Nunha startup, the moment to hire your first head of operations usually comes before the founder wants to admit it and after the company needs it. Before, because letting go of control hurts. After, because operations silently deteriorate until they explode into delays, angry customers and improvised decisions. The criterion should not be “when everything is in order”, but when the lack of order starts costing growth, cash and reputation.
- The first sign is that the company starts living in permanent emergency mode. If every week there are fires, delayed shipments, deliveries that depend on one person “remembering”, support that responds late, invoices issued with errors or projects closed without a postmortem, it is no longer a matter of effort.
- The second sign is that growth starts breaking quality. Many startups believe that “quality” is a luxury, but in reality it is a cost multiplier. A small repeated failure in orders, support or delivery generates more queries, more rework, more returns and more cash flow tension. If you notice that selling more does not make you feel more stable, but more fragile, it is because operations do not scale.
- The third sign is that the company depends on key people for “things to happen”. If the business falls apart when someone is missing, or if there is critical knowledge in one person’s head, you are at risk. And the risk is not only operational, it is also financial. An execution failure can delay collections, trigger returns or create penalties.
That said, hiring operations too early also has a cost. If your product is still changing every week and there is no minimum delivery pattern, the operations person will get frustrated or, worse, will try to “freeze” a system that still needs to evolve. The optimal point usually comes when you already have a repeatable model in the essentials, even if imperfect.
A common mistake is hiring operations as if it were only “administration” or “logistics”. Operations in a startup is the system that connects commercial promise with real delivery, and that affects retention, reputation and cash. Their first job should be to map the current flow, identify the three main bottlenecks and set minimum standards, what a complete delivery means, when the invoice is issued, what deadlines are promised and how exceptions are managed.
Having personalised support, such as that offered by the Oficina Económica de Galicia, can be key to a successful implementation. Request free specialist advice and take advantage of the available resources to boost your business.
