Empowering Leadership and Innovation with Stacey Ryan of School of Rock In this episode of Between Two COOs, host Michael Koenig interviews Stacey Ryan, the COO of School of Rock, a global music school franchise. Despite common beliefs, the School of Rock predated its namesake 2003 film, with Stacey clarifying that the film was, in fact, inspired by the school’s real-life operations. Stacey discusses the significant impact of the global pandemic on the business, highlighting the shift to...

In an insightful episode of 'Between Two COOs,' host Michael Koenig converses with Aidan Mirzaee, the founder and CEO of Fellow, about the art and science of optimizing meetings. The discussion dives into the staggering statistics of daily meetings in the U.S., the inception of Fellow as a product to optimize structured management processes, and Shopify's drastic measure to save hundreds of thousands of hours by canceling recurring meetings. Reflecting on personal experiences, Aidan shares...

Join me, Michael Koenig, on a journey with business guru Cameron Harold, as we celebrate his latest literary achievement, "The Second In Command." Listen in as Cameron, the brain behind COO Alliance, unpacks the essentials of his new book, offering a treasure trove of guidance for CEOs and COOs alike. Discover the pivotal shifts Cameron experienced transitioning from COO to CEO and how this evolution informed his approach to balancing work and life. His candid sharing of early business...

How you need to plan for the AI Act? What is permissible and isn’t? How the EU will regulate AI? What constitutes AI? Could the EU's new AI Act be the cornerstone of global AI regulation? That's what we're here to unpack with the expert insight of Flick Fisher, a leading privacy specialist and partner at Fieldfisher. As the digital age accelerates, the European Union is setting a precedent with the AI Act, a groundbreaking legislation designed to navigate the complex terrain of artificial...

Join us as Greg Strickland, COO of Productboard, and I explore the power of embracing new opportunities and the crucial balance between business outcomes and personal advancement. Greg shares his journey of growth through accepting challenges that push boundaries, and we reflect on the times when a strategic 'no' can pave the way for others' development and align with company goals. Listen in for an insightful discussion on the mentorship gap in early-stage companies and the trial-and-error...

Unpack the transformation of travel experiences with me, Michael Kanig, as Tao Tao, COO of GetYourGuide, reveals the secrets behind turning a dorm-room startup into a $2 billion industry titan. We're setting the stage for a fascinating tale of innovation, strategy, and resilience that's reshaping the way people discover and book their adventures. From the early days as a fledgling peer-to-peer network to its current stature as a global connector of travelers and professional activity...

Are you ready for a deep dive into the world of remote work, productivity, and leadership? Let us whisk you away on a journey with our special guest, Alan Christensen, the COO of Duist, a trailblazing SaaS company. Alan’s story, which starts from humble beginnings in a family pipe business, catapults into an unlikely tech career, is an inspiration to us all. He sheds light on the dynamic relationship between a CEO and COO, and how their duties are divided at Duist. Get ready to be inspired,...

We're thrilled to welcome Dan Sroker, co-founder and CEO of Rewind, and former CEO and co-founder of Optimizely, to Between Two COOs! This episode centers around an eye-opening conversation about the potential of AI to augment human memory, transforming every digital interaction into an AI-able, searchable database. Yes, you heard it right! We are talking about having a "superpower" that could change the way we perceive and utilize our memory. During the discussion, we also shine a light on...

The compelling Kate Hemington, co-founder and COO of Arcadia Power, joins us for a deep dive into the revolutionary world of clean tech and the disruption of the energy market. Her unique insights, stemming from her academic background at the University of Oxford and experience in corporate litigation, shed light on how Arcadia Power leverages digitization in the traditionally regulated energy industry. Through our enlightening conversation, we navigate the dynamics of energy monopoly and how...

We're thrilled to present a fascinating conversation with Daren Murph, acknowledged as the Oracle of Remote Work by none other than CNBC. Prepare for a deep dive into the critical operations of remote companies, with a spotlight on low context communication. In our discussion, we unpack the significance of articulating details, striving for precision, and assuming zero context for the audience. Daren impresses upon us the power of information not only being communicated effectively, but also...

Prisma COO Nitin Gupta joins to explain Prisma to my mom, how Prisma University educates internally, and technical team members share knowledge. He discusses operationalizing hackathons, remote team issues, all-hands meetings, organization structure, and open-sourcing processes. Learn how Prisma emphasizes HR with psychologist hire, uses the 123 framework to balance open source projects and community vibrancy. Finally, we talk about aligning teams to KPIs, concentrating on company-wide...

Shanaz Hemmati is the co-founder and COO of ZenBusiness, a company that makes it simple for people to start their businesses and run their G&A. We chat about how AI will automate G&A, building a $1.7B company that thrives in both up and down times, being a technical COO, and growing HomeAway through M&A to IPO to more M&A with Expedia.

What if you could get a hold on your SaaS governance and optimize how you manage your applications with AI? That's exactly what we're exploring in our riveting conversation with Munish Gandhi, co-founder and COO of Productiv. Munish's deep insights into SaaS portfolio governance and ways to rationalize SaaS spend will help you rethink how you approach purchasing and implementing applications. We also tackle the issue of SaaS underutilization, considering the mismatch between what people need...

Ever wondered what it takes to thrive in the gig economy arena? Hold on to your seats as we discuss the intricate world of the gig economy with none other than Allen Narcisse, the former COO at Workrise and the brain behind Gigs. Together, we traverse his career landscape, from his initial venture, eBuyLine, through his time at Uber and Lyft, to his current endeavor, Gigs. He unpacks lessons learned along the way and shares profound insights on the significance of an outstanding first...

Discover how indoor urban farming changes how we grow and consume food in our captivating conversation with Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots. As climate change threatens traditional agriculture, innovative solutions like Square Roots are making their mark by bringing sustainable, local food production to the heart of urban areas. You don't want to miss this fascinating exploration of their cutting-edge farming technology and its impact on communities. Join us as we venture...

Stephan Jacob, Co-founder and COO of Cotopaxi, joins Michael to talk about building an impact-driven business to $100M in revenue, how sustainability drives Cotopaxi’s product development, managing a CEO transition, the proliferation of certified B Corps, donating revenue to fight poverty in developing countries, brand building and taking on North Face and Patagonia, and taking llamas on college campuses.

Woody Hartman, COO of Lime and former VP of Global Operations at Lyft sits down with Michael to talk about the challenges in scaling a micromobility company, how Lime’s gained a competitive advantage over other players in the market, and why he chose to summit Mount Everest following his time at Lyft!

This week on B2COO’s, lawyer, data privacy expert, and Partner at Fieldfisher’s Technology and Data Group, Felicity “Flick” Fisher joins Michael to dive deep into all things data privacy and GDPR, including: 🔒 what the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is and the impact it’s had upon tech companies 💻 why some companies are more equipped to navigate ever-shifting regulations than others 🔊 how advocates such as Max Schrems ushered in a new phase of the digital privacy movement...

Holger Seim, co-founder and CEO of Blinkist, speaks with Michael about how Blinkist emerged out of shifting consumption patterns, geographic expansion out of Germany, where the company may be headed, and how to stick to your long-term strategic vision while also incorporating responses to ongoing challenges.

Diego Camberos, COO of Vodafone Qatar and former CEO of Tigo Millicom Senegal and Rwanda, joins Michael to share insight into navigating cultural differences in different markets, how “radical simplification” has served as the bedrock of Vodafone’s success, and how to build a corporate culture that acknowledges and respects different cultures. 

Cameron Herold, Founder of the COO Alliance and former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, talks to Michael about building a successful company culture, effective process implementation, and what a strong relationship between a COO and CEO should look like. They also touch on how to attract “A” players to your team, how to approach each initiative with a Plan, Brief, Execute, and Debrief mentality, reverse engineering processes, and of course, penguins.

Cathy Hawley, former Chief People Officer of Return Path and Co-Founder of Bolster, sits down with Michael to discuss the importance of intentionality and an agile mindset in building a remote company culture, how people operations grew out of traditional human resources, and why employers should focus on a co-creating mentality when approaching its workforce.  

Dale Pfeifer, CEO of Goodworld, chats on scaling social impact through tech, the evolution of CSR (corporate social responsibility) from consumer targeted to greater corporate involvement, Mastercard, Citi, and BlackRock's leadership in CSR, the impact of the pandemic on accelerating CSR, the challenges of raising VC capital as a woman and as a social impact co., and what it's like to pitch President Obama. Goodworld helps companies grow by making it easy to embed Social Impact into...

Jenny Lawton knows how to run businesses. Period. From her role as CEO of Makerbot, democratizing 3D printing (and exiting for $400M), to being COO of LittleBits (BB8's learning division), to running Techstars, one of the world's most prolific and successful seed funds and accelerators, Jenny has a breadth of knowledge that I feel we barely tapped into. Have a listen to hear her thoughts on the fragile progress made in improving gender equality, #givefirst, applying the Montessori framework...