It’s Canada Day, and Canada is made up almost entirely of “come from aways”. One of my favourite of those is our COO, Jennifer Mitchell. So let’s talk about her.
In the very earliest days of Gander, I knew I had a problem: we had no COO.
For those of you that know me, you’ll know that at BEST I can do an operations role for about a week… mmmaybe two… and you wouldn’t want to see the flurry of useless spreadsheets I’d create.
Before it came to that, the universe (clearly cheering for Gander) sent me a saviour in the form of Jen Mitchell.
Technically, Jen sent herself with an enquiry that I almost dismissed as yet another pitch from an agency. But she was so much more than that.
Jen has been working with startups for years, taking the bits and pieces of their strengths and weaknesses, and organizing them to perform
But she’ll be the first to tell you it can be a thankless job in most growth-at-all-costs startups. So when we met, not only was she eager (to the point of wanting to donate her time to help), but she was deeply passionate about what a values-based social media platform could do. Especially for Canada.
Jen is a (relatively) recent transplant from Ireland, who more often expresses just how much Canada means to her than maybe anyone else on the team (see her video in the link below to see what I mean).
Jen has since become a co-founder, investor, and my rock. I think she may be the same for the rest of the team, too.
She’s managed to set up our infrastructure, document our success metrics, organize HR, do all of our budgeting, and keep the team moving toward our goal… all while navigating the needs and personalities of a scrappy bunch.
Oh, and she makes sure I create as few spreadsheets as possible.
For keeping the geese in a row, for being there for everyone on the team, and for Canada, I am overwhelmingly grateful for Jen Mitchell.
Thanks Jen.
I hope you have a stellar, well deserved Canada Day.
