Vision gets the headlines. Execution runs the company.
Conversations with the operators behind the companies you know — with veteran COO host, Michael Koenig.
Featuring leaders from
Peter Rojas, New Products at Mozilla, on Why Ideas Don't Decide Success
Peter Rojas explains why ideas don't decide success, how building inside a big company differs from a startup, and where coordination breaks.
All Episodes
61 episodes
Dan Siroker of Rewind.ai and Optimizely on AI and Memory
Dan Siroker, Rewind co-founder and CEO and former Optimizely co-founder, on augmenting human memory with AI and what it means for operators and teams.
Dec 5, 2023
Kate Henningsen, Arcadia COO on Clean Tech and Energy
Kate Henningsen, Arcadia co-founder and COO, on the clean tech playbook, disrupting the energy market, and operating a non-traditional path into utilities.
Nov 21, 2023
Darren Murph, Fmr GitLab VP Remote on Remote Operations
Darren Murph, former GitLab VP Remote and the Oracle of Remote Work, on the operations behind fully distributed companies and low-context communication.
Oct 17, 2023
Nitin Gupta, Prisma COO on Open Source and Hackathons
Nitin Gupta, Prisma COO, on operationalizing hackathons, running Prisma University, remote team rituals, and open-sourcing internal processes at scale.
Sep 26, 2023
Shanaz Hemmati, ZenBusiness COO on Building $1.7B Co.
Shanaz Hemmati, ZenBusiness co-founder and COO, on building a $1.7B company, using AI to automate G&A, and operating across both up and down cycles.
Sep 11, 2023
Munish Gandhi, Productiv COO on AI for SaaS Cost Cuts
Munish Gandhi, Productiv co-founder and COO, on using AI for SaaS portfolio governance, automating contract renewals, and cutting software spend at scale.
Aug 1, 2023
Allen Narcisse, Gigs CEO on Labor Markets and AI Jobs
Allen Narcisse, Gigs CEO and former Workrise COO, on transforming the labor market, building in the gig economy, and the next era of work and AI jobs.
Jul 18, 2023
Tobias Peggs, Square Roots CEO on Urban Indoor Farming
Tobias Peggs, Square Roots co-founder and CEO, on indoor urban farming, climate-resilient agriculture, and bringing local, sustainable food to market.
Jun 27, 2023
Stephan Jacob, Cotopaxi COO on $100M Brand Building
Stephan Jacob, Cotopaxi co-founder and COO, on scaling an impact-driven brand to $100M in revenue, managing a CEO transition, and the B Corp playbook.
May 2, 2023
Woody Hartman, Lime COO on Micromobility and Scaling Lyft
Woody Hartman, Lime COO and former Lyft VP of Global Operations, on scaling micromobility, Lime's competitive edge, and summiting Everest after Lyft.
Apr 10, 2023
Flick Fisher on Data Privacy and GDPR at Fieldfisher
Felicity Fisher, Partner at Fieldfisher's Technology and Data Group, on what GDPR means in practice and how it reshaped data privacy across the industry.
Jan 23, 2023
Holger Seim, Blinkist CEO on 21M Users and the 4-Day Workweek
Holger Seim, Blinkist co-founder and CEO, on growing to 21M users, geographic expansion out of Germany, and running operations on a 4-day workweek.
Jan 16, 2023
Diego Camberos, Vodafone Qatar COO on 5G and World Cup Prep
Diego Camberos, Vodafone Qatar COO, on prepping 5G for 1.4M World Cup visitors and the radical simplification behind Vodafone's operating model.
Nov 7, 2022
Cameron Herold on Founding the COO Alliance and Antarctica
Cameron Herold, COO Alliance founder and former 1-800-GOT-JUNK? COO, on building company culture, process discipline, and the COO-CEO relationship.
Oct 27, 2022
Cathy Hawley on Building Great Company Culture
Cathy Hawley, Bolster co-founder and former Return Path Chief People Officer, on building remote company culture with intentionality and an agile mindset.
Oct 18, 2022
Dale Pfeifer, Goodworld CEO on Social Impact and CSR
Dale Pfeifer, Goodworld CEO, on scaling social impact through tech and the evolution of corporate responsibility at Mastercard, Citi, and BlackRock.
Aug 2, 2022
Jenny Lawton on the Makerbot $400M Exit and Techstars Ops
Jenny Lawton, Bolster EVP and former Makerbot CEO and Techstars COO, on the $400M Makerbot exit, running Techstars, and operating across stages.
Jun 14, 2022
Jonathan Stull on Building a $3.5B Marketplace at Handshake
Jonathan Stull, Handshake COO, on building a three-sided marketplace to $100M ARR and a $3.5B valuation, global expansion, and hiring specialists.
Jun 1, 2022
Cyrus Mistry, GoGuardian COO on Google to Startup Jump
Cyrus Mistry, GoGuardian COO, on jumping from 14 years at Google to startup COO right as the company raised $200M from Tiger Global Management.
May 2, 2022
Art Harding, People.ai COO on Operating Leadership
Art Harding, People.ai COO, on supporting Ukrainian team members and driving efficiency, effectiveness, and transformation through the E2T mandate.
Apr 11, 2022
Angela Tucci, Uplight COO on $1.5B Valuation and B Corps
Angela Tucci, Uplight COO, on building a $1.5B company through six M&A deals, helping utilities cut emissions, and weighing PE versus VC funding.
Mar 17, 2022
Ken Weary, Hotjar COO on Remote-First Culture, M-and-A
Ken Weary, Hotjar COO, on running a fully remote 220-person company, seven years as a digital nomad COO, and going through M&A diligence on the buyer.
Mar 9, 2022
Steve Taylor on the Lyft Pink Mustaches and a $20B IPO
Steve Taylor, HipTrain COO and former Lyft exec, on Lyft's path to a $20B IPO, managing NYC and DC with a $500M P&L, and building an at-home fitness app.
Mar 3, 2022
Joe Meyer, ExecThread CEO on Landing Hidden Exec Roles
Joe Meyer, ExecThread CEO, on the hidden retained-search market, exiting HopStop to Apple and Quigo to AOL, and how to land your next executive role.
Feb 23, 2022
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