The Chief of Staff Podcast Scaling Without Bureaucracy: How Lu Borko Builds High-Trust, High-Growth Teams
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Nov 12, 2025 
Lu Borko, Chief of Staff at ManyChat, shares her insights on scaling companies without bureaucracy, drawing from her experience at Deliveroo and Intercom. She emphasizes the importance of building systems that support growth while keeping teams agile. Lu discusses the essential elements of executive team cohesion and how to lead without authority by connecting the right dots. She also explores creating trust through vulnerability during offsites and how to resolve cross-functional conflicts effectively. Learn strategies for operational excellence and hiring for ownership in fast-paced environments.
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From Delivery Ops To Product Operations
- Lu Borko learned operational fundamentals at Deliveroo and Intercom across delivery ops and R&D functions.
- Those roles taught her hiring for expansion and how to operate with engineers in product-first environments.
Hiring 150 People In One Year
- At Intercom Lu led hiring during hypergrowth and added ~150 people in one year.
- She treats that experience as a reusable playbook for planning and executing scale.
Make The Exec Team Your First Lever
- Focus first on making the executive team effective to drive top-down organizational impact.
- Build executive rhythms and operational practices before rolling systems company-wide.
