# Chief of Staff and Operating Rhythm

> OKRs, meeting cadence, board reporting and the internal systems that give founders their time back. Chief of Staff support from Regenerate Capital.

URL: https://regenerate.capital/services/chief-of-staff/
Language: en · Other language: https://regenerate.capital/fr/services/chef-de-cabinet/index.md
Publisher: Regenerate Capital (https://regenerate.capital) · Updated: 2026-09-29

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[Home](https://regenerate.capital/) / [Services](https://regenerate.capital/services/) / Chief of Staff and Operating Rhythm

Service

# Get your *time* back.

If every decision still runs through you, the company can only move as fast as your inbox. We help you install the rhythm that lets it run without you in every room.

Chief of Staff and operating rhythm is a service from Regenerate Capital, a venture studio in the Eastern Townships of Québec. It gives founders the systems a strong Chief of Staff would build: clear goals and OKRs, a weekly meeting cadence, board and investor reporting, and ownership of priorities, so the founder can focus on what only they can do.

What’s included

## What the service includes.

01

### Goals and OKRs

A short list of company priorities for the quarter, each with an owner and a measure.

02

### A meeting cadence

The weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings you need, each with a clear purpose and agenda.

03

### Board and investor reporting

A simple monthly update and a board deck template that take hours, not days, to prepare.

04

### A company dashboard

The handful of numbers that tell you each week whether things are on track.

05

### Decision rights

Who decides what, who needs to be consulted, and what no longer needs your approval.

06

### Internal systems

The HR, reporting and project tools that keep work visible without adding admin.

Sound familiar?

## Do you have these problems?

- Every decision, big or small, still lands on your desk.
- You spend your week in meetings that end without clear next steps.
- Your board update takes a full weekend to prepare, every time.
- The team is busy, but you can’t tell if they’re working on what matters most.
- Priorities change every week, and nobody remembers what was agreed last month.
- You haven’t had a full day to think about strategy in months.

Our approach

## How we solve them.

01

### Shadow your week

We look at where your time actually goes and which decisions keep coming back to you. That shows us what to systematize first.

02

### Set the priorities

We help you pick three to five company goals for the quarter, give each an owner, and agree on how progress will be measured.

03

### Install the rhythm

We design the weekly team meeting, monthly review and quarterly planning, with agendas and notes that lead to action.

04

### Build the reporting

We set up a dashboard and an investor update template so reporting becomes a routine, not a scramble.

05

### Hand it over

We document the system and coach you or an internal hire to run it, so it keeps working after we step back.

Track record

## How we’ve solved it before.

Drawn from our founder’s past roles and companies. Past results don’t guarantee future outcomes.

01

### Chief of Staff from 9 to 40

As Chief of Staff at Secure Digital Markets, our founder built its HR and marketing systems as the company grew from 9 to 40 employees.

02

### Operating a remote team of 120

As co-founder and COO of MLG Blockchain, our founder helped run a fully remote team that grew from 4 to 120 people in 9 months, with zero external funding.

03

### Seen from every seat

Our founder has held roles as CEO, COO, CMO and Chief of Staff, so we know what each seat needs from the operating rhythm.

Do it yourself

## Resources to solve it yourself.

### Start this week

- Look at last week’s calendar and mark every meeting that ended without a written next step.
- Write down the three company priorities for this quarter and share them with your team today.
- List five recurring decisions you make and pick one to hand to someone else, with clear limits.
- Block two hours this week for thinking, with no meetings and no inbox.

### From the founder playbook

[01Scale the operating systemStep 08 · Install rhythm, ownership and metrics so the company runs without the founder in every room, and lead the team through the changes growth brings.](https://regenerate.capital/start-here/scale/)

### Recommended reading

Focus and mastery

### [Essentialism](https://regenerate.capital/readings/#book-essentialism)

Greg McKeown

The disciplined pursuit of less, the core skill of an early-stage founder.

Habits and discipline

### [Getting Things Done](https://regenerate.capital/readings/#book-getting-things-done)

David Allen

A trusted system for everything on your plate, so your mind can focus.

Habits and discipline

### [The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People](https://regenerate.capital/readings/#book-seven-habits)

Stephen R. Covey

Principles of personal and interpersonal effectiveness that still hold up.

Building a company

### [The Hard Thing About Hard Things](https://regenerate.capital/readings/#book-hard-thing)

Ben Horowitz

The honest, unglamorous reality of running a company when nothing is easy.

Related services

## Other services that could help.

[Our services](https://regenerate.capital/services/)

01

### Change management

Leading your team through growth, reorganizations and new systems, including the human side of adopting AI.

**Experience** · COO through hypergrowth at MLG Blockchain. Installed HR and marketing systems as Chief of Staff at Secure Digital Markets.

[Learn more · Change management](https://regenerate.capital/services/change-management/)

02

### AI automation of operations

Agents that take over admin, reporting, support and back-office work, so a small team operates like a large one.

**Experience** · Runs a fleet of AI agents across his own businesses. Co-founded the AI inference platform Gatewayz.ai.

[Learn more · AI automation of operations](https://regenerate.capital/services/ai-operations/)

03

### Remote-first operations

Distributed teams that work: an async cadence, clear tooling, written documentation and a culture that survives distance.

**Experience** · Has built and run companies from 75+ countries. MLG Blockchain grew to 120 people fully remote.

[Learn more · Remote-first operations](https://regenerate.capital/services/remote-first-operations/)

Questions

## Straight answers.

### Do we need a full-time Chief of Staff?

Not always. Many startups need the systems before they need the hire. We can build the operating rhythm now and help you decide later if a full-time role makes sense.

### What is the difference between a Chief of Staff and a COO?

A COO usually owns day-to-day operations. A Chief of Staff works alongside the founder on priorities, rhythm and follow-through, and makes the whole leadership team more effective.

### How do you charge for this?

Terms are flexible and shaped around your startup: equity, cash, commission, in-kind or a mix. We agree on them in writing before any work starts.

Work with the studio

## Get on an exploratory call.

Tell us about your company in a few lines. Right after, you can book an exploratory call with our team to see how we can help.

[Get on an exploratory call](https://regenerate.capital/apply/?service=cos)
