For founder-led and family-run businesses
What we fix: five problems with one cause
PPS Consulting India fixes five problems in founder-led and family-run businesses: decisions that all wait for the owner, growth that has outrun the way work gets done, a succession the business isn't set up for, big projects that stall halfway, and software that never made it into daily use. All five come from one cause: the business runs on a few people instead of on systems. We fix that inside your business, with your people, and step back once your own team runs it.
In one line: if the business slows down whenever one person is away, it runs on people, and the five problems below are what that costs.
Does everything still go through you?
If most decisions wait for you, the business runs on you, however many people it employs. We fix it by moving decisions to the people closest to the work, within limits you set in writing, and giving you one weekly review instead of a queue at your desk.
You'll recognise it
- Approvals wait for you, even the small ones.
- A few people hold what nobody else knows: the key customers, the pricing logic, the supplier terms.
- You hear about a problem when the customer calls.
- A week away means a backlog when you return, so you don't take the week.
- You hand work over, then correct it on WhatsApp late at night.
What we put in place
- First: who decides what, and up to what amount, beginning with pricing, purchases and hiring.
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the recurring work, each with one owner and one template.
- A weekly rhythm, so decisions and exceptions come to one meeting, not to your phone.
- One management report (your MIS) that everyone reads the same way.
From our case studies
Runs without the founder
SOPs for the recurring work, one workspace, and a weekly rhythm the operations lead now runs
100+ artifacts
8 master SOPs, 13 policies, 24 SOPs, 45+ trackers, role playbooks and hiring packs
Solar and storage contractor: an operating model in 100+ artifacts
The work: Operational governance, Process systems
Six months. By week four: the first decisions off your desk, with written limits.
The plan, step by step: Everything still goes through youHas growth outrun the way work gets done?
When a business grows faster than its processes, the same things break in the same order: handoffs, approvals, visibility, hiring, then the cash cycle. Adding people seldom fixes it. Mapping how the work flows end to end, giving every handoff an owner and setting it up in your tools does.
You'll recognise it
- Orders fall between two teams, and each thinks the other has them.
- Approvals pile up as volume grows.
- Nobody can say where a job stands without calling someone.
- You hire more people, and everything gets slower.
- Work is done but not billed, or billed but not collected.
What we put in place
- First: the main flow mapped end to end, often from order to cash, with an owner for every handoff.
- Approval rules, so volume doesn't queue at one desk.
- Workflows and SOPs in your tools, with a dashboard that shows where every job stands.
- Automation and AI once the process is stable, not before.
From our case studies
5x locations, 7x fleet
from one pharmacy and location to two pharmacies and five locations in four months, and from 3 drivers to 20+
Medical delivery startup: one location to five in four months
50% less time
on supply chain management, with the same team, after 95 hours of work
Amazon seller: half the time on supply chain management, same team
The work: Process systems
Six months. By week four: the main flow mapped, every handoff owned, the first one fixed.
The plan, step by step: Growth has outrun the way work gets doneAre you taking over the family business?
Taking over a family business goes best when you change how decisions are made and recorded, and keep what built the business: the relationships, the culture and the people. We start quietly, with you, and a map of who holds what today; then we turn your agenda into a plan everyone can see, agree with the founder who decides what, and bring the long-serving team along with you rather than working around them.
You'll recognise it
- The business lives in a few people's heads, and some of them have been here longer than you.
- The founder is still in the building, and people still take decisions to them.
- Every change you suggest sounds like a verdict on how things were done.
- A new tool gets a polite yes, then a quiet return to the old way.
What we put in place
- First: your handover map, built privately with you: who holds which relationships, knowledge and approvals today, and what could move first.
- Decision rights agreed between you and the founder, in writing, so everyone knows who to go to.
- SOPs written with the long-serving team, so their knowledge is on paper with their names on it.
- A plan for each change that says what stays the same, with a visible win in the first few weeks.
- Once the founder backs the change, a Project Management Office (PMO) for your agenda, reviewed every week.
From our case studies
90 days Running now
from naming owners to the company's own team running the weekly cadence
Export manufacturer: a Project Management Office (PMO) in 90 days
The work: Transformation PMO, Operational governance, Adoption
The successor's route: three to six months. It starts with your handover map, built privately with you.
The successor's route, step by step: You're taking over the family businessDo your big projects stall halfway?
When several big changes run at once, such as a new ERP, a second site or a new market, each competes for the same few people and slips a little at a time. A Project Management Office (PMO) fixes that: a small team that holds every project on one plan and keeps them all moving.
You'll recognise it
- Several big projects are under way, and nobody can list them all with their dates.
- Each one waits on you, or on the same two managers, to move.
- Deadlines slip a week at a time, and you find out late.
- Vendors report progress, and nobody on your side checks it against what was promised.
- What one meeting decided, the next one reopens.
What we put in place
- First: one plan for every project, with owners, dates and the links between them.
- A review of progress, decisions and risks every week, and a one-page status for leadership.
- A decision log, so what was agreed stays agreed.
- Vendor oversight: we set what each vendor must deliver and check it before anyone signs off.
- Your own PMO, run by your people, before we step back.
From our case studies
9 workstreams, one cadence
nine project managers reporting in one format, with a one-page status for the CFO every week
30+ projects, one plan
five project managers on one weekly cadence, and one view for leadership and investors
Genetic testing startup: a Project Management Office (PMO) for 30+ projects
Live on time
with historical records migrated from scanned files and each role trained
The work: Transformation PMO
Three to six months, to go-live. By week four: every project on one plan, reviewed every week.
The plan, step by step: Big projects stall halfwayDid you buy software your team doesn't use?
When a rollout stalls, the cause is seldom the software: the process wasn't settled, the tool was set up like the demo, nobody owned it, and nothing kept it in use. We rescue it by settling the process first, setting the tool up the way your work runs, giving it an owner, and running your weekly review from it.
You'll recognise it
- People keep a parallel Excel sheet, and the real updates happen on WhatsApp.
- Nobody trusts what the tool shows, so meetings run on printouts.
- Each team uses it differently, or only a few people use it at all.
- The vendor says it's a training problem.
- Approvals still happen by email, outside the tool.
What we put in place
- First: the process, settled and agreed, before anyone touches the tool.
- The tool set up the way your work runs, starting where it saves the most chasing, such as purchase approvals, dispatch confirmation or collections follow-up.
- An owner in your team, and training by role.
- Dashboards people act on, and the weekly review run from the tool.
We work in ClickUp, Monday.com, Asana, Smartsheet, Zoho, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Jira.
From our case studies
85% adoption
up from under 40%, two years after the agency bought the tool
The work: Adoption, Process systems
Three months, after go-live. By week four: one job running in the tool, with an owner.
The plan, step by step: You bought the tool. Adoption stalled.What do the five problems have in common?
None of them is a failing. Each is what happens when a business grows on the strength of a few capable people, so the fix is built from the same building blocks every time, in the order your business needs them.
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Decisions
Who can decide what, within which limits, and what happens when people disagree.
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Rhythm
A weekly and monthly routine where work is reviewed, so nobody has to chase.
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One plan, one set of numbers
Every project on one plan, and one report everyone trusts.
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Work inside the tools
Workflows and SOPs in the tools people already open every morning.
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People who own it
A team inside your business that keeps it all running after we leave.
We have worked in sixteen kinds of business, from logistics and freight to non-profits, and the same five keep turning up. The method stays the same; we learn your domain from the people who already have it. Results by sector
Published research People who own it decide whether the rest lasts. Nine years after a management trial in Indian weaving firms, the plants that took part still ran far more of the new practices than those that didn't, but about half had been dropped; managerial turnover and a lack of the directors' time were among the reasons cited most. Bloom, Mahajan, McKenzie and Roberts, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2020 (opens in a new tab)
How we work, phase by phaseWhat don't we fix?
We fix how the work runs. Some problems sit right next to these and need someone else. If yours is one of them, we'll say so on the first call, and we'll gladly work alongside whoever you bring in.
- Family and ownership matters. Shareholding, wills, family constitutions, and disputes between family members. That is work for your lawyer and a family business adviser.
- Tax, audit and statutory filings. That is your CA's work.
- The deal itself. Valuation, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions. After a deal, we can help bring the two operations together, as we did in a post-merger HR integration.
- Writing software. We set up and connect the tools you use. When a job needs custom software or an ERP, we write the specification, run the selection and oversee the vendor; we don't write the code ourselves.
- Hiring at volume. We help hire or train the few people who will run the system; we are not a recruitment firm.
- A crisis measured in weeks. If cash will run out before our first four weeks are over, a turnaround specialist should come first.
Where do you start?
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A free call: 30 minutes with Rahul Kulkarni
Tell us which of the five sounds like your business, and we'll say plainly what we'd fix first. If there's no fit, we'll say so.
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The PPS Backbone Review, four weeks
We focus on the problem you came with, or, if you're not sure, find which of the five is costing you most. By week four the first fix is in, and you have the plan, with owners and measures.
Fixed fee: ₹1,50,000 to ₹3,50,000 plus GST and expenses, by the size of the business.
What's included -
The plan, until your team runs it
Three to six months in all, the first four weeks included, with fees that step down as your team takes over. Or stop after the four weeks and keep everything.
Fees cover our time. Travel, stay and meals for in-person work are paid by the client at actual cost, wherever it takes place. International engagements quoted in USD.
Not ready for a call? Take the PPS Backbone Check: eight statements on how much your business depends on a few people.
Advising a family business? How to bring us in for a client
- 100+ engagements
- 62,000+ delivery hours
- Top 1% Expert-Vetted on Upwork
- 100% job success, independently verified
Across Upwork and direct contracts, including the people on our project teams.
- MIT MicroMasters, Supply Chain
- Six Sigma Black Belt
- PRINCE2 Practitioner
Questions owners ask about these five
Can my business run without me, and how long does that take?
The day-to-day can, once decisions have owners, the work runs on a weekly rhythm and the process lives in your tools. The big calls, key relationships and direction stay with you. How long it takes depends on how much runs through you today: our plan for it runs six months, and its first four weeks measure where you start before you commit to the rest.
Which of the five should we fix first?
The one costing you most, which is not always the loudest. If decisions still wait for you, that usually comes first, because the other fixes need someone other than you to decide. The first four weeks, the PPS Backbone Review, find which of the five is costing you most and put the fixes in order, with owners and measures.
What should I hand over first?
The decisions that reach you most often and cost the most when they wait. In most businesses that means pricing within an agreed band, purchases below a set amount, and hiring for roles that already exist. Write down who decides and up to what amount, then review the exceptions once a week instead of every case as it comes.
Do we need new software?
Usually not at first. We settle the process in the tools you already have, and often the tool you already pay for can do the job once the process is clear. We recommend new software only when the process is stable and the gap is real. When an ERP is the answer, we run the selection and oversee the vendor.
How do we get people to use the software we already paid for?
Start with one job people already hate doing by hand, such as chasing purchase approvals, confirming dispatch or following up on collections, instead of moving everything at once. Set the tool up the way the work actually runs, give it an owner, train people by role, and run your regular review from it. When the report comes out of the tool, people keep the tool up to date.
What is a Project Management Office (PMO), and does a business our size need one?
A PMO is a small team, sometimes one person and a weekly meeting, that keeps every initiative on one plan, tracks decisions and risks, and reports to leadership every week. You need one when more changes are under way than one person can track, typically once a new system, a new site or a new market is running alongside the day job.
Tell us two things.
What you're trying to achieve in the next 90 days, and what's breaking in execution. We'll tell you plainly what we'd fix first.
Book a discovery callFree, no obligation, and under an NDA if you prefer.
Or write to consult@ppsconsulting.biz WhatsApp +91 93246 21840 (opens in a new tab)