Unlocking Value: Startup Operations + People Leads

Chances are - if you’re with an early stage startup - your team hired a Chief of Staff in Q1, 2023, AKA the quarter of the generalist (or COO, operations lead, etc.).

CEO’s had been building very lean for months, and knew that the only way to the next level of leadership included hiring a dynamic partner who could expand their capacity across the organization, while serving as a thought partner. Someone who could hold both the strategic and execution needs of the business simultaneously.

Cue the Chief of Staff. The COO. The Operations Manager.

Generalists are always valuable in startups, and with this first hire out of a lean period, it makes sense that this “generalist of the generalists” would take the day. That person who could operationalize everything they touched, while spinning up and even owning a department while gathering data points to determine if and when it’s truly worth establishing it with new teammates.

In my work closely with these folks (many of whom we hired, and then got to partner directly with - so exciting!), it’s become clear to me just how broad, strategic and necessary this function is. Especially as most startups don’t bring in “people” or “HR” hires until a Series B raise, and this raise is coming later and with a leaner team than before - the weight of running that core team often falls on this “defacto” people leader.

Fast forward 1 year, and these dynamic operations leaders are celebrating their 1 year anniversaries in their new roles. They’ve owned hiring processes, redistributed management responsibilities, operationalized many processes, brought in new tools, navigated benefits and other infrastructure needs.

• Strategic OKR planning, tracking and visibility

• Performance Management and Career Pathways

• Empowering a culture of feedback (esp. amongst managers)

• Compensation leveling + philosophy

• Infusing Core Values across the business

• Elevating Internal + External Company Communications

• Onboarding + Expectation Setting

Companies invest 75% of their resources on salaries, and in order to truly unlock this investment - it’s critical that we cultivate, support, empower and grow our teams with strategy and care. This starts with supporting this people + operations leader with the expert guidance, community thought partners and tactical resources they need to increasingly make bigger impacts across the evolving business.

As a result of the many conversations I’ve had this year directly with this wave of COS, COO and people/operations leads - I’ll be leading an intimate Cohort that brings experts and fellow leaders in community to work through these concepts together, working towards the right solutions for their individual orgs.

We can’t afford to leave these important projects up to chance, and need to empower our leaders who want to effectively leverage expert insights while applying solutions in the unique ways that their teams need. I can’t wait to check back in with this cohort next year and see the outsized impact they’ve been able to have across their organizations.

Logistics:

6 Weeks (every other Thursday at 11am PST, starts May 2nd)

$1,200 (Professional Development stipends are covering for most participants)

Likely Topics (finalizing soon): OKR charting, strategic planning, hiring, performance planning, manager empowerment, leveling/compensation bands, culture + values work, etc.

Interested in joining? There are a couple of spots left. Apply to join us here.

Curious? Set a quick call to learn more.