Operating advisor and fractional COO, based in Zug, Switzerland
I work inside your leadership team when the plan is right and delivery is not.
Operating leadership for PE-backed and owner-led companies in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Seven years inside a private equity portfolio company, one cross-border integration, and a board seat. I take on a small number of companies at a time.
- WU Vienna
- London School of Economics
- Roland Berger
- Seven years of operating leadership in a private equity portfolio company
- Cross-border post-merger integration with a former 3M entity
- B2B operations performance at Sunrise
Most companies I am called into do not have a strategy problem.
They have a decision that never reached the operating rhythm, a pipeline that never reached delivery, or a pilot that never reached the process. The gap between what was agreed and what actually runs is where the value goes. That gap is my work.
Between the deck and the P&L
The strategy is signed off and the organization keeps doing what it did last quarter. Nobody owns the translation from decision to operating routine, so the plan quietly becomes a document instead of a way of working.
Between sales and delivery
The pipeline looks healthy and the revenue does not arrive. Deals stall at the same phase every quarter, the handover from sales to onboarding leaks, and the forecast slowly loses credibility with the board.
Between the pilot and the process
The AI pilot demos well and never reaches operations. Nobody has established where the company actually stands, so the investment case is built on enthusiasm rather than a baseline.
Make sense. Build buy-in. Get it done.
Three entry points, depending on how much certainty you already have.
AI and Operations Readiness Check
A structured diagnostic across seven dimensions, delivered through an assessment application I built and run myself. Start with the free Pulse Check, eleven questions, about four minutes. The full check goes to twenty-eight questions and produces a written standpoint you can take into a board meeting.
Diagnostic sprint
Three weeks, fixed scope, fixed fee. I map where the value is leaking, quantify it against a baseline, and hand over a decision document that names the two or three moves worth making. You can act on it with or without me. Also used ahead of a transaction, when the operational story needs to hold up to a buyer.
Fractional mandate
Six months, two to three days a week after an intensive start. I sit in your leadership meetings, own the workstream, and stay until it runs without me. You keep the decision rights. I keep the pace. COO or transformation lead, depending on where the gap sits.
Mandates are retainer-based and I take on a small number each year. Tell me what is stuck and I will tell you within a week whether I am the right person for it.
Three examples, with the baseline included.
Client support responsiveness, from below 50% to over 85%
A PE-backed technology group with a global installed base was losing customer confidence on service response. I introduced a single company-wide KPI on issue resolution time, ran root cause analysis across regions, and shifted the operating culture toward service and process quality. Twenty-four hour SLA responsiveness moved from below 50% to over 85%.
Lean operations across EMEA
As Head of Operations EMEA I rebuilt the regional operating model through selective centralization, standard operating procedures, and the supporting systems. Result: a single-digit USD million improvement to the bottom line and 20% FTE synergies, without losing local service quality.
Lead-to-cash and self-service at Sunrise
As Head of Operations Performance I represented B2B Operations in building a new lead-to-cash and after-sales customer portal. I owned the requirements book, the RACI, and the detailed process flow together with Sales, IT, and the other functions, with a specific focus on a clean sales-to-onboarding handover and on automating what customers could do themselves.
I did not write a point of view about AI. I built a diagnostic and put it into production.
Most AI conversations in mid-market and portfolio company boardrooms stall for the same reason. Nobody can say where the company actually stands, so the discussion swings between enthusiasm and dismissal without ever reaching a decision.
So I built the instrument. The AI and Operations Readiness Check assesses seven dimensions, runs in German and English, and produces a structured score rather than an impression, with segment comparison as the dataset grows. The application is mine end to end: assessment logic, data model, hosting, and the scoring behind it. Client data is stored in Switzerland, with processing in the EU, designed around the requirements of the revised Swiss Data Protection Act.
It also tells you something about how I work. When a system is missing, I can specify it precisely enough that your team or your implementation partner can build it, because I have built one myself.
Four levels of AI maturity
- Level 1 is individual tool use.
- Level 2 is team-level adoption.
- Level 3 is process integration.
- Level 4 is autonomous operation inside the value chain.
Most companies I meet believe they are at Level 3 and are at Level 1.
The check tells you which.
Operational support for funds and their portfolio companies.
Most operating support offered to funds comes from people who have advised on transformation rather than delivered it. I spent seven years inside a portfolio company, first as Chief of Staff and Company Secretary to a PE-owned board, then as Head of Operations EMEA, then as a board member. I know what the investment committee needs to see and what it takes on the ground to produce it.
I work with management teams and investment professionals across the ownership lifecycle: operational assessment before or shortly after entry, 100-day planning, value creation delivery in commercial performance, operational excellence, and organizational effectiveness, and exit readiness when the operational story has to hold up to a buyer.
PE Portfolio Cockpit
The Readiness Check applied across a portfolio rather than a single company. Each portfolio company is assessed on the same seven dimensions, so operational and AI maturity become comparable line items in a portfolio review instead of anecdotes from individual CEOs.
Christoph Dock
I was born in Vienna, studied at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and at the London School of Economics, and learned structured problem solving at Roland Berger. I then spent close to seven years inside a private equity portfolio company, moving from Chief of Staff and Company Secretary to Head of Operations EMEA and a seat on the board, including a cross-border integration with a former 3M entity. After that I led operations performance in the B2B unit of Sunrise.
What I do now sits between those experiences. I know what an investor needs to see, and I know what it takes on the ground to produce it. I also hold a board mandate at a Swiss family office investment vehicle, which keeps me on the other side of the table often enough to stay honest about what governance really requires.
I work from the Zurich and Zug area and operate across Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
Tell me what is stuck.
A short call is usually enough to establish whether there is something here. No proposal, no deck, no obligation.
Thank you, your message has arrived. I reply within two working days.
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