CoS
Interim this week. Permanent hire by month three.

Your Chief of Staff
starts today.

You posted the role. The search takes 3-4 months. We start the work this week — audit, OKRs, board prep, execution system — and deliver the permanent hire at the end of 90 days.

Your permanent CoS walks in on day one to a working system, not a blank job description.

Book 20 minutes →See the system
The 90-day programme
Wk 1–2
Audit. What's broken, what's missing, what the CoS needs to own.
Wk 3–6
Team alignment. OKR workshop. Everyone pointed the same direction.
Wk 7–10
Execution system. Weekly cadence, decisions stop stacking up at the CEO.
Wk 11–12
Board prep. Reporting rhythm, deck template, communication structure.
Full programme — interim + placement
Flat fee. 3 months. Done.
EU and UK · Scope confirmed on your first call
Is this for you?

We work with very few founders.
Here's who fits.

Being direct about fit saves everyone time. Read this before booking.

This is for you if
✓You're Series A or B — 20 to 150 people, post-product, post-revenue
✓You're still inside every operational decision and you know it's not scaling
✓You want speed — someone embedded this week, not hired in 3 months
✓You want both the gap and the permanent hire solved in one programme
✓You want an operator who's been in the room at Uber, Lazada, Rocket Internet — not a coach
This is not for you if
✕You're pre-product or pre-revenue
✕You want a glorified EA or someone to manage your calendar
✕You want someone to validate decisions rather than pressure-test them
✕Your board or investors are making the hire — not you as founder
✕You want advising. This is doing.
Operating track record

The system behind
8 unicorns.

Built during Uber's city-by-city expansion. Deployed across Europe and the Middle East. Eight of those companies became unicorns. This is the operating system that goes into your company on day one.

8
Unicorn-stage companies
$1B+
Uber Russia exit
$4B
Lazada · Alibaba
100+
Angel investments · 6 continents
Two paths

Waiting.
Or starting today.

The standard path
→Post the role. Wait 3-4 months for the right candidate.
→Founder keeps doing CoS work. Decisions stack up.
→New hire starts with no system, no context, no handover.
→Three months figuring out the job. Month six still ramping.
→Board prep still lands on the CEO the night before.
This path
→Audit starts week one. Fires owned immediately.
→OKRs set by month one. Team aligned and moving.
→Permanent search runs in parallel from week one.
→Permanent hire steps into a working system at month three.
→Board prep done. CEO back in the right seat.
The programme

Four phases.
90 days.
One outcome.

The search runs in parallel from week one. By the time the permanent hire starts, every phase is complete and running.

01
Audit — Weeks 1–2
Structured diagnostic. Where are decisions getting stuck? Where is the founder spending time they shouldn't? What does the team lack clarity on? Output: a clear picture of what the CoS needs to own, in priority order.
02
Team Alignment — Weeks 3–6
OKR workshop with the leadership team. Company vision into yearly objectives, quarterly KRs, tracked weekly. Everyone leaves knowing what the company is optimising for, who owns what, and how decisions get made. The Uber system — not a template.
03
Execution System — Weeks 7–10
Daily and weekly operating rhythm installed. How the leadership meeting runs. How priorities get communicated. How blockers get surfaced and resolved without going to the founder. The CoS role becomes manageable because the system exists.
04
Board Prep — Weeks 11–12
Board communication structure built. Reporting rhythm defined. Deck template done. The founder stops dreading board meetings. The permanent CoS inherits this on day one.
The system in practice
Built at Uber. Proven at unicorns.

Developed during Uber's city-by-city expansion. Deployed across Europe and the Middle East. It works at 30 people. It works at 800.

"The management team meeting is much better. It has a very clear agenda, very clear roles — it's really exciting. In the past I liked not being there and now I'm really looking forward to it."
Dr. Christoph Gebald
Founder & Co-CEO, Climeworks AG
"We did it very quickly. We didn't plan forever, but implemented directly. Because we had the kind of cookbook you delivered from day one, we were able to implement everything straight away."
Dr. Jan Wurzbacher
Founder & Co-CEO, Climeworks AG
Climeworks reached $1B+ valuation.
What founders say

The people who've been
in the room

From Lazada to Neustark to Jeeny — across stages, sectors, and geographies.

"Cornelius is the best business executive I've worked with — he will hone in on key business problems which would take most people weeks, in a couple of hours and immediately be able to articulate them in an easy-to-understand way."
Timothy Willis
CFO, Arc Risk Group · fmr. COO Aerobotics
"Cornelius is the single most effective and intense coach I've worked with. His gift is finding the decision you've been avoiding — the place where you've been mistaking fear for caution — and making it impossible to look away. That discomfort is the point. What surprised me is that working through those blind spots didn't just unlock the right business moves. It made me grow as a human, and that growth is the most durable thing that remains: better decisions keep emerging from it, in business and beyond. He can deliver real value in many contexts, but for hypergrowth he's in a category of his own."
Valentin Gutknecht
Founder & Co-CEO, Neustark AG
"Cornelius was one of the most instrumental people in building Lazada (which eventually got bought by Alibaba for $4B). I have rarely worked with someone so dedicated, clear minded and smart."
Tauriq Brown
CEO, TooMuchWifi · fmr. Lazada ($4B Alibaba)
"When we started working with Cornelius, we wished we had known him at least six months earlier. That would have saved us months of pain, and the company would have been in a stronger position."
Eugen Brikcius
Founder, LeChef · fmr. CEO Wadi
"We brought Cornelius in to help us grow our business and he delivered very well. He helped us focus on the right areas and sustainably scale. Cornelius conducts himself at all times with the utmost professionalism, integrity and objectivity."
Hammad Ehtesham
CEO, Jeeny (now Neom)
"Collaborating with Cornelius is amazing! He brings to the project the combination of enthusiasm and analytical ingenuity you only find in top startup performers."
James Lamrock
SVP Head of Omnichannel Operations, Central Group
"Cornelius is a specialist in rethinking processes and structures and generating efficiencies. That was decisive for us in securing our €7M financing round."
Manuel Thaler
Founder, DeveloperAkademie · fmr. CFO TeleClinic
"Cornelius doesn't shy away from speaking uncomfortable truths and focuses on what matters — without losing his sense of humour. Every exchange with Cornelius has been an enrichment."
Simon Scholl
Geschäftsführer, KartoffelKombinat EV

Ready to talk?

20 minutes. We'll tell you if it's a fit and what week one looks like. No deck, no pitch.

Book 20 minutes →
Pricing

Two options.
Priced on your call.

We work across the EU and UK. Scope, structure, and investment are confirmed on your first conversation — not before it. No hidden placement fees. One engagement, one outcome.

Recommended · Full Programme
Interim + Placement
Flat fee · 3 months · EU and UK · Scope on call

We embed as your interim CoS from week one, install the operating system, run the permanent search in parallel, and hand over in month three. The role, the system, and the person — all covered.

  • ✓Interim CoS embedded from week one
  • ✓Operating system installed — all 6 components
  • ✓Board pack, team cadence, decision architecture
  • ✓Permanent CoS search running from month one
  • ✓Permanent hire onboarded into the working system
  • ✓No separate placement fee
Apply for the programme →
Interim Only
Interim CoS
Monthly engagement · 3-month minimum · EU and UK

You already have a permanent hire lined up, or you want to trial the system before committing to the full programme. We embed, install, run. You handle the permanent search or extend when ready.

  • ✓Interim CoS embedded from week one
  • ✓Full operating system installed
  • ✓Board, team cadence, decision architecture
  • ✓Option to extend or upgrade to full programme
  • ✓Permanent placement available as add-on
Book an intro call →
Cornelius Schmahl
About

Cornelius
Schmahl

Operator · Founder Coach · Angel Investor
chiefofstafftoday.com · Coconat Sunrise
Munich, Germany & Khao Yai, Thailand

UberLazada $4BRocket Internet8 unicorns100+ investments

Lazada Southeast Asia — building next-day delivery from scratch. Then Uber Munich, Germany, Africa, Russia — inside the expansion that became Europe's most aggressive city-by-city growth machine and the $1B Russia exit. Then interim COO and CFO at a Rocket Internet venture — 800-person turnaround.

What came after that operator experience was a decade of founder coaching — working with startups on the operating systems and leadership structures that turn early-stage companies into unicorns. Through that coaching came something unexpected: hiring and training Chiefs of Staff at the companies we advised, repeatedly, until it became obvious we were exceptionally good at it. Better than the founders were finding themselves. We had built the role from the inside. We knew what excellent looked like and what expensive mediocrity looked like.

I've coached and advised dozens of founders across deep tech, hardware, and B2B SaaS — from Series A through to unicorn. I've made 100+ angel investments across 6 continents. Nine of those companies became unicorns.

I lead every engagement personally. This is not a staffing agency. ChiefOfStaffToday.com is what that pattern turned into. Part of Coconat Sunrise.

Common questions

Before you book.

The questions most founders have before the first call.

What does this actually cost?
Scope and investment are confirmed on your first call — not before it. What we can tell you: the full programme (interim + permanent placement) is a flat fee. The interim-only engagement is monthly. Both are structured for Series A/B economics, not enterprise retainers. No surprises, no add-ons.
How is this different from a recruiter?
A recruiter matches CVs. We've built the CoS role from the inside, at companies that became unicorns. We go in first — install the system, define the role, then hire into a working machine. Your permanent hire lands on day one into a job that already exists. A recruiter cannot do that.
I already have someone in mind for the role.
That's fine — and it's more common than you'd think. The interim engagement still makes sense: we install the system before your candidate starts, so they ramp in weeks not months. If you want us to assess your candidate against what we know excellent CoS looks like, we can do that too.
Do you work outside the UK?
Yes. We work across the EU and UK. Previous engagements have spanned Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Geography is not a constraint — operating rhythms travel.
How quickly can you actually start?
Week one from the first call, assuming fit is confirmed. There's no onboarding period and no ramp time. We've done this before — at Uber, at Lazada, at the companies we've since coached to unicorn. The operating system is already built. We're installing it into your company, not building it from scratch.
What if it doesn't work out?
We've never had an engagement fail mid-term. But if fit breaks down — for any reason — we'll work with you on a structured exit, not disappear. We also won't take an engagement we don't believe we can deliver on. That's what the first call is for.

You posted
the role.
Call us first.

20 minutes. We'll tell you if it's a fit — and what week one looks like if it is. No pitch deck. No sales process. A direct conversation.

Book 20 minutes →

Cornelius reviews every enquiry personally · responds within 24 hours