A note from JooBee
You earn trust when you understand the business
This month, we explore how strategic growth often begins with seeing the business through a different lens. When you understand how founders and investors think, you ask better questions, contribute more meaningfully and build greater trust with your executive team.
Business acumen gives your HR (or any specialist) expertise greater influence.
Here's what we've been learning, building and celebrating across Learngility this month.
Featured story
Andrei earned exec trust by asking business questions
“From Module 0, the biggest shift for me was this:
I’m not an HR leader, I’m a Business Leader. That reframing completely changed how I show up in my monthly CEO and CFO meetings."
Andrei Perevalov, Head of People Ops & Business Systems
For a long time, Andrei had access to the business metrics. What he didn't have was the confidence that he truly understood them. Finance felt like a language spoken around him, and without knowing how investors actually think, it was hard to connect the dots and see the full picture of what was happening in the business, and why.
That gap is uncomfortable to admit. Most People leaders just work around it, but Andrei decided to close it.
After working through the Finance modules in STEP UP MBA, especially how investors think, he understood the numbers better, and he felt ready to have the conversation he'd been putting off. So he booked a flight from Malaysia to Vietnam. Working fully remote, he knew the bigger topics were easier to have in person. He approached it with genuine curiosity, asking direct questions to better understand the business, the financial realities, and how investors think.
The answers came and more than he expected. He discovered the executive team had been wrestling with some of the same concerns he'd been carrying alone. Suddenly he was inside those conversations, giving input on org changes the business may need.
It's still early, but the shift is already visible. Andrei has been trusted with greater responsibility and is increasingly seen as an operator who contributes beyond People Operations, Talent Acquisition and Business Systems. Today, he is also taking on more cross-functional work, helping the executive team operate more as one team.
Andrei always had the HR capability. What STEP UP MBA gave him was the business context to match and that's what turned his expertise into influence.
Looking forward to seeing where the next few months take you, Andrei. 💜
Celebration this month
STEP UP Boardroom: Summer Dinner
One of the things I love most about STEP UP Boardroom is that it's more than a community of strategic HR leaders. It's where HR leaders scaling VC-backed start-ups build lasting relationships with peers who truly get the job.
That's why, once and sometimes twice a year, we swap Zoom for dinner.
The Boardroom is built on 3 principles:
Niche, not broad – everyone owns HR strategy in a VC-backed start-up at the Build-to-Scale stage. You don't have to explain your context; they already get it.
Relationships over transactions – there are no playbooks for strategic HR. We build trusted relationships where we can challenge, support and learn from one another.
Sync over async – we prioritise live, human-to-human interactions because trust is built between people, not through text threads.
A huge thank you to Ashby for partnering with us and making the evening possible.
Most of all, thank you to everyone who joined us.
PS: Marie Krebs wins the award for the most unexpected reason for missing dinner... her dog literally ate her passport. Yes, really! 🐶
Curated for you
Leadership in action
Ops Leader x Strategic HR
Operations Nation and Learngility are coming together to bring STEP UP Bootcamp to Chief of Staff and Heads of Operations who own HR strategy within their remit.
Spotify: JooBee’s playlist
A curated playlist of podcast episodes featuring JooBee as a guest, all in one place. Fun fact: there's even an entire episode dedicated to job titles in start-ups.
Tiny notes, big meaning
From Learngility Leaders
A few messages from Learngility leaders this month that made me smile, laugh and feel very proud.
Dorottya Vincze-Orel
Bootcamp alumnus & Boardroom member
"I love what you put together. I think you're a marketing genius... you find this sweet spot of being strategic and being human with your marketing."
😅 Marketing genius might be a stretch, but I'll take it, Dori.
Justine Friedmann
Bootcamp alumnus
"I didn't realise, when I signed up for the bootcamp, that there was a whole community of bootcamp alumni waiting on the other side. It was such a great surprise, and such huge value — you need to tell people about this!"
😆Ha! The ‘marketing genius’ missed the most obvious thing to market. Fixing that now, Justine.
Paola Tartaglione
Bootcamp alumnus, MBA graduate & Boardroom member
"I have been wondering — if a founder isn't performing well, who's holding them accountable? And then your newsletter came and answered exactly that, plus what I need to do about it as an HR leader!"
🥹 This is exactly why I write it, Paola. So glad it landed at the right moment.
A final note
Chiefs of Staff & Ops leaders: Ready to lead HR more strategically?
STEP UP Bootcamp is the only strategic HR training designed for the speed and pressure of scaling start-ups.
