Hello! I'm Milly Barker.

I'm a seasoned COO with an MBA from Imperial College London and over 20 years of experience in industry-agnostic strategy and operations, which means I draw from a deep well of knowledge to provide both tactical and strategic support to ambitious businesses.

I founded Pay As You Go COO because I believe that all entrepreneurs deserve to be able to access the skills and expertise needed to build a really successful business - regardless of their background, their budget, or the size of their dreams.

Where it all started.

I live in London now, with my partner, Joe, and my very anxious rescue dog, Milo, but I'm originally from the North East (don't let my accent fool you, I'm a working-class socialist through and through!).

My first ever role in a startup was as a COO and when I look back on it now I'm amazed by how out of my depth I was. I wish there had been someone around to coach me through the ups and downs of that first startup role and it's a real privilege to now be able to be that Coach for others in similar positions.

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What I'm doing now.

I write a lot of Pay As You Go COO's content, including all of our books, our newsletters, and a lot of our articles.

I also co-host The Startup Breakdown Podcast with my friend Caroline and you can often find me sharing my experience and expertise in one of our talks.

Projects-wise, I take on no more than 5-6 Business Coaching clients at a time so that I can focus on being there for my coachees as much as possible and I'm responsible for a lot of the Strategy design and implementation in our bigger projects. I also own a lot of our no-code work and I love getting deep into Zapier integrations and automating as much admin as I can.

Outside of work, I love to workout whilst listening to true crime podcasts to both increase and decrease my anxiety at the same time, I'm obsessed with going to my local community sauna for a catch-up with friends, and I like nothing more than when plans get cancelled and I can put my stretchy trousers back on.

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How did I get here?

1985

My very lucky parents get to welcome me into the world in Bishop Auckland. Almost immediately, a nurse temporarily kidnaps me to show her colleagues my very impressive head of hair.

1992

I join The Cathedral School, Llandaff, made famous in Roald Dahl's book "Boy". I didn't get into any fights with sweet shop proprietresses whilst there, so if you're a founder in the F&B space, you're safe with me.

1997

I go away to boarding school for the first time and learn about how to fold socks into perfect parcels (something I still do to this day), how many eggs it's acceptable to have for breakfast (2, max), and the best ways to hide sweets from other people you live with (also something I still do to this day).

1998

I move to Malvern College, famous for educating CS Lewis, Jeremy Paxman, and Sir Chris Witty. I often wonder if they learned, like I did, how to abseil out of the boarding house windows to go on middle-of-the-night adventures.

2006

After 3 gap years working, I start my undergraduate studies in Philosophy and English at The University of Southampton. I learn a lot about how to argue and a little about semiotics, but mostly about how to discuss Cartesian concepts of the self on 3 hours of sleep.

2010

I move to London and tell everyone I'm living in East Shepherd's Bush because I think it sounds fancy. It's Acton, which is very clearly west of Shepherd's Bush, but thankfully no-one ever expects a Philosophy graduate to be particularly full of practical knowledge.

2015

I join Amazon, leading business development for two categories at what is now called Amazon Ads. My job title is a nine letter initialisation and my email address is a random selection of letters from my name and somehow everyone keeps congratulating me on being paid to lose myself.

2016

I start my MBA at Imperial, where I'm awarded a scholarship for outstanding leadership potential. I cry through the entire first semester of Management Accounting and proceed to not sleep or eat properly for the next two years.

2018

I join my first startup, as COO, and have truly no idea what I'm doing, but it's ok because I bought a jumper that says 'Winging It' across the front for my final MBA exam, so at least I'm prepared to admit where I'm at and that's the first step towards changing things.

2019

The name 'Pay As You Go COO' arrives, fully formed, in my head one morning after I hear about another startup in the same venture stable as mine closing down. I realise that a new, more affordable and flexible way for founders to access the experience and expertise they need to run their companies could be a winner. Plus, it rhymes and everyone knows that's 90% of building a brand.

2023

After working for yet another toxic boss, I finally give in an accept that I should be betting on myself and go all-in on Pay As You Go COO. I write four books, design all the service packages, build and launch the website, set up content marketing plans, and cobble together a bunch of automations to make it all run in the background. I also entirely forget to take a nap at any point.