Maria Katsan on what it means to be the second-in-command in a fast-growing company
As of 2023, about a third of Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies have a Chief Operating Officer (COO), and the role has become the primary stepping stone to the CEO seat: 57% of newly appointed CEOs were promoted from operational roles. At the same time, it’s also the most volatile position in the C-suite—annual turnover for COOs reaches 27%, higher than for CEOs, CFOs, or any other top executive. Failures in scaling and transformation tend to hit COOs the hardest.
In a tech startup, this means the COO isn’t just the “head of processes,” but the person expected to drive growth, ensure stability, and turn chaotic product expansion into a repeatable system. There’s no universal job description—responsibilities vary by company, and even the timing of the hire is hotly debated.
Maria Katsan knows this role from the inside. She became COO of Allset—a platform for pre-ordering food at restaurants—in 2021, right after the company raised $26 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Flashpoint, and the EBRD. Over the next three years, she scaled the team from 20 to 100 employees, steered the company through the pandemic, and helped prepare it for a successful acquisition by SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN). She now serves as Business Operations Lead at the publicly traded company, building operational systems to help scale voice commerce globally.
“A COO isn’t just a CEO’s executor,” Maria says. “The CEO figures out where we’re going. I figure out how we get there.”
When do you actually need a COO?
Most early-stage startups don’t hire a COO—and that’s perfectly normal. At the seed stage, operations are usually handled by one of the co-founders. But there comes a time when the company outgrows that model.
“At Allset, that moment came at the intersection of growth and complexity,” Maria recalls. “We had just raised our Series A, started to scale, and began entering new markets. The CEO couldn’t keep talking to investors, focusing on the product, and managing operations all at once. Something was going to break—or someone had to take on half the load.”
Most commonly, COOs are hired after product-market fit, around Series A or B, when the team surpasses 50–100 people or when the company expands into new markets.
“The key sign? The CEO literally can’t keep up,” Maria explains. “If they’re spending all day in operational meetings instead of thinking about long-term strategy, it’s time.”
But knowing when to hire is only half the question. Understanding what the COO actually does — and how that differs from other ops roles — matters just as much.
COO vs. VP Operations: What’s the difference?
Many confuse the COO with roles like VP of Operations or Head of Operations. The difference lies in scale—and in proximity to the CEO.
A VP of Operations usually oversees a specific function. A Head of Operations focuses on building internal processes. A COO does both—but across the entire company and in direct partnership with the CEO.
“The COO is a partner to the CEO, not a subordinate,” says Maria. “We made decisions together. He focused on product, vision, and investors. I focused on how it all worked in real life. That wasn’t him handing me tasks. We split the company down the middle.”
Another key difference: the COO is involved in both operations and strategy. They attend board meetings, work with investors, and help shape the company’s trajectory. At Allset, Maria prepared the company for funding rounds, led due diligence for the acquisition, and built relationships with venture funds.
The CEO–COO relationship: Making it work
The hardest part of being a COO isn’t operations—it’s managing the relationship with the CEO.
“We spoke the same language,” Maria says. “We were both entrepreneurial, both workaholics, both understood that a company is a marathon. Without that match, the role doesn’t work.”
Strong CEO–COO partnerships rest on three things.
First — trust. The CEO must be willing to let go of control—not just delegate tasks, but entire areas of responsibility.
“When I became COO, the CEO told me: ‘Operations are your zone. You make the calls, you own the outcomes.’ That’s trust.”
Second — complementary skills. The best CEO–COO pairs have different strengths. The visionary CEO. The pragmatic COO.
“I never tried to be a second CEO,” Maria says. “My strength was turning ideas into systems. His was seeing what comes next.”
Third — honesty. The CEO and COO have to tell each other the truth—even when it hurts.
“There were moments when I had to say, ‘This won’t work—we don’t have the resources.’ Or he’d tell me, ‘You’re too focused on process—we need speed.’ If you can’t have those conversations, the role becomes toxic.”
What a COO actually does: Strategy to firefighting
The COO role evolves as the company grows. In an early-stage startup, the COO is a utility player—plugging holes wherever needed. As the company matures, the role becomes more strategic.
A typical day for Maria at Allset might look like this: morning sync with the CEO to align on quarterly goals, late-morning product team meeting, afternoon work on a financial model for investors, and crisis management in the evening. Like the time a POS integration failed at 7 PM and orders weren’t going through at 200 restaurants. That kind of evening.
“People think a COO’s job is just spreadsheets and processes,” Maria laughs. “Sure—but that’s only part of it. In the morning, you might discuss a go-to-market strategy. By evening, you’re figuring out why payments aren’t going through. You switch contexts every 30 minutes.”
But firefighting isn’t the goal. The core mission of a COO is to reduce the number of fires over time.
“My job is to build systems that work without me,” Maria explains. “If I’m solving the same problems every day, I’m not doing my job right.”
Startup COO vs. Public Company COO
In June 2024, Allset was acquired by SoundHound AI, a publicly traded company on NASDAQ. Maria transitioned into the role of Business Operations Lead—and quickly realized she was playing a whole new game.
“In a startup, you can pivot over the weekend,” she says. “In a public company, everything is more rigid: compliance, regulations, internal controls. Every decision goes through more people. Every number gets audited and ends up in shareholder reports.”
Mistakes are more expensive—not just in dollars, but in Wall Street reputation.
“But that also means the systems you build have to be flawless,” Maria adds. “In a startup, you build something new. In a public company, you scale it”
Now, she’s focused on building operational systems at SoundHound—a company defining the future of conversational AI. She helps shape strategy, coordinates cross-functional initiatives, and implements company-wide processes.
What to expect from the COO role
Maria points to three things people don’t talk about:
You’ll make decisions without perfect information.
“Startups never have enough data,” she says. “You can’t wait for the perfect analysis. Once you have 60–70% of the picture, decide. Otherwise the company stalls. That scares people used to corporate certainty.”
Your success is measured by others’ success.
The CEO gets credit for the vision. Product gets credit for features. Sales gets credit for revenue. The COO wins when everyone else does.
“If the team runs like clockwork, no one remembers who built it,” Maria says. “And that’s fine. Your reward is the company’s growth—not your name in headlines.”
You’ll do work that didn’t exist yesterday.
In a startup, the COO role mutates every six months. Today, you’re designing systems for 50 people. Next year, the company triples and nothing works the same.
“You can’t master one skill and coast for ten years,” Maria explains. “Every growth stage requires relearning everything. If you’re not comfortable being a beginner every six months, this role will break you.”
Maria Katsan’s story shows what it takes to become the second-in-command in a fast-growing company—without an MBA or a traditional path through consulting. It’s a story about how the COO role is about true partnership with the CEO. About being the bridge between strategy and execution. About holding a company together when it’s growing faster than anyone imagined.
“In the morning, you’re talking three-year strategy. In the evening, you’re fixing a broken integration,” Maria laughs. “If you need stability and one task a day, don’t become a COO. But if you love when every day brings a new mess to untangle—yeah, this is the job.”
