Curious Leadership with Dominic Monkhouse E353 | Scaling a startup when every customer is high-risk | Shelley Copsey
Some industries are easy to disrupt. Infrastructure isn’t one of them. But by focusing on adoption over features, clarity over complexity, and tempo over comfort, Shelley Copsey has built FYLD into a company reshaping how frontline operations work.
In this episode, she breaks down the real levers of transformation: making work visible, removing friction, earning trust in high-risk environments, and rebuilding leadership as the company scales. Her insights go far beyond infrastructure - they’re a blueprint for any CEO trying to grow a company inside a resistant or complex market.
What you’ll learn:
🔍 The root causes of productivity breakdowns in scaling organisations
🎯 How to build products teams genuinely adopt and rely on
⚠️ Common failure points in organisational transformation — and how to overcome them
⚡ Practical strategies for maintaining operational tempo as your company grows
🧩 How to evolve leadership roles to match the organisation’s next stage
🛰️ Why organisational visibility unlocks high-quality, high-speed decisions
Who should listen:
- Founder–CEOs and execs scaling teams, product, and operations
- Leaders driving change in complex or fast-growing organisations
- Investors and operators focused on AI-enabled execution and productivity
Book recommendations:
Any Human Heart - William Boyd
Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman
About the Guest:
Shelley Copsey is the co-founder and CEO of FYLD, an AI-powered fieldwork platform transforming operations for major infrastructure and utilities companies. She leads the company’s rapid scale-up across multiple regions, helping organisations deliver safer, more efficient, data-driven fieldwork.
With 25+ years across infrastructure, emerging tech, and organisational transformation, Shelley has founded, grown, and led multiple enterprise SaaS ventures. Her experience includes building GeoSLAM into a global geospatial leader (acquired by Faro), serving on the founding board of Coviu through its pandemic hypergrowth, and contributing to several CSIRO spinouts, including Emesent and PaidRight.
A Chartered Accountant with senior roles at CSIRO’s Data61, PwC, and KPMG, she has completed executive education at MIT and Stanford focused on AI and innovation. Her work has been recognised by EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Sifted 100, Tech Nation Future Fifty, and Startups.co.uk’s Hottest UK AI Companies.
Shelley is known for her leadership in AI adoption, scaling SaaS in complex industries, and delivering technology with real operational impact.
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Chapters:
00:02:04 - AI, Skill Shortages, and Industry Fallacies
00:04:25 - Worker Productivity and Motivation
00:06:34 - Shelley’s Move to the UK and Founding Story
00:08:24 - FYLD’s Growth Journey and Market Traction
00:09:25 - AI’s Societal Impact and Future of Work
00:11:45 - How FYLD’s Technology Works
00:13:55 - ROI: Productivity vs. Safety
00:15:28 - Adoption vs. Innovation in Construction
00:17:35 - Productivity Decline and Safety Regulations
00:20:22 - Scaling and CEO Time Management
00:22:08 - Leadership Team Evolution
00:23:58 - Board Composition and Support
00:28:05 - Systems and Scaling: CRM and Sales Process
00:31:30 - Go-to-Market Strategy and Enterprise Sales
00:33:58 - Hiring A-Players and Culture Fit
00:36:29 - Handling Toxic Hires and Fast Exits
00:36:52 - Book Recommendations
00:39:45 - Maintaining Culture During Growth
00:41:05 - Founder’s Role in Induction and Culture
00:42:17 - Work-Life Balance and Passion