As heavy as the head that wears the crown can be, on the upside, at least you get a crown. Being the No. 2 guy to the guy that wears the crown is not so much heavy as it is a headache – particularly if the crown-wearer is not quite psychologically ready for a No. 2.
Such is the plight of Peter Hazlehurst, who is out as Postmates COO just about seven months after he started the job. The delivery startup specializes in same-day delivery, getting food and other assorted items from local stores to consumers’ doors, generally in a matter of hours.
Hazlehurst has been responsible for the company’s customer service team; contract workers would deliver the goods.
Hazlehurst confirmed his exit in a phone interview with re/code, noting that it is predicated on the CEO Bastian Lehmann’s realization that he isn’t yet ready to give up full control of the company’s day-to-day operations.
“The business is doing great and I’m very proud of being part of that,” Hazlehurst said. “But I also want to have a role where I have full control and autonomy to drive things, and Bastian was not quite ready for that and that’s cool.”
The departure comes at an awkward time for Postmates, which has just announced a team up with coffee giant Starbucks to be its official delivery partner in Seattle (and hopefully the world going forward.)
The startup CEO with an evolving view of how much hands-on control they need is not uncommon in the circles the delivery startup runs in. Snapchat’s COO Emily White left last month when co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel realized that he wanted to be a more hands-on and operational CEO.
Hazlehurst said he is currently mentoring some startup execs and is considering starting his own company with people he worked with at Google and Yodlee.
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