is now chaos.
Margin erosion, high-performer burnout.
$100M+
Is your company showing growth strain?
3-Minute Growth Strain Self-Check
Answer Yes/No. Does this sound like your week?
- Decisions that should take 1 day now take 1 week.
- Your best people are doing 2 jobs (theirs + someone else's).
- EBITDA margins are flat/shrinking despite revenue growth.
- You've deployed AI tools, but decision velocity hasn't improved.
- High-performers mention "rebuilding the same things twice."
Results:
- 0-1 Yes: Solid. Stay vigilant.
- 2-3 Yes: Strain is visible. You are 90-180 days from this becoming expensive.
- 4-5 Yes: Critical. Your infrastructure is materially behind your revenue.
What changes when the operating model is redesigned?
Three things move in Jane Gentry’s mid-market engagements, and none of them come from cost-cutting.
Margin
Speed
Capacity without headcount
Why isn't AI improving your decision speed?
Your competitors are layering AI on top of broken systems and calling it digital transformation. The result is faster chaos, more meetings about AI adoption, and EBITDA that keeps shrinking despite productivity gains. The companies that win are not using AI to work faster. They are using AI to decide smarter, and redesigning their operating models to support it.
What CEOs ask before the first call
Is this AI consulting?
No. Jane Gentry does not sell software or implement platforms. She is an operating model advisor who uses AI where it fixes a structural problem, so mid-market CEOs stop paying for AI activity that never reaches the P&L.
Can't I just hire a COO?
If you need to run the existing model, hire a COO. If you need to redesign the model for the next stage, that is what Jane Gentry does. She builds the car; the COO drives it.
Will you hand me a plan and leave?
No. Unlike consultants who deliver decks and disappear, or fractional executives who become permanent overhead, Jane Gentry co-designs the solution and stays close through implementation, exiting when it works without her.
Which engagement fits your situation?
CEO Thought Partner
CEO Thought Partner is Jane Gentry's monthly advisory engagement for mid-market CEOs who need somewhere to pressure-test decisions before committing resources. Two focused sessions a month covering strategy, org moves, and AI investments.
Strategic Co-Designer
Strategic Co-Designer is Jane Gentry's engagement for mid-market CEOs redesigning their operating model for the next stage of growth. Together you rebuild org structure, decision rights, and where AI creates real leverage. Jane builds the design; your team executes with Jane's support.
Execution Sprint
Execution Sprint is Jane Gentry's 12-week engagement for mid-market CEOs with a workflow that is visibly broken: quote-to-cash, order-to-delivery, or project handoff. Diagnosis, redesign, and implementation inside a fixed window, with Jane in the business until the new process holds without supervision.
What does 30 years of operating experience change?
Jane Gentry ran mid-market companies under PE ownership before she advised them. She has been a CEO, built sales organizations, and carried the P&L. That means mid-market CEOs get an advisor who has made the same calls under the same pressure. And she stays in the business through execution rather than handing over a design and leaving.
Some of our clients
What happens on a first call?
Thirty minutes. Jane Gentry asks where decisions stall, what the business has outgrown, and what it is costing you. You leave knowing whether you have a design problem and what to fix first.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to identify and discuss your organization’s growing pains.
