Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

• 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.In today’s episode, we discuss:Scaling Partly from its first non-technical hire to ~100 employees—and the lessons behind making it the best startup to work for.Building a company culture that lasts—where 10 years in, you’re still buzzing to show up.Co-founding and selling MeatMail (a food subscription startup) with David Booth—the zero-to-one story.“This is a pretty good V1”. What Tim Ryan (Atomic8) taught Harry about quality work and scaling startups globally.Tilt to Airbnb: From first APAC hire to Country Manager, scaling Tilt, and what it takes to land a global “boots on the ground” role.A bad-reception phone call that changed everything. How Airbnb’s acquisition of Tilt set Harry on a path to making ANZ Airbnb’s most penetrated market worldwide before the IPO.Focus as a superpower. Mastering the art of focus is the most impactful skill an operator can develop.Learning from the best. How Patti McCord, Reed Hastings (Netflix), and the Collison Brothers (Stripe) are shaping Harry’s playbook as a world-class Chief People Officer.Angel investing 101. His advice for operators making their first bets.Find Harry Uffindell:LinkedInHarry’s [email protected] Uffindell’s Northstars and Frameworks:Books:Delivering Happiness (people and culture)No Rules Rules (Netflix culture)The Hard Thing About Hard Things (gritty leadership)Amp It Up (high-performance culture)Powerful by Patty McCord (freedom + responsibility)Radical Candor (feedback and relationships)Great by Choice (10x leadership)How to Win Friends and Influence PeoplePodcasts:Acquired, a16z, Founders, The Tim Ferriss Show, Crucible Moments, 20VC.Frameworks:The Quarterly Rhythm That Fuels Growth and High-Performing Teams (includes duplicatable resources/Notion pages)The One Thing (goal-setting)Eisenhower Matrix (urgent/important prioritization)Radical Candor (caring personally + challenging directly).Operators—Future leader/vision:Patti McCord and Reed Hastings from Netflix (culture)Patrick Collison and The Collison Brothers (execution)Ones to Watch:Pene Barton (CEO at Crimson Global Academy)Kirsti Grant (Chief People Experience Officer at Auror)Jamie Beaton (CEO and co-founder Crimson Education)Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:Dave Booth (Founder in Residence at Blackbird)Mike Duboe (General Partner, Greylock Partners)Levi Fawcett (CEO at Partly)Tim Ryan (Co-Founder & CEO at Atomic8)Andrew Huynh (GTM Strategy Lead, New Products at Culture Amp)Dan Brockwell (Co-founder and head of program at Earlywork) A note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons. Guest ideas?Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn. Never miss an episode:Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.com

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• 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.Find Alice Hehman:LinkedInAlice Hehman’s Northstars and Frameworks:Learners vs Guides: Building Your Leadership TeamLessons by Molly Graham The Glue Club  (Leadership Development Program)The Four Tendencies Framework by Gretchen RubinSparketype Assessment StrengthsFinder, now CliftonStrengths Operators—Ones to Watch:Molly GrahamElliot GreenwaldOther Folks Mentioned in the Episode:Andy BartonBret TaylorAshley Prince Murphy A note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons. Guest ideas?Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn. Never miss an episode:Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.com

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• 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 unicornEmma’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 customerClocking in every day to help customers build a better world for shift workersWhy you should always "throw the ball to me"Alternative strategies for raising capital at different stages of growthWhat’s next for the future of the CFO role in tech.Find Emma Seymour:LinkedInDeputyEmma Seymour is just short of her third successful year as CFO of Deputy (read more)Emma Seymour’s Northstars and Frameworks:Goal setting: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:Mel Perkins (CEO and Co-founder at Canva)Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:Silvija Martincevic (CEO at Deputy) A note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons. Guest ideas?Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn. Never miss an episode:Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.com

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• 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.Find Annie Liao:LinkedInXArtBuild Club eventsJoin Build Club’s waitlist: www.buildclub.aiAnnie Liao’s Northstars and Frameworks:The Build Club Story and Why We Raised Venture Capital FundingThis 23-year-old banked $1.2 million to build the ‘Duolingo for AI learning’Goal setting: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:Mitchell Hughes (Co-founder at NextGen Ventures)Clinton Lui (Build Club)Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:Julia Wells (Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney)Daniel Vassilev (Co-founder at Relevance AI)Jacky Koh (Co-founder at Relevance AI)Tom McKenzie (CTO at Build Club)Jessy Wu (Founder at Encour) A note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons. Guest ideas?Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn. Never miss an episode:Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.com

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• 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”. Find Deena Metz:LinkedInFlagshipDeena Metz’s Northstars and Frameworks:Gabriel Baker (Co-Founder at Mosh)Rachel Kelly (Ex-EVP, APAC and Global Instore at Afterpay)Steph Leathers (Managing Director ANZ at GHD)Alex Brogan, Faster Than Normal NewsletterWes Kao's NewsletterAtlas (Zendesk alternative for customer support)ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:Zoe Champtaloup (Director of Operations and General Counsel at Perx Health)Jackie Rotman (Director, Strategy at OakNorth)Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:Simon Molnar (founder at Flagship)Scott Taylor (Co-founder and CEO at Perx Health)Hugo Rourke (Co-founder and COO at Perx Health)Marcel Ninio (Retail Innovation and Partnerships at Flagship) A note from your host, Laura:My goal for Calling Operator is to open-source stories from startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people facing similar challenges and reinventing the wheel. I want this podcast to open a line for operators across Australia and New Zealand to learn from fellow operators. Each episode shares personal stories, the execution behind big ideas, career-defining moments, successes, failures, and lessons. Guest ideas?Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show? Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn. Never miss an episode:Subscribe on your favourite platform:SpotifyApple Podcasts(Other) CallingOperator.com

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