inherent characteristic of the role. Closely. For a startup that is still iterating to get the key pieces of the company in place, there is a risk in bringing someone on too early in the COO role. I think of the COO as someone who can peel the onion and find the core of what drives the business and help drive and focus execution in line with that core. You quickly learn that to enable change, you need to drive execution through everyone in the organisation, by bringing structure, process and prioritisation. Sign up to our newsletter, and get our new writings, portfolio news and content straight to your inbox. It’s important to note that despite the focus on analysis and process, this is really a people role. Every Chief Operating Officer (COO) job description should start with an interesting, eye-catching introduction. There is often an unstructured component to it. Chief Operating Officer (COO) At smaller advisory firms, including those that are just getting started, individuals often wear many hats, meaning they must take on multiple roles and responsibilities within a firm. David joined Trustpilot with over 20 years of industry experience, and could leverage the grey hair factor the get-go. It was time to hire a much more qualified Head of Data. You quickly learn that to enable change, you need to drive execution through everyone in the organisation, by bringing structure, process and prioritisation. And in a start-up, best things is that decisions are made by a group of complementary people, and the COO role is to also make sure things to get sidetracked by small operational details. The bigger the company, the more important it is that the COO operates through others rather than being a one-person execution machine. But, most startups have similar managerial needs. Also, as the COO is the CEO’s right hand person, taking over what was often previously within the CEO’s remit, they need to be in sync on the vision for the company. I was an individual contributor hired when Referly was gasping for air, and my job description was essentially, “go on missions for Danielle.”. Chief Operating Officer (COO) job description: Intro. Bring someone onboard in a COO position when this is unclear or still in flux, or the CEO needs immediate direct feedback from all business units to validate, and you risk muddying the water. Venture Views: 5 Mins with Northzone’s Paul Murphy, Wendy Xiao Schadeck becomes Northzone’s first New York partner, “Northzone is excited to announce the promotion of our newest Partner, Wendy Xiao Schadeck”, Meet our first New York partner, Wendy Xiao Schadeck, and other news from us, The latest on the world’s most ambitious cheese…, Personio raises $125m on a $1.7b valuation for an HR platform targeting SMES, But First, Product: Resources for Product Builders and Leaders, TrueLayer appoints Jamie Morton to head of UK outfit. The COO works closely with the CEO and the CFO as well as other executive management team members. From my point of view, COO responsibilities are different in comparison to those of the CEO. Develop and integrate staffing programs designed to attract the highest caliber of talent while satisfying the needs of our clients; Collaborate with our CEO on five- and ten-year plans for corporate growth and evolution Last week I had the privilege of chatting to David Ferguson, COO at. And a final point from David; the COO role leaves little room for egos. In short, you need to ensure there is sufficient internal political capital to give the COO the room to operate and lead. Co-founders are supposed to manage teams and run the business, right? At some point at Avito, I would own anything and everything that didn’t fit into the structured buckets like product and tech, finance or sales. The HR manager had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, so during my first introductory walk around the office, the HR manager kept introducing me as ‘Christoffer, our new Director of the Internet’. No-one knew what she meant, so I had to start building my political capital from there. A Startup CEO Should Manage Finances Responsibly. In January 2014, we had just tried to raise our Series A, and got feedback that we needed to prove out some other customer segments. A successful COO is someone who’s. What are the characteristics of a good COO (chief operating officer)? Examples of COO (Chief Operating Officer) responsibilities. Eventually you have to find someone else to do those things though, or you’ll burn out. Problem solving in an ambiguous environment should be a founding COO’s core skill. Firas Raouf May 26, 2011 6:00 AM Entrepreneur ... By thinking of it as a yin-yang division of responsibilities, the CEO-COO … It was basically about the founders wanting to clone themselves to free up time for strategic thinking and planning. And a final point from David; the COO role leaves little room for egos. Unlike other C-suite positions, which tend to be defined according to commonly designated responsibilities across most companies, a COO's job tends to be defined in relation to the specific CEO with whom they work, given the close working relationship of these two individuals.. At this time, I had the choice to go with “VP of Facilities, Recruiting, Customer Support & Success, Finance, & HR,” or something more catch-all like COO. Instead of coding, a CTO gets new responsibilities, requiring them to: Define and implement development standards according to up-to-date coding methodologies and best practices; Build an agile development culture; Set up a development team workflow You’ll have to maintain control of diverse business operations, so we expect you to be an experienced and efficient lead… This was hard both for me and the company. A successful COO has a unique position in companies to take a holistic, cross-functional view, but for this to work, the organisation must be geared up to accommodate it. The role of CEO is to work out the product market fit, the vision and strategic priorities of the business. Because I feel like one.” They reassured me I was. “Keith Rabois on the Role of a COO, How to Hire and Why Transparency Matters”, “How my co-founder and I structure ourselves as CEO and COO”, “Second in Command: The Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer”. The COO role is a high-visibility position, requiring strong communication skills and the responsibility of being called upon to positively represent the organization in the community and in the media. The most valuable thing your startup has is cash and it needs to be treated as such. I wasn’t always the COO. “What is the difference between CEO and COO?”, I Got Rejected by Apple Music… So I Redesigned It. That team is running like greased lightning now. That basically means he owns and ensures the execution of the company’s strategy defined by CEO Peter Muhlmann and the department heads across business units. I asked Danielle and Kevin, “Am I a co-founder of this new thing? Today’s lesson tackles typical roles and responsibilities within a startup. Our sales were entirely inbound at the time, and we were getting a lot of non-VC customers signing up from investment bankers to salespeople to real estate brokers. Even start-ups need a COO. COO responsibilities include being second-in-command for the whole company and for the efficiency of the overall business. The short answer: it all depends. Early on in my second mission, at one of our company all-hands meetings, I remember when one of our engineers asked, “Andy, I know you’re working really hard, but what is it that you do?” We all laughed, and I explained the things I had been working on. Since many startups have at least 2 founders and both of them can’t be the CEO, i think it will be quite useful for the startup community. Who knows, this data might just be the most recorded history in the world about what a startup COO actually does — and I’m happy to unearth our findings together. That’s another inherent characteristic of the role. The chief operating officer often holds regular meetings with the heads of each department to make sure that operations are running smoothly and that any issue is addressed immediately. 10. It’s very typical for a newly funded startup with a founder-as-CEO in charge to go on a bit of a spending spree. Once you are scaling, and business growth is more of an execution game, this is when the COO can have a real impact. It depends on the stage of your startup. There is often a balance between the COO and the CEO on who owns what, and you need to make sure the COO is empowered to take charge and lead the team operationally within the agreed areas of responsibility. Passion. Spearheading strategies to steer the company’s future in a positive direction. COO has a unique position in companies to take a holistic, cross-functional view, but for this to work, the organisation must be geared up to accommodate it. We spoke about our respective experiences from Trustpilot and Avito, and touched a number of topics: when do you need a COO, what does the role of the COO look like, what are the organisational requirements for a COO to succeed, and what characteristics should you look for in a COO? What does the COO role actually look like? Danielle and Kevin actually hired me after I shut down my startup, LaunchGram. COO (Chief Operating Officer) responsibilities and duties. Startup CTOs should be very well versed in the tools and technologies available for building MVPs, whether those be web apps, mobile apps, desktop software, or hardware. But, to my opinion, the CEO main role is to carry the vision and the COO duty is to design and implement the strategy that will fulfill that vision. A COO is responsible for making sure that all the departments work together to keep the operations of the business on schedule. Sometimes, they’ll divide the team, or piss off customers. In our dataset, we found that the average COO oversees 4.4 distinct company functions…over half the company. Privacy Policy. The traditional Chief Operating Officer is the member of executive management that is responsible for maintaining and driving operational results within a company. What is the role of the COO in an early stage startup? Watch the spending. Most people understand that COOs support and collaborate with a startup’ But what else makes a good COO candidate? So, the CTO needs to evaluate the problem objectively and find the perfect solution. I remember the lunch where Danielle told me she and Kevin had decided to shut down Referly, and I wasn’t totally sure I had a place in their post-Referly company. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. In doing so, he works with everyone cross-functionally to make sure the organisation is set up to and actually delivering on their targets. The bigger the company, the more important it is that the COO operates through others rather than being a one-person execution machine. Constantly. This only becomes more poignant as … Titles shouldn’t matter, but unfortunately everyone has to have one — including me. How to you build the infrastructure that will enable your startup to operate more effectively? I believe the job of a founding COO is to do the most important things the company hasn’t hired for yet, hire or delegate to someone in your place, and move on. 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