Hello! I'm Will Herrmann.

I’m an experienced startup COO/CFO with over 20 years’ experience across consulting, venture capital, high-growth businesses, and the charity sector. I bring board-level expertise in strategy, finance, and operations, and across everything I do my mission is simple: to make work feel more human, purposeful, and fun.

I’ve joined Milly as a Partner at Pay As You Go COO because I believe every entrepreneur deserves access to the skills and expertise needed to build a truly successful business. It’s a chance to bring together the best of my consulting and fractional experience in a better way - helping operators, startups, and scaleups grow with clarity, heart, and control.

Where it all started.

I live in London now with my wife, Kirsten, and our two young boys, but I’m originally from the North East. I’m generally considered posh by Northerners and Northern by Southerners - which feels about right.

Despite having no formal accounting qualifications, my first role in a startup was as a Finance Director. As the business scaled rapidly, I learned first-hand what startup life really looks like and how quickly you’re forced to learn, adapt, and make decisions without perfect information.

I also learned the importance of surrounding yourself with great advisors and support, and how transformative that can be. It’s a real privilege to now share what I’ve learned with others embarking on similar journeys.

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What I'm doing now.

I joined Pay As You Go COO to help shape and evolve our frameworks and content, bringing a strong finance and governance lens to our work. When I’m working on projects, these tend to be my main areas of focus - particularly around finance strategy and financial modelling, investment readiness, and reporting.

I also bring that same lens to writing and contributing to our articles and newsletters, and I love sharing what I’ve learned through our talks - while trying (and failing) to keep up with Milly’s prolific output.

Alongside this, I take on no more than five to six Business Coaching clients at a time so I can give each relationship the attention it deserves. I particularly enjoy coaching people to fix problems, find purpose at work, and bring clarity - using practical tools and techniques - to complex or unstructured challenges.

Outside of work, I have a full-time job keeping up with my two boys. When I get a moment to myself, you’ll usually find me following Sunderland Football Club, or obsessing over food, drink, and hospitality, or spending time on my fashion side project - a homage to hospitality.

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How did I get here?

1981

Born in Hexham, Northumberland, as my parents’ third son. The first words I hear are “not another one”.

1989

I’m sent to The Royal Grammar School in Newcastle, dressed in a bright blue blazer with grey shorts and long socks. Wandering around the streets of Newcastle as an Enid Blyton character is interesting at times. I’m also a Sunderland supporter within a year of 120 mainly Newcastle fans - character building.

1991

Living above my family’s business - a restaurant - I get roped into literally every job in the place. Yes, it was the 90s, but a 14-year-old wine waiter is still odd, no?!

1995

More interested in sport and being cool than schoolwork, I reach a decent standard in both rugby and gymnastics. I’m very glad social media wasn’t a thing, and I believe I’ve destroyed all photos of me in a leotard.

2003

Still not knowing what I want to do as a career, and because I loved university and felt super-smart, I stay on to do a Master’s degree in Language and Cultural Theory. Fascinating ideas about how language and culture shape one another, and lots of beard-stroking (if I could grow one), but not much practical career application.

2008

Being sent to work in Warrington on a project for United Utilities is not my first choice, but great things happen in unexpected places. Among many lifelong friends, I meet three special people - Jules and Alex, who I’ll go on to work with again, and Kirsten, who will become my wife. Alongside utilities, I also work in government, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, telecoms, and even spend a year in the Netherlands working for the European Space Agency (which sounds glamorous but we worked in a portacabin in a car park).

2012

Kirsten and I take a break from work to travel the world - starting with New Year’s Eve in Buenos Aires and ending with getting engaged on a mountain in Nepal. Without doubt the best year of my life, and reassuring proof that despite the fear and negativity of modern times, 99% of people are kind and good.

2014

After ten years, I finally quit Accenture and join my former colleagues and good mates Jules and Alex (and their co-founder Tom) after their startup, Hassle, raises its Series A. I agree to join as Finance Director despite having no accounting background. That's just the first of many challenges in the most intense two years of my working life. The business skyrockets: 10x revenue, 10x team, launches in three new countries, faces every challenge imaginable, and is sold.

2018

After a stint as COO in another startup and several side-line COO/CFO advisory roles, I get the chance to see startups from the other side of the investment table and join early-stage venture capital firm Forward Partners as CFO, coinciding with the birth of my first son. After three good years working with great people, I realise I’m not as fulfilled as I should be and leave around the birth of my second son.

2022

I work for myself in a number of fractional COO/CFO roles alongside my job as Chief Nappy Officer, before a role too good to say no to appears. I join inspirational suicide prvention charity, The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) as COO. I was meant to stay one year, I stayed two. I learn a huge amount about myself and about working in a very different sector with different motivations. Great times.

2025

I return to fractional COO/CFO work because I know I love growing businesses, but I’m increasingly frustrated by the model. Over coffee with Milly, I have an epiphany. I join Pay As You Go COO, knowing there’s a better way to support entrepreneurs and operators and a way for me to bring together all the strands of my career in something that feels genuinely purposeful.