WTH does a Chief of Staff in a startup do? 🤔
I had no idea what a Chief of Staff (CoS) was or did until I learnt from some of the best as part of the Startmate Fellowship.
Thuy Thai, Sophie Taylor, Amy Dobbin, Libby Owens, Anna Prell and Lucy Luo (check them out - they’re all amazing!) answered the Fellow’s burning questions.
Here are some top takeaways:
🌟 Why does a CoS exist and what do they actually do?
This is very organisational dependent but can be broken down into 3 buckets: process, people and projects.
Processes: removing inefficiencies and time it takes to do something
People: soft skills involved in managing teams, investor relations, CEO to team communications and external marketing and comms. You’re the one helping people in the organisation (esp the execs) get to great decisions and execute on them
Projects: figuring out what success looks like for the business. Making sure strategy and projects are set and executed according to certain timelines within your organisation.
🤔 Day in the life?
First rule of CoS club 🥊: there is no typical day.
It can include meeting with the CEO, handling any 🔥 in various teams, managing any external partnerships or comms, conflict resolution and helping the marketing team execute on strategy. You’re ‘filling in the gaps’ a lot of the time.
🤔Would you be perfect for a CoS role?
Although the backgrounds of our speakers were primarily fin/law, they encouraged all of us to consider it if we enjoy fast pace, agile environments.🤗 The key characteristics you need is the ability to learn, communicate and be adaptable. 💪
🤔 How can you be successful as a CoS?
Know the team: CoSs work closely with founders and the executive team: make sure you get along with them and do your due diligence on the exec team before committing.
Outsource: knowing when you’re not the best person to fix a problem and you need to leverage/outsource is just as important as tackling a problem.
Knowledge of business: Operations, product and experience in the company is a great asset.
You’re a generalist: you need to get your hands stuck in where you might not have previously been.
Great time management: you need to be able to say no to people.
💫 Key career advice CoS/not CoS specific? 💫
1. “You are what you think you are. Think positively, you can do it.” Libby Owens
2. “A CoS role is the perfect role to pitch to founders because you’re the one setting up the systems and managing relationships, and they’re working on their big problem” Sophie Taylor
3. “Invest in founders. Great founders will be the best mentors. Go for a relationship you can grow with”. Thuy Thai
4. “Remember you are the 5 people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely”. Amy Dobbin
Let me know if this was helpful for you guys!
I’d love to know if you’re a #chiefofstaff and what you think.
Good luck in your search for the perfect CoS role, or finding where you add value to the startup ecosystem!
🚀 Veronica
Great post, thanks for sharing!