Ep 55. Anna Prell on Building Forage, Being Acquired and Building Again

Laura Nicol dials into Anna Prell, VP Operations at Ivo. Anna reminds us why being an operator is a) so damn exciting and b) the ultimate leadership testing ground:  "In a startup, you can be your own version of a founder. You’re the founder of whatever it is you’re in charge of. You keep testing, learning, and scaling until it works."  Inside this conversation: Moving to the US in 2020—and operating inside ANZ companies state-side Shifting from Chief of Staff to leading a function (Ops > Customer Success) Learning how to manage people EAB acquiring Forage—Anna’s role in the story Finding a home in EAB post-acquisition The operator-founder partnership. Pure MAGIC Building again at Ivo as VP Ops How she found the “right fit” Building the infrastructure that helps teams scale Want to connect with Anna? Find her on LinkedIn. Also mentioned: Olga Eippert Min-Kyu Jung Jacob Duligall Amy Glancey Clara Ma Alicia Wells Pre-interview chats: Katie Noonan (Listen to Katie's Calling Operator episode) Tom Brunskill 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.   Never miss an episode: Subscribe on your favourite platform: Spotify Apple Podcasts (Other) CallingOperator.com