I’m a 3X Startup People Operations Leader, Fractional + Interim Exec and former Venture Capital Operating Partner w/ 13+ years building, scaling and fixing companies. I’ve operated from both sides of the table: inside exec teams supporting 4X revenue growth and across a global venture portfolio building alongside 30+ deep-tech founders. Seeing orgs from 1st check through exit has allowed me to develop acute pattern recognition around what drives execution, high performance and growth.
Because people are a company’s largest capital allocation, I believe every People Ops and Talent program should be built to supercharge the business: hire the best, build and maintain talent density, and set people up to do their best work. I position People Ops as a product, aligning programs w/ company stage, measuring what matters and iterating based on data.
As the first People/Talent hire at 4 orgs (Shapeways, Curalate, Stash & boldstart ventures), I’ve built the function from 0→1→N, while in the exec suite, scaling headcount by as much as 1000%. I’ve owned the practice end-to-end, building programs across the employee lifecycle, from recruiting and onboarding through org design, leadership coaching, total rewards, L&D, employee relations and performance.
After advising 100+ founders across DevTools, Fintech, AI Security, HRtech, SaaS, Additive Manufacturing, API Infrastructure and No-Code Development, I’ve learned to spot mis-hires, leadership gaps, org friction and stage mismatches before they hit revenue, runway, velocity or retention.
Data:
• 3X Startup People Operations Exec.
• Former VC Operating Partner
• 4X first People/Talent hire
• 1000%+ headcount growth in <3 yrs
• 4X revenue growth supported
• 100+ founders advised
• $3M+ saved in search fees
• Guest lectured at Columbia University
Most of my work falls into two buckets:
1) Build the People & Talent operating infrastructure (hands-on, from scratch) that allows teams to scale with clarity, including:
- Stage-aligned talent acquisition strategy
- Clear org design and ownership
- Leadership effectiveness, performance management systems and development
- Compensation, leveling, benefits and compliance foundations
- Engagement, retention, and people analytics
- Risk-management, employee relations, cultural Initiatives
2) Repair the early decisions that stop scaling and erode execution long before the numbers reflect it, including:
- Talent misaligned to company stage
- Broken org design and unclear ownership slowing execution
- Leadership gaps and underperformance
- Compensation and leveling friction
- Heavy or fragile processes choking speed
- Culture drift, internal conflict, and employee-relations risk
- Communication breakdowns and inefficient operating cadence