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A first COO gives a founder-CEO an operating partner, so the founder can stay close to product and customers. HMN Capital runs COO searches for venture-backed businesses across the UK and Europe, and helps define a seat that means something different in every business.
Recent mandate: the first COO for a growth-equity-backed healthtech scaling across the Nordics
The usual sequence, though the business sets the pace.
Series A
The founders run operations themselves. A Head of Operations or a Chief of Staff is often the first step.
Series B
Headcount and customers outgrow being run from the centre. A first COO often arrives here, sometimes alongside a CRO.
Growth and international
New markets, new entities and delivery that has to work the same way everywhere.
Pre-exit
An operating rhythm a buyer can see working without the founder in every decision.
An operating rhythm
The weekly and monthly cadence that lets the business run without every decision reaching the founder.
Delivery at scale
Industrialising how the product or service reaches customers as volume grows.
People and structure
Org design and the leadership layer beneath the founders, often alongside a first Chief People Officer. Roles we place
A clear split with the founder
Who owns what, agreed before the new COO starts.
Define the seat first
COO means something different in every business. We agree with the founder and the board what this one owns before we search.
Fit with the founder
The founder-CEO relationship decides whether a COO hire works, so it is tested throughout the process.
Packages and equity
We benchmark salary, bonus and equity for the seat against live market data, so the offer reflects what the seat pays in the market today.
Headline mandate
CFO, CRO, CPO and COO for one VC-backed business
Four C-suite appointments for the same venture-backed company as it scaled, plus the people and commercial hires beneath them.
Chief Operating Officer
Growth-equity-backed healthtech, Nordics. A first COO to industrialise delivery and give the board an operating partner alongside a technical founder-CEO.
Founder freed to focus on product and clinical partnerships
Further reading: Two names on the door: the co-CEO structure
Do we need a COO or a Chief of Staff?
If the role is running the business day to day and owning outcomes, it is a COO. If it is extending the founder’s reach and running projects, a Chief of Staff may be the right first hire.
Is a COO a step towards replacing the founder?
Not usually. Most first COOs are hired to work alongside the founder-CEO. Where the board is considering a change at the top, we treat that as a separate, confidential conversation.
Do you advise on equity?
Yes. We benchmark salary and options for the seat against live market data.
