Ep 28. From Rowing to an All-Women-Founded Exit: Maddi Ingham’s Playbook for Building Unstoppable Chief of Staff Partnerships and Mastering M&A

Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

In this episode, I dial into a conversation with Maddi Ingham, 2x Chief of Staff, now working in stealth on her next venture. Maddi's career is a testament to her commitment to creating a better world for people and the planet. We explore her journey from management consulting to her catch-all role in Verve Super’s acquisition—a remarkable all-women-founded exit celebrated as “the business story we need” by Women’s Agenda. We dive into her experiences solving complex early-stage problems, the role of trust in navigating M&A processes during leadership team parental leave, and the impact of executive partnerships. Maddi also shares her thoughts on gender equality, her operator insights gained from CliftonStrengths, and the importance of building a supportive community of peers.

Episode note:

When discussing the gender pay gap, Maddi uses binary language (e.g., “man” and “woman”). We recognise that this isn’t always the reality for some parents.

Find Maddi:

• Maddi Ingham

Maddi's Northstars and frameworks:

• Why the acquisition of all-women-founded Verve Super is a story worth telling
• The Open Org’s Open Source Policies (…and a Rolodex of publicly sourced policies)
• Future Group's Open Source Policies
• Moving your Super to an ethical superannuation fund
• Startmate programs:
  • Women's Fellowship
  • Ladymates
• Gender Pay Gap
  • How to respond to 9 myths about our gender pay gap problem by Maddi Ingham
  • The Pay Gap Pledge Toolkit
  • WGEA's Developing a Leading Practice Parental Leave Policy
• Airtree’s Open Source VC
• The role of the Chief of Staff
• CliftonStrengths
  • The CliftonStrengths skills assessment
    • Woo theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)
    • Communication theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)
    • Positivity theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)
    • Activator theme (One of Maddi’s top five strengths)
  • The CliftonStrengths Podcast

ANZ operators—ones to watch:

• Phoebe Pincus, COO at Startmate
• Zoe Champtaloup, Director of Operations & General Counsel at Perx Health
• Alex Carr, Chief Of Staff at ReGen Ventures

Other folks mentioned in the episode:

• Christina Hobbs
• Alex Andrews
• Verve Super

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.

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.

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