Cameron Herold says most founders hire a COO too early and with the wrong title. Start with a fractional executive assistant to handle admin work, then design the actual role you need before naming it. Hire full-time only when you've lost time to grow people, work on strategy, or have a personal life.
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I'm in an Airbnb in Vancouver and the landlord met me here one day and he goes, oh, by the way, you can use the printer. I'm like, what the would I use a printer for? I honestly don't remember using a printer. It's like one of those weird things. It's like a fax machine. It's like, great. So what would I ever need somebody to show up in person for? There's no paper to move around. There's nothing that you really need someone in person to do that a good fractional or virtual person can't get done for you. In my book, the Second in Command, I mentioned that don't call your first second in command a coo. A C level title should be very high in strategy, very high in budgeting and P and L responsibility. They should be able to walk into the company and tell you what needs to get done. And you shouldn't be delegating anything for them. They should come in with a level of autonomy to do their job where you don't have to manage them at all. They should be able to bring other employees and partners into the company with them when they come. If they can't do that, they're probably more of a VP or a director. If you're telling them what to do, they're a director or an ops manager. If you're deciding together, they're a vp. And if they're showing you what needs to get done, they're C level. When are you going to hire your first second in command? Right. Is when you recognize that you don't have time to grow people. You don't have time to work on the business. You don't have time to pause and be strategic where you're not getting enough done, where there's critical things that could scale up the business that are just sitting on your calendar forever because you don't have time to do it. That's a good time to do it. When you have no life, when you have no time for yourself or your spouse or your. We only start a company for one of three reasons. To give us free time to do what we want. We end up getting sucked back into the business because we usually lose sight of all the stuff that we want to do or to give us money. But at some point you're making enough money that. And then to actually have that feeling of accomplishment to go, hey, we did it. So hiring a second in command allows you to do those things. If you don't have an executive assistant, you are one. The first person you need to hire is a fractional or full time executive assistant. I've had an EA for 27 years now. I've had five different EAs. I could tell you their names, I could tell you their level of confidence, what they worked at, but all they've done is take the admin off my plate so that I can work on the business or work on higher level activities. So that's the first layer. The second one is don't be worried about hiring a second in command. You're going to be hiring an ops manager or a director of ops or a project and they might not even be full time. They might be like 20 hours a week. So what I want you to do is design what you're hiring for. I want you to design what that person looks and feels and then put a title on it. After you know their roles and responsibilities and after you know the compensation you're willing to pay, then put it on like. I just interviewed a COO who's joining the CEO Alliance. Her compensation is $380,000 a year. My comp at 1-800-got junk as a COO 18 years ago was 320. That was a true COO. So, yeah, be careful putting a big title on a smaller role. If you haven't already signed up for my online training where I cover the 12 essential leadership skills for anyone who manages people, go check out investinyourleaders.com ch Close to 5,000 are already going through my content. I'm in an Airbnb in Vancouver and the landlord met me here one day and he goes, oh, by the way, you can use the printer. I'm like, what the fuck would I use a printer for? I honestly don't remember using a printer. It's like one of those weird things. It's like a fax machine. It's like, great. So what would I ever need somebody to show up in person for? There's no paper to move around. In fact, that if they show up in person, they're probably going to drive me crazy or they'll know I'm not working all the time. Like, I just want somebody to get a whole bunch of stuff done. Somebody who vibes with me, somebody who can work the kind of hours that I want to be in sync with. Somebody who culturally aligned. I had a second in command that I was hired or an executive assistant years ago who was in person for six months of the year and then she was gone for six months of the year. And I got really nervous and she goes, give me a couple of examples of what you would need me to be there in person. I'm like, I don't know. Drop off and pick up my dry cleaning. She goes, got it. I'll have somebody picking it up in 15 minutes. I'm like, what? She goes, yeah, there's an agency in Vancouver that will pick up and deliver dry cleaning. I'm like, okay. There's nothing that you really need someone in person to do that a good fractional or virtual person can't get done for you. In 1998, I had a company in Seattle called MyLaki.com that you could hire somebody to come and pick up your dry cleaning, get your windshield wiper blades. So you need somebody who can get stuff done for you. I like employees to come in person. If you're building an organization that it makes sense to. If you're hiring people that are fractional or virtual, makes sense that you build a meritocracy. Make sure that you build an organization that you're paying for results, not for hours.
