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ABOUT SOLVED

Structure creates freedom.

When operations are designed with intention, work flows more clearly, leadership feels lighter, and growth becomes something the business can actually sustain.


That belief is what SOLVED Collective was built around.

Lindsay Sheldrake facilitating a leadership clarity session with a growing service business team

OUR MISSION

We help growing service businesses build the operational structure that makes good work sustainable.

Not through rigid frameworks or generic advice. Through clear thinking, honest assessment, and practical design that fits how your business actually runs.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

These values shape how we work, how we think, and what we hold ourselves to in every engagement.

TRUST

We work with honesty and accountability.

Leaders trust us to tell the truth about how things are working and to design systems they can rely on. We take that seriously.

PEOPLE

Operations exist to support people, not the other way around.

We design systems that help teams work well together, with clear roles, realistic expectations, and room to do their best work.

ADAPTABILITY

Growth changes the conditions a business operates in.

We design systems that flex as those conditions shift so the structure supporting the business keeps up with it.

curiosity

We start with questions, not assumptions.

Genuine curiosity helps us understand how work actually happens inside a business and design something that fits, rather than something that looks good on paper.

how we work

We start by understanding before we recommend. Every engagement begins with genuine curiosity about how the business actually operates, not how it looks on paper, and not through assumptions about what should be working.

From there the work moves in three stages.

Understand your business.

We listen, observe, and map what is actually happening before any redesign begins.

Prioritize what matters.

We identify the highest-leverage changes and sequence them in a way the business can actually absorb.

Design and implement with intention.

With clear priorities in place, we build the structures, rhythms, and systems that allow the business to run well without depending on any one person to hold it together.

Every engagement is grounded in two proprietary frameworks: the Operational Maturity Model, which maps where a business is in its operational development, and the Five Flows Framework, which examines how work, decisions, information, capacity, and money move through the organization.

SOLVED Collective operations partner working alongside a founder-led business leadership team

THE SOLVED WAY

These principles guide every engagement. They're why the work creates lasting change rather than temporary fixes.

Partners, not consultants.

We immerse ourselves in your business. We take time to understand how your people think and work, and we tailor our approach to fit your specific context. The goal is lasting change, not a report that sits on a shelf.

Practical before theoretical.

Our advice is grounded in your reality. We focus on what will actually make a difference, prioritizing progress over unnecessary complexity. Frameworks serve the work. The work doesn't serve the frameworks.

Designed for what's next.

We address the challenges in front of you while anticipating what's coming. Structure isn't just about solving today's problems. It's about building the capacity to handle tomorrow's growth without starting over.

With you through the work.

We don't disappear once a plan is written. Whether we're assessing operations, designing systems, providing fractional leadership, or coaching your team, we work alongside you until the change actually sticks.

The Trusted Operator Academy

In Fall 2026, SOLVED Collective launches The Trusted Operator Academy — a 20-week live virtual development program for operators in founder-led businesses.

Founding cohort starts October 15, 2026. Six to eight seats.

Meet the collective

Built by one. Powered by many.

SOLVED Collective is led by Lindsay Sheldrake, working alongside a curated group of independent strategic partners who join in when an engagement calls for them. The core stays constant. The team around it flexes to fit the work.

Lindsay Sheldrake, founder of SOLVED Collective and fractional COO for growing service businesses

Lindsay Sheldrake

Founder + Fractional COO + Operations Advisor

Lindsay has spent over two decades inside complex, founder-led service businesses, most of it as a senior operator working directly alongside the person who built the company. She's held the role from the inside: watching demand grow faster than the systems meant to carry it, and learning what it actually takes to build structure without losing the culture that made the business worth building.

That experience is what SOLVED Collective is built on. She founded it on a simple belief: structure creates freedom. When operations are designed with intention, the same problems stop coming back, leadership gets lighter, and the business becomes what it was always capable of being.

A third-generation Calgarian, Lindsay works with founders and leadership teams across Canada. Outside of client work, she's usually outdoors: hiking, paddleboarding, or camping somewhere with no cell signal.

Stay in touch on LinkedIn →

Read my Diary →

Strategic Partners

Every engagement calls for something different, so SOLVED works with a curated group of independent strategic partners, each brought in or referred for what they're specifically good at. 

Kate Woodford.png

Facilitation + Learning Design Partner

Kate is the Founder of Mildly Heroic and brings over a decade of experience across facilitation, project coordination, policy, and human-centered design. She thinks strategically and executes practically, which makes her particularly good at helping teams stay focused when things get complex.

Kate collaborates with SOLVED through facilitation, learning design and operational implementation, connecting people, processes, and priorities so plans actually come to life.

Katie Attard, Tech Implementation Partner

Tech Implementation Partner

Katie is the Founder of Konduit Operations and brings deep experience implementing the tools and tech stack behind a growing business, with particular depth in Notion and comfort across a wide range of platforms, HubSpot, Close, Airtable, Monday.com, Slack, and Zapier among others. She thinks in systems and builds for adoption, which makes her particularly good at getting new tech fully embedded in how a team actually works, not just installed.

Katie collaborates with SOLVED to bring strategy to life. She builds out the tech and tools behind it, then documents and trains the team to run on them.

SOLVED Collective grows alongside its clients. As their needs evolve, so does the network of experts and strategists brought in to meet them.

START with trust

Most engagements begin with a conversation. Book a discovery call and we'll look at where your business is, where trust is breaking down, and what would help most.

Have questions? Read Our FAQs

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Fractional executive support for founders of growing service businesses. We build the operational structure that makes trust possible and stepping back safe.

Located in Calgary, Alberta | Serving clients across Canada

hello@solvedcollective.com

1-403-801-6256

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