Archangel - Interim & Board Operator at the Turning Point

alongside founders, boards & investors — at the turning point

I see what is wrong with a company — and exactly how to fix it — faster than anyone expects. Give me the mandate, as fractional C-level or Board, and I will. I create clarity in chaos and tell the truth without ego. Value created — never billed by the hour.

build · grow · turn around · prepare for exit

Who it's for — and who it isn't

The filter

Built for

Founders, boards and investors who have decided to build, grow, turn around or prepare a business for exit
Companies expanding across borders, building or scaling an international footprint
Visionary or creative founders who need a running mate, someone to own the operational, commercial and financial spine they aren't built for
Leadership teams ready to hear the truth and be challenged by it
Early-stage ventures, but only where I am the driving force through the build, free to dilute and hand control to the C-suite that runs the stable phase

Not for

Companies and teams stuck in folklore — "we've done it this way for 30 years," with no will to change
Leaders who let ego win over common sense
Businesses that want validation rather than the truth
Leaders who can't engage at the depth and pace the work demands
Anyone shopping on day rate

How to engage

Roles & programs

Two different forms of engagement. The mandate — where I step into a role and own the outcome. And the Archangel programs — fixed-scope projects that find the truth and drive it in. Most relationships begin with a program and grow into a mandate.

The mandate — executive roles

Execution with authority: C- or Board level, or Operating Partner.
Measured in outcome.

01 Interim or Fractional Executive

Step in. Take command. Create value. Hand over.

As interim or fractional C-level I take operational ownership of the turning point — build, grow, turnaround or exit readiness — and own the outcome.

6–36 MONTH MANDATE · RETAINER + EQUITY

02 Advisory Board / Operating Partner

Stay close. Compound the value.

Ongoing involvement at board level next to the founder or CEO, or as operating partner alongside a PE firm or Family Office — carry and co-investment where interests align.

12–48 MONTH MANDATE · RETAINER + EQUITY / CARRY

Archangel Programs — Projects

Fixed scope, fixed fee: a diagnostic sprint or a defined build.
Measured in delivery.

03 Archangel Diagnose

Go in deep. Out with the truth.

A fixed-fee sprint. I read the numbers, the culture and the operations — the leadership style and mechanisms, the internal and external dynamics — find why the company is stuck, and set out the moves that unlock value, and what they are worth. A decision document, not a deck.

2 WEEKS · FIXED FEE · THE ENTRY POINT

04 Archangel Implement

Decide. Execute. Prove it.

The decisions, executed. A focused engagement to drive the priority moves into the business and prove the value — before, or instead of, a full mandate.

1–6 MONTHS · FIXED SCOPE

What you're actually getting

Four constants

01 Knowledge

I read a company at every level — leadership style and effectiveness, culture, operations — broad and fast. The financials I read mainly to confirm what I already see: what is wrong, and how to fix it.

02 Experience

25 years of genuine CEO and MD leadership — not only commercial — across Europe, Turkey, CEE, the Middle East, Asia, India and the Americas. Through every cycle, and through situations that break most operators. I came through each one.

03 Speed

I take in a whole business at once, unusually fast, and set the right things in motion. It can feel like chaos — but played well it falls together like a jigsaw, and the company starts to climb.

04 Truth without ego

I say what is really going on — and leave the ego out of it. That is the value, and sometimes the discomfort.

One condition: if we don't resonate, I can't operate — and I will say so early.

The operator

Who is behind Archangel

I’m Michael Westenberg — the operator behind Archangel. Not a consultant advising from the side, but the executive who steps in, takes the helm, and owns the outcome.

For twenty-five years I’ve built, turned around, scaled and prepared companies for exit — mostly abroad, mostly across borders, often where it was hardest. A turnaround of a 3PL Logistics Service Provider. A freight-forwarding business built from zero. A buy-and-build for a listed OEM manufacturer. A cross-border trade and distribution infrastructure I built and handed on.

I grew up believing everything is fixable — but that you fix it yourself, and show people how. I lead from the front. My way of seeing and sensing is a burden in ordinary life; in business it is my edge. I am a quick thinker, say what is true, and move.

Twenty-five years across borders also meant working where things break — markets, companies, people. I have been in situations most never face, and come through every one. I don’t talk about it. I carry it.

I lead in silence. I create clarity in chaos. Truth-telling without ego is who I am.

Brainpower and muscle

How I work

I’m AI-fluent — and I use it as brainpower and muscle, to drive impact at speed. It reads deeper and faster alongside me, pressure-tests my thinking, and carries the heavy lifting. The analysis that used to take a team now takes one operator.

It amplifies judgment; it never replaces it. The reach of a team, in the hands of a single operator.

The operating record

Since 2000 · Parallel, not linear

2000–2010

Corporate

Commercial leadership to Managing Director — at 28, in 2005 — based in Istanbul.

2011–2015

Boutique Advisory

Helping foreign companies land in Turkey. 50+ legal entities established.

2015 –

C-level & Board · Founder

C-level and Board mandates for international companies. Founded a bootstrapped cross-border trade & distribution company across Turkey, India and the US; handed the majority to its management in 2026.

Home base

Budapest

Prague

Bucharest

Istanbul

Amsterdam

Operating reach

Europe · CEE

Turkey · Middle East

Asia · India

The Americas

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

2025

SOLID: HOME BASE. OUTLINED: OPERATING REACH — EUROPE & CEE THROUGHOUT, TURKEY & THE MIDDLE EAST FROM 2005, THEN ASIA, INDIA AND THE AMERICAS.

Selected outcomes

Anonymised for confidentiality

Turnaround & exit prep

2006–2008 · Turkey

Managing Director

European transport & logistics group — Turkish subsidiary

Roughly €300k operating loss per month at the outset. Root causes: cost absorption from sister companies, unsold transport capacity, an inefficient warehouse operation, and no margin steering. Mandate: lead the turnaround and deliver the entity exit-ready.

Result

€ 0 K/MO

Loss erased → ebitda-positive · exit-ready

Greenfield

2009–2011 · Turkey

Managing Director

International logistics group — new freight-forwarding & 3PL operation

Mandate: build the Turkish organisation from zero. Stood up the operation, the team and the commercial base. The entity was later acquired by a Scandinavian strategic player.

Result

€ 0 M

From zero, in 24 months · acquired

Buy-and-build

2013–2015 · Turkey

Executive Board Member

Listed Asian manufacturer — cycling & fishing equipment

Two divisions: cycling equipment and fishing gear. I set up a holding company in Turkey and from it ran a buy-and-build — acquiring and integrating local distributors into one platform. Roughly €12M annual revenue at integration, multiplied since.

Result

€ 0 M

At integration → multiplied since

Build & hand-over (mbi)

2016–2026 · TR · IN · US

Founder & CEO

Cross-border trade & distribution infrastructure — Founder

Built from scratch and bootstrapped — no outside capital — into a cross-border trade and distribution platform spanning Turkey, India and the United States. In 2026 I handed the majority of my shares to the management team via a management buy-in, staying on as shareholder and advisory board member.

Result

0 MARKETS

Built & bootstrapped · majority to management, mbi 2026

Turnaround & growth

2025– · Europe · Current

Advisory Board Member

European mid-market consumer brand

Leading the turnaround, realising the growth trajectory, and securing a stable financial backbone — financing and funding. Ongoing.

Result

Live

Turnaround · growth · financial backbone

How it works

Intake → Diagnose → Mandate

01 Intake

Intake is with the shareholders and the CEO/MD directly — and every strategic shareholder, if there is more than one. A few questions, one conversation, and an honest check of fit.

02 Diagnose

Two weeks inside the business. Root causes, leverage points, and the specific moves that create value — with what they are worth.

03 Mandate

Execution with authority: interim C-level, implementation, board, or operating partner. Measured in the outcome.

I invest myself — not capital

The firm

Value isn’t billed — it is created, held, and compounded. I don’t invest money; I leave that to the people and firms who make their money doing exactly that. I invest myself — my time, energy, skills, network and the way I see and feel. A retainer, full-time or fractional, pays for my time and energy; the value I unlock, build and develop, I am paid for in equity.

ARCHANGEL MANAGEMENT

Hands-on management, deployed alongside the mandate.

ARCHANGEL HOLDING

Long-term holdings.

ARCHANGEL VENTURES

Equity participations in the companies where I create value.

I don't work nine to five — a mind like mine never switches off, and it has to be fed. It runs faster and hotter than most, on the hardest problems you can give it — and it doesn't stop until they're solved. You are not paying for my hours; you are paying for how I see, think and build. Value me for that.

alongside founders, boards & investors — at the turning point

If your business is at a turning point — and you want an operator who will tell you the truth — start here.

This is not an open calendar. A few questions first — company stage, revenue range, the situation — then a conversation if there is a fit.