Organized Chaos

Podcast by Nahed Khairallah

Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos is a podcast dedicated to helping 7-figure companies grow to 9-figure ones by turning HR into rocket fuel for their growth. I'm your host Nahed Khairallah, and I've been helping companies do just that for more than a decade. In each episode, I'll dive into HR topics that have a significant impact on your company's growth and leave you with actionable advice that will help your business reach its full potential.

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Latest episodes

04 November 2025

Ep. 33 - Turning Startup Challenges into Opportunities

In this episode of Organized Chaos, I am joined by Vijay Rajendran, an executive coach, advisor, and author who helps startup founders navigate their biggest challenges: fundraising, sales, and people management.

You'll learn about:

The Four-Phase Funding Framework
- Phase 1 - Storytelling: Moving beyond the pitch to craft a compelling narrative about your company's purpose and vision.
- Phase 2 - Organization: The importance of preparation, including having your data room and deck in order.
- Phase 3 - Strategic Outreach: Treating fundraising like an enterprise sale by targeting investors for whom your business is a perfect fit, avoiding the demoralizing "spray and pray" method.
- Phase 4 - Closing with Confidence: Why founders must aggressively project manage the closing process to avoid last-minute pitfalls.
Founder-Led Sales and Product-Market Fit
- How to create a value proposition that speaks directly to what customers value (e.g., speed, cost savings) rather than just your own passion for the product.
- Identifying the early signs of product-market fit, where you feel a "pull" from the market.
Scaling Teams and Organizational Structure:
- The common mistake of copying traditional corporate org structures and the importance of designing a structure that enables your specific business strategy.
- The evolution of a founder from "Chief Everything Officer" to a "Chief Enablement Officer."
Building a Resilient Company Culture:
- Culture isn't about handbooks; it's about intentionally designing how your team works together based on shared values and purpose.
- If you don't define your culture, it will form on its own and can lead to resentment and dysfunction.
- A company's culture must be aligned with its value proposition to the market to ensure long-term success.

Resources Mentioned:

Book: The Funding Framework by Vijay Rajendran
Website: mystartupsystem.com
Substack: My Startup System

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21 October 2025

Ep. 32 - Navigating Conflict in Startups

In this episode of Organized Chaos, I interview Daneal Charney, a seasoned HR executive and leadership coach who has been in the trenches with scaling startups.

We dive deep into the challenges and best practices for scaling startups through effective leadership, founder-team fit, healthy conflict, and strategic HR. The episode features real anecdotes, examples, and actionable advice for founders and startup leaders.

Key Discussion Topics:

Introduction to Daneal Charney: Daneal’s journey from her early days in leadership development to consulting with startups, eventually founding her own company, 5X. She discusses her passion for leadership, coaching, and startup culture.
Mindset of Startup Leaders: The conversation covers the critical “ownership” mentality required to succeed in a startup. Daneal emphasizes personal responsibility, growth, and being proactive in both individual contributor and leadership roles.
Founder Stage Fit & Leadership Challenges: Insight into the concept of “founder stage fit,” the importance of aligning founder roles with company growth, and the difficulties many founders face when it's time to “pass the baton” as their business evolves.
Team Dynamics and Conflict Management: Healthy conflict is crucial for scale. Daneal shares stories about radical candor, toxicity, and the costs of “obnoxious aggression.” She offers strategies for building cultures where healthy, open debate leads to better decisions.
HR’s Role in Growing Startups: When is the right time to bring in an HR leader? They examine scenarios from fast growth and acquisitions to distributed teams and organizational transformation. The pros and cons of full-time, fractional, and operational HR models are discussed, along with advice for founders considering their first HR hire.
Closing Reflections & Contact Info: Daneal provides guidance to HR professionals and coaches on being strong business advisors and business-centric in their mindset. She closes by sharing that she can be reached via LinkedIn for listeners who want to learn more.

Links:

Daneal Charney's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/42Ybydh

Visit the Organized Chaos website for exclusive content and HR resources for scaling startups.

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07 October 2025

Ep. 31 - Secrets to Sustainable Startup Growth

In this episode of the Organized Chaos Podcast, I welcome Katie Barnes to discuss the complexities of startup scaling and the common pitfalls that companies face. Katie is a seasoned expert with over 14 years of startup experience and currently the founder of Rise and Optimize.

The discussion highlights critical areas such as founder bottlenecks, the power of SOPs, and the importance of bringing team members into the process.

Links:

Katie Barnes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-barnes-operations-leader
Rise and Optimize website: https://www.riseandoptimize.com
Katie's Substack: https://riseandoptimize.substack.com

Visit https://organizedchaos.fyi for exclusive content.

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23 September 2025

Ep. 30 - Escaping the VC Trap: Lessons from Buddies HR Founders

In this episode of the Organized Chaos podcast, the co-founders of Buddies HR, Fabian Pinel and J.Y Delmotte, share their unconventional journey from Y Combinator to a successful bootstrapped company. They discuss their early career as software engineers, their initial ventures in automation and influencer marketing, and the critical decision to build Buddies HR without seeking traditional venture capital. Fabian and JY emphasize the importance of understanding product market fit and the pitfalls of spending excessively before achieving it. Their experiences offer valuable insights for entrepreneurs navigating growth and market challenges.

Links:

BuddiesHR website: https://buddieshr.com/
Fabien's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabienpinel/
J.Y's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanyves-delmotte/

For more content, visit https://organizedchaos.fyi

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09 September 2025

Ep. 29 - The 6 Trends Shaking Up HR in 2025

This episode explores six major trends transforming HR, from the shift away from compliance-focused practices to a more strategic, technology-driven role. It highlights how AI is automating transactional tasks, HR and IT functions are converging, and roles are being redesigned into smaller, more strategic teams. The conversation also covers the rise of fractional HR, where experienced professionals support multiple organizations. Listeners gain practical insights into how HR is evolving into a function that directly drives business outcomes.

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26 August 2025

Ep. 28 - Scaling Sales Teams at Early Stage Startups

In this episode, renowned sales expert Mark Hunter, "The Sales Hunter," breaks down the essentials of building and scaling a successful sales engine for early-stage startups. Discover the common pitfalls founders face, from over-promising on product features to hiring the wrong type of sales talent for a dynamic startup environment. Mark provides a clear playbook on "selling what's on the truck," fostering a high-performance culture, and understanding the financial metrics that truly drive growth. This is a must-listen for any founder or leader looking to navigate the startup chaos of sales and scale their business effectively.

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