What does a Chief of Staff do at a startup, and when should you hire one?

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What does the role usually include?

This article is about the company role, usually beside a founder or CEO. It is not about a government Chief of Staff.

The exact brief depends on the company. These responsibilities come up often:

• Running the operating rhythm: priorities, check-ins and follow-through, so work does not wait for the CEO to chase it.
• Turning a priority into a project with an owner, a deadline and a clear next step, then staying with it until it is done.
• Preparing board and investor material, and helping the CEO get ready for those meetings.
• Taking a messy, cross-team problem for a quarter and staying with it until it is resolved.
• Supporting decisions with concise analysis, and sometimes with financial models or plans.
• Helping hire people the company needs next, when the CEO cannot run that process alone.

A useful test for any item on this list: would the CEO otherwise have to do it, and can this person finish it without becoming the final decision maker?

What is a Chief of Staff not?

A Chief of Staff is not an executive assistant. An executive assistant supports the CEO's time, travel and correspondence. A Chief of Staff owns projects and follows work across teams. They are usually not hired as a permanent head of a department, though they may step into a gap and later hand it on. They also do not replace the CEO: they help turn decisions into completed work, and the CEO still decides.

What belongs in a Chief of Staff job description?

If you are writing a Chief of Staff job description, these headings are enough to start. Fill them in with the work of the next six months, not with a generic list of skills.

• Purpose of the role: why this seat exists now.
• What they will own in the first six months.
• Responsibilities: the ongoing work and the projects.
• Who they work with, and who decides what.
• What this role is not, so candidates do not read it as an assistant job or as a COO job.
• How you will judge progress after six months.

If the work is still mixed and smaller, the better title may be Founder Associate or CEO Associate. That earlier role is explained in What is a Founder Associate (CEO Associate)?.

When should a startup hire a Chief of Staff?

Hire a Chief of Staff when the company's work is getting stuck on the CEO, and you can name what you would hand over. Common signs include:

• Decisions wait in the CEO's calendar.
• Projects that cut across teams have no owner.
• Board or investor prep takes a large part of the CEO's week.

It is usually too early if you only know that you are busy, and you cannot yet describe the work. Write the scope first. If the work is still mixed and smaller, a Founder Associate may be the better first hire. The test is the work you can hand over.

Chief of Staff or Founder Associate?

The two roles overlap. A Founder Associate usually joins earlier, with a more mixed brief. A Chief of Staff usually takes on larger, more ongoing work: the operating rhythm, board and investor material, and projects across teams that have no owner.

If you are choosing which title to open, start with the scope for the first six months, then pick the name. We can work that out with you on a Chief of Staff and Founder Associate search.

Chief of Staff or COO?

A COO usually owns a function, or several functions, as a line leader. They have people and a budget, and they are accountable for those results.

A Chief of Staff sits next to the CEO. They help turn priorities into completed work and often prepare material for decisions, but they do not take the functions over. If no function needs a new line leader yet, a Chief of Staff or a Founder Associate usually fits before a COO.

How Talentholo helps

Marcin Cieszyński or Renata Chmiel leads the work from the first call, and Talent Partners do part of the research, outreach and first screening. We approach people who are not looking and recommend only people we are prepared to stand behind.

We specialise in roles that sit next to the founder or CEO, such as Chief of Staff, Founder Associate and CEO Associate, and we work directly with founders. We have the contacts and the know-how for this kind of hire. We are currently running a CEO Associate search for IS-Wireless, a Dutch-Polish deep-tech company building private 5G and 6G networks. The fee and the guarantee are agreed individually for each project.

If you are hiring a Chief of Staff, start at Chief of Staff and Founder Associate search.

FAQ

What does a Chief of Staff do?

At a company, a Chief of Staff works next to the CEO on top priorities. They turn those priorities into work with owners, keep the operating rhythm moving, and often prepare board and investor material.

What belongs in a Chief of Staff job description?

Purpose, what they will own in the first six months, responsibilities, who they work with, what the role is not, and how you will judge progress. Leave out a generic list of soft skills, because it does not tell candidates what the job is.

When should a startup hire a Chief of Staff?

When work is getting stuck on the CEO and you can name what you would hand over. If the work is still mixed and smaller, start with a Founder Associate. See What is a Founder Associate (CEO Associate)?.

Is a Chief of Staff the same as a COO?

No. A COO is a line leader who owns functions. A Chief of Staff sits next to the CEO and helps turn priorities into completed work.