Michal Cieplinski (CBO Pipe, ex General Counsel at Fundbox)

Perhaps the CEO’s most important operational responsibility is designing and implementing the communication architecture for her company.

The members of the initial “biz ops” team, as we call it, were our first salespeople, and many of them were also our first product managers. Really, they were whatever Stripe needed them to be at the time—which is a lot like the COO job. Before you hire a COO, consider building a biz ops team and hiring a head of business operations who can proxy s

If you want to learn more about what a great CFO or VP of engineering does, your best bet is to reach out to people who are great at these roles and ask them for advice. Your investors or mentors may be able to suggest which companies have the best people for each function. For example, if you are hiring a CFO, go and meet three or four great CFOs