Keith Rabois on the Role of a COO, How to Hire and Why Transparency Matters. Why the COO is like a midfielder in a soccer team. A Thai startup Builk is known for its uniqueness in tackling an industry – one of the world’s biggest – that’s so un-techie, un-startup-y, and male-dominated: construction.
But what many don’t know is that this startup has a female COO. Linna Kanoknitanan is the lady steering the wheel at Builk, and she was the one presenting Builk’s latest platform SiteWalk at the DEMO ASEAN conference, winning third place. It’s not easy being a COO, let alone for a company that’s dealing with masculine stuff. To understand how she does it, we spent some time with her to gather her thoughts: Tell us a little about yourself I graduated with a Bachelor of Accounting from Chulalongkorn University, however, I’ve always been interested in technology. What’s your role at Builk At first, there was no real job description.
How and why did you get started in this industry? Running a family business at home was easy. What challenges did you face in particular? What It’s Like Being a COO at a Startup, with Jason Sew Hoy of 99designs. Engineers get a lot of coverage in the tech world (as they should) but I’ve been interested in other pieces of the startup puzzle.
For example, I’ve always wondered what it’s like being a Chief Operating Office (COO) at a startup. Jason Sew Hoy was gracious enough to give me some of his time to share about his experience as COO of 99designs.com. 99designs.com is a marketplace for crowd-sourced graphic design. It connects designers from around the globe with customers seeking quality, affordable design services.
In this interview Jason walks us through his day to day life, what’s the biggest challenge he has to face, and the role creativity takes in a startup’s life. What’s a typical day like for you? My role at 99designs.com involves a lot of multi-tasking so what I do from one day to the next can be very different. At midday I went down the road for pizza with managers from several other web startups in our building, including SitePoint.com, Flippa.com and Learnable.com. What does it feel like to be the CEO of a start-up? Why Your Startup Doesn’t Need a COO. Startup Roles & Responsibilities. Every startup is different and has their unique challenges.
But, most startups have similar managerial needs. Today’s lesson tackles typical roles and responsibilities within a startup. Although I am going to use C-Level titles for purposes of this discussion, it is not critical you actually use C-Level titles within your organization. Some people are motivated by them, and others are not. So, determine which titles are appropriate for your company’s culture and personality. With that said, the typical roles within a startup’s management team are: (i) CEO/President; (ii) CMO/CSO; (iii) COO; (iv) CTO; and (iv) CFO. The CEO/President is typically the founder within a startup. The CMO or CSO of an organization is in charge of all marketing or sales driven activities of the business. The COO is in charge of all the operations of the company, and in many respects is duplicative with the President role. The CTO is in charge of all technology decisions for the company. Even start-ups need a COO.
(Editor’s note: Firas Raouf is a partner with OpenView Partners.
He submitted this story to VentureBeat.) Most early stage tech companies don’t think they have room for a chief operating officer.There are several reasons behind that, of course. Sometimes, the CEO feels he/she needs to “be close to the business” and all aspects of the operation. Others feel strategy and execution shouldn’t be separated, while some feel early stage companies are too small to have a COO. The saddest of instances is when the CEO believes recruiting a COO would be an admission of failure. While I’m sympathetic to those arguments, I do believe the role can be highly beneficial — and even necessary in certain situations – and shouldn’t be dismissed offhand due to a company’s size or the CEO’s ego getting in the way.
When Hiring a COO Makes Sense Many early stage companies are founded by young and inexperienced CEOs. What tasks should a start-up COO be able to help with?