Startup CXO

Chief Operating Officer

It is impossible to nail down the definition of the startup COO. People in the COO role are often the “second‐in‐command”—but not always. All roles in a company have to “operate,” so why would you need a Chief Operator? Of course, the person in this role will need to be an excellent operator, communicator, and builder, but their actual responsibilities can vary greatly from company to company. You will find many of the tasks and teams the COO will manage are already found elsewhere in this book, but for a lot of startups you need a COO, you need someone who has their pulse on all of the operational details, someone who can see the big picture, who can understand the vision for the future, and who can make sure that vision becomes a reality. Here are a few key areas that most COOs end up managing.

Types of COOs

There is an HBR article (“Second in Command, the Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer,” Bennett and Miles, 2006) that details seven types of COOs and while that's helpful, it's also focused primarily on large enterprises. For many modern startups, I feel there are not seven types of COOs, but three types of COOs. Some COOs are market‐facing and include the sales team in their purview, some are product‐focused, and others only look inward managing groups like Finance, Legal, IT, and Sales Operations. Table P10.1 defines these three types of COOs.

A Few Common Areas for the COO

As I mentioned earlier, many of the areas for a COO ...