Calling Operator

By: Laura Nicol
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  • Summary

  • Join Laura Nicol (your host) as she dials into the untold stories of startup operators. Each podcast episode reveals the incredible—and often challenging—journeys of building and scaling tech startups, told from the operator's perspective. Together, we'll master the art of 'building the plane while flying it', drawing on practical insights from leaders and rising stars at Tracksuit, Canva, Culture Amp, Atlassian, me&u, Airwallex, Eucalyptus, and more. Laura is Maxine Minter's Chief of Staff at Co Ventures and Co Lab—all views expressed are her own.
    Laura Nicol
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Episodes
  • Ep 30. Emily Robinson on Scaling with Purpose: From Leading People and Culture at Linktree to Driving Growth as GM at Kic

    Ep 30. Emily Robinson on Scaling with Purpose: From Leading People and Culture at Linktree to Driving Growth as GM at Kic
    Sep 2 2024
    Emily's an incredible people and operations leader who is passionate about doing things differently. Her latest project is Kic, a fitness app quashing diet culture—founded by Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith. In this episode, we explore her journey from corporate to startup land; leading inside a unicorn to a bootstrapped company with year-on-year growth. There were so many, but highlights include: Balancing anxiety and mental health around leadership and the techniques that have defined Emily. Scaling from employee #90 at Linktree to leading a 20-person people and culture team through rapid growth. Reshaping Kic's strategy from product-led to a community and content-led fitness empire. Why community-led brands will win and how to embed a community-first mindset into your company planning. How mentors and coaches can 10x your personal and career growth.Find Emily Robinson on:LinkedInEmily’s Northstars and frameworks:Jane MartinoThe Four AgreementsYou Can Heal Your LifeANZ operators—ones to watch:Maxine Minter, General Partner at Co Ventures, Founder and Advisor at Co LabMikayla Hopkins, Head of Marketing at TracksuitOther folks mentioned in the episode:Laura Henshaw (CEO and co-founder at Kic)Steph Claire Smith (Chief Community Officer and co-founder at Kic)Isa Notermans (Chief People Officer)Anth Zaccaria (Co-founder of Linktree)Alex Zaccaria (CEO and co-founder of Linktree)Jessica Trumble (CEO & Founder at We Are Charlotte)Michael Stocks (Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific at Squarespace)Do I want Kids? Miniseries with Laura HenshawCo Lab (Matching high-growth founders with executive coaches)Simon Sinek Never miss an episode. Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.comA note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with world-class operators and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators to learn from each other, offer support, and celebrate successes together.Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? I can't wait to learn about them. Contact me via LinkedIn.
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    44 mins
  • Ep 29. Building Scar Tissue: Albert Patajo’s Path from Venture Capital to Fatherhood and Scaling Nexl Beyond Series A

    Ep 29. Building Scar Tissue: Albert Patajo’s Path from Venture Capital to Fatherhood and Scaling Nexl Beyond Series A
    Aug 19 2024
    In this episode, we explore Albert’s journey from growing up as an immigrant in Australia to becoming a startup leader and new dad to his daughter, Ava. Albert is a true fundraising nerd, and watching him level up on his way to Victory Road is a joy. We dive into how he built conviction to leave venture capital and step into a leadership role at Nexl—a vertical SaaS company that provides collaboration, relationship management, and CRM software to B2B law firms (think Pearson Hardman vibes!). Albert also shares lessons from his operator journey—from building scar tissue through experience to understanding why the best teams excel at capital allocation to mastering the metrics that drive relentless focus and success in scaling startups.Find Albert Patajo:LinkedInXSubstackAlbert’s Northstars and Frameworks:ChatGPT Prompt:“You are OperatorGPT, you are an expert portfolio value creation for Series A and later companies. You’ve been asked to solve [X issue in detail] to achieve [Y outcome]. The trade-offs you need to consider are that [A people in company or relevant role, B budget,C timeframes). The company’s values are [X,Y,Z values]. Draft a project plan that steps through a potential solution to solve the problem and achieve this outcome taking into account the trade-offs and ensures alignment to the company’s values.Building your Employee Handbook as you scale: The Gitlab Handbook (Open source)Bullet Proof Problem Solving (Book)Scaling people (Book)Situation, Complication and Question (Framework)Simple framework for Board and Executive communication:What we know: The information we know to be true and what we’re relying on.What we don’t know: The information we need to validate or find evidence for that will help inform our decisions.When we’ll know: The experiments/fact-finding analysis we’ll run to find evidence or validate the information we don’t know and the timeframe to do this.The Glue Club by Molly Graham (Cohort-based operator community)ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:Annie Liao, Chief of Staff at Relevance AI and Founder of Build ClubJessy Wu, Founder at Encour, Ex Partner at AfterworkOther Folks Mentioned in the Episode:Philipp Thurner (CEO & Founder, Nexl)Niki Scevak (Co-founder and Partner at Blackbird)Allen Zhu (Investor at EVP)HBR’s The Case for a Chief of Staff articleAngad Soin (Ex Deloitte, now Xero)John Henderson (General Partner at Airtree)Michael Batko (CEO at Startmate ) Never miss an episode. Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.comA note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with world-class operators and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators to learn from each other, offer support, and celebrate successes together.Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? I can't wait to learn about them. Contact me via LinkedIn.
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    42 mins
  • Ep 28. From Rowing to an All-Women-Founded Exit: Maddi Ingham’s Playbook for Building Unstoppable Chief of Staff Partnerships and Mastering M&A

    Ep 28. From Rowing to an All-Women-Founded Exit: Maddi Ingham’s Playbook for Building Unstoppable Chief of Staff Partnerships and Mastering M&A
    Aug 5 2024
    In this episode, I dial into a conversation with Maddi Ingham, 2x Chief of Staff, now working in stealth on her next venture. Maddi's career is a testament to her commitment to creating a better world for people and the planet. We explore her journey from management consulting to her catch-all role in Verve Super’s acquisition—a remarkable all-women-founded exit celebrated as “the business story we need” by Women’s Agenda. We dive into her experiences solving complex early-stage problems, the role of trust in navigating M&A processes during leadership team parental leave, and the impact of executive partnerships. Maddi also shares her thoughts on gender equality, her operator insights gained from CliftonStrengths, and the importance of building a supportive community of peers.Episode note: When discussing the gender pay gap, Maddi uses binary language (e.g., “man” and “woman”). We recognise that this isn’t always the reality for some parents. Find Maddi:Maddi InghamMaddi's Northstars and frameworks:Why the acquisition of all-women-founded Verve Super is a story worth tellingThe Open Org’s Open Source Policies (…and a Rolodex of publicly sourced policies)Future Group's Open Source PoliciesMoving your Super to an ethical superannuation fundStartmate programs:Women's FellowshipLadymatesGender Pay GapHow to respond to 9 myths about our gender pay gap problem by Maddi InghamThe Pay Gap Pledge ToolkitWGEA's Developing a Leading Practice Parental Leave PolicyAirtree’s Open Source VCThe role of the Chief of StaffCliftonStrengthsThe CliftonStrengths skills assessmentWoo theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)Communication theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)Positivity theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)Activator theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)The CliftonStrengths PodcastANZ operators—ones to watch:Phoebe Pincus, COO at StartmateZoe Champtaloup, Director of Operations & General Counsel at Perx HealthAlex Carr, Chief Of Staff at ReGen VenturesOther folks mentioned in the episode:Christina HobbsAlex AndrewsVerve Super Never miss an episode. Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.comA note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with world-class operators and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators to learn from each other, offer support, and celebrate successes together.Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? I can't wait to learn about them. Contact me via LinkedIn.
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    41 mins
Leadership Career Success Economics
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