24 Years Old, Waking At 4 a.m., And Supervising 70 Staff -- Who'd Be A Startup COO?

A lot of people would find it intimidating to assume responsibility for a £15m turnover business while the founders are away building relationships on the other side of the world. It sounds like the kind of task you might be ready to take on if you had been at the firm for, say, 15 years or more, had known all of your co-workers for a good few years, and had permission to put your day to day work to one side for the period in question.