Tell us what's on your plate.
Email us with a few lines about your startup and what you need help with. We'll reply within one business day to set up a discovery call.
Helpful to include
- Your company, stage and what you've raised
- The two or three things taking most of your time
- Any deadlines, such as a raise, board meeting or deal
- Services you're interested in (you can copy them from the engagement builder)
From email to deployment.
We reply
We'll suggest times for a discovery call and send an NDA if you'd like one.
Discovery call
We learn about your priorities, bottlenecks and goals.
Proposal
A clear scope, team and fixed fee, with goals for the first month.
Deployment
Your FDO joins your team and the work starts.
Questions founders ask us.
What exactly is a Forward Deployed Operator?
A senior operator with 10+ years in consulting or startup roles who embeds with your founding team. They join your meetings, work in your tools, set priorities with you each week and own delivery. They are your single point of contact, and they bring in specialists from our bench when a task needs deeper expertise.
How is this different from hiring a chief of staff?
A chief of staff is one person with one skill set, and hiring well can take three to six months. With Neybula you get a senior operator plus a bench of specialists in research, hiring, finance ops, outbound and M&A, live within a week. The team flexes as your priorities change, with no recruiting, notice periods or severance.
How is this different from a consulting firm?
Consultants usually advise and hand over a deck. We advise and execute. Your FDO works inside your team week to week, so the research turns into a board narrative, the hiring plan turns into accepted offers, and the GTM strategy turns into booked meetings.
Why not just use freelancers or a virtual assistant agency?
Freelancers and VAs are good for well-defined tasks, but someone still has to scope, manage and quality-check the work, and that usually falls back on the founder. Your FDO does that for you, and every specialist on the bench has a decade of experience, so you get judgment as well as extra hands.
Which startups do you work with?
Mostly funded startups from seed to Series B, plus holding companies and venture studios with active portfolios. We're most useful after a raise, before a raise, during an acquisition, or when entering a new market.
How quickly can you start?
Most engagements go live within a week of the discovery call. Your FDO spends the first days learning your business and tools, and the full team is usually running by week two.
How much does it cost?
It depends on what you choose: a package (Launch, Scale or Partner), a single skill, or a custom mix of services. Ongoing work is billed as a fixed monthly retainer and one-off projects at a fixed project fee, never by the hour. We share a clear proposal after the discovery call.
Is there a minimum commitment?
We recommend starting with three months for ongoing work. After that, engagements run month to month and you can scale up, scale down or pause with 30 days' notice.
How do you handle confidentiality?
We sign an NDA before the discovery call if you'd like one, and every engagement includes confidentiality terms. Your data stays in your systems, and access is limited to the people working on your account.
Do you work remotely or on-site?
Mostly remote, inside your Slack, email, CRM and project tools. For key moments such as offsites, board meetings, negotiations or planning sessions, your FDO can join in person where location allows.
How do we measure whether it's working?
We agree on goals in week one, for example roles filled, meetings booked, a board deck delivered, or hours of founder time saved. You get a short weekly update, and each month we review results together and adjust the plan.
Can we hire you for just one thing?
Yes. Many founders start with a single skill, such as a board deck, a market study or setting up outbound, and add more once they've seen how we work. You can build a custom mix on the Engagements page.