Focus on your why, not your back office.
Fractional CFO & COO Support
Real support for Kiwi businesses from the inside out
Playdough is a Wellington‑based advisory firm built by people who’ve actually sat in your seat. We’ve led teams, managed tight cash cycles, navigated scrappy startup days, and carried the weight of decisions that mattered.
We’re not an accounting firm with polished marketing. We are operators who understand what it feels like to be responsible for the outcome.
We know the pressure founders and CEOs live with: the mental load, the late‑night decisions, the constant expectation to get it right. Our role is simple; step in, steady the ship, and give you the space to lead the parts of the business only you can.
We get inside your business, understand what’s really going on, and quietly fix the things that have been slowing you down.
Our Fractional Services
We bring strong frameworks, but we shape them to fit your business.
We start by listening, understanding how things work today, and spotting where support will have the most impact. From there, we shape a service that fits, whether you need a few hours a week or a more hands‑on partnership.
Fractional CFO, COO, or back‑office support; whatever combination you need, we help lighten the load, bring clarity, and strengthen the parts of your business that matter most.
Fractional CFO - Steadying the Financial Core
We bring clarity to cash flow, forecasting, funding, profitability, and working capital. The focus is always on the real decisions that keep your business moving.
We specialise in:
- Working capital flow and cash cycles
- Prioritising resources and return on investment
- Margin clarity for product and service businesses
- Operating and sales cycle analysis
- Pricing and structure for international expansion
- R&D and deep‑tech cash burn management
- Designing finance processes and workflows
- Defining in‑house roles and responsibilities
- Mentoring, building capability and accountability across your finance team
You get expert financial leadership without the full‑time cost, and a partner who has worked inside businesses, understands the pressure of financial uncertainty, and brings the clarity needed to move forward with confidence.
Fractional COO - Smoothing Operations & Building Momentum
We untangle workflows, align teams, and build operational systems that actually work. The approach is practical and human, shaped by real experience inside growing businesses.
We support:
- Operational flow and process design
- Team alignment and role clarity
- Coaching and mentoring for internal leaders
- Governance reporting and operational insight
- Supply‑chain and logistics rhythms
The result is smoother days, clearer roles, and a business that feels easier to run.
Fractional Back‑Office - Quietly Handling the Essentials
We take care of the internal admin that needs to be right but shouldn’t take up your headspace.
This includes:
- Payroll
- HR basics
- Invoicing and payables
- Compliance coordination
- Internal admin and workflow support
Our focus is on your internal operations, not customer‑facing tasks. Keeping your business running smoothly behind the scenes.
Full Finance & Admin Outsourcing - Run with Care and Clarity
For some clients, we run the entire finance and admin function from bookkeeping through to board reporting. For others, we coach and uplift their internal team. The goal is the same: a business that runs smoothly without you carrying the weight.
Many of these engagements begin when things simply aren’t working anymore. Costs need to come down, processes have become tangled, or the internal team is stretched too thin. We take years of patched‑together systems, unpick them, and rebuild with clear processes, thoughtful design, and the right technology.
The result is a finance and admin function that is cleaner, faster, and often more effective than offshoring, giving you back the headspace to lead.
Choose the support that fits your situation right now. You can keep it simple, or scale up as things change.
Start ups
Focus for growth
We can run your entire finance, operations, or back‑office function end to end. Bookkeeping, admin, payroll, reporting, workflow design, and everything behind the scenes that keeps your business moving.
To your customers, and investors, we feel like part of your team. We understand how Kiwi businesses think and what early‑stage companies need to build momentum without burning out.
Scaling up
Support that keeps pace with your growth
When growth speeds up, things can get messy. Systems stretch, roles blur, and the pace gets harder to manage. We help steady things and put structure around your next stage.
We can lead your finance, operations, or back‑office work, or work alongside your team to lift capability. Reporting, forecasting, workflow design, and role clarity are all part of the mix.
When it’s time to bring roles in‑house, we help you hire well, onboard properly, and build capability so the IP stays inside your business.
You get experienced support that feels like part of your crew and understands how Kiwi companies grow and keep their momentum.
Growing companies
Strengthen your foundations
As businesses mature, new pressures show up. Key people hold too much knowledge, reporting chews up time, capital gets locked up, and international expansion or M&A plans demand more structure than the business has today. We help steady the load and build the systems that carry you forward.
We work alongside your existing team as senior finance and operational partners, coaching, mentoring, and uplifting staff while strengthening systems, reporting, and decision making. The aim is to reduce risk, free up capacity, and build capability inside your business.
If you are preparing for expansion, raising capital, or getting the business sale ready, we bring the experience and the practical steps to make it happen.
Fees
We provide the flexibility to choose the fee structure that works for you and your stage of growth. Get in touch, tell us what you need and we can run you through the options
Hourly
Fixed
Retainer
Want a clearer picture of where things stand?
Tell us what you’re dealing with and we’ll suggest the simplest next step.
Book a chat