Organized Chaos
Organized Chaos is a podcast dedicated to helping 7-figure companies grow to 9-figure ones by turning HR into rocket fuel for their growth. I'm your host Nahed Khairallah, and I've been helping companies do just that for more than a decade. In each episode, I'll dive into HR topics that have a significant impact on your company's growth and leave you with actionable advice that will help your business reach its full potential.
Episodes
In this episode of the Organized Chaos Podcast, I welcome Katie Barnes to discuss the complexities of startup scaling and the common pitfalls that companies face. Katie is a seasoned expert with over 14 years of startup experience and currently the founder of Rise and Optimize.
The discussion highlights critical areas such as founder bottlenecks, the power of SOPs, and the importance of bringing team members into the process.
Link...
In this episode of the Organized Chaos podcast, the co-founders of Buddies HR, Fabian Pinel and J.Y Delmotte, share their unconventional journey from Y Combinator to a successful bootstrapped company. They discuss their early career as software engineers, their initial ventures in automation and influencer marketing, and the critical decision to build Buddies HR without seeking traditional venture capital. Fabian and JY emphasize t...
In this episode, I explore six transformative trends that are fundamentally reshaping the HR landscape.
The discussion covers how traditional, compliance-focused HR is being challenged by business leaders who demand more strategic value, while AI technology is automating much of HR's transactional work. I examine the growing convergence between HR and IT functions, the complete redesign of HR roles toward more strategic positions, a...
In this episode, I sit down with Mark Hunter, also known as The Sales Hunter, a globally recognized sales consultant and bestselling author. Mark shares his invaluable insights on the unique challenges and strategies for building and scaling a high-performing sales team within the dynamic environment of an early-stage startup.
We explore the common pitfalls founders face, the essential traits to look for when hiri...
In this episode of the Organized Chaos podcast, I welcome Kristy Hissa, General Manager at Kairos, as we explore the pervasive issue of unproductive meetings, which can tie up to 70% of company payroll.
Kristy shares her journey from a VP of Operations in startup land to becoming an entrepreneur tackling the meeting conundrum. With insights into the research that shows companies waste $2 million annually on unnecessary meetings, Kri...
In this episode of Organized Chaos, I sit down with Mike White, a seasoned HR executive turned founder of Secchi, an innovative employee relationship management platform.
Drawing from two decades of experience in major corporations like Caterpillar and Master Lock, Mike shares his journey and the insights that led him to tackle the pressing challenges of employee engagement and retention in the manufacturing sect...
In this episode of the Organized Chaos podcast, I interview Anirudh Narayan, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Lyzr AI, a platform innovating the use of AI agents to automate business workflows.
Anirudh shares insights from his journey and discusses the rapid evolution of AI technologies in business operations. While AI brings increased productivity, there's an ongoing debate about its role in HR, with some worried about losing...
In this episode of the Organized Chaos podcast, host Nahed Khairallah is joined by Tushar Makhija, co-founder of TeamOhana. Tushar shares his unique entrepreneurial journey, from his humble beginnings in India to building a successful workforce intelligence platform. The discussion delves into the challenges of scaling a business, the importance of a strong network, and the crucial role of people in a startup's success. Tushar also...
In this episode, I had a great conversation with Annemarie Penny, Founder of Dreamore.
Annemarie shared some fascinating insights from a 14-year study on startup founders and leaders. It really highlighted the different mindsets and personalities needed to thrive in a startup compared to a bigger, more established company. We explored what a healthy startup culture looks lik...
Entrepreneurship takes a significant mental toll, with 72% of entrepreneurs reporting mental health concerns according to research. The glamorous portrayal on social media contrasts sharply with the reality of 70+ hour workweeks, financial pressures, and personal sacrifices many founders experience.
In this episode, I'll talk about the entrepreneur's struggle to maintain boundaries between work and personal life, leading to burnout ...
In this episode, host Nahed Khairallah speaks with Vanessa Gilardi about her journey as a global people leader who has navigated both corporate giants and nimble startups. Drawing from her experiences at companies like Moonpay and Blockchain.com, Vanessa reveals how HR functions differ fundamentally between large organizations and startups—with corporate environments offering structured processes but slower change, while startups d...
In this episode of Organized Chaos, host Nahed Khairallah welcomes Melissa Theiss, Head of People Ops at Kit. With a decade of experience scaling companies from 20 to 1000+ employees, Melissa shares invaluable insights for startups and people leaders. This episode is essential listening for founders, startup leaders, and anyone leading the people function in a growing organization.
Episode Highlights:
- Melissa's unique jour...
This episode explores the fundamental role of organizational structure in startup success. I cover the relationship between organizational design and decision-making processes, the importance of aligning structure with strategic objectives, and practical considerations for managing growth. Specific attention is given to reporting relationships, span of control, and the evolution of organizational layers as startups scale.
In this episode of the Organized Chaos podcast, I delve into the concept of Talent Density. This topic was popularized by Netflix's co-founder Reed Hastings and former Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord.
During the episode, I will walk you through the importance of talent density for scaling startups and give you actionable tips for how to achieve and maintain talent density in your startup.
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In this episode of Organized Chaos, I explore the crucial shifts and challenges founders face when transitioning from a scrappy startup to a rapidly scaling organization.
Discover why the mindset and habits that help you launch a company can become roadblocks once you begin to grow. You’ll learn practical tips for delegating effectively, preparing your company’s foundation for expansion, focusing on strategic cash flow management, m...
In this episode, I explore the transformative impact of AI on HR, especially in startup environments where budgets are tight and efficiency is crucial.
I share firsthand insights on using AI tools—like ChatGPT, Claude, and Deepseek—to handle hiring, compliance, workforce planning, performance, and more.
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Got a Question or Topic Suggestion?
In this episode, I have an interesting discussion with Brian Thomas from The Digital Executive. We focused on how HR can help startups scale and shared unconventional HR strategies that enable startups to grow from 7-figures to 9-figures.
Key themes discussed:
- How global cultural differences can influence your approach to scaling
- The three main reasons why startups fail
- Critical HR practices that contribute to scaling
- Unconventional...
In today's challenging economic climate, many fast-growing companies face the difficult decision of managing growth while avoiding painful layoffs. We'll deep into proven strategies that help companies scale sustainably without resorting to workforce reductions. From implementing variable compensation models and building a strategic hiring culture to maintaining financial transparency and investing in workforce flexibility, we'll e...
In this episode, I tackle a critical topic that often flies under the radar in the startup world: the distinction between hiring for capacity and hiring for capability. Understanding this difference is essential for your company's growth and financial health.
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Got a Question or Topic Suggestion?
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Reach ...
In this episode, I dive deep into the four crucial phases of scaling hiring processes as companies grow, from early-stage startups to enterprise-level organizations. Learn how hiring needs and challenges evolve at different employee thresholds: 1-50, 50-100, 100-500, and 500+ employees.
Key topics covered:
- The evolution of the hiring processes as a startup scales
- Six critical challenges companies face while scaling
- Actiona...
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