Dan Wright, chief operating officer, AppDynamics. (Courtesy photo)

When Dan Wright joined San Francisco-based application performance management company AppDynamics, his title was director of legal. It was his first in-house role, but Wright quickly climbed the ranks—moving to general counsel in just under three years and chief operating officer in four.

He's one of a number of tech legal leaders moving into operational roles, notably including Airbnb's Belinda Johnson. Corporate Counsel spoke with Wright about his growth at AppDynamics from GC to COO. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Corporate Counsel: How did you balance your traditional legal responsibilities with the business side as GC?

Dan Wright: I had the fortunate situation—though it was difficult at the time—of joining really early on at the company. I was employee No. 150. At the time, the company's functions as a whole were at a really early stage. I had the opportunity to help pitch in as we built out the HR function, the finance function. I ran M&A at the company. So I was able to establish that I could lift my head above the tree line and see the whole forest, and I think that was very helpful.

So over time your responsibilities grew, and your title changed with it?

Yes absolutely. I mentioned being able to act as a strategic adviser. But I think the other thing you have the opportunity to do, as a lead lawyer in a high growth company, which I did, is take on strategic projects for the company and really own them, which some GCs don't do.

Some GCs will say, “Hey I want to do what's strictly in the purview of the general counsel and nothing more.” I always looked at it differently. If I have an opportunity to help the company, I'm going to do that. That's my ultimate job.

I've heard from in-house lawyers who aren't sure how to break into business conversations at their company. How would you recommend they bring their business views to the table?

I found that people across the board were very receptive, when they see that you're strategic and you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

When you're operating as a lawyer in these tech companies, you have the training to take a ton of information in, spot issue for key problems and problem solve and project manage around that. That skill set translates pretty readily to an operational role. Show you have the skill set to be able to step out of the legal area and drive key projects on a company level. If you do those two things, the industry is more and more receptive of GCs making a jump like this.

How much overlap is there between the COO and GC roles?

There's some overlap. Before I was COO, I was still helping to project manage across teams to make sure we achieved our goals, whether it was acquiring a company or making sure we were ready to go public. That was a key part.

Having said that, I think definitely, what I am involved in day to day has taken a leap forward in terms of the breadth.

How was the transition to the COO role?

There were a couple of adjustments. One was really, the same way my CEO is responsible for the success as a company for a whole, I feel that same responsibility, which is a really different perspective and, frankly, really a different type of stress. But it's great.

Secondly, I took on a lot of functions, from a formal reporting standpoint, that I didn't have before. I had to approach those with a lot of humility and a beginner's mindset.

It was a really interesting transition and, through that, I gained a ton of knowledge. I've learned a lot, but also I have really built some strong relationships with other folks across the company that I think are only really possible if you are willing to take a risk and, once you do that, approach it with a lot of humility around what you know and what you don't know.

What was the most challenging part of moving to the COO role?

I think the most challenging part is the learning that it's okay to have that beginner's mindset. It's OK to be open about what you don't know.

In a legal role, you take a lot of pride in your knowledge of the law, and there's some comfort of having that all within your wheelhouse. There's no way that, Day One, you, coming in from the GC role, can know everything someone in accounting knows about. Be open with that and willing to learn.

Advice for in-house lawyers who want to go into a COO role?

Really treating your business like a business. To me, that means you should really look at how you are adding to the top line through automating processes through streamlining the contract process, accelerating deals.

It's also the willingness to, rather than saying “Very clearly, this is what my job is and this is what my job isn't,” say, “I'm here to help the company.” I'm a business partner first, and I happen have a law degree, but if there's a way I can help out the company I'm going to raise my hand and do it.

As a GC, you see a lot of the critical projects that are going on with the company. You'll have a pretty good sense of key things we're working on, and, as you step up and say “Hey, I'm going to help drive that and make sure it's successful,” you'll have the opportunity to take on more.

Relationship building is also critical. To get the offer to be the COO and to be successful once you do take that role, you have to spend a lot of time building relationships throughout all layers of the organization.