# Operations

> Guide founders through startup operations including hiring, OKRs, and board management. Use when a founder says "help me write a job description", "how do I set OKRs", "create a board deck", "structure investor updates", "build a hiring plan", "interview scorecard", "quarterly planning", "team goals", "board meeting", or needs operational templates for running their startup.

- Skill: `samuelcastro/operations` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 9 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add samuelcastro/operations`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/samuelcastro/operations/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Productivity
- Author: samuelcastro (https://skillmd.com/u/samuelcastro)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/samuelcastro/operations

---


# Startup Operations

Guide founders from chaotic early-stage operations to structured, scalable processes for hiring, goal-setting, and board management.

## Workflow

### 1. Diagnose Need

Ask: "What operational challenge are you facing?"

| Need | Signals | Next Step |
|------|---------|-----------|
| **Hiring** | "Write job description", "interview process", "hiring plan" | → Step 2: Hiring |
| **OKRs/Goals** | "Set OKRs", "quarterly goals", "team alignment" | → Step 3: OKRs |
| **Board/Investors** | "Board deck", "investor update", "board meeting" | → Step 4: Board Management |
| **All of the above** | New to operations, scaling team | → Start with Step 2 |

### 2. Hiring

Build a hiring system that attracts talent and makes consistent decisions.

#### Job Description Framework

**Structure:**
```
[Role Title]
[Company] | [Location] | [Remote Policy]

About Us
[2-3 sentences: What you do, for whom, why it matters]
[Stage, funding, notable investors/customers]

The Role
[What this person will own and accomplish—outcomes, not tasks]
[Why this role matters now]

What You'll Do
- [Outcome-focused responsibility 1]
- [Outcome-focused responsibility 2]
- [Outcome-focused responsibility 3]

What We're Looking For
- [Essential skill/experience 1]
- [Essential skill/experience 2]
- [Desirable: nice-to-have]

Compensation
[Salary range] + [Equity range]
[Key benefits]
```

**Job Description Rules:**
- Lead with outcomes, not tasks ("Own the customer onboarding experience" vs "Build onboarding flows")
- Be specific about stage ("0-1 experience", "scaling from $1M to $10M ARR")
- Include salary range—saves everyone time
- Keep requirements list short (5-7 items max)—long lists reduce diversity
- Use standard titles (no "ninja" or "rockstar")

See `references/job-descriptions.md` for role-specific templates.

#### Interview Scorecard

Every interview should use a scorecard to reduce bias and enable comparison.

**Scorecard Structure:**

| Criteria | Weight | 1-5 Score | Evidence/Notes |
|----------|--------|-----------|----------------|
| **Technical Skills** | | | |
| [Role-specific skill 1] | High | | |
| [Role-specific skill 2] | Medium | | |
| **Working Style** | | | |
| Comfort with ambiguity | High | | |
| Communication clarity | Medium | | |
| **Values Fit** | | | |
| [Company value 1] | Medium | | |
| **Overall Recommendation** | | | Hire / No Hire / Maybe |

**Scoring Guide:**
- 5 = Exceptional, exceeds requirements
- 4 = Strong, meets all requirements
- 3 = Acceptable, meets most requirements
- 2 = Weak, gaps in key areas
- 1 = Poor, significant concerns

**Interview Best Practices (First Round):**
- Same questions for all candidates (enables comparison)
- Score immediately after interview (memory fades)
- Hide feedback until all interviewers submit (prevents groupthink)
- Focus on evidence, not impressions ("They described X" vs "They seemed smart")

See `references/interview-scorecards.md` for role-specific scorecards.

#### Hiring Plan

For scaling teams, create a hiring plan that ties headcount to goals.

**Hiring Plan Template:**

| Role | Priority | Start Date | Why Now | Success Metric |
|------|----------|------------|---------|----------------|
| Sr. Engineer | P0 | Q1 | Ship v2 by March | V2 launched |
| SDR | P1 | Q2 | Pipeline < $500K | Pipeline > $2M |
| Designer | P2 | Q2 | UX complaints | NPS +10 |

**Prioritization Questions:**
- What breaks if we don't hire this role?
- Can we outsource or defer this?
- What's the cost of a bad hire vs. waiting?

### 3. OKRs & Goal Setting

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) create focus and alignment. Use them to ensure everyone works on what matters most.

#### OKR Framework

**The Formula:**
```
I will [OBJECTIVE] as measured by [KEY RESULTS]
```

**Objective:** Qualitative, inspiring, time-bound (what you want to achieve)
- Formula: Verb + what you're going to do + so that/in order to
- Example: "Deliver a must-have product in order to delight customers and grow our user base"

**Key Results:** Quantitative, measurable (how you'll know you achieved it)
- Formula: Verb + what you're going to track + from X to Y
- Example: "Increase NPS score from 40 to 50"

**Key Initiatives:** Actions you'll take to achieve key results (optional)
- Measured as % completed
- Example: "Build a dashboard to track UX performance issues"

#### OKR Examples (Early-Stage Startup)

**Company-wide OKRs:**

```
Objective 1: Hit $10M ARR by EOQ
  KR1: 110% net revenue retention
  KR2: Grow weighted pipeline to $8M+ by EOQ
  KR3: Close rate of 15% from initial meeting to close-won

Objective 2: Hire and retain the best team
  KR1: Average time to fill < 45 days from JD posted
  KR2: <10% quarterly regrettable attrition

Objective 3: Deliver a fast, reliable AI product experience
  KR1: Achieve 99.9% uptime for the inference API
  KR2: Reduce average response latency from 800ms to 300ms
  KR3: Increase task success rate from 60% to 80%
```

#### OKR Best Practices (Liz Wessel / Google)

**Writing OKRs:**
- ✅ 3 objectives max per company/team/individual per cycle
- ✅ 1-3 key results per objective
- ✅ Key results must be quantifiable—use numbers
- ✅ Revisit frequently—don't set and forget
- ❌ Don't make KRs a task list ("launch feature X")
- ❌ Avoid vague objectives ("Be the best")
- ❌ Don't conflate KPIs (what you track) with OKRs (what you're trying to change)

**OKR vs KPI Distinction:**
- **KPIs** = metrics you always track (revenue, churn, NPS)—health of business
- **OKRs** = outcomes you're trying to change this quarter—direction of change

If a KPI is underperforming, create an OKR to address it.

**OKR Superpowers Checklist:**
- Focus: What can be eliminated?
- Alignment: Who are the stakeholders?
- Tracking: Can we measure success?
- Transparency: Where are bottlenecks?
- Stretch: Is it propelling business forward?

**Necessary & Sufficient Test:**
1. Are all Key Results necessary to achieve the Objective?
2. Will accomplishing Key Results be sufficient to achieve the Objective?

#### OKR Cadence for Startups

| Stage | Cadence | Focus |
|-------|---------|-------|
| Pre-PMF | Monthly or 6-week cycles | Learning velocity, user feedback |
| Post-PMF | Quarterly | Growth metrics, retention |
| Scaling | Quarterly with annual goals | Revenue, team, market expansion |

See `references/okr-templates.md` for tracking spreadsheet and more examples.

### 4. Board Management

Build trust with investors through consistent, transparent communication.

#### Investor Update Email

Send monthly (or at minimum quarterly) to keep investors informed and engaged.

**Structure:**

```
Subject: [Company] Update - [Month Year]

ASKS
- [Specific ask with context—intros, advice, resources]

GOING WELL ✅
- Hiring: [Team changes]
- Launched: [Product updates with links]
- [Key metric]: XX,XXX (+Y% m/m vs. +Z% target)

NOT GOING WELL ⚠️
- [Key metric]: XX,XXX (+Y% m/m vs. +Z% target)
  - [Brief explanation]
- [Issue with context]

COMPANY HEALTH
- Cash: $X.XM
- Burn: -$XXXK/month
- Runway: X months
- Team: X people (Y FT, Z contractors)

PRIORITIES (Next 30 Days)
1. [Priority 1]: [Brief description, <500 chars]
2. [Priority 2]: [Brief description]
3. [Priority 3]: [Brief description]

SHOUT OUTS
- [Person/firm] for [specific help]
```

**Investor Update Rules:**
- Lead with asks—make it easy to help
- Be honest about what's not working—builds trust
- Include runway—investors need to know
- Keep it short—bullet points, not paragraphs
- Send consistently—monthly builds muscle memory

See `references/investor-updates.md` for full templates.

#### Board Deck Structure

For formal board meetings (typically quarterly after seed).

**Recommended Slides (12-15 total):**

1. **Agenda** — Topics + time allocation + focus session
2. **Key Concerns & Asks** — What's keeping you up at night, specific help needed
3. **Executive Summary** — State of company, 90-day goals
4. **Highlights** — 3-5 wins with owners credited
5. **Lowlights** — 3-5 challenges, what you're doing about them
6. **KPIs Dashboard** — Key metrics vs. targets, trends
7. **Financial Summary** — Cash, burn, runway, budget vs. actual
8. **Product Update** — Shipped, in progress, roadmap
9. **Team Update** — Hires, departures, org chart, open roles
10. **Sales/Pipeline** — Pipeline, conversion, customer wins
11. **Competitive/Market** — Industry updates, competitive moves
12. **Focus Session** — Deep dive on one strategic topic
13. **Priorities** — Next 90 days
14. **Action Items** — Board commitments, decisions needed

**Board Meeting Best Practices:**
- Send deck 3-4 days in advance
- Use consistent structure meeting-to-meeting
- Don't read slides—they're discussion prompts
- Reserve 30%+ of time for discussion
- Assign a note-taker immediately
- End with clear action items and owners
- Save all decks for due diligence later

See `references/board-decks.md` for slide templates.

#### Board Meeting Cadence

| Stage | Frequency | Duration | Focus |
|-------|-----------|----------|-------|
| Pre-seed | Monthly informal | 30-60 min | Product, early users |
| Seed | Quarterly | 2 hours | PMF, hiring, fundraising |
| Series A+ | Quarterly | 2-3 hours | Growth, strategy, governance |

### 5. Operational Anti-Patterns

**Hiring Mistakes:**
- Writing job descriptions with 15+ requirements
- No structured interview process (gut-feel hiring)
- Not checking references
- Hiring too senior too early (they need structure you don't have)
- Outsourcing founder-led sales too early

**OKR Mistakes:**
- Too many OKRs (more than 3 objectives)
- Key results that are tasks, not outcomes
- Setting OKRs and never reviewing them
- No connection between company and team OKRs
- Treating OKRs as performance reviews

**Board Mistakes:**
- Only sending updates when fundraising
- Hiding bad news
- No consistent format (makes comparison hard)
- Not asking for specific help
- Running overtime with no discussion time

## Deliverables

### 1. Job Description

Create using `docx` skill:
- Role-specific template from `references/job-descriptions.md`
- Customized for company stage and culture
- Clear outcomes and requirements

### 2. Interview Scorecard

Create using `xlsx` skill:
- Role-specific criteria
- Weighted scoring system
- Evidence capture fields
- Recommendation section

### 3. OKR Tracker

Create using `xlsx` skill:
- Company/team/individual OKRs
- Progress tracking (weekly/monthly)
- Owner assignments
- Status indicators (on track, at risk, off track)

### 4. Investor Update Email

Create as markdown or `docx`:
- Monthly update following template
- Metrics formatted consistently
- Clear asks at top

### 5. Board Deck

Create using `pptx` skill:
- 12-15 slide structure
- Consistent with previous decks
- Focus session identified

## Reference Files

- `references/job-descriptions.md` — Templates by role (engineer, PM, sales, ops)
- `references/interview-scorecards.md` — Scorecard templates and question banks
- `references/okr-templates.md` — OKR tracker spreadsheet, examples by function
- `references/investor-updates.md` — Email templates and reporting cadence
- `references/board-decks.md` — Slide templates and meeting agendas

## Integration with Other Skills

- Use `idea-validation` skill before hiring for unvalidated products
- Use `business-model` skill for compensation benchmarking
- Use `fundraising` skill for investor relationships
- Use `product` skill for roadmaps that inform OKRs
- Use `go-to-market` skill for sales hiring plans
- Use `docx` skill for job descriptions and updates
- Use `xlsx` skill for OKR trackers and scorecards
- Use `pptx` skill for board decks

---

*Adapted from [Linas Beliūnas's](https://linas.substack.com/p/onepersonunicorn) **The One-Person Unicorn** founder skill set.*