I thought Chief of Staff was a strategy role. After one closed-door meetup, I’m not so sure anymore.
I went to a small closed-door meetup in Noida recently. Almost didn’t go, to be honest. Thought it would be another startup panel with the usual advice.
It wasn’t.
The room was small. Coffee, a few chairs, and people from very different backgrounds, some already working in startups, some trying to move closer to founders. The topic was Navigating the Chief of Staff role but it quickly stopped feeling like a “session.”
What caught me off guard was how differently everyone defined the role.
One person thought it’s pure strategy.
Another said it’s operations.
Someone else called it “basically working on whatever the founder doesn’t have time for.”
Then the conversation started getting real.
People shared what the role actually looks like day to day. Jumping between teams. Solving things that don’t have clear owners. Working without formal authority. Sitting in decisions you’re not fully responsible for, but still accountable to push forward.
At one point someone said, “You don’t really own a function. You own whatever is broken.”
The whole room went quiet for a second. That kind of summed it up.
It didn’t feel polished. No frameworks. No career ladders. Just honest perspectives on a role that’s still pretty misunderstood.
Walked in thinking it’s a defined leadership path.
Walked out realizing it’s more about becoming the founder’s leverage wherever it’s needed.
Didn’t expect a small, closed room conversation to change my understanding this much.