Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

After 19 conversations with some of the sharpest operators around, I’m closing the year** with someone who rewired how I think about building process: Laura Warden. 
Your job as an operator is to make things work. So you do. You patch. You duct-tape. You make something 10% better, then 15%, then 20%. Over time, you get excellent at optimising a system that (maybe) shouldn’t exist in the first place. Laura brought me back to the idea of constructing or reconstructing from first principles: “If you could build this optimally from day one, would it look like this?”
She’s operated across different scales and contexts—running recruitment and talent at Hays, managing ~500 people at Google, and now supporting dozens of companies as Head of Operations at Folklore Ventures.
We touch on her journey and:
How dyslexia shaped her superpowers
Scaling hurdles: moving too fast without process, founder span-of-control failure, and insufficient communication
Why leadership teams need to feel visible (and Google’s multi-modal comms example)
The management triangle: Empathy + Business outcomes + Clear direction
Why your job isn’t to be the hero—it’s to build an environment where heroes can emerge
Your network as an external brain (and why it needs to be small and value-driven)
Rising above the weeds: asking, “What have I missed? What’s going to derail this or make it less impactful?”
Hiring observations: companies hiring a generalist operator first, then building specialist teams around them
Laura's motto: "Sh*t happens. Accept it. Then figure out how you pick yourself, your team, and the organisation up from that.
**P.S. Catch my solo episode, "What the Year Taught Me", on December 23, before we tuck into the cauli' cheese and Christmas cheer.
Mentioned in this episode:
Teresa Lilly
Savannah Black
Dianne Ward
Nicole Hopkins
Alister Coleman
Rochelle Ritchie
Sundar Pichai
Romy Bundy
Naomi Browne

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.

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.

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Every great founder has a small Avengers team turning vision into operational reality. This episode shines a light on someone running marketing, customer and revenue operations while acting as the CEO’s trusted right-hand.
Inside:
15+ years' CRM, ops, and scaling insights from a multi-functional perspective—from Sonar6 (acquired by Cornerstone), AskNicely, Plexure (formerly VMob) and Joyous
Leaving memorable marks that show character and care
Balancing startup freedom with enterprise rigour as Ask Nicely’s first employee
Why Joyous turned off the tap on traditional marketing—and what broke
Knowing when to keep systems simple vs. adding complexity
The CEO partnership model that makes Ruby (Joyous' CEO) say: “I wouldn’t be here without him”
When to leverage AI and when to stay firmly human
Spotting whether you’re building or maintaining, and when you’ve outgrown your role

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.

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.

Never miss an episode:
Subscribe on your favourite platform:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
(Other) CallingOperator.com

Laura Nicol dials into Anna Prell, VP Operations at Ivo.
Anna reminds us why being an operator is a) so damn exciting and b) the ultimate leadership testing ground: 
"In a startup, you can be your own version of a founder. You’re the founder of whatever it is you’re in charge of. You keep testing, learning, and scaling until it works." 
Inside this conversation:
Moving to the US in 2020—and operating inside ANZ companies state-side
Shifting from Chief of Staff to leading a function (Ops > Customer Success)
Learning how to manage people
EAB acquiring Forage—Anna’s role in the story
Finding a home in EAB post-acquisition
The operator-founder partnership. Pure MAGIC
Building again at Ivo as VP Ops
How she found the “right fit”
Building the infrastructure that helps teams scale
Want to connect with Anna? Find her on LinkedIn.
Also mentioned:
Olga Eippert
Min-Kyu Jung
Jacob Duligall
Amy Glancey
Clara Ma
Alicia Wells
Pre-interview chats:
Katie Noonan (Listen to Katie's Calling Operator episode)
Tom Brunskill

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.

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.

Never miss an episode:
Subscribe on your favourite platform:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
(Other) CallingOperator.com

Laura Nicol dials into Mahesh Muralidhar.
From day one, Mahesh has been obsessed with making a difference. He was early in Sydney’s startup scene in the 2010s post-MBA—first chasing his own idea, then finding impact (and peace) in helping others build.
What followed? A career that reads like three lifetimes in one.
Inside:
The romantic, messy-beautiful beginnings of Sydney’s startup scene.
That nagging fear you’ve “missed the boat” in tech. Spoiler: the boat’s still boarding.
The through-line of his career: founder > operator > investor > political candidate.
Building customer intuition and products people love.
Betting on people. Building trust. Understanding incentives. Getting obsessed with winning.
Spotting great talent—and coaching them like a pro sports manager.
Mahesh's founder story at Ureferjobs (a job referral marketplace)—why it didn’t land and the fateful “choosing Canva” moment.
Operating inside early Canva, Airtasker, and Simply Wall St (from Head of People Ops to VP to COO).
Phase One: why he’s convinced New Zealand founders can build world-changing companies with the right “been there, done that” support.
The current chapter: “I want to make New Zealand a significantly happier place".
Also mentioned:
Read Mahesh's Substack
David Hearnden
Alexey Mitko
Bec Jenkins
Yani Hornilla Donato
Mick Liubinskas (Pollenizer)
Phil Morle (Pollenizer)
Tim Fung
Al Bentley
Emer McCann
Vincent Wei
Mark Macleod-Smith
Elise Peate
Alexander Fala
Melanie Perkins
Cliff Obrecht

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.

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.

Never miss an episode:
Subscribe on your favourite platform:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
(Other) CallingOperator.com

Laura Nicol dials into Savannah Black.
For Savannah, being a startup operator is about making the company work in the real world. All the forward planning, mission, and vision stuff is important. That’s the on-paper part. But being an operator is about making it actually work. You can see it in action at Crypto Tax Calculator: four roles, three promotions, each adding new layers of context. Today, she’s Chief of Staff to CEO Shane Brunette at Crypto Tax Calculator.
We get into:
Savannah's late ADHD diagnosis
Working with energy management cycles, hyperfocus windows and stimulation requirements
What broke (and what didn’t) during Crypto Tax Calculator's hypergrowth from 20 to 60 people
The Maker vs Manager schedule that protects deep work (remote-first culture)
Why chaos isn't something we need to fix: "It's where innovation comes from"
"Narrate everything": Learning how to avoid communication breakdowns at scale
Her prioritisation stack: "[Eisenhower Matrix] I will ignore what's urgent till the cows come home"
Also mentioned:
Michael Stocks
Shane Brunette
Beth Mackinnon
Sophie Gerber
Crypto Tax Calculator
Range

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.

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.

Never miss an episode:
Subscribe on your favourite platform:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
(Other) CallingOperator.com