about

The operations whisperer shaping successful businesses

Founder Stephanie Koch always had an innate ability to uncover the heart of the problem. Whether it was during her time as a Global COO at Deutsche Bank or as Head of Operations for Advanced Projects at United Technologies, she was known as the “fixer” because she could solve any problem across any discipline.

During her early career, she was frustrated by roles where she felt like just another cog in the wheel – she wanted to actually see the results she was producing. She knew that she wanted to do work that made a fast and tangible impact.  

As Stephanie began working with startups and entrepreneurs, she noticed over and over that there was a gap in operations support. Many of the founders she came across had amazing ideas for products and services to sell, but they had no time – or no idea how – to sustainably build and manage a business. This problem was compounded by the fact that many entrepreneurs and business owners couldn’t access the expert-level support they needed without increasing headcount. Out of a desire to bridge this gap and help businesses and business leaders grow, Flourish Advisory was born. 

Stephanie is uniquely positioned because she has had her hands in everything before – she has set up and managed business operations, HR, legal, IT, finance, marketing, etc. – for multiple fully operational companies across the globe. Unlike most Fractional COOs, Stephanie has actually lived the roles she’s serving, so when she provides strategies and solutions, she understands the impact they will have on the full cycle of operations across a company. 

Stephanie received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at The George Washington University and lives with her husband and two children, splitting time between Boston, New York, and Munich. When she isn’t helping companies streamline their operations, you’ll likely find her pursuing her other passions – practicing yoga and planning her next travel adventure.

Stephanie and Flourish Advisory were an invaluable resource for our company in our most critical stages of growth. 

Co-founder & CEO, Universal Hydrogen

Not only did they deliver impeccable execution, but they served as a trusted partner for me and the leadership team in terms of strategy, selecting appropriate systems, crafting processes and policies, and a myriad other things that would otherwise have fallen through the cracks. I cannot recommend Stephanie and Flourish Advisory highly enough to anyone who wants experienced C-suite caliber support on a flexible, outsourced basis.

Working with Stephanie has been all sorts of wonderful.

CEO, With Helen & Rise Collective

She is quite simply an extraordinary COO, strategist, sounding board… etc. I reached out to Stephanie because as my company was growing, my lack of systems and processes made for clunky and exhausting work. 

Stephanie swooped in and literally put my house in order. She was quick to understand the issues, asking the right questions (with meticulous attention). She is highly strategic, focused and has an unbelievable attention to detail. She understands the belly of the business and was able to very quickly identify the most efficient systems and processes to support my line of work. 

Stephanie is not only a delight to work with, she is thorough, understanding, patient and delivers the work at breakneck speed. The value creation is unparalleled. 

Flourish Advisory is really good at helping start-ups establish a solid business foundation for growth.

While working with Stephanie over the past year, she assisted me with setting up my systems, getting a clear picture of the business that I really wanted to be a part of and hiring the support team to take my company forward. I highly recommend working with Stephanie to any entrepreneur or start-up.

Stephanie is truly knowledgeable and "knows her stuff." 

When I was ready to smooth out my operations and grow my team, a colleague recommended Flourish Advisory and I was not disappointed! Not only did Stephanie provide great insight on our systems, she also helped me interview new candidates, resulting in a winning team that I love. If you need someone to help you take a good look at your systems/operations, or even if you just need a sounding board (I did!) I encourage you to partner with Stephanie and the Flourish Advisory team.

Flourish Advisory has taken my thoughts, ideas, and goals and helped me turn them into actionable steps with clear processes.

President, Accountably

As a cloud-based business owner, I knew I needed help but didn’t really know what kind of help I needed to manage a growing business. Stephanie and her team have helped me clarify my goals and provided an experience that feels personal and genuine. Working with Flourish has increased my confidence as a business owner. I feel very supported!

Stephanie is my coach, mentor, guide, consultant and compass.

I started working with Flourish Advisory when I wanted to do a whole overhaul of my business and I wasn't sure what direction to take. Stephanie is my coach, mentor, guide, consultant and compass. I can play and experiment with less fear knowing that she is keeping me on course with my vision, mission and priorities. I went from being unsure of my direction to creating the company of my dreams. Now I’m focusing on building processes and scaling. I am constantly telling my entrepreneur friends they need to work with Stephanie!

Stephanie is an operations leader that truly "gets it." 

Co-Founder, Universal Hydrogen

She can grok a situation rapidly, and come up with a comprehensive and well-articulated approach to addressing the underlying business need. I've seen her excel both in a Fortune 500 company where she acted as primary biz ops translator between a skunkworks unit and the corporate parent, as well as embedded in an early-stage startup. In both situations, Stephanie's deep experience, thoughtful approach, and extensive network of talent enabled her to bring rationality to highly nuanced challenges. Stephanie is awesome!

Stephanie is a creative and pragmatic operations expert.

Founder & Chief Planner, Brooklyn Plans

She's great at strategizing and implementing projects, is a trusted advisor on all things hiring. She's very professional and I have come to value her opinion and feedback in plotting the course for my business.