Zara Yaqoob

  1. Operations
  2. Fractional COO
  3. Product
  4. Operations
  5. Founder
  6. Customer success
  7. Strategy Leader
  8. Fractional Product Leader

Zara has scaled multiple startups from pre-PMF to pre-IPO. She is a wearer of multiple hats and has a strong philosophy on how to build teams and products.

I’m a generalist executive who has led companies from pre-product through hyper-growth to IPO. I specialise in strategy, operations, product and customer success.


Currently, I am a fractional operator who partners with a number of startups. I help them across different departments, including but not limited to: operations (implementing and tracking goals, organisational design and hiring), product and customer success (customer feedback, building a product roadmap, product launches and customer r…

Zara Yaqoob
Hire Zara Yaqoob
I've been operating in startups for almost a decade, and I've worked with startups both at the pre-seed stage all the way up to the pre-IPO stage. So I've seen all the things that you could possibly see in a startup hub, and I've seen ups and downs. I've seen the kind of pre-product-market fit, pre-revenue stage where you're really trying to figure out what your product is, even trying to understand your market, up to the point where it goes into that crazy hyper-growth stage. You're hiring lots of people at the same time. So I've kind of seen it all. I'm also one of these people who has created a niche for myself in the sense that I am a master at being able to do both reactive and proactive work. When you're building a company, there are a lot of things that many of us don't anticipate, and they ruin our days. But that's also part of the fun of it. And I think that's one thing that I'm really good at: balancing when you need to be proactive and when you need to be a little bit more reactive, which unfortunately is part of the job, depending on how you look at it. And then the last thing I'll mention is that across all the roles and companies that I've worked on, I've worked with people across pretty much every single function and every single seniority, from the most senior person in the room to the most junior person in the room to engineering, sales, and more. I really understand how companies function and how they operate across all their different teams. And that's a little bit about me.

Work

  • Nordensa

    Nordensa

    • Head of Strategy
    • Operations
    • Fractional COO

    Football’s first fan-powered platform for emerging talent

    https://www.nordensa.com/

Experience

  • Nordensa

    Nordensa

    Chief Operating Officer (Fractional)

    Mar 2023 - Present

    • Implemented processes and structure: OKRs, Notion, team structure
    • Launched the product on iOS and Web
  • Frontier

    Frontier

    VP Operations

    Jan 2021 - Jun 2022

    • Achieved $1mn in ARR in less than a year
    • Achieved a 4.8 TrustPilot score
    • Customer retention rate of 85%+
    • Led product strategy and vision
    • Managed all customer relationships
  • Onfido

    Onfido

    Director of Strategy and Expansion

    Nov 2019 - Jan 2021

    • Launched product in Germany and set up Germany office
    • Spun up a new workforce within a week to counter-act issues brought on by COVID. Hired over 300 people to ensure we didn't lose BAU capacity
    • Implemented a product roadmap process, which did not exist prior
    • Implemented a restructure across the business: moving from a functional organisation to a matrix org
    • Led and managed the creation of a company-wide event (for ~350 people)
    • Implemented process and structure: internal comms, business planning, hiring, team collaboration etc.
    • Executive hiring: worked with the founders to understand which executives they needed, created JDs and partnered with agencies for various searches
  • Improbable

    Improbable

    VP Production and Customer Success

    Jun 2016 - Sep 2019

    • Managed a multi-million dollar portfolio of video games studios
    • Built a games studio in Canada: including hiring, finding office space, determining strategy
    • Hired over 30 people: all of whom were promoted and had long tenure at the company
    • Worked as part of the team who secured $600m in investment, achieving a $1bn+ valuation
    • Implemented structure and process: organisational design, improved internal comms, implemented practices for hiring and employee retention

Similar Members

  • Jason Novack profile image
    Jason Novack
    1. Strategy Leader
    2. Fractional Product Leader
    3. Operations
    4. COO
    5. Fractional COO
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  • Austin Hay profile image
    Austin Hay
    1. Operations
    2. Marketing Technology
    3. Product
    4. Roadmap Planning
    5. Fractional COO
    2x Co-Founder | Martech and Operations Expert
  • Adam Engel profile image
    Adam Engel
    1. Go-To-Market Strategies & Implementation
    2. Product Management
    3. Partnerships
    4. Sales
    5. Sales Enablement
    Early-stage go-to-market strategist & operator

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