Vetted Chief Operating Officers

“COO/CFO and startup co-founder (Gratia, Inc.) who has built operational infrastructure end-to-end across finance, contracts, resourcing, and talent management. Has scaled multiple early-stage businesses (<$20M revenue) and supported outcomes including a sale to a private equity-backed strategic buyer, with a pragmatic approach centered on clear processes, stakeholder alignment, and leveraging tools like QuickBooks, Bill.com, HubSpot, and Salesforce.”

“COO/operator with 12 years in law firm environments who founded an HR consulting startup under Clark Hill PLC, building the full go-to-market, pricing, and standardized service delivery playbooks (including a payroll-percentage fractional HR retainer model). Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with proven results in both manufacturing (raising rooftop AC output from 20 to 50 units/week) and professional services (cut ~1 week from invoicing to improve cash flow). Also runs financial operations for a fast-growing nonprofit sports club (600+ participants).”

“COO of Greenopia (pre-seed, pre-revenue) who has built the company’s operational foundation over the past 18 months—supporting fundraising, SEC/crowdfunding setup, and coordinating app and self-serve business onboarding/assessment systems. Brings a metrics-driven operating approach (OKRs, balancing metrics/unit economics) and has advised other startups (e.g., sports betting) to refocus effort on the highest-value customer segments.”

“Operations leader/advisor experienced in bringing structure to early-stage/growing companies by connecting Vision-Mission-Strategy to execution via roadmaps, accountability, and KPI scorecards with defined operating cadences. Demonstrated measurable impact by redesigning sales compensation around margin by product/retailer, improving profitability by 4 points within six months, and has reported directly to founders/CEOs with sales and finance backgrounds.”

“Operator/consultant with ~25 years of experience who co-founded and scaled a startup from “two people and a PowerPoint” to a $10M raise and eventual merger exit, building the full operational stack (HR, support, FP&A, investor relations) and scaling to 30+ employees plus 25–30 contractors. Has led rigorous compliance programs (HITRUST, SOC 1/2, PCI, HIPAA) and applies structured methodologies (Miller Heiman, Lean, Agile) while advising founders across sectors including defense tech, blockchain/Bitcoin, and food safety.”

“Former COO of Hamilton Lane’s direct investment unit (appointed in 2007) who helped professionalize operations in an early-stage environment—implementing DealCloud, revamping investment committee materials, and creating valuation governance. Known for pairing process/technology upgrades with culture repair through high-touch communication and transparent leadership.”

“Entrepreneur and senior executive who has raised capital and built a sophisticated, integrated agency platform spanning PR, design, exhibitions/live environments, and media placement; the business is currently in a sale process due to a major shareholder exiting the U.S. Strong premium-market positioning experience, leveraging C-suite access to validate opportunities and building human-centric, data-driven, AI-enabled service offerings across luxury/hospitality/culture/real estate/wellness.”

“Former COO of Paxos who joined near inception and helped scale the company to a $2.4B valuation, owning operations across nearly all functions and implementing core operating systems like OKRs and decision frameworks. Now advises and coaches early-stage founders through Lynx Collective (NYC startup community he founded), teaches a Startup Executive Bootcamp, serves as an NYU Stern adjunct professor, and sits on a public company board.”

“Operations/Continuous Improvement leader with 25 years of Lean/Kaizen experience, including roles at Danaher and 10x Genomics. Known for building enterprise operating rhythms (True North + daily management) and developing internal CI certification programs, while delivering measurable quality and cycle-time gains (e.g., NCR/MRB lead time cut 47→14 days and FPY improvements via global test-equipment relocation).”

“Operations leader with experience scaling a fast-growing, startup-like government organization (tripled headcount in two years) by implementing OKRs, operating cadences, reporting structures, and decision/escalation frameworks. Has led complex process turnarounds (including a debt-collection overhaul with legal coordination and an appeals board) and advises executives on high-stakes public communications during critical-infrastructure cybersecurity incidents using data-driven decisioning.”

“Operator with private-equity-backed scaling experience who standardized and automated global service delivery into a centralized CoE model to improve scalability and unit economics. Led company-wide Toyota Kata adoption (100+ processes improved) and an enterprise AI implementation generating $10M net contribution, with strong PE board communication and metric-driven execution.”

“Business Manager/Chief of Staff with 20+ years in investment banking (Barclays, HSBC) leading cross-functional governance across IT, Ops, Finance, Compliance, and Risk. Notably helped launch and operationalize a new TRS on leveraged loans trading desk at Barclays, including building a bespoke trade-booking system and scaling the business from $0 to >$20B AUM, later becoming the largest TRS desk globally.”