Doug Hanna, President & COO at Kustomer and former COO at Grafana Labs, is renowned for his expertise in customer service and operational excellence, having significantly contributed to the growth of companies like Help.com and Zendesk. During his tenure, he helped scale Grafana Labs from a team of 70 to over a thousand employees.  Doug's direct reports praise his hyper-rationality, exceptional context-switching abilities, and a balanced approach to management that marries analytical...

Lauren Werner is the COO of Shop Shops, a live stream shopping app with a talented team of 50-60 employees across five countries. She is an experienced operations executive with a record of piloting, scaling, and managing new businesses and marketplaces. Lauren is lauded by her direct reports as a stabilizing force with an unflappable presence, known for her empathy, clear communication, and methodical approach to managing and scaling distributed teams. In this episode, Annie Riley, Founder...

Sean Twersky is Head of Business Operations at Even Up, and previously Instacart. He has 15+ years of experience that thrives on bringing structure to even the most chaotic situations and scaling for long term success.  Sean’s direct reports across various companies describe him as a bright, adaptable leader and a great equalizer who successfully manages diverse teams. On this episode, host Annie Riley, Founder of Fort Light, explores Sean's methods for helping  direct reports grow in...

Brittany Hall is the Head of Customer Experience at ReMatter, a series A startup. She is also known for her notable work at companies like GoGuardian, People.ai and DataGrail. Over the past decade, Brittney has built a reputation for her outstanding ability to build and scale customer-facing teams from scratch.  Brittany's direct reports describe her as an exceptional leader who is clear, honest, and genuinely caring. They highlight her ability to build high-performing teams and manage...

Zayd Badwan is a founding team member and VP of Enterprise at Uplimit. Before joining Uplimit, Zayd scaled the Customer Success team at Coursera. With 15+ years of experience in learning and development startups, he brings insights from working closely with global governments and nonprofits, and industry-leading companies including Google and Salesforce.  Zayd is described by his direct reports as a positive leader with a knack for building trust, making work fun, and bringing relentless...

Morgane Palomares is the VP of Marketing at Vercel, and is known for her significant roles at GitHub, Zendesk and Change.org.  Morgane's direct reports praise her exceptional leadership, high standards, and ability to create a trusting and safe environment. They describe her as 'superhuman,' 'aggressive,' and 'a winner,' highlighting her unique ability to balance high demands with personal care for her team.   In this episode, Annie Riley, the founder of Fort Light, talks with Morgane about...

Best Manager Ever reveals the secrets of successful management and empowers leaders to build winning teams. Join a community dedicated to sharing insights and stories from the most successful and beloved leaders in the startup world. All guests have been nominated as the “best manager ever” by a recent direct report. Before each interview, we go behind the guest’s back to collect feedback and stories from their team about what they’re *actually* like to work for. Then we sit down with the...