75. The Announcement Episode
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.
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Transcript
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?
