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Niels Meibom-Larsen
COO @ Risika | General Management, Driving Growth, Efficient Operations, SaaS.
Niels Meibom-Larsen is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Risika, a financial technology company established in 2017. He has over 15 years of experience in leading and scaling businesses across various sectors. Before joining Risika, he held roles at TwentyThree and has been involved in multiple initiatives within the company since its inception.132
Meibom-Larsen is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has an educational background from Durham University Business School. His expertise lies in operational leadership and strategic development in the fintech industry.23
Highlights
What is in your opinion the most under-appreciated, high value-add, role I should consider hiring for?
That was the question I was recently asked by a founder of a fairly fast-growing SaaS startup with just north of 15 people.
My answer: a Head of Legal/Legal Counsel.🎯 (closely followed by more resources in customer support, which always seems under invested).
Three to five years ago that answer would probably have been a Revenue Operations Manager, but most startups seems to have that on their radar early now.
Why a Head of Legal / Legal Counsel? Their ability to add so much value across multiple domains. Examples.
✅ Contracts, structure and processes Secure standards of the contracts (customer, employee, partner, supplier), data privacy, stock options, company structure if you are expanding internationally, payment terms as well as general policies and processes. Draft, review and update as needed. Manage risk appropriately.
✅ Sales Participate in enterprise deals. Negotiate with procurement. Protect your startup and investors; make sure your startup does not enter enterprise agreements with unlimited liabilities etc. Take away some heavy lifting from the sales team which allows them to spend more time on selling. Build deal desk capabilities.
✅ Certifications Closely related to enable enterprise sales. Help you achieve the necessary certifications to scale into enterprise. ✅ Product compliance Product compliance with rules and regulations, including data and Intellectual property handling.
✅ Funding Help and/or execute application processes for grants and other kinds of soft money. Provide guidance and perspectives on debt and equity financing, including the ever-so important details and implications of the terms. ✅ Act as staff to the board Ensure that minutes are kept and that all board actions are properly recorded and signed-off on. Advice and address legal issues relevant to the board.
✅ General governance and compliance Might sound boring for most founders, but this corporate “sanitation” becomes very important during diligence for any financing or transaction. For any due diligence they will of course play a vital role.
✅ Costs Save your external lawyer costs from going crazy in a capital-constrained environment. You will likely still need external lawyers from time to time. However, having an internal capacity, does not only limit that need, but more importantly should be able to optimize the work with external legal ressource and limit the expenditure to exactly what you need.
Operating in a highly regulated industry or being very enterprise focused would make it feasible to consider a head of legal resource even earlier in the stage of your company.
Spoiler: My view might be flawed by working closely with some of the best legal in-house startup resources; Kudos to Mayra Futema Jóhanna Edwald and Steen Fabricius Dahl 😊
What's your under-appreciated high-value add role for start ups right now?
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