Laura Nicol connects with Liani Strauss, Chief of Staff at Tracksuit.

Liani’s background in industrial engineering gave her structure. Startups gave her speed. Today, she works at the intersection of strategy, systems, and people—helping shape how Tracksuit scales from the inside out.

Inside the conversation:

• Early days of BizOps at Tracksuit: “We were the bridge—setting up scaffolding for new functions, then stepping back so specialists could help them fly.”
• Evolving from "make it work" to "make it scale". How a Zapier x Google Sheets x DocuSign piece of art turned into a multi-jurisdictional global ESOP system.
• Why Chief of Staff effectiveness hinges on intentional relationship design. Liani's experience building deep trust with CEO and co-founder Connor Archbold
• Movement unplugged. Her go-to for staying grounded
• A lesson in acceptance... a Blue Crush story
• Why continuing to invest in relationships is her theme of her year
• Getting creative under pressure (especially when the fridge is empty)
• Her quiet superpower: regulating emotional temperature in high-stakes moments—something others spotted in her long before she named it in herself.

Want to connect with Liani? Find her on LinkedIn.

Also mentioned:

• Daniel Lombard
• Alexandra Gnoss
• Matthew Herbert
• Christine van Hoffen
• Julian Rapattoni
• Harry Flett
• Dan Danilov
• Dave from Legal
• Jason Wilby

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.

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