Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

Laura Nicol
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Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

Join Laura Nicol (your host) as she dials into the stories of startup operators in the trenches of building and scaling companies. Together, we master the art of ‘building the plane while flying it', drawing on insights from leaders and rising stars at companies like Tracksuit, Canva, Culture Amp, Atlassian, me&u, Airwallex, Eucalyptus, and more. Laura's day job is Chief of Staff to Maxine Minter﹢Co Ventures—all views shared on this podcast are her own.

  1. Ep 40. Shipra Mahindra: From Software Engineer to Canva’s First PM and Product Leader at Octopus Deploy

    2D AGO

    Ep 40. Shipra Mahindra: From Software Engineer to Canva’s First PM and Product Leader at Octopus Deploy

    Today, I'm connecting with Shipra Mahindra, Principal Product Manager at Octopus Deploy. Let’s just say—Shipra’s peers can’t stop raving about her. She made her mark as the first product manager at Canva, working closely with co-founder Mel Perkins and the early mobile team. Shipra takes us through the highs, lows, and many celebrations that came with launching and scaling Canva’s first mobile app. She shares how she found her rhythm as a product manager and the lessons she's learned, both as a human and a product leader, during rapid growth at Canva, Xero, Creatively Squared, and now at Octopus Deploy. And when she’s not leading product, she’s showing how New Zealand can be an incubator for world-leading, world-class companies as a Partner at Phase One Ventures.

    47 min
  2. Ep 39. Harry Uffindell on Scaling Partly, The ONE Thing and Lessons from the Climb

    FEB 24

    Ep 39. Harry Uffindell on Scaling Partly, The ONE Thing and Lessons from the Climb

    Today, I'm connecting with Harry Uffindell, Chief People Officer at Partly. Harry’s worn just about every startup hat—founder, growth, bizops, revops, people, culture—you name it. But he ultimately found his calling in the people space. Now, he’s scaling Partly, hiring the world’s top 1% talent, and building a culture where people stay excited about their work a decade in.

    49 min
  3. Ep 38. Alice Hehman on Being a Glue Person—From Facebook to Quip to Glue Club

    FEB 10

    Ep 38. Alice Hehman on Being a Glue Person—From Facebook to Quip to Glue Club

    Connecting with Alice Hehman, a "SWAT team" startup leader who’s built recruiting and operations playbooks for some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names. An under-the-radar operator, you need to know. Alice knows what it takes to scale operations across borders, from leading domestic recruitment for Facebook to moving to Sydney to build regional teams across Asia–Pacific. Following great people led her to Bret Taylor's startup Quip (a competitor to Google Docs), where she ran business operations, including the USD $750M Salesforce deal and post-merger integration into the Salesforce ecosystem. We get real on keeping your head on straight through hypergrowth and focussing on what we can control through these big business transitions. These days, she's teamed up with Molly Graham (if you haven't read Lessons on Substack, you should) at Glue Club, helping startup leaders be better—and feel better—at work. We discuss what makes a great operational leader, why "glue people" are the backbone of scaling companies and US lessons to shortcut operators in Australia and New Zealand.

    53 min
  4. Ep 37. Emma Seymour’s CFO Journey at Deputy—How Rebalancing Led to Profitability and Unicorn Status

    12/09/2024

    Ep 37. Emma Seymour’s CFO Journey at Deputy—How Rebalancing Led to Profitability and Unicorn Status

    Today, I'm connecting with Emma Seymour, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Deputy. Emma is no stranger to navigating big transitions—whether steering a company through acquisitions, adapting through CEO leadership changes, driving profitable growth in uncertain post-pandemic times, or achieving unicorn status. Known for her "throw the ball to me" mindset, I hope Emma's story reminds all of our female-identifying listeners of the power of stepping up before you feel ready. In today’s episode, we discuss: Her CFO leadership journey: From public practice to JobAdder to Deputy, where she became the youngest female CFO of an Australian tech unicorn; Emma’s reflections on becoming a first-time mum while managing a "big job"; Deputy's rise to profitability and unicorn status (for market context, Deputy is the 15th Australian-founded tech company to achieve this milestone); How Deputy’s 80% female leadership team drives business outcomes, enriches company culture, and brings them closer to the customer; Clocking in every day to help customers build a better world for shift workers; Why you should always "throw the ball to me"; Alternative strategies for raising capital at different stages of growth; What’s next for the future of the CFO role in tech.

    40 min
  5. Ep 36. Annie Liao on Designing a Dream Career and Building a Training Campus for 1 Million AI Builders by 2026

    11/26/2024

    Ep 36. Annie Liao on Designing a Dream Career and Building a Training Campus for 1 Million AI Builders by 2026

    Today, I'm connecting with Annie Liao, founder and CEO of Build Club. What began as a weekend AI project among friends has now evolved into APAC’s largest AI learning platform. Fresh off closing her pre-seed round and going all-in on Build Club, Annie shares what’s next for her and her team. In today’s episode, we discuss: Annie’s early career journey as a data scientist, consultant, venture capitalist, community builder, operator, and startup founder—and the lessons she gained from each transition; A nod to her recent crowning as a Forbes Australia 30 Under 30 honoree; Scaling the impact of why Build Club started: to empower everyone to build their dreams into reality; Build Club’s internal AI strategy and approach to building; Why providing clarity is the most valuable role a founder can play; Taking a leap of faith to build custom GPTs (a beginner's guide); How to upskill your workforce in AI; The rise of AI workforce manager roles—plus why operators are uniquely suited for this shift. And, of course, I ask the “stupid” questions to help us all accelerate our AI learning journey.

    37 min
  6. Ep 35. Deena Metz on Building a Customer Success Function at Flagship—From Digital Health to Retail Tech

    11/11/2024

    Ep 35. Deena Metz on Building a Customer Success Function at Flagship—From Digital Health to Retail Tech

    Today, I'm connecting with Deena Metz, Head of Customer Success at Flagship. For Deena, being at the nexus of a company is where she thrives, so she’s placed herself at the heart of an early-stage startup: customer success (CS). She’s one of 12 employees, building alongside Simon Molnar to establish Flagship as the backbone of retail operations in Australia, the US, and beyond. In today’s episode, we discuss: Deena’s childhood dream of playing soccer for the Matildas; How an internship in New York launched her career in digital health at ANDHealth+ and Perx Health; Joining Flagship as the first female on the team, and her approach to building the company's post-sales function and customer experience; Why CS is a team sport, and how sales, post-sales, and product teams need to be “Batman to each other’s Batman”; Partnering with retail brands to raise the bar in visual merchandising and bring more data to brick-and-mortar stores; And the refreshing reminder: “we’re not saving lives”.

    35 min
  7. Ep 34. From Clinical Medicine to Product: Dr Jackie Rabec’s Journey to Heidi Health and Google

    10/28/2024

    Ep 34. From Clinical Medicine to Product: Dr Jackie Rabec’s Journey to Heidi Health and Google

    Today, I'm connecting with Jackie Rabec, Product Manager at Google. Jackie’s product leadership story is all about transitions—from corners of the globe to non-linear career paths and reframing impact beyond just our work. In our conversation, we discuss: The importance of “doing your homework”; Growing up in South Africa and following her mother’s path into medicine; Definitive decision-making versus directional decision-making and how it guided her transition from medicine to tech and product; Visualising your career as a pond of lily pads; Her journey from being the first PM at Heidi Health to a non-health tech product role at Google; Moving from the balcony to the dance floor and back again as a product leader; Lessons from transitioning from a 40-person startup to a global corporation; How to avoid overcomplicating product by indexing on three things; Her vision to improve healthcare access and delivery in low-income countries and under-resourced communities in countries like Africa.

    43 min
  8. Ep 33. George Hatzis on Product Design: Journey from Startups to Scale-Ups and Fractional Impact for Early-Stage Teams

    10/14/2024

    Ep 33. George Hatzis on Product Design: Journey from Startups to Scale-Ups and Fractional Impact for Early-Stage Teams

    I'm connecting with George Hatzis, a fractional product designer for early-stage startup teams. From his early curiosity about design and product at Ignition to redesigning a personal loan application admin at Wisr and building and scaling a multi-brand design system for healthcare products at Eucalyptus, he's no stranger to the twists and turns of startups and scale-ups. In this episode, we cover practical design and MVP design systems—what they are and how to apply them in fast-moving, scrappy environments; taking the independent product design route and his “Mary Poppins-style” approach to fractional work; his journey (so far) building a migration tech product alongside Niamh and Damian at Matilda; leading design teams and making a conscious transition from an individual contributor to a manager; AI as a “companion piece” for designers; the right time for startups to bring in their first product designer; and advice for product designers pitching themselves to early-stage startups. Plus, slowing everything down for life's simple moments, watching 100 movies a year (and reviewing them on Letterboxd), and the magic of acknowledging trade-offs.

    47 min
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About

Join Laura Nicol (your host) as she dials into the stories of startup operators in the trenches of building and scaling companies. Together, we master the art of ‘building the plane while flying it', drawing on insights from leaders and rising stars at companies like Tracksuit, Canva, Culture Amp, Atlassian, me&u, Airwallex, Eucalyptus, and more. Laura's day job is Chief of Staff to Maxine Minter﹢Co Ventures—all views shared on this podcast are her own.

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