Managed Chaos Podcast

Is your startup vision outpacing your operations? Lian Abad, Director of Operations at The Hive and a fractional revenue operations leader, joins Katrina Purcell to explain why great operators act as the floor, not the hammer. Lian shares the warning signs of the founder trap, and what she learned building infrastructure for an IPO that never happened. She also explains why big-company playbooks can break a scaling startup, and how documenting founder-led sales helps founders stop being the bottleneck. If your processes still live in your head, this episode is for you.🎙️ ABOUT THE GUEST Lian Abad is a fractional Director of Operations with a background spanning luxury hospitality, enterprise SaaS, and founder-led businesses. She spent years in revenue operations and GTM systems for Series A through Enterprise businesses. She’s scaled companies through hypergrowth, mergers & acquisitions and pre-IPO readiness. She now works with early-stage and growth-stage companies as a fractional operator designing the infrastructure that lets founders move fast without the foundation giving way. She is currently Director of Operations at The Hive, a full-service marketing agency.The Hive is building out its own Collective which is a community and marketplace for founders and small business owners. It’s a place to access vetted services from contractors and learn from other women in business navigating all stages of growth.Work with Lian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lianabad/Join the Collective: https://www.withthehive.com/community-1🚀 ABOUT MANAGED CHAOSManaged Chaos is the podcast for startup founders, COOs, and leaders who are tired of the fluff. We give you the startup business rundown in less time than it takes to get to work. Hosted by Katrina Purcell.🔗 CONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.themanagedchaospodcast.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-purcellInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/managedchaospodcast✨ Special Offer from Pobl.ioOutsourcing your US tech talent should not be hard. With pobl.io you will get high-quality teams on demand and enjoy huge cost savings for your business. Try it now at pobl.io. Mention the amazing Managed Chaos when you email us and get a free market data report.#ManagedChaosPodcast #StartupOperations #BusinessOperations #FounderLedSales #ScalingAStartup #Founders #OperationsLeadership #SOPs #StartupGrowth #FractionalCOO

Is AI actually making your business better, or just generating more stuff nobody reads? John Sampogna, co-founder and CEO of Wondersauce, scaled his agency to 100+ people, worked with brands like Nike and L'Oréal, and led the company through an acquisition. He joins Katrina Purcell to explain why slapping AI onto broken processes backfires, why he's done with 300-page AI deliverables, and how his "mental balance sheet" helps founders handle lost clients and surprise resignations without losing sleep. If you're scaling a business and trying to use AI the right way, start here.🎙️ ABOUT THE GUEST John Sampogna is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and CEO with over 15 years of experience crafting award-winning strategies, digital experiences, and campaigns for renowned brands such as Golf.com, Nike, L’Oréal, Scott’s, Sixpenny, NYC’s Brookfield Place, Chandon, and Grubhub, among others.Inspired by his generation growing up with the Internet, Sampogna was among the first in his field to embrace social media as a creative tool for growth, earning recognition on Business Insider’s list of “30 Most Creative People in Advertising Under 30.” His insights have been featured in various media outlets, including Glossy, Adweek, CNBC, Marketing Brew, Ad Age, Yahoo, and Digiday. He has also appeared on globally ranked podcasts, as a judge for prominent industry awards, and on stages like the Brand Innovators Summit at the US Open.Today, he leads a team of over 100 technologists, creatives, strategists, and producers as the Co-Founder and CEO of Wondersauce, a growth and digital transformation agency that helps brands rethink how they're discovered, how customers engage with them, and how the work behind them gets done. Under his leadership, Wondersauce has earned a spot on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list of America's Fastest-Growing Companies, built a roster of premier Fortune 500 clients and innovative startups, and was officially acquired by Project Worldwide, an advertising holding company.Work with Wondersauce: https://www.wondersauce.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsampogna/Wondersauce on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wondersauce🚀 ABOUT MANAGED CHAOSManaged Chaos is the podcast for startup founders, COOs, and leaders who are tired of the fluff. We give you the startup business rundown in less time than it takes to get to work. Hosted by Katrina Purcell.🔗 CONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.themanagedchaospodcast.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-purcellInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/managedchaospodcast✨ Special Offer from Pobl.ioOutsourcing your US tech talent should not be hard. With pobl.io you will get high-quality teams on demand and enjoy huge cost savings for your business. Try it now at pobl.io. Mention the amazing Managed Chaos when you email us and get a free market data report.

Five AI subscriptions and your team is still drowning in manual work? Dr. Jen Blum, astrophysicist, cybersecurity expert, and founder of JenAI Group, has a simple way to find the tasks AI should actually be doing: listen for the profanity. Jen joins Katrina Purcell to break down how small businesses can adopt AI without the hype, why chasing every new tool is a security risk, how to write prompts that stop AI from guessing, and where humans still need to stay in the loop. If you want practical AI automation instead of another subscription, start here.🎙️ ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Jen Blum is an AI and cybersecurity leader, entrepreneur, and self-described “AI Translator” who makes complex technology understandable and useful. After beginning her career as an astrophysicist, she built a career spanning national security, data science, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. She is the founder of JenAI Group, where she helps businesses and professionals move beyond the AI hype and identify practical ways to use AI in their work and everyday lives.Free AI Prompt Grader: https://grader.jenaigroup.com/JenAI Group: https://jenaigroup.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-blum-phd/🚀 ABOUT MANAGED CHAOSManaged Chaos is the podcast for startup founders, COOs, and leaders who are tired of the fluff. We give you the startup business rundown in less time than it takes to get to work. Hosted by Katrina Purcell.🔗 CONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.themanagedchaospodcast.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-purcellInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/managedchaospodcast✨ Special Offer from Pobl.ioOutsourcing your US tech talent should not be hard. With pobl.io you will get high-quality teams on demand and enjoy huge cost savings for your business. Try it now at pobl.io. Mention the amazing Managed Chaos when you email us and get a free market data report.#ManagedChaosPodcast #aiforsmallbusiness #aiautomation #artificialintelligence #promptengineering #smallbusinesstips #aiadoption #cybersecurity #foundertips #businessautomation

Most founders pour everything into landing the deal and forget the deal isn't done until they actually get paid. In this episode, Katrina Purcell talks with Grace Tabib, Founder and Head of Advocacy at DuePay, about why collections deserve the same rigor as sales, how to chase down unpaid invoices without burning the relationship, and the perfectionism spiral (and 4am breaking point) that nearly derailed her own business.🎙️ ABOUT THE GUEST Grace Tabib is the Founder and Head of Advocacy at DUPAY, a subscription-based platform that gives creators, freelancers, agencies, and small businesses lawyer-built contract and invoicing tools, plus unlimited advocacy on unpaid invoices when a client delays, disputes, or ghosts.A Columbia Law graduate with a background in advocacy, supporting women leaders in Asia, food sustainability initiatives in Europe, and unaccompanied minors in California, Grace founded DUPAY in 2023 to bring an affordable, effective solution to the widespread problem of unpaid invoices in the creator economy. Since then, DUPAY has recovered over $1.3M for creators and agencies across 16 countries, with invoices ranging from $47 to $120K.Work with DUPAY: https://www.dupayme.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dupaymeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracetabib/Promo: KATRINA10 for $10 off your first month of Tools + Protection (freelancers/creators) | KATRINA50 for $50 off your first month of an Agency/Small Business subscription🚀 ABOUT MANAGED CHAOSManaged Chaos is the podcast for startup founders, COOs, and leaders who are tired of the fluff. We give you the startup business rundown in less time than it takes to get to work. Hosted by Katrina Purcell.🔗 CONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.themanagedchaospodcast.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-purcellInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/managedchaospodcast✨ Special Offer from Pobl.ioOutsourcing your US tech talent should not be hard. With pobl.io you will get high-quality teams on demand and enjoy huge cost savings for your business. Try it now at pobl.io. Mention the amazing Managed Chaos when you email us and get a free market data report.

Katherine Sprung, pastry chef, Chopped: Sweets winner, and founder of Squish Marshmallows, gets real about what it actually took to open (and eventually close) her NYC storefront. From a Christmas-week flood to firing her first contractor to building a retail team from zero, Katherine shares the messy middle behind the magazine features. Plus: why closing her shop wasn't a failure, and how the pivot made her business leaner, more profitable, and sustainable.🎙️ ABOUT THE GUEST Katherine Sprung is the founder and owner of Squish Marshmallows, host of the podcast and digital series "Sprung On Food", commercial voice over artist, award winning pastry chef, and content creator.Throughout the years, Katherine, and Squish Marshmallows, have been featured on Hallmark Channel, Refinery29, Cosmopolitan, The Chew, Eater, Insider, Money, Thrillist, Forbes, Food Network, Seventeen, among others, and named as a finalist for "Best Dessert" at the Vendy Awards, selected for Marie Claire’s 2019 Power Trip, selected as a Tory Burch Fellowship 2020 Fellow, and winner of Food Network's Chopped Sweets.Outside of work, Katherine is a New Yorker who prefers walking over driving, volunteers at the ACC animal shelter, fosters dogs and is a new dog parent, and conducts unofficial bakery crawls in any new city she visits.Connect: https://katherinesprung.com/ Taste: https://squishmarshmallows.com/ Listen: https://linktr.ee/sprungonfood Look: https://www.instagram.com/iamsprung/ 🚀 ABOUT MANAGED CHAOSManaged Chaos is the podcast for startup founders, COOs, and leaders who are tired of the fluff. We give you the startup business rundown in less time than it takes to get to work. Hosted by Katrina Purcell.🔗 CONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.themanagedchaospodcast.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-purcellInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/managedchaospodcast✨ Special Offer from Pobl.ioOutsourcing your US tech talent should not be hard. With pobl.io you will get high-quality teams on demand and enjoy huge cost savings for your business. Try it now at pobl.io. Mention the amazing Managed Chaos when you email us and get a free market data report.