Chief Operations Officer

The role of the chief operations officer

If the CEO is the head of your company, think of the Chief Operations Officer (COO) or president as your number two.

You can make a case that depending on the nature of your business, the CFO might actually be second-in-command in your hierarchy, but the point remains that a good COO should be someone who could be considered the heir apparent.

So what exactly does a COO do? It almost always depends on their background -- some are going to be stronger on the sales side, some stronger on the tech side. If you’re a credit-focused business, having a COO who is strong in credit and lending is essential. At its core, think of this person who can bring leverage to the CEO to allow them to focus on what they uniquely can do. It’s a business unlock.

When to hire a chief operations officer

If a public fintech with a strong C-suite buys a bank to gain a full banking license to offer services like deposit accounts, lending or payment processing, they would need a COO that really understands banking operations through and through. If it's a heavy compliance business, it could be someone who is well versed legal and compliance. We've seen instances where CTOs have reported into the COO.

Other times, a CEO may really just need someone to come in and oversee a big part of the organization so that they could be more out front with investors and do more business development activities. In this example, they would need someone that was laser focused on internal operations and overseeing sales and marketing, so the CEO could focus on being external. Companies with heavy go-to-market functions could fall under this umbrella. HR is a typical example, although you would likely never hire a COO just to oversee HR.

It works backwards from the needs of company. Ultimately, it's about giving the CEO that leverage on the company's internal operations and effectiveness.

In earlier-stage companies, what a COO typically would not oversee is product, because the CEO is going to be much more product focused, especially if it’s a founder-led business. We’ve seen it happen, it’s just not typical.

A business may look to bring in a COO when they are slightly later in their journey, likely Series B to Series E, but long before they’re a public company. What you want to avoid is having a rapidly scaling venture-backed company that has raised $30 million with a CEO that still has 20 direct reports.

What makes a world-class chief operations officer?

Find someone who can oversee a big part of the organization and have this person be the accountable executive so that you can help scale the rest of the business and do what you’re great at. No CEO can be world-class at every single thing, and LF Partners help these companies find the perfect right-hand man to supplement a CEO’s skills and more importantly fill in the gaps while freeing up time.

Positions LF Partners has placed

• Chief Operating Officer, Merrick Bank
• Chief Operating Officer, Drizly
• Chief Operating Officer, Billd
• Chief Operating Officer, Strike Acceptance

Head of Collections

The role of the head of collections‍

The head of collections is responsible for overseeing the organization's efforts to manage and recover debts. This role involves designing and implementing effective collections strategies, managing the collections team and ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards related to debt collection.

Leaders in these roles typically fall into one of two subsets -- the collection strategy and analytics function, which is more of a business analyst who's devising data-driven scenarios and strategies around how to contact a customer, and then the ops-focused role for those who are the ones picking up the phone or sending out the statements.

At its core, it's an operations position. So it is a customer care, customer experience, operations executive with a focus on the asset receovery collection strategy and operations of the business.

When to hire a head of collections

A head of collections is typically hired when a company has significant receivables and needs to improve its collection rates to maintain financial health. This role is crucial for businesses in industries like finance, healthcare and telecommunications, where managing credit and collections is a core aspect of operations.

What makes a world-class head of collections?

A world-class head of collections combines strong leadership with deep knowledge of credit management and collections laws. They are highly effective communicators, skilled in negotiation, and adept at conflict resolution. Their ability to strategize and implement innovative collections methods that respect customer relationships while maximizing recovery rates sets them apart.

Positions LF Partners has placed

• VP of Collections Strategy and Analytics, Merrick Bank
• VP of Collections Strategy and Analytics, LendingPoint

‍

Chief of Staff

The role of the chief of staff‍

A chief of staff acts as a right-hand to the CEO or other top executives, managing strategic initiatives, overseeing projects that do not neatly fit within organizational boundaries and acting as a confidant and advisor.

There are different types of chiefs of staff -- ones that are the MBA strategy consultant, business analyst profile and there are the ones that come from every other type of discipline.

Ultimately, the ideal candidate will depend on the mandate of what the firm and the executive needs. Most people would never admit that they would take a chief of staff role that is more administrative than strategic, but in businesses where there are a lot of operations and people, sometimes a COO-type role is exactly what is needed, and you may not need an MBA for that.

When to hire a chief of staff

A chief of staff is often hired when the executive team needs support to manage their day-to-day responsibilities more efficiently, allowing them to focus on higher-level strategies.

What makes a world-class chief of staff?

World-class chiefs of staff are exceptional at problem-solving, have superb organizational and communication skills and excel in a high-stakes, fast-paced environment. They often have a background in both strategy and operations.

They have a high intellect agility to toggle between the most high-level strategic matters into the day-to-day of problem solving, keeping a daily, weekly, monthly agenda moving forward in the support of executive. The best chiefs of staff are hungry to learn and to drive results, although it is non uncommon for exceptional leaders here to progress into other roles.

‍