How did you get involved with Connectd?
Andy Barbeau, Fractional COO & Operations Advisor: What I saw in Connectd was a way to get my message out. I had been at this for a while and knew what I wanted to do and what my passions were. Connectd was a great way to get on board with this new way of managing, organising, and leading, and share that message with a broader audience.
The urgency for me was around the data. There is a lot of global data about the really poor level of employee engagement. It's a global issue and it's genuinely tragic, across the EU, Japan, and beyond. I wanted to get my message out globally, and I wanted to do it not by working for one organisation, but by working for multiple organisations with that breadth of exposure. Connectd was the right fit because I could work fractionally, get this message out, start tackling these big global problems, and really help organisations to improve.
How did the Academy help sharpen your skills and approach?
Andy Barbeau: The Academy was very useful in the sense that it gave me validation and confidence that I was approaching this the right way and that my thinking was pretty spot on. I had been self-employed before, so this wasn't my first time as an independent consultant. The validation, the confidence, hearing the stories, getting the tools, and seeing the outline of how to approach things solidified it for me: yes, I can do this. I'm not alone. There's a structure and a process. I can tap into this without creating everything from scratch.
And then the network too. The Academy showed me there is a global network of people like me that I can join rather than starting from scratch. For me personally, it was a validation and a confidence builder.
What did you think about the mentorship process?
Andy Barbeau: The mentorship, which is still ongoing, has been very supportive. It has pointed me to the right tools and mechanisms for expanding my reach beyond just the Connectd platform and more broadly globally. For somebody like me who is very passionate about this work and sees a great need for it in the world, the coaching has been about building confidence, giving me a sounding board, pointing me in the right direction, and helping me find things like legal support. It's a great augmentation that the Connectd platform offers.
And I think it's fundamentally a human connection, being able to talk to somebody about your specific issues. That's really important. Personally, I think what the world needs more of is less technology and more people talking and communicating. So the coaching is great.
How did you navigate the platform to align with the right opportunity?
Andy Barbeau: The platform is very useful. The first thing I would highlight is the importance of the profile you create and how it describes your personal message. For me, the message was that I have a better way of thinking about how to manage, organise, lead, and run organisations, and the profile was the way to articulate that. Making sure that profile is rock solid is something Connectd structures really well.
Once that was in place, I started browsing companies and opportunities, looking for the right fit. My entry point is the Chief Operating Officer angle. I look at the entire organisation and work on improving overall performance, not one specific function. The platform allowed me to zero in on those roles. I expressed interest in several, and it wasn't long before a really good fit reached back out to me. That became the pro bono opportunity I am just wrapping up now, moving into formal paid work with the same startup.
How did you realise that opportunity was the right fit?
Andy Barbeau: The connection between me and this founder is around our mutual passions. I am trying to fix a very general problem of employee engagement, which is a global issue across every industry, geography, and size of organisation. His passion is around fixing healthcare specifically. He is building a platform to augment medical education, help healthcare professionals find better ways to operate, and ultimately drive better patient outcomes and improve healthcare delivery globally.
His passion to fix healthcare aligns perfectly with my passion to fix how organisations function so that people actually enjoy the work, feel engaged, and have their passions leveraged. When people win, the organisations they work for win. In healthcare, when the professionals win, the system works better and patients receive better outcomes. We are both trying to tackle very big problems, and the connection was: I can get my mind, heart, and soul into this. It's great to connect with somebody who has that similar level of passion.
How did you cultivate that relationship and establish a cadence?
Andy Barbeau: The first 90 days were heavily focused on product, because they were close to launching a beta version. But now we are building the formal organisation: the structures, processes, and tooling needed to scale, grow, and become an attractive target for new employees and investors.
The as-planned versus the as-built was totally different. We had to set some boundaries around cadence early on. The founder works full-time as a doctor and doesn't have a lot of free time, so we had to be intentional about how much time we spent on calls versus working individually. It has taken a while to settle in, but we now have a weekly call and do a lot of planning online using different tools to track and prioritise the work. Building the organisation the right way is now helping formalise those methods and how we work together.
What are some significant outcomes you have driven so far?
Andy Barbeau: It is still early, but one thing that stands out is the guidance I offered around doing things right versus doing the right things. We were very product-focused, constantly adding features and functions to the website, but there was not a lot of energy being put into building the organisation. We need to do both in parallel. You cannot focus on one and ignore the other.
The shift to prioritising both has been my biggest impact so far. My job is to help others to be successful, and getting that balance right is what sets a startup up to scale properly rather than just build fast.
What advice would you give to members just beginning their advisory careers?
Andy Barbeau: We come to the table with a lot of experience, skill, and academic training. It is really important as advisors to always remain open to growth. Do not join as an advisor and try to fit the startup into your way of thinking. We as advisors are growing and expanding even while we are helping startups grow and expand. If you look at it as a mutual journey of growth, you build better teamwork and earn better respect from people who see you being open to their way of thinking, even when you do not agree with it.
I encourage all new entrants to write down their passions and be specific about it, then put it in their profile. Make sure it comes through in your CV and in your conversations. Ideally, you will connect with startups and individuals who share a similar passion. That is where the magic happens. When you align at that level, everything else becomes so much easier.
The programme turned my fractional work into a vehicle for me to fully realise why I exist on this planet, my purpose, my personal why. It is a great vehicle to work with like-minded people who also want to solve the world's big problems, make life better, and improve the human experience. As long as you know what your passions are, you can pursue them through the platform, meet people, work internationally, and start making a real difference.
Andy Barbeau, Fractional COO & Operations Advisor
