Two COOs. Different lenses. Real-world execution.
Penny Cook and Sarah Wilson are fractional COOs who've spent their careers inside growing, complex businesses — helping founders turn strategy into execution. Candid conversations about how the work actually gets done.
We share the same seat — but we don't think the same way. That's exactly the point. Operating on Purpose is built on the tension between two different operating lenses, and what happens when you put them in honest conversation.
Alongside candid exchanges between the two of us, we interview operations leaders, founders, and practitioners who live in the execution layer of business. No frameworks for their own sake. No tidy answers. Just real-world discussions about how the work gets done right.
Each episode is built around three things — three concrete, actionable ideas you can take back to your business this week.
Also in the catalog: Busy vs. Productive · Getting Ready for AI · Operations That Scale
Penny Cook is a fractional COO and strategic operational consultant who helps growing companies turn ambition into execution. With over 20 years of experience leading strategy, operations, and product development, she specializes in building the systems, teams, and processes that enable businesses to scale with clarity and control.
Penny is the founder of Cook & Brand and previously served as COO and co-founder of the ZoneIn brand, where she led operations, go-to-market strategy, and product development. She has completed both the startup-to-IPO and startup-to-sale journeys, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Naturally Seattle, supporting and connecting consumer brands in the evolving CPG landscape.
Her executive career spans roles including Chief Product Officer, VP of Client Engagements, and VP of Consulting Services, giving her a broad view into how businesses actually run across functions. She has partnered with companies from early-stage startups to global brands like Microsoft and L'Oréal, across technology, telecommunications, and consumer goods.
Whether guiding a company through rapid growth, preparing for a major transaction, or stabilizing operations during periods of change, Penny is known for bringing structure to complexity and translating strategy into action.
Based in the Seattle area, she is a longtime advisor to startups and community organizations, an avid recreational runner, and a mom of three.
Sarah Wilson is a fractional COO and operational advisor who brings 20 years of enterprise operations leadership to founder-led businesses. She founded Brightpoint Operations to give growing companies access to the kind of rigorous, systems-driven thinking that has traditionally lived inside large organizations.
Her background spans complex B2B and B2C environments, with hands-on experience leading ERP implementations, enterprise systems integrations, and large-scale operational transformation. She has worked across industries where the stakes of getting operations wrong are high and the margin for error is low.
Sarah partners with founders to untangle complexity, build the right systems, and unlock the full potential of what they have worked hard to build. She is known for asking the questions others avoid and staying until the work is actually done.
We love hearing from operators, founders, and leaders in the trenches. Got a question you'd like us to tackle? A topic we should cover? Or just want to share what's resonating?
Send us a message and we'll do our best to respond — and your question might just make it into a future episode.