Organized Chaos

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Nahed Khairallah

21 October 2025

35m 29s

Ep. 32 - Navigating Conflict in Startups

00:00

35:29

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.