First Million Services - COO, Built Operations from Scratch

Challenge

First Million Services was a new venture that needed operational infrastructure built from the ground up. There were no existing systems, no staff, no vendor relationships, and no documented processes. The company needed a leader who could take a blank slate and turn it into a functioning operation.

My Role

As Chief Operations Officer, I owned everything operational, from hiring the first team members to establishing vendor relationships to designing the workflows that kept the business running day to day.

What I Built

• Designed and implemented the complete operational infrastructure for a sportsbook business
• Hired, trained, and managed staff across all operational functions
• Established vendor relationships and negotiated service agreements
• Created processes and systems for daily operations, reporting, and quality control
• Managed budgets, resource allocation, and operational planning
• Built the operation from literally zero to full functionality

Why This Matters

This was my first executive role, and it taught me something I've carried into every engagement since: the ability to walk into ambiguity and create structure. I didn't inherit an operation. I built one. That experience, scoping what needs to exist, prioritizing what to build first, and iterating until it works, is what I bring to every client today, whether I'm setting up a ClickUp workspace for an agency or architecting an AI workflow for a SaaS team.

Results

• Fully operational business built from scratch within the first year
• Staffing, vendor management, and daily operations all running independently
• Sustainable systems that continued operating beyond my tenure

Tools Used

Microsoft Office, internal management systems, spreadsheet-based tracking and reporting