Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig

--------- EPISODE CHAPTERS WITH SHORT KEY POINTS ---------   (0:00:12) - Remote Company Operations and Knowledge Management Daren explains the importance of low context communication, compounding interest, and over communicating for successful remote teams.   (0:08:59) - Embracing Remote Work as Operating Model Daren Murph and I discuss operations of successful remote companies, process definition...

Unlock the secrets of remote team management and product explanation in our stimulating conversation with Nitin Gupta, the COO of Prisma. Nitin unveils how explaining technical products to non-technical people can be a challenge, but he makes it understandable, going as far as breaking down Prisma into simple terms for our mothers. Also, learn about Prisma University, a unique internal initiative...

Join us as we chat with Shanaz Hemmati, the COO of ZenBusiness, who gives us a fascinating insight into the workings of a public benefit corporation that generates more than $100M in ARR. Listen to her as she speaks about the various initiatives and programs that ZenBusiness undertakes to give back to the community and society. From a grant program to support their customers to her role evolution...

Join me and our guest, Munish Gandhi, co-founder and COO of Productiv, as we unravel the intricacies of SaaS governance and optimization. We talk about how the rapid growth of SaaS applications, fueled by a wealth of funding, has led to a lax approach to purchasing and implementing applications. Munish expertly guides us through the function of Productiv, explaining how it provides valuable insigh...

  Join us as we sit down with Allen Narcisse, former COO at Workrise and co-founder and CEO of Gigs, for an enlightening conversation about his journey in the gig economy. Allen takes us through his career trajectory, starting from his initial venture, eBuyLine, to his stints building Uber and Lyft, and finally, to his current venture, Gigs. Listen in as Allen shares valuable insights on building...

Can we really grow sustainable, delicious, and healthy food right in the heart of a bustling city? In this eye-opening episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots, an innovative indoor urban farm tech company that's revolutionizing how we grow and distribute food in urban areas. Together, we explored the intricate operations of creating a successfu...

Stephan Jacob, Co-founder and COO of Cotopaxi, joins Michael to talk about building an impact-driven business, how sustainability drives Cotopaxi’s product development, managing a CEO transition, the proliferation of certified B Corps, donating revenue to fight poverty in developing countries, brand building and taking on North Face and Patagonia, and taking llamas on college campuses.  With a hum...

Woody Hartman, COO of Lime and former VP of Global Operations at Lyft, sits down with Michael to talk about the challenges in scaling a micro-mobility company, how Lime’s gained a competitive advantage over other players in the market, and why he chose to climb Mount Everest following his time at Lyft! A biz ops wizard, Woody’s career started as a Business Analyst at McKinsey in 2006, focused on M...

On this week’s episode, Michael’s joined by Felicity “Flick” Fisher, Partner and de facto COO of the law firm, Fieldfisher. Flick breaks down all things privacy and data related, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, where privacy and data laws may be headed, and the impact privacy advocates have had on the space.  Now amongst the top InfoSec legal experts, Flick’s jou...

Holger Seim, co-founder, and CEO of Blinkist, speaks with Michael about how Blinkist emerged out of shifting consumption patterns, where the company may be headed in the future, and how to stay true to your long-term strategic vision while also incorporating the thoughts and ideas of other stakeholders.  With an entrepreneurial spirit that emerged during his childhood in Germany, Holger’s journey...

Diego Camberos, COO of Vodafone Qatar and former CEO of Tigo Millicom Senegal and Rwanda, joins Michael to share insight into navigating cultural differences in different markets, how “radical simplification” has served as the bedrock of Vodafone’s success, and how to build a corporate culture that acknowledges and respects different cultures.   A citizen of the globe, having spent time living in...

Cameron Herold, Founder of the COO Alliance and former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, talks to Michael about building a successful company culture, effective process implementation, and what a strong relationship between a COO and CEO should look like. They also touch on how to attract “A” players to your team,  how to approach each initiative with a Plan, Brief, Execute, and Debrief mentality, reverse en...

Cathy Hawley, former Chief People Officer of Return Path and Co-Founder of Bolster, sits down with Michael to discuss the importance of intentionality and an agile mindset in building a remote company culture, how people operations grew out of traditional human resources, and why employers should focus on a co-creating mentality when approaching its workforce.    Cathy is a strategic people leader...

Dale Pfeifer, CEO of Goodworld, chats on scaling social impact through tech, the evolution of CSR (corporate social responsibility) from consumer targeted to greater corporate involvement, Mastercard, Citi, and BlackRock's leadership in CSR, the impact of the pandemic on accelerating CSR, the challenges of raising VC capital as a woman and as a social impact co., and what it's like to pitch Presid...

Jenny Lawton is the EVP at Bolster,  an on-demand executive talent marketplace that helps accelerate companies’ growth by connecting them with experienced, highly vetted executives for interim, fractional, advisory, project-based, or board roles. Prior to Bolster, Jenny served in a variety of C-Suite roles which include her time as the Chief Strategy Officer and then CEO of MakerBot, the leader in...

Handshake COO, Jonathan Stull, joins to talk about the journey of building a three-sided marketplace to $100M ARR at a $3.5B valuation with over 500 employees. We touch on the role of COO at Handshake; Jonathan's path from waiting tables to Capital Hill to PE to tech; compromising on tactics but not on vision or mission; adding independent board members; deploying $100MMs in funding; the move from...

GoGuardian COO, Cyrus Mistry, spent 14 years at Google as the Director of Product Management for Chromebooks bringing computers to schools, before joining GoGuardian as COO right when they raised $200M in new funding from Tiger Global Management. Cyrus has a wealth of knowledge not only stemming from his four advanced degrees but also from his operating experience at Disney prior to Google. Have a...

Art Harding is the COO at People.ai, and joins to share how People.ai has supported their Ukrainian team members, how coaching is inspiring for the right to inspect performance and provide timely and meaningful feedback, the operational mandate of E2T: driving efficiency, effectiveness, and transformation, how COO is the most interesting job in the world, launching new products, what healthy frict...

Angela Tucci, COO at Uplight, joins to talk about running a $1.5B company created from the M&A of 6 companies, advocating for voice & equity for women in the workforce, finding an inspiring CEO, working with utility companies to reduce their carbon footprint, taking private equity vs. VC funding, integrating acquisitions remotely during covid, the impact of politics, and systems thinking....

Ken Weary is the COO of Hotjar and joins to chat on running a fully remote 220 person company, being a digital nomad traveling for over 7 years as a COO with a family, going through M&A and diligence on the buyer, always having a just cause as the "why" behind what you do, the impact of remote on the great resignation, and bringing the Houses from Harry Potter to the workplace. Hotjar, is a Eu...

Steve Taylor is an operating executive with experience building high-performing teams and scaling high-growth, category-defining companies. After spending the early part of his career flying E-2C Hawkeyes in the US Navy, he received a Masters of Policy Management from Georgetown University and spent five years as a management consultant. Steve joined Lyft in 2015 with just 220 employees, led two o...

Joe is Founder & CEO of ExecThread, a VC-backed crowdsourcing platform and premium job-sharing network that enables professionals to access the “hidden job market”. ExecThread is the largest global aggregator of unpublished executive-level job opportunities. Joe has been a successful start-up CEO and operating executive at high-growth tech companies including HopStop (acquired by Apple), Quigo...

Kettle COO, Nathaniel Manning, talks about balancing risk in a changing climate, structure without bureaucracy, evolution by design, good decision making, the social contract of insurance, and sitting on a monastery cushion for 3 months. He also talks about old guard vs new guard, building the plane while it's flying, making the implicit explicit, and evolution by design. Nathaniel has a long care...

Dave Weiss, co-founder, and COO of Hatch, joins us to discuss what it takes to confound a hardware company with his wife, sell 2 million IoT devices, the heightened consumer expectations of hardware, visit customers' homes, going from Shark Tank to VC fundraising, moving from CTO at BabyCenter to COO, and believing in wet paint. Prior to co-founding Hatch, Dave was the CTO of BabyCenter, where he...

Dia&Co. COO and former LVMH Chief Digital Officer, Valerie Hoecke, joins to chat on how a $50B co. like LVMH preps you for anything, how Dia&Co. solves the shopping challenges faced by plus size women, the impact of size discrimination in the workforce, the challenges that "try before you buy" creates, and going from growth to survival mode and back again. Valerie kicked off her career in...