A Chief of Staff with David Nebinski

Three-time Chief of Staff Elliott Fisher returns back on the podcast with David Nebinski to break down the Executive Operator (EO) role from his viral Substack essay, “The Rise of the Executive Operator.” He explains how the EO role differs from a Chief of Staff role, why AI-driven information overload is creating the role, and why Chiefs of Staff should add deliberate friction in an AI-native world.Get involved with A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Claire Blood-Cheney, Chief of Staff at Abacum, talks with David Nebinski about how she’s building a lean “SWAT team” of generalists to take on ambiguous, cross-functional projects at a fast-growing Series B startup. She covers how she spots candidates’ “spikes” in interviews, how the Chief of Staff role differs from a Founder’s Associate, and why being “AI-pilled” is now a must for generalist operators.Get involved with A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Ryan Pershad talks with David Nebinski, Founder of A Chief of Staff, about what the Chief of Staff role is and is not. He recently started his fourth Chief of Staff role. Ryan explains the different CoS archetypes, why he thinks an “AI Chief of Staff” misses the point, what to learn in your first 90 days, how to build relationships, why he keeps coming back to the role.Get involved with A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Chief of Staff turned Director of Operations Audrey Ware joins David Nebinski to share how she went from never having used an API to building AI tools. They cover using Claude Code to build an AI email drafter, managing AI costs, and how to use AI without losing your critical thinking. Enjoy! Get involved with A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Mutiara Siregar, Chief of Staff at a private equity-backed company, talks with David Nebinski about how the role works when there's a clock on the exit. She covers driving the projects to hit targets, pitching the board, working with teams 12 hours away, and giving quick, objective feedback.Get involved with A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Nadia Koritareva, Chief of Staff at AngelList, shares how she uses Claude to handle follow-ups, scheduling, and accountability so she can focus on judgment and strategy. She also talks about her vision for personalized, AI-driven internal comms, redesigning executive meeting cadences, and why she started her Substack, Full Attention.Learn more about A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Cat Jordan, Chief of Staff at Crystal Venture Partners, talks with David Nebinski about why AI can take over repetitive tasks but can't replace a Chief of Staff's judgment, relationships, or negotiation skills. She shares how she helped build an AI-native venture fund, the tools Chiefs of Staff are using right now, and what she wishes she'd known before taking the role.Learn more about A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Lauren Stein joins David Nebinski to unpack how the Chief of Staff role is evolving in the AI era — from "executive engineer" to startups' earliest hire. They dig into why Founders now want a CoS sometimes before they even launch, what AI-native companies expect from the role, and Lauren's advice for anyone interviewing: find the founder, not the job.Learn more about A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Vivek Udaykumar, who works at immigration startup Lima, talks with David Nebinski about how he networked his way into an Ops & Strategy role as an immigrant with zero connections in the U.S. He breaks down how to build relationships with Founders at events, communicate effectively once you're in the role, and use AI to elevate your work.Learn more about A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com

Chelsea Orcutt, Chief of Staff to a COO, joins David Nebinski to talk about what the role really looks like day-to-day. They dig into emotional regulation as a core CoS skill, the "unscalable but impactful" things worth keeping human, and how to spot the green flags of a great Principal.Learn more about A Chief of Staff community and events: www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit achiefofstaff.substack.com