"We Have Employees from 20 Countries" — Q&A with Already Media COO

Hi! I've been working as a COO in affiliate marketing for over 5 years in total — I joined AM six months ago, but we've already accomplished a lot together.

I was brought in by the founders, as we'd crossed paths on other projects. At the time, AM didn't have a COO, but there was a clear need for the role: the company was growing fast and processes weren't always keeping up. There was also a need to take some load off the CEO, who had little time left for strategic matters due to day-to-day operations.

In simple terms — it's the person responsible for the company's operational efficiency, ensuring that all departments work in sync and hit their defined KPIs and goals. 

My responsibilities include: business scaling and development, process and cost optimization, planning and process management, risk management, cross-departmental communication, product development oversight, and more. For a company of 100+ people, this role becomes a necessity.

It all starts with organizational structure — ours is currently clear and transparent, with an experienced lead heading each department. Every person who joins AM has a defined area of responsibility and understands their goals and tasks. 

We've also started rolling out KPIs and OKRs at various levels — this helps motivate employees and track team performance. Each person's growth and productivity at every stage is monitored by their mentor and an HR specialist, with regular daily standups, performance reviews, and one-on-one meetings.

Optimization in AM is a continuous process — we mostly rely on combined approaches and follow Agile principles to increase flexibility and speed of response to changes. The core elements of the optimization process are constant analysis of workflows and identifying weak spots and bottlenecks, data collection and data-driven decision-making, gathering feedback from teams and partners, and continuous improvement — including through the use of technology and AI. 

Automation also plays a key role. Within AM, we are actively developing the AM TECH IT department, which builds tools to optimize internal processes and help save time and resources. Right now, for example, we're working on a DMS — a domain management tool that monitors domain status, availability, payment deadlines, and a range of other metrics.

We've learned to work effectively in a remote setup. We don't install trackers or check what employees are doing every minute — instead, we hire motivated people and set clear goals and tasks for them. 

We offer great conditions and growth opportunities, and depending on the role, a high degree of autonomy and freedom — but in return, we expect commitment and accountability from each team member. And it works. To track team performance, we use a large volume of data that is aggregated into dashboards and analyzed at every stage.

Not all of them — I haven't been with the company that long, and people are spread across the globe, so a chance encounter at the coffee machine is simply not an option. I mainly communicate with department heads and team leads, but when needed, I can reach out to any employee directly — and they can do the same with me. We're open and flexible when it comes to communication. 

We recently opened an office in Warsaw — it's a great opportunity to connect more closely, and we're making the most of it. In July, we held a company event that brought together employees from several countries.

Yes — some dashboards covering key project and traffic metrics were already in place before I joined, but we're now developing more detailed dashboard models to analyze even more data. 

These include financial metrics: revenue, expenses, cash flows, accounts receivable; traffic and marketing metrics for projects; HR metrics: recruitment and retention, satisfaction levels; product metrics — status, progress, resources and timelines; and much more.

My top picks — Jira for project management, Confluence for documentation, Miro and Figma for visualizing prototypes, design, building mind maps, running retrospectives and team collaboration, Microsoft Power BI for data collection and analysis, Ahrefs — one of the best SEO tools, of course GPT and other AI, and the classic — Google Docs. I prefer these tools because I consider them market leaders, as well as adaptive and easy to use. 

This question is always on the agenda — we constantly have to look for and test different approaches. Content is a major cost item at AM, as we produce exclusively useful, high-quality content for our projects. 

We're currently testing some solutions for reducing these costs through our own developments, including AI. Right now the company and its projects are in an active growth phase, which means costs are growing too. We're prepared for that — the key is to collect detailed data and analyze the correlation between costs and results.

From recent cases, I can give an example of optimizing the development processes at AM. The company has a strong IT department that is currently working on several internal products. When I joined, there was a problem with miscommunication between stakeholders and developers. Stakeholders didn't understand the timelines and task priorities, missed releases, and didn't always know how to use new functionality or what it was for. 

After analyzing the situation, we implemented Scrum with retrospectives, demos, grooming, and other components, defined development cycles for each product, established a unified task acceptance process, and introduced a product roadmap that became accessible to stakeholders. 

This relieved pressure from the developers, improved understanding of priorities, and increased overall employee satisfaction. Release time for features and the number of bugs also decreased, as developers can focus on their work instead of being distracted by client requests and priority clarifications.

Many structural changes have been implemented as well. The most significant one — the company's infrastructure layer has been defined: finance, legal, development, HR, and operations, which serves the existing SEO teams and new projects. This model enables both vertical and horizontal scaling.

The highest marks from me, as I was directly involved in this process. The rebranding covered every aspect — from positioning to the update of visual elements. 

The brand acquired a new style and palette that better reflect our values. And we're already seeing the first positive results in growing reach and brand recognition. This month we launched the updated website, which has already received compliments from colleagues and partners. It's a compelling testament to how a refreshed style and content can transform brand perception.

Over the past year, AM's headcount has grown by more than 100 people, which accounts for over a third of our team. Growth continues — we are scaling both vertically and horizontally through the launch of new projects and markets.

I consider myself quite structured and consistent, so my week and day are planned in advance. I reserve the first half of the day for important and complex tasks that require creative thinking, deep focus, and fresh ideas. 

A large portion of my time goes to meetings and syncs with teams; the rest is spent resolving current issues and handling routine operational tasks. Of course, things don't always go according to plan, and I periodically have to reassess priorities. The MoSCoW method comes to the rescue: M — Must have, S — Should have, C — Could have, W — Won't have.

Since I give everything I have at work, where daily challenges and stress are plentiful — rest is an important part of my life. I recharge through active leisure and a change of scenery. I travel a lot, I love cycling, tennis, squash, and hiking, and I release tension at the gym. I also value time alone with a good book. In the past, working 24/7 used to energize me, but now I try to approach time management more rationally and find balance. My move to Europe probably plays a role — life here is slower-paced and no one is in a rush. Thanks for your attention, wishing everyone well and peace.