PODCAST · business
Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig
by Michael Koenig
Between Two COOs is hosted by veteran COO Michael Koenig and brings together Chief Operating Officers, executives, and business leaders to share real insights on operations, leadership, scaling, AI, and execution. Featuring COOs from companies like LVMH, Vodafone, Automattic, Lime, JumpCloud, Grafana Labs, and Cotopaxi, plus top VCs like Brad Feld and Seth Levine. Whether you're a COO, VP of Ops, founder, or aspiring operator — this is the podcast for people who actually run companies. New episodes weekly. betweentwocoos.com | b2coos.com
Episodes
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Tom Masterson, Deep Genomics COO on AI Drug Discovery That Learned the Rules
Tom Masterson, COO of Deep Genomics, on AI drug discovery where precision beats creativity. He explains how the company's siRNA model picked an approved cholesterol drug out of 3,500 candidates for a target it had never seen, why it designs toxic molecules on purpose, and how a COO runs a company...
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The AI Bubble Has a Due Date. It's 2029 | Paul Kedrosky, SK Ventures
Paul Kedrosky of SK Ventures says AI capex is driving up to 70 percent of US GDP growth, and most of it is now borrowed. He walks through the money map, the 2029 maturity wall, why AI tokens are a deflationary commodity, and three ways the AI bubble reaches companies that never touch a data…
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Lior Eldan, Moburst COO on Reinventing the Marketing Agency Before AI Eats It
Lior Eldan, co-founder and COO of Moburst, has reinvented what his agency sells three times, from app store optimization to AI products. He explains why replacing people with AI is backwards, why managers have to do the work, and why automating a broken process just gets the AI blamed. In this...
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Joe Yaffe, COO at Cowboy Space, on Whether Data Centers in Space Are Cheaper
Part 2 of 2. Part 1 is here: https://betweentwocoos.com/65 In part 1, Joe Yaffe explained how an orbital data center works. This time, the question is whether it works as a business. In this episode, Joe and Michael discuss: Why Cowboy Space measures itself in cost per GPU hour, not cents per...
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Joe Yaffe (Cowboy Space): From Big Law to Orbit, Part 1 of 2
Part 1 of 2. Part 2 drops later this week. Joe Yaffe had climbed as high as the ladder goes. Fifteen years at Latham & Watkins, then Skadden, managing partner of the Palo Alto office, 31 years advising founders and CEOs. By his own account, his idea of a midlife crisis was moving from one mega…
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Riikka Söderlund, Katana COO, on Why AI Won't Know Your Product Exists
Riikka Söderlund is the chief operating officer at Katana Cloud Inventory, a Finland-based platform that helps small product businesses run inventory, manufacturing, and multi-channel sales. She and host Michael Koenig discuss how AI search is affecting product discovery, why an out-of-stock...
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Rick Marini on the Day-One Speech That Turned Grindr Around
Rick Marini, co-founder of Rails and former COO of Grindr, joins Between Two COOs to explain why he would rather be a great COO than a good CEO. He and host Michael Koenig cover the CFIUS-forced sale that put Grindr in play, the day-one culture reset that ended two and a half years later in a $2...
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Zapier CEO Wade Foster on Why AI Is a People Problem, Not a Tech Problem
Michael Koenig talks with Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier, about running the company for 14 years without a CEO safety net and without ever naming a COO. Wade explains why he thinks hiring a chief operating officer from outside a company is a coin flip, why Zapier put AI transformation...
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Zulema Quintans, COO of Noda, on Why Your OKRs Don't Get Done
Zulema Quintans runs operations at an energy company, and she has a clear theory about why goals fail. This is a conversation about making OKRs actually work, and how AI is changing the operator's job. In this episode, Zulema and Michael discuss: - Why most OKRs never get done, and the one link...
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Peter Rojas, New Products at Mozilla, on Why Ideas Don't Decide Success
Watch on YouTube. Peter Rojas has built new things at almost every scale there is, and he planted the seed for this show years ago in an email to Michael. In this episode, Peter and Michael discuss: How building new products inside a big company differs from a startup, and why you have to invest...
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AI Agents Need Logins Too: Identity, Security, and the Future of AI | Greg Keller, CTO, JumpCloud
Get 90 days of Fellow free at Fellow.ai/coo In this episode, Michael Koenig speaks with Greg Keller, co-founder and CTO of JumpCloud, about identity access management and why it’s becoming one of the most important operational systems in the age of AI. Greg explains how traditional identity…
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Seth Levine of Foundry Group on Capital Evolution, AI, and the Future of Company Leadership
Get 90 Days of Fellow's incredible AI notetaker for free at fellow.ai/coo Guest: Seth Levine Book: Capital Evolution Podcast: Between Two COOs Host: Michael Koenig What we cover Why Seth wrote Capital Evolution and why now Why today’s economic shift is structural, not cyclical How power has moved...
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Brad Feld On The Emotional Operating System of Great Leaders and Giving First
Get Brad's new book, Give First. 00:00 — Cold open: “Something new is fucked up in my world every day” 02:00 — The Yoda t-shirt story + the mythology of Brad Feld 04:00 — “Give First” vs. “Pay it Forward”: philosophy, not obligation 07:00 — Why giving isn’t altruism — and how it works in complex...
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AI, Fraud, and the Next Era of Commerce with Peter Dougherty, President of Spreedly
This episode goes deep into the mechanics of scaling a company from steady growth to breakout velocity. Peter shares how Spreedly quadrupled ARR growth in his first year without increasing OPEX, why the “right people pointed at the right problems” is everything, and how to decide which problems…
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The Power of Calm: GuideCX COO Harris Clarke on Building Trust and Systems That Hold
Get 90 Days of Fellow's AI Meeting Assistant FREE at fellow.ai/coo This week on Between Two COOs, Michael sits down with Harris Clarke, COO at GuideCX, to talk about what steady leadership actually looks like inside fast-changing companies. Harris started his career in protocol and operations for...
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The COO Who Turns Chaos Into Clarity - Anna Elwood of Cascade
From Zocdoc to Cascade, COO Anna Elwood breaks down the systems, rhythms, and AI tools that turn chaos into execution. In this episode of Between Two COOs, Michael sits down with Anna Elwood, COO of Cascade, the strategy-execution platform helping companies turn plans into results. Anna shares…
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Automattic Chief Quality Officer, Lance Willett, on What It Takes to Power 45% of the Web and Learning from a $250K Mistake
Try Fellow's AI Meeting Copilot - 90 days FREE - fellow.app/coo Guest: Lance Willett, Chief Quality Officer at Automattic Topics Covered: How Automattic’s open source culture evolved over 20 years What a Chief Quality Officer actually does—and why it matters Quality = Craft × Context, and how…
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Linda Tong, Webflow CEO, on the new web, AI-powered ops, and how they run Webflow
Get 90 days of Fellow's AI meeting assistant at fellow.app/coo Why Linda still codes on weekends — and what it teaches her about the future of AI (6:00) How AI is changing what Webflow builds — and how fast they build it (3:30–13:00) What happens when websites are no longer built just for humans...
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Kustomer COO & President, Doug Hanna, on Building Agentic AI, Running Sales, and Structuring Modern Ops Teams for the AI Era
Get 90 days of Fellow's AI meeting assistant at fellow.app/coo In this episode, Doug and I cover: Why “AI agent” is more than just a buzzword The difference between deflection and resolution in AI-powered support How Kustomer structures RevOps, GTM, and forecasting What it means to operate with...
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Sales Assembly President, Brad Rosen, on Unlocking Growth and Why RevOps Is Critical for Sustainable Scaling
Get 90 days free with Fellow's AI Meeting Assistant - https://fellow.app/coo Key Takeaways: RevOps aligns and optimizes sales, marketing, and customer success, ensuring efficient and sustainable growth. Effective RevOps requires balancing strategic planning, data-driven analytics, and tactical...
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The Bold Pivot: From Meetings to AI with Aydin Mirzaee, CEO of Fellow
Try Fellow's AI Meeting Copilot - 90 days FREE - fellow.app/coo Timestamps: (02:00) Fellow’s shift from productivity tool to AI assistant. (07:00) Implementing large-scale organizational change. (13:00) Managing change and internal communications. (20:00) Moving toward an agentic, automated...
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AI and Privacy: Navigating the EU's New AI Act & the Impact on US Companies with Flick Fisher
Try Fellow's AI Meeting Copilot - 90 days FREE - fellow.app/coo AI and Privacy: Navigating the EU's New AI Act with Flick Fisher In this episode of Between Two COOs, host Michael Koenig welcomes back Flick Fisher, an expert on EU privacy law. They dive deep into the newly enacted EU Artificial...
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Cut Your SaaS Costs: COO Justin Etkin on Smarter Procurement
Don't forget to check out www.fellow.app/coo for a 90-day free trial of their AI Meeting Assistant. [00:00] Introduction – Michael introduces Fellow as a trusted AI meeting assistant. [01:00] Welcome to Between Two COOs – Introducing Justin Etkin and Tropic.io. [02:00] The evolution of…
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True Search Managing Director Evan Grossman on how to land your next C-Suite role
This episode is powered by Fellow AI Meeting Assistant. Get 90 days free at fellow.app/coo Key Takeaways: • Hidden C-Suite Job Market: The majority of C-level roles are filled through networking, talent partners, and executive recruiters before job postings are even considered. • Role of...
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Vestwell COO Jon Mark on applying strategy and tactics to build a multi-billion dollar company
Episode Overview In this episode of Between Two COOs, host Michael Koenig interviews Jon Mark, COO of Vestwell, a leading provider of digital platforms for workplace savings and investment programs. Vestwell supports nearly 25,000 small businesses, over a million savers, and $25 billion in assets...
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HomeToGo COO Valentin Gruber Talks M&A, Strategic Planning, and Taking the Multi-Billion Dollar Company Public
In this episode of Between Two COOs, host Michael Koenig sits down with Valentin Gruber, COO of HomeToGo, to explore the inner workings of the vacation rental aggregator and its strategy. HomeToGo went public via a SPAC in 2021, reaching a valuation of $1.2 billion after raising $150 million in…
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School of Rock COO Stacey Ryan on Navigating Crises, Change, Leadership, and Empowerment
Navigating Leadership and Innovation at School of Rock with Stacey Ryan In this episode of Between Two COOs, host Michael Koenig interviews Stacey Ryan, the COO of School of Rock - a global music school franchise. Stacey debunks a common misconception about the business's origin, noting it…
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Fellow CEO Aydin Mirzaee on Mastering Productivity and Efficiency with AI
Maximizing Meeting Efficiency and Navigating Management Challenges: Insights from Aidan Mizrahi of Fellow This episode delves into the complexities and potential inefficiencies of meetings in the professional world, emphasizing the staggering number of unproductive meetings held daily.…
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Cameron Herold of COO Alliance and 1-800-got-junk on How to delegate, lead, fix problems, hire and promote, and be the second in command
Presented by Fellow.app. Streamline your meetings and make them more efficient and meaningful. Get Fellow for you and your team today. Head to https://fellow.app/coo/ to get started and start having better meetings. (00:12) Advice for CEOs and COOs This chapter welcomes Cameron Harold, the…
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EU vs AI: What You Need to Know About the EU's AI Act - The Legal Opinion with Flick Fisher, Partner at Fieldfisher
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...
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Productboard COO Greg Strickland on how to balance growth and innovation, collecting mentors and personal development, managing through change, SMB to enterprise shift, and the competitive advantage of startups
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…
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Get Your Guide COO Tao on Building a $2 Billion Dollar Travel Experience Giant
(01:20 - 02:44) The Travel Experience Market's Growth (04:36 - 06:03) Peer to Peer Tour Guide Platform (07:27 - 09:26) Learning and Customer Obsession Importance (12:35 - 13:56) Creativity and Execution in Strategy (16:11 - 17:06) Identifying Core Values for Company Culture (21:48 - 23:03)...
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Doist COO Allan Christensen on remote ops, perfecting hiring, designing ops for career development, the ideal employee feedback loop
(00:12) Interview With Remote COO Alan Christensen COO Alan Christensen shares his journey and Duist's success without institutional investment, pioneering remote work and dividing responsibilities with CEO. (11:48) Future of Remote Work and Communication Remote work's significance in shaping the...
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Rewind.ai & Optimizely CEO & Founder, Dan Siroker, on augmenting human memory with AI, building Optimizely, AI in operations, privacy and security, hiring and building extraordinary teams, and AI's impact on STEM education
(05:11 - 05:38) Memory and the Evolving Digital Age (06:56 - 08:05) Tech and Memory Retrieval (11:40 - 12:51) Chat GPT and Data Privacy Integration (17:34 - 18:44) Leveraging AI for Company Augmentation (22:34 - 23:47) AI for Efficiency and Exceptional Hiring (30:31 - 31:01) Pivoting to Capture...
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Arcadia COO, Kate Hennigsen, on Clean Tech and Disrupting the Energy Market, Non-Traditional Backgrounds for Working in Tech (and Ops!), Energy Regulation, M&A, Board, Risk, and Cash Management, & the Power of a Well Written Cold Email
(00:12) Clean Tech and Disrupting Energy Market (06:15) Community Solar and Renewable Energy Innovation (15:37) Data Platform and Energy Transformation (24:21) Acquisitions, Integration, and Board Composition (29:05) Startup Board Management and Risk Balancing (35:51) Leadership, Growth Mindset,...
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Perfecting Remote Work Operations with Darren Murph, Fmr Gitlab VP Remote
--------- EPISODE CHAPTERS WITH SHORT KEY POINTS --------- (0:00:12) - Remote Company Operations and Knowledge Management Daren explains the importance of low context communication, compounding interest, and over communicating for successful remote teams. (0:08:59) - Embracing Remote Work as...
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Prisma COO, Nitin Gupta, explains tech to my mom, operationalizing hackathons, the balance of commercializing open-source, planning, and a team psychologist
Unlock the secrets of remote team management and product explanation in our stimulating conversation with Nitin Gupta, the COO of Prisma. Nitin unveils how explaining technical products to non-technical people can be a challenge, but he makes it understandable, going as far as breaking down…
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ZenBusiness COO, Shanaz Hemmati, on building a $1.7B company that thrives in both up and down times, being a technical COO, growing HomeAway through M&A to IPO to more M&A with Expedia, and automating G&A with AI,
Join us as we chat with Shanaz Hemmati, the COO of ZenBusiness, who gives us a fascinating insight into the workings of a public benefit corporation that generates more than $100M in ARR. Listen to her as she speaks about the various initiatives and programs that ZenBusiness undertakes to give…
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Productiv COO, Munish Gandhi on Harnessing AI for Streamlining Contract Renewals and Procurement, Optimizing SaaS Costs, Governance and Risk Management, SVB's Collapse, and more
Join me and our guest, Munish Gandhi, co-founder and COO of Productiv, as we unravel the intricacies of SaaS governance and optimization. We talk about how the rapid growth of SaaS applications, fueled by a wealth of funding, has led to a lax approach to purchasing and implementing applications....
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Former Workrise COO and current CEO of Gigs, Allen Narcisse on transforming the labor market, building Uber Eats, Lyft, and Gigs, and the impact of AI and automation on jobs
Join us as we sit down with Allen Narcisse, former COO at Workrise and co-founder and CEO of Gigs, for an enlightening conversation about his journey in the gig economy. Allen takes us through his career trajectory, starting from his initial venture, eBuyLine, to his stints building Uber and…
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Embracing the Future of Food: The Rise of Sustainable Indoor Urban Farming with Square Roots CEO Tobias Peggs
Can we really grow sustainable, delicious, and healthy food right in the heart of a bustling city? In this eye-opening episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Tobias Peggs, co-founder and CEO of Square Roots, an innovative indoor urban farm tech company that's revolutionizing how we grow and...
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Cotopaxi COO & cofounder, Stephan Jacob on getting to $100M in revenue, brand building, supply chain, B Corps and ESG, and taking llamas on college campuses
Stephan Jacob, Co-founder and COO of Cotopaxi, joins Michael to talk about building an impact-driven business, 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,...
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Lime COO, Woody Hartman, on micromobility, helping Lyft grow from $100K to $3B in revenue, launching 24 markets in 24 hours, creating joy, how to coach, and summiting Everest
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 micro-mobility company, how Lime’s gained a competitive advantage over other players in the market, and why he chose to climb Mount Everest following his time at...
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Data Privacy & GDPR with Flick Fisher, Partner at Fieldfisher
On this week’s episode, Michael’s joined by Felicity “Flick” Fisher, Partner and de facto COO of the law firm, Fieldfisher. Flick breaks down all things privacy and data related, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, where privacy and data laws may be headed, and the...
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Blinkist Co-Founder & CEO Holger Seim on growing to 21M users, optimizing your information intake, geographic expansion, and experimenting with a 4-day workweek
Holger Seim, co-founder, and CEO of Blinkist, speaks with Michael about how Blinkist emerged out of shifting consumption patterns, where the company may be headed in the future, and how to stay true to your long-term strategic vision while also incorporating the thoughts and ideas of other...
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Vodafone Qatar COO, Diego Camberos on prepping for 1.4M World Cup visitors, rolling out 5G across Qatar, life as a serial expat, being c-suite at a global juggernaut, and the benefits of radical simplification
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…
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Silent Discos with Penguins in Antarctica - Founder of the COO Alliance, and former 1-800-GOT-JUNK? COO, Cameron Herold opens up
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…
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Return Path Chief People Officer, Co-Author of Startup CxO, & Bolster Co-Founder, Cathy Hawley shares the secret ingredients to build a fantastic company culture
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...
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Goodworld CEO, Dale Pfeifer on scaling social impact via tech, Mastercard, Citi, & BlackRock's leadership in corporate social responsibility, pandemic's impact on accelerating CSR, pitching President Obama, & more
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...
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Bolster EVP, fmr Makerbot CEO & Techstars COO&CIO, Jenny Lawton on Makerbot's $400M exit, running one of the world's most successful seed fund & accelerator, Montessori framework in business, her advice to my daughters & more
Jenny Lawton is the EVP at Bolster, an on-demand executive talent marketplace that helps accelerate companies’ growth by connecting them with experienced, highly vetted executives for interim, fractional, advisory, project-based, or board roles. Prior to Bolster, Jenny served in a variety of...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Between Two COOs is hosted by veteran COO Michael Koenig and brings together Chief Operating Officers, executives, and business leaders to share real insights on operations, leadership, scaling, AI, and execution. Featuring COOs from companies like LVMH, Vodafone, Automattic, Lime, JumpCloud, Grafana Labs, and Cotopaxi, plus top VCs like Brad Feld and Seth Levine. Whether you're a COO, VP of Ops, founder, or aspiring operator — this is the podcast for people who actually run companies. New episodes weekly. betweentwocoos.com | b2coos.com
HOSTED BY
Michael Koenig
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How many episodes does Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig have?
Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig currently has 70 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig about?
Between Two COOs is hosted by veteran COO Michael Koenig and brings together Chief Operating Officers, executives, and business leaders to share real insights on operations, leadership, scaling, AI, and execution. Featuring COOs from companies like LVMH, Vodafone, Automattic, Lime, JumpCloud,...
How often does Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig release new episodes?
Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig has 70 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig?
Between Two COO's with Michael Koenig is created and hosted by Michael Koenig.
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