Laura Nicol dials into Emer McCann, Head of People & Chief of Staff at Simply Wall St.

Emer scaled Deputy’s people and culture through hypergrowth (70 to 350 employees) before joining Simply Wall St as employee #15 to build from zero. She’s the quiet force behind the chaos. The puppeteer, the glue, the phrasebook for hard conversations.

Inside this conversation:

Irishness, “Notions” and confidence. How cultural conditioning shapes self-advocacy.
When to hire your first people lead (or fractional exec)—and what happens if you wait too long.
The capacity reality of becoming a new mum while building companies: “I can’t do what I used to do. What’s next is understanding my capacity—and not overpromising.”
From solo people operator to team of eight: When Deputy hired its first Chief People Officer, Emer’s one-person people function turned into an eight-person team. “I didn’t know any different—I just thought, oh, this is normal, this is what a startup is. But no, that’s not what a startup is.”
Rebuilding from zero at Simply Wall St: Taking lessons from a wild scale journey—and starting again.
Gap-filling as a career philosophy: Spot the strategic holes no one else sees—and fill those boots.
Why Emer spends time in “small little huddles,” mapping what matters to each person before the big meeting.
Signs of people pleasing yourself into burnout: “You do everything—but don’t do anything really well.”
Her winning formula: First-principles thinking. Solving for what matters. Tying it all back to the business metrics.

Want to connect with Emer? Find her on LinkedIn.

Also mentioned:

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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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Ep 50. Emer McCann on Building People Functions & Scaling Orgs