# Nao Otsubo > Chief of Staff | I help organizations scale operations, streamline leadership processes, and turn strategy into execution so teams grow faster with less friction. Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/nao Results-driven executive with 10+ years of experience driving organizational growth, operational efficiency, and cross-functional excellence across startups and high-growth environments. Proven ability to scale businesses, lead strategic initiatives, and implement data-driven decision-making frameworks. Adept at aligning globally distributed teams to corporate objectives, optimizing operations, and delivering sustainable improvements in productivity and cost efficiency. 🔹 Areas of Expertise: Business & Operational Strategy Startup Scaling | Fundraising Support Leadership Decision Support | KPI Frameworks AI and Process Automation Slack | Asana | Notion | GSuite Automation Team Building | People Ops | Remote Culture ## Work Experience ### Chief of Staff @ MODE, Inc. Jan 2022 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area I partner directly with the CEO to turn big ideas into operational reality. I redesigned how the company sets and executes goals - bringing clarity where there was noise. I built systems that give leadership real-time insight into performance, allowing for faster, smarter decisions. We cut costs by thinking differently - automating where it mattered, predicting with precision. I don’t just run operations. I help shape the company’s rhythm - its culture, its focus, its momentum. ### Mentor @ GrowthMentor Jan 2025 – Present GrowthMentor is a global network of experienced operators, marketers, product leaders, and founders—people who’ve been in the trenches and care about lifting others up. My role is to challenge assumptions, simplify complexity, and help people see around corners. It’s not about lecturing from a pedestal. It’s about meeting people where they are and helping them take the next leap forward. ### Member @ Operators Guild Jan 2024 – Present The Operators Guild is an invitation-only community of the world’s top finance and operations leaders - people who’ve been in the trenches of high-growth, high-stakes environments. We come together not for status, but for shared purpose: to solve real problems, accelerate what’s possible, and raise the bar for what great operating leadership looks like. We share what works. We help each other move faster. We invest in the next generation of companies - and the people building them. From San Francisco to New York, LA to Vancouver, we meet, connect, and support each other as we scale the companies shaping tomorrow. ### Investor @ FOG Ventures Jan 2024 – Present FOG Ventures was created to invest and support innovative founders that are helping create toolbox 2.0 for the modern day operator. We’re backed by the world's top COOs & CFOs at tech’s most prominent startups. We do not just invest in what we believe in — as active operators, we’re investing in products we actually love and use. ### Member @ Chief of Staff Network Jan 2022 – Present The Chief of Staff Network is the leading organization for top Chiefs of Staff from startups, enterprises, nonprofits, and academic institutions. It's more than a network - it's a force multiplier. We bring together the operators, the fixers, the strategic thinkers - the ones who translate vision into execution. Through curated resources, development tracks, and a deeply engaged community, we help Chiefs of Staff grow faster, lead better, and accelerate the teams they support. This is where high-leverage leadership gets sharper. ### Founder @ perapa Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area I saw a gap - AI translation that respected human nuance - and I went for it. In less than six months, I launched a prototype and landed 14 customers. I built the tech, shaped the vision, and brought it to life. Perapa taught me something simple but powerful: if you listen to the user and move fast, you don’t need a big team to make a big impact. ### VP of Operations @ Primed Technologies Jan 2018 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area I was the first hire. Everything was a blank canvas. So I helped paint the picture. I built our operating system from scratch, led manufacturing deals, and pushed the team toward a product people would actually love. I brought structure to chaos and speed to learning. The product got smarter because our process did too. ### Advisor @ various start-ups Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area When you advise founders, you learn to spot signal through noise. I helped early-stage teams focus on the right features, the right market, the right metrics. Strategy isn’t a spreadsheet. It’s about knowing what not to build. I helped them see that. ### Associate Director @ Kantar Vermeer Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 Big companies often forget how to think like startups. I helped Fortune 500s get back to first principles. We used data, yes - but the goal was always clarity. What does the customer want? Where is the market going? I turned insights into action, and action into growth. ### Consultant (MBA Intern) @ Voyage Control Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | London, United Kingdom ### Consultant (MBA Intern) @ Wriggle App Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | London, United Kingdom ### Product Manager (MBA Intern) @ Amazon.co.uk Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | London, United Kingdom ### Engineering Technical Lead @ Parsons Brinckerhoff USA Jan 2010 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area ### Project Manager @ Parsons Brinckerhoff UK Jan 2006 – Jan 2010 | Godalming, UK ### Design Engineer @ KBR, Inc. Jan 2004 – Jan 2006 | Leatherhead, UK and Dublin, Ireland ## Education ### Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Strategy and Marketing London Business School ### Master of Arts (MA) in General Engineering University of Cambridge ### Master of Engineering (MEng) in General Engineering University of Cambridge ### Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Civil, Structural, Environmental Engineering University of Cambridge ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/naootsubo --- Source: https://flows.cv/nao JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/nao/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-05