Meet Jordan McMullen, COO of Ctrl Alt.

We sat down with Jordan McMullen to delve into his role at Ctrl Alt and his insights from growing the company from its inception to its current success.

In the fast-paced world of startups, the COO’s role is multifaceted and essential for ensuring smooth business operations. From managing day-to-day operations to fostering a thriving company culture, Jordan talks about his passion for bringing clarity to the fast-moving world of startups and how he helps to steer Ctrl Alt day-to-day.

Tell Us About Your Background And How You Got Into The Startup Environment

I began my career at Morgan Stanley, working as a Risk Manager on a derivatives trading desk. I also headed up the desk decision-making for our product development prioritisation in EMEA, ensuring clients were being delivered the best product possible.

My half decade in Investment Banking gave me unparalleled experience that cemented a foundation to build a business. This fast-paced and high-volume environment taught me the value of a business that can scale and the need for strong operational and management processes.

For me, the move to startup life came quite naturally, whilst we were no longer at a bank with huge resources and teams, the experience there provided me with the confidence to support the building of a product and business from the ground up.

Opening up alternative assets through tokenisation is a cutting-edge idea and one that we see lots of demand for. It was clear to me that the Digital Assets space needed a solutions provider who could be trusted and had deep experience in financial structuring. From the very beginning, this was an exciting challenge that I believed we could build as a team, and leaving the Investment Bank to focus all of my energy on Ctrl Alt was a no-brainer.

Tell Us More About Your Work And Why You Think The COO Role Is Important In Early-Stage Businesses Like Ctrl Alt?

As a COO in a startup, my job is all about making sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently. I handle the running of the company, managing resources, and setting up processes to keep the company on track.

This is super important in a startup because we’re constantly figuring out what works best for us and how we can be more efficient. It’s all about keeping things running smoothly while we grow and evolve.

The role of the COO is often dealing with lots of different problems and having to figure out the best solutions. Being able to deal with the various problems ensures the CEO can keep pushing the business forward.

A lot of my work and the importance of the COO is on the people side of the business which I love. As we grow, making sure everyone is happy day-to-day and also growing professionally as the business grows is really important to me.

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Looking To Get Into The Startup Sector, Especially On The Operations Side?

Ultimately you need to be part of a business that you fundamentally believe in and are willing to make sacrifices for. Startups are a mix of ups and downs, if you don’t have a passion for what you are building then it will be very difficult to progress past the “down” moments in order to enjoy the “ups”. It isn’t just about the idea, but primarily it’s about the team who can make it happen.

Make sure you are joining a business that has a dedicated founding team who you can work with in the trenches and whose goals are aligned with yours. This team should be made up of people that you trust and have a broad enough skill set to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

On the operations side, I’d suggest this type of role is for anyone who enjoys creating long-term business strategy, working with multiple stakeholders, and most importantly likes to manage the running of a business with a keen attention to detail and ability to juggle many things at once.

How Has Your Role Evolved Since You Joined Ctrl Alt?

In a start-up, things change very quickly and you need to constantly be adapting.

When we started Ctrl Alt we had three people in the business, and we’ve since grown to fourteen people across multiple regions. The role begins to change very quickly as the business scales and there are more demands in each area.

Although new hires may take on roles in specialist areas like product, the requirements in areas such as clear investor and financial reporting grow as well as a greater need for more formalised systems for communication and keeping track.

Tell Us A Bit More About What Ctrl Alt Is Working On At The Moment?

Yes, I’m most excited about our work in the tokenisation of funds.

The conversation on tokenisation is growing, with significant involvement from the UK government, which is great to see. Our efforts in this space, combining financial engineering and technology solutions, will help propel this forward and open up opportunities in a particularly traditional industry. I’m thrilled that we can demonstrate the power of tokenisation to bring benefits to this sector.

Additionally, we’re expanding into new regions. As we enter these new markets, I’m eager to ensure we maintain our company culture while also adapting it and looking outward to benefit everyone as we become a more global company.

Lastly, What Are Your Top Tips For Cultivating A Cohesive Work Environment?

Yes, this is important. Communication is key in any business, we have a range of weekly check-ins, team meetings, and channels to ensure everyone is kept up to date on what’s going on at Ctrl Alt, you should never assume that others are coming into a situation with the same starting point as you.

Startups are fast-paced, and a lot can happen quickly. I also make a conscious effort to remind the team to take a step back and appreciate how far we’ve come. Celebrating our wins is crucial because it’s easy to get caught up in a rush and move on to the next task without recognising our achievements.

We’re also really focused on maintaining a very open and transparent culture at Ctrl Alt. Even if you’re the most junior person in the company, we ensure you have full visibility into where the business is headed and our decisions.