Calling Operator with Laura Nicol Ep 39. Harry Uffindell on Scaling Partly, The ONE Thing and Lessons from the Climb
Harry Uffindell, Chief People Officer at Partly, shares his dynamic career journey from co-founding a food subscription startup to scaling teams at Airbnb. He discusses the key elements in building a lasting company culture that keeps employees excited for years. Harry recounts lessons learned from leaders at Netflix and Stripe, emphasizing focus as a superpower for operators. He also delves into angel investing basics for newcomers, providing practical advice for navigating the startup landscape.
48:45
Meatmail's Origins
- Harry Uffindell's early startup, Meatmail, arose from a local problem: overpriced supermarket meat.
- They validated their idea with student surveys and quickly scaled to delivering over a ton of meat weekly.
Raising the Bar
- At Tilt, Harry Uffindell learned from experienced colleagues how to create clear, concise plans and communications.
- This experience raised his standards for quality work and strategic thinking.
Country Manager Tips
- Country managers should over-communicate with HQ and build strong relationships through in-person visits.
- Set ambitious internal goals to drive exceptional performance.
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Intro
00:00 • 4min
Entrepreneurial Insights: Challenges and Growth
04:15 • 8min
Navigating Growth and Acquisition
11:47 • 22min
Evolving Role of Operators in Startups
34:17 • 8min
Leveraging Syndicates and Timeless Lessons for Investment Success
42:00 • 2min
Strategies for Productivity and Influence in Leadership
44:08 • 5min
Powerful
Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
Patty McCord
In 'Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility,' Patty McCord challenges traditional HR practices and advocates for a culture based on freedom and responsibility.
Drawing from her experience as the Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, McCord argues against conventional HR methods such as annual performance reviews and retention plans, instead promoting radical honesty, constant communication, and motivating employees through challenging work.
The book provides practical advice on creating a high-performance work environment and emphasizes the importance of transparency, trust, and continuous adaptation to business needs.
No Rules Rules
Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
Erin Meyer
Reed Hastings
In this book, Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer explore the counterintuitive management culture that has driven Netflix's success.
The authors discuss how Netflix's approach, which includes no vacation or expense policies, generous severance for underperforming employees, and a focus on candid feedback, has led to unparalleled innovation and speed.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees, the book provides actionable lessons for leaders on how to build and maintain a highly innovative and adaptable organizational culture.
Delivering happiness
A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose
Tony Hsieh
In 'Delivering Happiness,' Tony Hsieh shares his entrepreneurial journey, from co-founding LinkExchange to leading Zappos to its remarkable success.
The book emphasizes the importance of company culture, customer service, and employee happiness in achieving business success.
Hsieh outlines three core sections: 'Profits,' 'Profits and Passion,' and 'Profits, Passion, and Purpose,' highlighting key lessons such as the superiority of product quality over marketing, the importance of passion in entrepreneurship, and the critical role of company culture in driving success.
He also introduces frameworks for happiness, including perceived control, progress, connectedness, and vision/meaning, and how these can be applied to create a happy and productive workplace.
The hard thing about hard things
building a business when there are no easy answers
Ben Horowitz
In this book, Ben Horowitz shares his personal and often humbling experiences in the tech industry to offer essential advice and practical wisdom.
He addresses various hard decisions and challenges that business leaders face, such as firing friends, managing company culture, handling layoffs, and making tough strategic decisions.
Horowitz emphasizes the importance of honesty, resilience, and adaptability in leadership, drawing from his experiences with companies like Loudcloud and Andreessen Horowitz.
Radical Candor
Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
Kim Scott
Radical Candor by Kim Scott offers a practical approach to management by emphasizing the importance of caring personally and challenging directly.
The book argues that effective managers must find a balance between being empathetic and providing clear, honest feedback.
Scott draws from her experiences at Google and Apple to provide actionable lessons on building strong relationships, giving feedback, and creating a collaborative work environment.
The book introduces the concept of 'radical candor' as the sweet spot between obnoxious aggression and ruinous empathy, and provides tools and strategies for managers to implement this approach in their daily work.
Amp It Up
Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity
Frank Slootman
In 'Amp It Up,' Frank Slootman shares his leadership approach for achieving hypergrowth.
The book emphasizes the importance of raising standards, aligning teams, sharpening focus, picking up the pace, and transforming strategy.
Slootman argues that most leaders can significantly improve their organization's performance without expensive changes to talent, structure, or the business model.
He stresses the need for execution, a strong team culture, and a relentless focus on the mission.
The book provides practical advice on making conflicted choices, promoting collaboration, and maintaining high standards to avoid mediocrity.
The One Thing
The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
Jay Papasan
Gary Keller
The book discusses the benefits of prioritizing a single task and provides strategies for overcoming distractions, building productive habits, and maintaining focus.
It challenges common productivity myths such as multitasking and the idea of a balanced life, and introduces the 'Focusing Question': 'What's the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
' The authors also discuss time blocking, habit-building, and aligning short-term actions with long-term goals to achieve success in various aspects of life.
Great by choice
Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
Morten Hansen
Jim Collins
This book explores why some companies succeed in highly uncertain and chaotic environments while others do not.
Collins and Hansen conducted extensive research, studying companies that beat their industry indexes by at least ten times over fifteen years in turbulent conditions.
They debunk several myths about successful leadership in turbulent times, highlighting key principles such as fanatic discipline, empirical creativity, and productive paranoia.
The authors also examine the role of luck and how successful companies leverage it to their advantage.
The book provides practical insights and strategies for building a great enterprise in unpredictable environments.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie
First published in 1936, 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' by Dale Carnegie is a timeless guide to improving interpersonal skills.
The book is divided into four main sections: Six Ways to Make People Like You, Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking, and Nine Ways to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment.
Carnegie's principles emphasize the importance of genuine interest in others, active listening, and avoiding criticism and argument.
The book offers practical advice on how to build strong relationships, communicate effectively, and influence others by aligning their self-interest with yours.
It has been a cornerstone of personal development and business success for generations.
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:
Harry 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 People
Podcasts:
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)
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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