In this episode we chat about what's going on in our lives, share some life changing news, and announce the new seasoned approach.
Going forward, we'll be releasing 10 episodes at a time, starting June 5th 2025.
Join our WhatsApp community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/J8w0bDV0pBtHUPzlvmzTgb
Stay tuned!
Hello everyone, and welcome to
Speaker:another episode of The Operations
Speaker:Room, a podcast for Carlos.
Speaker:I am Brandon Metzinger, joined by my
Speaker:lovely co-host Bethany Errors.
Speaker:So today we have a very unusual
Speaker:episode. I wouldn't even call it an
Speaker:episode. I think it's just a bit of
Speaker:a PSA announcement for Brandon
Speaker:and Bethany, I think.
Speaker:I think we can still call it an
Speaker:episode. Here we go.
Speaker:Debating already starting it.
Speaker:You also didn't ask me how I was.
Speaker:Oh yeah, he right.
Speaker:I just cut straight to the chase.
Speaker:How are you, Bethany?
Speaker:I'm exhausted
Speaker:and I'm sure many of you have
Speaker:seen the news now, although not
Speaker:everyone.
Speaker:But peak was acquired
Speaker:by UiPath
Speaker:earlier this week, and
Speaker:so that might be
Speaker:for those keen listeners of you
Speaker:noticing that I've not been around
Speaker:quite as much as usual, or maybe
Speaker:sharing as much as I have in the
Speaker:past, because it has been
Speaker:an unbelievably exhausting
Speaker:an intense period event
Speaker:in my life.
Speaker:Done ten fundraising rounds.
Speaker:And I thought raising money was
Speaker:Bessemer was the hardest thing I've
Speaker:ever done in my life.
Speaker:And now this beats
Speaker:it by miles.
Speaker:Would that be the right word to use?
Speaker:That sounds about right.
Speaker:Just massive.
Speaker:So that
Speaker:plus Brandon, I don't know.
Speaker:Do you want to share your news?
Speaker:Yeah. So I have transitioned
Speaker:from consulting over the past two
Speaker:years back to full time employment.
Speaker:So I've now joined an organization
Speaker:called Orbital Witness.
Speaker:And I've been there now for
Speaker:three weeks. So getting back into
Speaker:the full time groove.
Speaker:I think from a mental
Speaker:mindshare, focus and effort
Speaker:point of view feels different from
Speaker:consulting this with consulting.
Speaker:You know, you kind of drop in and
Speaker:you tell them useful things.
Speaker:You do a bit of work here and there
Speaker:or deliverables and so on, but
Speaker:you're only responsible for like a
Speaker:very limited task that you're
Speaker:trying to deliver on.
Speaker:Whereas being in a company full
Speaker:time, it's like you need to
Speaker:do two things at once, which is
Speaker:start to provide immediate value as
Speaker:soon as possible on the right
Speaker:things, but also very much
Speaker:understand the business in totality
Speaker:and start to think and shape the
Speaker:business for what you need to
Speaker:achieve over the next 12, 18, 24
Speaker:months. So I think just purely from
Speaker:a focus standpoint, I think both for
Speaker:yourself and myself, the past
Speaker:couple of weeks have been a little
Speaker:bit different.
Speaker:A little bit different is slightly
Speaker:understatement. Like drowning
Speaker:underwater is
Speaker:maybe what it has been for me.
Speaker:I noticed a difference in what was
Speaker:happening.
Speaker:Our calendar and scheduling between
Speaker:the two of us was getting harder.
Speaker:And then I noticed in our
Speaker:conversations you were also
Speaker:more tired than usual.
Speaker:So there's a bit of a combination of
Speaker:things happening. And it wasn't
Speaker:until quite recently that you shared
Speaker:the news with me in terms of the
Speaker:acquisition itself.
Speaker:So then retrospectively, it all made
Speaker:sense of like, oh, okay, this this
Speaker:makes tremendous sense.
Speaker:It's really difficult because it's
Speaker:all under NDA.
Speaker:You can't share the news with
Speaker:anybody.
Speaker:And just being able to say, oh, work
Speaker:is really busy is just such an
Speaker:understatement, but there's nothing
Speaker:else to be able to share.
Speaker:And so when the news went
Speaker:live this week, it was such
Speaker:a relief to finally be able to say
Speaker:to friends and family, to
Speaker:you, Brandon, to so many
Speaker:people. This is why you haven't
Speaker:seen me since January.
Speaker:This is why I'm exhausted and short
Speaker:tempered. Like letting my children
Speaker:know that like their absent mother
Speaker:was for this reason.
Speaker:You're lost in the abyss and vortex
Speaker:of an acquisition.
Speaker:Well, but it's not only that, but
Speaker:it's the fact that it's all under
Speaker:NDA. And so you can't share it with
Speaker:anybody. There's, like, no release
Speaker:valve. It's just very
Speaker:lonely. An intense place to be.
Speaker:So I'm very happy I can talk about
Speaker:it.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:So the burden is lifted.
Speaker:What does that mean for our podcast
Speaker:now going forward? So now that I'm
Speaker:back full time, you're
Speaker:in this new world of the acquisition
Speaker:and this larger parent company and
Speaker:into a slightly different role
Speaker:perhaps. I know, but podcast
Speaker:wise, where are we at?
Speaker:Don't worry. We're not setting you
Speaker:up for a.
Speaker:And this is the last episode of
Speaker:the Operations Room, which it might
Speaker:sound like.
Speaker:What we're going to be doing is
Speaker:moving to seasons, and
Speaker:seasons will just make it more
Speaker:possible for us to continue the
Speaker:podcast, let's say.
Speaker:So our plan is
Speaker:to produce ten
Speaker:episode seasons multiple
Speaker:times through the year.
Speaker:I don't think we can quite commit to
Speaker:how many multiple times throughout
Speaker:the year that will be, and that way
Speaker:we can continue to
Speaker:source great guests,
Speaker:have the energy to do great
Speaker:interviews, and share our insights
Speaker:without it being a scramble
Speaker:at the last day of the week.
Speaker:And so, Brandon, when can they
Speaker:expect our next episode?
Speaker:So we will drop our first inaugural
Speaker:proper season come June 5th.
Speaker:So we're looking at a few months
Speaker:from now, but rest assure
Speaker:that we will deliver a
Speaker:great season for you.
Speaker:We have some great guests that are
Speaker:lined up and I think the reality
Speaker:between the two of us is that, you
Speaker:know, as real practitioners of the
Speaker:craft we're living at,
Speaker:you know, this is not armchair or c
Speaker:those that are retired post five
Speaker:years type of thing where you're in
Speaker:the grind alongside of everyone
Speaker:else. You know, in terms of our
Speaker:listeners, the life that we live in,
Speaker:the kind of the experiences that we
Speaker:have and that we can share back to
Speaker:the community.
Speaker:Thanks for mentioning community,
Speaker:Brandon. So what we're also
Speaker:doing is
Speaker:making sure that
Speaker:you still have
Speaker:great content and access
Speaker:to us as we switch in two seasons.
Speaker:So there's two things that
Speaker:I asking you to do today.
Speaker:The first one is, if you've not
Speaker:subscribed to our Substack already,
Speaker:please go and subscribe.
Speaker:It's the operations room on
Speaker:Substack.
Speaker:We are going to be
Speaker:turning a lot of
Speaker:our previous content,
Speaker:insights, ideas,
Speaker:advice from our guests into
Speaker:tools that you can use
Speaker:to easily embed what
Speaker:we've learned, what you've learned
Speaker:into your working life.
Speaker:And we're going to be giving you
Speaker:guides on
Speaker:how to run weekly
Speaker:meetings. What cadences
Speaker:work for us, what don't, what
Speaker:kind of 1 to 1
Speaker:agendas you should be running,
Speaker:and also list a bunch of resources
Speaker:that our guests have shared over
Speaker:the years.
Speaker:So please do
Speaker:sign up to our Substack and get
Speaker:weekly content that way.
Speaker:We are also launching a
Speaker:community. We're going to try it on
Speaker:WhatsApp because I hate slack
Speaker:communities and I don't understand
Speaker:Mighty Networks.
Speaker:Yeah, it's not great.
Speaker:I would say it's not.
Speaker:And then the slack ones are just
Speaker:really noisy and there's 400
Speaker:different channels. And I already
Speaker:work with slack all the time.
Speaker:So we are going to be
Speaker:launching a WhatsApp community.
Speaker:We don't quite know how it's going
Speaker:to go, so we're going to limit it to
Speaker:a founding 50 members
Speaker:if you would like to be part of that
Speaker:founding 50.
Speaker:Please go to our
Speaker:LinkedIn, our website
Speaker:speaker notes.
Speaker:Find the link there to join.
Speaker:We're going to be offering a monthly
Speaker:Ask Me Anything between me and
Speaker:Brandon.
Speaker:Weekly topics and
Speaker:tips.
Speaker:Also exclusive behind the scenes
Speaker:content. Things that maybe we can't
Speaker:share in a wider audience,
Speaker:but we can share just with
Speaker:our founding 50.
Speaker:We'll also be asking members for
Speaker:your insights, what you've learned,
Speaker:tips and tricks for our
Speaker:audience as well, and will be
Speaker:having some exclusive giveaways
Speaker:for our community.
Speaker:So please go and
Speaker:have a look in any
Speaker:of the ways that you talk to the
Speaker:operations room and find the link
Speaker:for that.
Speaker:Wow, that sounds like a shit ton of
Speaker:stuff. So not only are we not
Speaker:canceling the podcast, we're in fact
Speaker:wrapping it up, but it's like we
Speaker:have seasons. We have all sorts of
Speaker:other things happening as well.
Speaker:So that sounds pretty phenomenal.
Speaker:I'm very excited.
Speaker:So with that, unless
Speaker:we want to talk about our
Speaker:experiences in the last few weeks.
Speaker:Find out what it's like to be
Speaker:acquired by a listed American
Speaker:company. I think that will
Speaker:definitely be one of the preambles
Speaker:that maybe I can get
Speaker:with a bit more, a bit more insight,
Speaker:with a little bit more distance.
Speaker:Right now, I'm still very much in
Speaker:the throes of it.
Speaker:And equally, I will be sharing
Speaker:experiences of the series B
Speaker:venture capital pathway
Speaker:for an organization where we're
Speaker:ramping into our metric sense.
Speaker:We're looking at a series B later
Speaker:this year where we're in the venture
Speaker:capital game years, and I'll also
Speaker:share that side of the equation.
Speaker:I'm reminiscing.
Speaker:Remembering those days.
Speaker:Yes, small and cute
Speaker:companies that are highly adorable.
Speaker:Oh, it sounds wonderful.
Speaker:So with that, why don't we park it
Speaker:here and we will see you in June?