Scale from 0-1 kills so many companies so I'm glad you're asking at this stage.
What you need is a 'specialized generalist' someone who knows enough to set you up for success, get the first few hires, get your sales engine going, get your ops infra nailed down.... but doesn't necessarily want to slow you down when you need to scale out the functions you mentioned.
This is how I operate basically; I help us get to 1, then I replace myself with four or five specialists that can handle those 'departments' as the company really hits its stride, and move on to the next company usually thanks to a referral from the previous guy. It's fun.
Here's what I'd consider
1. Youngish people (40s) who have done some time as a COO at a growth stage or earlier company,
2. Who've been in that role 2-3 times at various early-stage companies in your domain (SaaS operating models are wildly different than consulting services, for example). Also CFOs with diverse/soft skills are good here too.
3. Experienced folks won't work for free. They know the risks, so expect to pay; slightly under market + equity.
how long are you staying with one company usually? i imagine getting from one person to five can take anywhere from a month to a year or more depending on how fast revenue or investments are coming in.
i am kind of in this situation myself. but i primarily need sales partners in regions where i want to sell my services, while the rest is done by people offshore (me included)
You're basically correct, it can be anywhere from about 6 to 18 months. Lots of variables determine that; if they're more experienced it can be as simple as getting them to a certain revenue number sufficient to replace me, or as complex as "we need to get the board comfortable with how we operate" which can take longer.
My stated goal from day 0 is "I'm here to replace myself" which applies a lot of the (good kind of) pressure to install systems or processes that are well-defined, repeatable, scalable, and then hand the whole package off to the new folks.
Comments
Scale from 0-1 kills so many companies so I'm glad you're asking at this stage.
What you need is a 'specialized generalist' someone who knows enough to set you up for success, get the first few hires, get your sales engine going, get your ops infra nailed down.... but doesn't necessarily want to slow you down when you need to scale out the functions you mentioned.
This is how I operate basically; I help us get to 1, then I replace myself with four or five specialists that can handle those 'departments' as the company really hits its stride, and move on to the next company usually thanks to a referral from the previous guy. It's fun.
Here's what I'd consider
1. Youngish people (40s) who have done some time as a COO at a growth stage or earlier company,
2. Who've been in that role 2-3 times at various early-stage companies in your domain (SaaS operating models are wildly different than consulting services, for example). Also CFOs with diverse/soft skills are good here too.
3. Experienced folks won't work for free. They know the risks, so expect to pay; slightly under market + equity.
how long are you staying with one company usually? i imagine getting from one person to five can take anywhere from a month to a year or more depending on how fast revenue or investments are coming in.
i am kind of in this situation myself. but i primarily need sales partners in regions where i want to sell my services, while the rest is done by people offshore (me included)
You're basically correct, it can be anywhere from about 6 to 18 months. Lots of variables determine that; if they're more experienced it can be as simple as getting them to a certain revenue number sufficient to replace me, or as complex as "we need to get the board comfortable with how we operate" which can take longer.
My stated goal from day 0 is "I'm here to replace myself" which applies a lot of the (good kind of) pressure to install systems or processes that are well-defined, repeatable, scalable, and then hand the whole package off to the new folks.