Cameron Herold grew 1-800-GOT-JUNK from $2 million to $106 million as COO in six years, then left. The company later fell to $70 million before a new operator pushed it to $450 million. He argues the right COO depends on your growth stage: entrepreneurial energy early, operational focus later.
Questions this video answers
$2 million
$106 million in six years
$70 million
$450 million
140 people
Chapters
And it really revolves around what else we're looking for. You know, are we trying to position our company for an exit? Are we trying to scale? Are we doing acquisitions? Are we trying to handcuff somebody to the company so they don't quit? Are we trying to move aside so we can have a better life? It's really answering all of those questions that we have to work through. The hardest part about the CEO is understanding the CEO. What we're really looking for here is the. There's our skills and the things that drain us of energy. So what are we really strong at? What are we weak at? What things in the business feed us with energy and what drain us with energy? And can we divide those? The next part is what stage of growth are we at? You know, when I was the COO for 1-800-God junk, we were a $2 million company. I took them to 106 million in six years. I was the right COO for that period. And then Brian asked me to step aside at the 106 million mark because I was the wrong person to go from 100 million to. So they brought the former president of Starbucks in. A year later, she tanked. After a year, company went down to 70 million. They brought in a guy who I've been friends with for 35 years. We started a fraternity together in Ottawa, Canada. I was president year one, he was president year two. He's amazing at taking them to the next stage. He grew them from 70 million to 450 million. He would have been horrible in the first six years. He knew nothing about franchising, wasn't entrepreneurial, didn't really understand how to structure things, didn't have that right energy, wasn't outward facing. He's never done a media interview, never done a speaking event. He's a very inward facing, operational execution, analytical strategy, team builder. Whereas I was like this entrepreneurial divide and conquer. Go in terms of like what we're looking for or how to find the optimal one. It's really first understanding us in this stage of business. And then I guess thirdly, Harvard wrote an article about this years ago called the Misunderstood Role of the coo. And they identified seven distinct types of chief operating officers. And it really revolves around what else we're looking for. You know, are we trying to position our company for an exit? Are we trying to scale? Are we doing acquisitions? Are we trying to handcuff somebody to the company so they don't quit? Are we trying to move aside so we can have a better life? It's really answering all of those questions that we have to work through. What you're looking for at this stage is probably a partner. Somebody who you can kind of like, here, you handle this. I'll handle this. Let's crank through it. I'll meet with you at three o'. Clock. It's kind of like that tag team partner the whole way. That's probably one. Probably the confidant, like the best friend, kind of. This is driving me crazy. Yeah, me too. Okay, let's put on the grin. Like Brian and I would run away from the team. We had this secret meeting place that no one in the company knew about for three years. It was behind the freight elevator. It was this tiny little room. We put up a whiteboard and beanbag chairs. We would hide there, and people thought we'd gone out for coffee. We'd been there for like two hours for three years. 140 people had no idea it existed. And it was just for us to get a way from everybody. So you might be at that stage where it's just the confidant, the partner. To really kind of divide and conquer is my gut. So stay ahead of the curve as a CEO. This next video is packed with great leadership lessons for you. It'll really help you as you continue in your growth.
