Calling Operator Ep 39 — Harry Uffindell (Partly, Airbnb, Tilt)

Scaling Startups, Lessons from the Climb, The One Thing

A guest post from Laura Nicol, host of

Calling Operator with Laura

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Harry Uffindell is the Chief People Officer at Partly.

He’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 every day.

• Co-founding and selling MeatMail (a food subscription startup) with Dave Booth, the zero-to-one story.

• “This is a pretty good V1” — what Tim Ryan 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 helping make Australia 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.

Listen On:

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

Harry’s Recommended Frameworks, Podcasts & Books:

• 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:

  • Acquired, a16z, Founders, Tim Ferriss, Crucible Moments, 20VC.

• Frameworks:

  • The One Thing (goal-setting)

  • The Quarterly Rhythm That Fuels Growth and High-Performing Teams (includes duplicatable resources/Notion pages)

  • 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 Stripe brothers (execution)

Ones to Watch & Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:

• Pene Barton (CEO at Crimson Global Academy)

• Kirsti Grant (Chief People Experience Officer at Auror)

• Jamie Beaton (CEO and Co-Founder at Crimson Education)

• Dave Booth (Founder in Residence at Blackbird)

• Mike Duboe (General Partner at Greylock Partners)

• Levi Fawcett (CEO at Partly)

• Tim Ryan (Co-Founder and CEO at Atomic8)

• Andrew Huynh (GTM Strategy Lead, New Products at Culture Amp)

• Dan Brockwell (Co-founder and Head of Program at Earlywork)

Find Harry Online:

• LinkedIn

• Harry’s Newsletter