Client Case Study: Daysium

Who we helped

Tim Huelin is the founder and CEO of Daysium, a tax-compliance tech startup. As an early-stage business taking a new product to market, Daysium was operating at speed with a team of specialist freelancers, while he carried the operational load.

Continually evolving the product and business, in Tim’s words, “making it up as we go along” he needed someone who could bring structure and operational confidence to the business so he was no longer a decision-making bottleneck. With the support of Helen, our ‘Operations whisperer’, Tim has headspace, clarity, and the operational backbone Daysium needs to keep up the pace.

The problem they faced

When Tim came to Upsource, he was “completely overwhelmed trying to do too much and making a mess.” 

He had a low cost VA helping behind the scenes but needed a skillset that could be client facing, meet the demands of a premium product and be proactive.  Someone who could take his big ideas, think ahead and break them down into actionable steps.

Tim needed another brain in the business: someone with the experience to challenge decisions, provide accountability, and help shape the direction of a company moving quickly without a fixed path.

Business challenges

Founder bottleneck
Without the operational capacity to match the pace, Tim was the single point of decisions making, slowing down progress and putting unnecessary pressure on him
“I needed to be as efficient as possible as a business.”

Lack of strategic operations support
The business needed someone who could understand the vision, sense-check ideas and bring steadiness to a fast-changing environment,  “another smart, astute brain to bounce ideas off.”

Flexibility required
Cash flow and workload fluctuated month-to-month; a full time hire was unrealistic and Daysium needed flexible support that could scale up or down as required

High-level skills without full-time costs
Tim needed senior-level capability, without the financial commitment of a permanent operations hire

Personal challenges

Beyond the business, the personal load of being the central point on everything was draining.

Tim needed someone to act as his “second brain”, someone neutral, perhaps less emotionally invested in the business to aid clear decisions. Someone to act as a repository of information for the rest of the team to turn to so the burden wasn’t always on him.

How we helped

Upsource matched Tim with Helen, an incredibly experience operations-focused VA (aka whisperer) able to adapt quickly, ask the right questions, and turn big ideas into structured, realistic plans.

Helen came in to support a founder and team moving at real pace, to shape operations and create firm foundations for a business that is constantly evolving. She became a “very smart, astute brain to bounce ideas off and be completely part of decision-making in the business.”

Business support

Upsource suggested Helen specifically for her operational strength from the outset, bringing with her the senior level experience that Daysium needed, but couldn’t afford full-time. As the company grew, her role expanded naturally, not only becoming Tim’s “second brain”, but also an operational steadying force, and the person who could “hold the fort” if he stepped away. “More and more it’s been accountability…I can do the why and what, Helen does the how”.

Key support areas included:

Strategic operations + second brain
From processes to direction-setting, Helen became embedded in every part of the business

Tooling and systems
Helen assessed existing tools and recommended better options, taking care of the migrations to find the perfect fit

Operational oversight and decision support
Helen provided neutrality when emotions ran high and conversations were tricky.
Tim valued her ability to “take the emotion out of it” and keep decisions grounded

Team integration
Helen meets weekly with developers and collaborates with other team members, part of the core structure of Daysium

Flexibility of hours and cost
One of the biggest benefits has been the ability to scale support up or down, and “tap into a high level of skills I wouldn’t be able to afford full time”

Personal support

Helen creates space for Tim to think more clearly, ask the right questions to make the right decisions and avoid becoming the bottleneck.

Tim’s total confidence in Helen is such that, “if I was out of action for a fortnight, no doubt Helen could manage the situation.”

The impact Upsource made

Helen has become deeply woven into Daysium’s operations by giving Tim space, structure and someone to confidently make the right decisions. Daysium’s tools and processes are cleaner and more efficient, so they can withstand the pace of change within the business.

Tim now has the bandwidth and strategic oversight needed to build Daysium’s next stage of growth, supported by someone who totally understands the vision and context and can keep the business aligned while he focuses on big-picture thinking.
Having Helen is, “having the ability to do things without knowing they needed to be done.”

Why it matters

For early-stage businesses, the right support can be transformative, not just for productivity, but for sustainable leadership, growth and wellbeing.

Daysium’s partnership shows the power of fractional expertise: accessing high-level operational thinking, flexibility in hours, and the assurance of a skilled expert without the cost of a full-time hire.

Not only is Helen a key support, but Tim knows he has access to,“a group of people ready to jump in should we need them.”

Another Upsource specialist is joining the business to support onboarding, and with the flex to scale support up or down as needed, Daysium has a stable operational backbone that protects the business through the “ebb and flow” of a startup.

Sounds like you could use another astute brain like Helen on your team? Get in touch and Caroline will match you with Virtual Assistant with a similar set of high level skills.