Marina Lukyanova
I’m Marina Lukyanova, a Strategy & Ops leader specialising in Strategy Alignment. I work with founders and startups in three connected ways: shaping or correcting strategy when the current direction is weak, unclear, or no longer fit for the next stage; strengthening investor readiness when fundraising is live; and aligning strategy, structure, and execution so the business can scale without the founder staying the glue. That includes pressure-testing business model logic, GTM logic, positioning, priorities, and growth assumptions, then translating the stronger strategy into clearer operating focus, better cross-functional alignment, and more scalable execution. My background spans strategy, market expansion, M&A, business turnarounds, and business optimisation, and my work has included reframing investor-facing GTM logic for AI and SaaS startups, leading investor-readiness audits across decks, cap tables, and data rooms, advising on valuation and fundraising logic, and building a €7M UK market-entry strategy via M&A.
Strategy & Ops Alignment leader @ alignwise.co · Bilbao, Biscay, Spain
Open to advisory
Funding · Customer acquisition · Operations & Finance · Leadership & Strategy
I’m Marina Lukyanova, a Strategy & Ops leader specialising in Strategy Alignment. I work with founders and startups in three connected ways: shaping or correcting strategy when the current direction is weak, unclear, or no longer fit for the next stage; strengthening investor readiness when fundraising is live; and aligning strategy, structure, and execution so the business can scale without the founder staying the glue. That includes pressure-testing business model logic, GTM logic, positioning, priorities, and growth assumptions, then translating the stronger strategy into clearer operating … Areas I advise on: Due Diligence, Operations, Organizational Scalability, Marketing Strategy, Product, Customer Acquisition, Leadership Development, Achievement, Industry, Personal, Performance Metrics (KPIs), Scaling Ventures.
Makes warm intros to
5
Hours / month
About Marina
I’m Marina Lukyanova, a Strategy & Ops leader specialising in Strategy Alignment with 15+ years of cross-industry experience. I work with founders and startups when growth, fundraising, or transition exposes a deeper problem: the strategy is not strong enough yet, not coherent enough for investors, or not aligned enough with how the company actually runs to support scaling. My role is not just to help teams execute better. I also help shape, correct, or rebuild strategy itself by testing whether the business model, GTM logic, positioning, priorities, and growth assumptions are credible, connected, and executable under real conditions. Then I help turn that stronger strategy into traction by aligning priorities, structure, and execution so the company can scale with less friction and less founder dependence.
A major part of my work is investor readiness. I support founders in refining the narrative, business-model logic, fundraising materials, and investor-facing evidence so strategy and fundraising meet reality. Across venture studio and founder advisory work, I have led investor-readiness audits across decks, cap tables, and data rooms, challenged valuation and financial logic, flagged inconsistencies across KPIs, forecasts, and regulatory claims, and helped founders improve GTM clarity, investor communications, and fundraising sequencing. This includes work across edtech, healthtech, SaaS, digital platforms, and other early-stage or scaling ventures preparing for seed, bridge, and early Series A conversations.
Once the strategy is sharper and the investor story is credible, the company still needs a way to grow without creating more drag. I help founders align strategy with operations so the company’s vision, priorities, and structure support growth and scalability. In practice that means reducing founder bottlenecks, strengthening operating-model clarity, building lighter but more reliable execution rhythms, and making sure teams are not scaling confusion, fragmented decisions, or weak handoffs. That is why my work spans strategy correction, investment readiness, and scaling readiness rather than stopping at any one of them.
My earlier work gives me the depth to do that credibly. I co-developed a business strategy for a UK expansion backed by a €7M investment, designed strategy-to-delivery frameworks for a $10M foresight platform, helped rebuild fragmented operations into unified marketing and sales systems tied to KPIs, cut contract-processing time 6x while freeing roughly 30% of team capacity, and doubled gross profit contribution through second-tier leadership development. That mix matters because I do not treat startup strategy as a story exercise. I look at whether it can survive investor scrutiny, support growth, and hold up operationally once the business starts scaling.
Company
Skills
Strategy Alignment
Specializes in aligning business strategy with operational execution to support scaling and investor readiness.
Strategy Development
Shapes, corrects, and rebuilds business strategies, focusing on business model, GTM, positioning, and growth assumptions.
Founder Advisory
Works with founders and startups in an advisory capacity, providing strategic guidance.
Investor Readiness
Supports founders in refining narrative, business-model logic, fundraising materials, and investor-facing evidence.
Go-to-Market Strategy
Helps define and refine go-to-market logic and clarity for various ventures, including AI and SaaS startups.
Organizational Scalability
Focuses on reducing founder bottlenecks, strengthening operating-model clarity, and building reliable execution rhythms.
Cross-Industry Experience
Possesses 15+ years of broad cross-industry experience.
Scaling Ventures
Focuses on scaling ventures preparing for seed, bridge, and early Series A.
Market Expansion
Co-developed a business strategy for UK expansion, resulting in a €7M investment.
Due Diligence
Leads investor-readiness audits across decks, cap tables, and data rooms, identifying inconsistencies.
Fundraising Strategy
Advises on fundraising sequencing, challenges valuation and financial logic, and reframes investor-facing GTM logic.
Operational Alignment
Translates stronger strategy into clearer operating focus, better cross-functional alignment, and more scalable execution.
Early-Stage Ventures
Focuses on early-stage ventures preparing for seed, bridge, and early Series A.
Startup Mentorship
Mentors early-stage and scaling ventures through critical growth and fundraising phases.
Business Model Analysis
Tests the credibility and executability of business models under real conditions.
Investor Communications
Improves investor communications and narrative for fundraising.
Process Improvement
Cut contract-processing time by 6x while freeing 30% of team capacity.
Raised Funding
Co-developed a business strategy backed by a €7M investment.
Process Optimization
Achieved significant improvements in efficiency, such as cutting contract-processing time by 6x.
Grew Revenue
Doubled gross profit contribution through second-tier leadership development.
Performance Metrics (KPIs)
Ties marketing and sales systems to KPIs to rebuild fragmented operations.
Market Entry
Built a €7M UK market-entry strategy via M&A.
Project Management
Designed strategy-to-delivery frameworks for a $10M foresight platform.
Business Turnaround
Has experience in business turnarounds and optimization efforts.
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Involved in building market-entry strategies via M&A.
Sales Strategy
Helped rebuild fragmented operations into unified marketing and sales systems.
SaaS Industry
Has experience working with SaaS startups, including reframing investor-facing GTM logic.
Leadership Development
Improved gross profit contribution by doubling it through second-tier leadership development.
Marketing Strategy
Helped rebuild fragmented operations into unified marketing and sales systems.
Financial Forecasting
Flags inconsistencies across KPIs and forecasts during investor readiness audits.
EdTech Industry
Has experience working with edtech ventures.
HealthTech Industry
Has experience working with healthtech ventures.
Digital Platforms Industry
Has experience working with digital platform ventures.
Experience
milestone
Various Leadership & Strategic Roles
Previous Employers / Clients
Applied strategy and operations expertise in diverse settings, leading to significant business improvements and growth across different organizations.
Co-developed a business strategy for a UK expansion backed by a €7M investment; designed strategy-to-delivery frameworks for a $10M foresight platform; rebuilt fragmented operations into unified marketing and sales systems tied to KPIs; cut contract-processing time 6x while freeing roughly 30% of team capacity; and doubled gross profit contribution through second-tier leadership development.
job
Strategy & Operations Leader / Founder Advisor
Independent Strategy & Operations Advisor
Specializing in Strategy Alignment, I work with founders and startups to refine strategies, enhance investor readiness, and ensure operational scalability.
Helped founders refine narrative, business model logic, and fundraising materials; led investor-readiness audits across various tech industries (edtech, healthtech, SaaS, digital platforms); challenged valuation/financial logic; and improved GTM clarity, investor communications, and fundraising sequencing for seed, bridge, and Series A conversations.
Fractional COO, Strategy and Ops Alignment
Flodisq (NL cyber and data security venture)
Built the commercial and operating system to reposition a founder led delivery practice into a scalable, partner friendly, board credible venture.
• Led repositioning into a governance, risk, and compliance led narrative and translated it into company collateral and leadership messaging. • Built the business plan and go to market system: ICP definition, competitive landscape, offer ladder, pricing logic, and partner channel approach. • Delivered financial planning infrastructure including sales forecast and cash flow model to support decisions on capacity, pricing, and delivery mix. • Implemented the internal operating backbone: redesigned internal workflows, rebuilt information storage architecture, and set clear tool usage and ownership norms. • Established execution cadence through management agendas, goal tracking, and enablement Looms to reduce founder bottlenecks and improve handoffs.
Fractional COO, Strategy and Ops Alignment
Flodisq (NL cyber and data security venture)
Built the commercial and operating system to reposition a founder led delivery practice into a scalable, partner friendly, board credible venture.
• Led repositioning into a governance, risk, and compliance led narrative and translated it into company collateral and leadership messaging. • Built the business plan and go to market system: ICP definition, competitive landscape, offer ladder, pricing logic, and partner channel approach. • Delivered financial planning infrastructure including sales forecast and cash flow model to support decisions on capacity, pricing, and delivery mix. • Implemented the internal operating backbone: redesigned internal workflows, rebuilt information storage architecture, and set clear tool usage and ownership norms. • Established execution cadence through management agendas, goal tracking, and enablement Looms to reduce founder bottlenecks and improve handoffs.
Strategy & Ops Alignment Advisor
ZillyPlanet (US EdTech/AI)
• Advising founders on investor readiness (narrative, business-model logic, fundraising materials). • Guiding operating-model clarity and decision-making so structure supports growth and scalability. • Acting as a sounding board in high-stakes contexts (fundraising, partnerships, market positioning). • Representing the company in external forums to amplify visibility and strategic credibility. • Recommending a light operating rhythm (cadence, decision log, KPI signal) that the team implements.
job
Fractional COO, Strategy and Ops Alignment
Flodisq (NL cyber and data security venture)
Built the commercial and operating system to reposition a founder led delivery practice into a scalable, partner friendly, board credible venture.
• Led repositioning into a governance, risk, and compliance led narrative and translated it into company collateral and leadership messaging. • Built the business plan and go to market system: ICP definition, competitive landscape, offer ladder, pricing logic, and partner channel approach. • Delivered financial planning infrastructure including sales forecast and cash flow model to support decisions on capacity, pricing, and delivery mix. • Implemented the internal operating backbone: redesigned internal workflows, rebuilt information storage architecture, and set clear tool usage and ownership norms. • Established execution cadence through management agendas, goal tracking, and enablement Looms to reduce founder bottlenecks and improve handoffs.
job
Fractional COO, Strategy and Ops Alignment
Flodisq (NL cyber and data security venture)
Built the commercial and operating system to reposition a founder led delivery practice into a scalable, partner friendly, board credible venture.
• Led repositioning into a governance, risk, and compliance led narrative and translated it into company collateral and leadership messaging. • Built the business plan and go to market system: ICP definition, competitive landscape, offer ladder, pricing logic, and partner channel approach. • Delivered financial planning infrastructure including sales forecast and cash flow model to support decisions on capacity, pricing, and delivery mix. • Implemented the internal operating backbone: redesigned internal workflows, rebuilt information storage architecture, and set clear tool usage and ownership norms. • Established execution cadence through management agendas, goal tracking, and enablement Looms to reduce founder bottlenecks and improve handoffs.
job
Strategy & Ops Alignment Advisor
ZillyPlanet (US EdTech/AI)
Strategic advisor to the founding team during a critical growth stage, focused on strengthening investor readiness, sharpening business-model logic, and aligning strategy with the operating model so the company can scale more coherently. The role spans fundraising support, founder decision-making, market positioning, and growth readiness. This is consistent with your CV wording on investor readiness, operating-model clarity, and high-stakes founder support.
Refined the company’s fundraising narrative and materials, improved operating-model clarity so structure better supports growth and scalability, provided strategic support in high-stakes contexts such as fundraising, partnerships, and market positioning, represented the company externally to strengthen visibility and strategic credibility, and recommended a light operating rhythm built around cadence, decision log, and KPI signal.
job
Strategy & Ops Alignment Advisor
ZillyPlanet (US EdTech/AI)
Strategic advisor to the founding team during a critical growth stage, focused on strengthening investor readiness, sharpening business-model logic, and aligning strategy with the operating model so the company can scale more coherently. The role spans fundraising support, founder decision-making, market positioning, and growth readiness. This is consistent with your CV wording on investor readiness, operating-model clarity, and high-stakes founder support.
Refined the company’s fundraising narrative and materials, improved operating-model clarity so structure better supports growth and scalability, provided strategic support in high-stakes contexts such as fundraising, partnerships, and market positioning, represented the company externally to strengthen visibility and strategic credibility, and recommended a light operating rhythm built around cadence, decision log, and KPI signal.
job
Strategy & Operations Director
IBS (IT services group of companies)
• Established a KPI cadence linking GTM, operations and risk, enabling constructive challenge and faster decision cycles at leadership level. • Rebuilt a decentralised marketing unit into a high-performance, data-led team, cutting contract-processing time 6x and freeing up ~30% of team capacity (marketing, finance, legal, admin). • Created a digital GTM strategy for 11 industries and 70+ products; built a 20-person team and 200+ partner network to scale operations. • Initiated professional development of second-tier leaders, doubling gross profit from their units and increasing their contribution to divisional performance. • Contributed to a 5-year corporate growth strategy (4x revenue, 5x net profit, 3x headcount), including marketing / digital sales and innovation streams.
job
Strategy & Operations Director
IBS (IT services group of companies)
• Established a KPI cadence linking GTM, operations and risk, enabling constructive challenge and faster decision cycles at leadership level. • Rebuilt a decentralised marketing unit into a high-performance, data-led team, cutting contract-processing time 6x and freeing up ~30% of team capacity (marketing, finance, legal, admin). • Created a digital GTM strategy for 11 industries and 70+ products; built a 20-person team and 200+ partner network to scale operations. • Initiated professional development of second-tier leaders, doubling gross profit from their units and increasing their contribution to divisional performance. • Contributed to a 5-year corporate growth strategy (4x revenue, 5x net profit, 3x headcount), including marketing / digital sales and innovation streams.
job
Strategic Business Expansion Director
Digital Engineering
• Co-developed a business strategy for outsourcing engineering services based on BIM technology, launching a new business via a €7M investment with a 4-year payback and 20% projected net profit. • Led acquisition sourcing and delivered a shortlist of 15 targets from 300 candidates (out of ~76,000 companies on the market). • Spearheaded an international team (in-house and external experts) to prepare acquisition of a £5M-turnover UK company: negotiated NBO, coordinated due diligence, prepared offer, SPA, integration and communication plans. • Achieved 10% cost savings on the acquisition process by negotiating favourable terms with M&A and DD advisers and optimising project structure. • Formalised buy / partner / build options and integration blueprint to protect operating integrity and risk profile.
job
Strategic Business Expansion Director
Digital Engineering
• Co-developed a business strategy for outsourcing engineering services based on BIM technology, launching a new business via a €7M investment with a 4-year payback and 20% projected net profit. • Led acquisition sourcing and delivered a shortlist of 15 targets from 300 candidates (out of ~76,000 companies on the market). • Spearheaded an international team (in-house and external experts) to prepare acquisition of a £5M-turnover UK company: negotiated NBO, coordinated due diligence, prepared offer, SPA, integration and communication plans. • Achieved 10% cost savings on the acquisition process by negotiating favourable terms with M&A and DD advisers and optimising project structure. • Formalised buy / partner / build options and integration blueprint to protect operating integrity and risk profile.