The honest read
Which Seat do you actually need?
Most founders arrive asking for the wrong one — usually the expensive one. This page is the argument we would make on the call, published so you can have it without us.
A $12M company insisting on a “COO” usually needs a killer Right Hand.
The title feels like the answer because it sounds like the size of the problem. It is not, and reaching for it costs you three ways at once.
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Wrong comp band
You anchor on a number for a job that does not exist in your company yet, then either overpay for scope you cannot give them or underpay and lose the shortlist.
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Wrong candidates
A genuine COO applying to run a $12M business is either mis-reading the role or is not a genuine COO. Both outcomes waste a quarter.
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Wrong org
You install a layer the company cannot support, your existing managers route around it, and eighteen months later you are unwinding a title you cannot demote.
Three questions decide the level.
Not the org chart, not the revenue, not what the last founder you met called his. Answer these honestly about the job as it will exist on day one — not as you hope it will look in two years.
- 01
Do they own a P&L?
What “yes” has to mean
Real budget authority and a number they are accountable for — not "input into the budget".
What it points at
Yes points at a Running Mate. Genuine P&L ownership is the single clearest line between a senior operator and a second-in-command.
- 02
Do they span multiple functions?
What “yes” has to mean
Operations and finance and sales, with the authority to arbitrate between them when they conflict.
What it points at
Yes points at a Chief of Staff or above. If the span is really one function, you are describing a department head, and that is a normal hire you do not need us for.
- 03
Are they accountable at board level?
What “yes” has to mean
They present, they answer for the numbers, and the board treats them as a principal rather than a reporter.
What it points at
Yes is a Running Mate, unambiguously. No, in combination with the first two, usually means the Seat is a Chief of Staff wearing a borrowed title.
Three noes is a Right Hand. Two noes is almost always a Chief of Staff. Three yeses is a Running Mate, and it is the only combination that is.
What each Seat costs, at market.
Published so you can check our honesty against the market rather than take our word for it. These are the bands we would quote you on the call.
| The Seat | What it costs | Who employs them | Company fit | What they own |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Right Hand | $75K–$90K/yr subscription No payroll, no benefits burden, desk-backed | We do | $5M – $100M | Your calendar, inbox, follow-ups, travel and the life around the business |
| The Chief of Staff | $150,000–$250,000 base Plus our 25% search fee, once | You do | $20M+ | Your projects, the operating cadence, cross-team accountability |
| The Running Mate | $200,000–$400,000+ total Plus our 25% search fee, once | You do | $20M – $500M | The leadership team and the whole company below you |
Why the title discipline matters
A genuine COO — one who owns a P&L, spans functions and answers to the board — commands materially more than a VP of Operations who owns one function well. They are different jobs, priced differently, and the market knows the difference even when the job description does not.
Title the Seat above its real scope and you pay the higher band for the smaller job. The strong candidates work that out in the second interview and withdraw; the ones who stay are the ones who could not tell.
Below about $20M, you almost certainly need the smaller title and the better person.
Three companies, three answers.
Composites drawn from the calls we take most often. Find the one that sounds like your Tuesday.
$8M roofing company
The founder is still doing all the estimating and running payroll himself. Nothing is written down. Two crews are idle on Thursday because a permit did not get chased.
The answer
The Right HandNothing here needs a P&L owner. It needs the $10-an-hour work off his desk so he can quote and sell — which is the highest-value thing he does and the first thing that gets squeezed.
$40M general contractor
Strong project managers who know their jobs, but no operating cadence above them. Decisions wait for the founder. Nobody owns the calendar of the business itself.
The answer
The Chief of StaffThe talent is already in the building. What is missing is the machine that makes them decide together — the meetings that actually resolve things, and someone chasing the founder as hard as everyone else.
$120M carrier
Profitable, professionally run, and the founder is bored. He has seen the next business and cannot start it because this one still routes through him at the top.
The answer
The Running MateThis is the only one of the three where the answer is a true second-in-command. He is not trying to get his week back; he is trying to hand over the company so he can go build the next one.
We would rather tell you the truth than take the bigger fee.
The most common conversation we have is talking a founder down a level — out of a search worth $37,500–$62,500 to us, and into a subscription worth a fraction of it.
We would like to claim that is character. It is mostly arithmetic: a mis-levelled hire fails, a failed hire is a refund conversation and a lost year, and failed hires do not refer. The honest read is the profitable one over any horizon longer than a quarter.
Who's riding shotgun?
Get the read in fifteen minutes.
Whether or not it ends with us. If the answer is that you are not ready for any of the three, you will hear that too — with what to fix first.
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