David Nebinski, Founder of A Chief of Staff, is interviewed by Kriti and Andrew who have attended his A Chief of Staff Mixers about starting and building A Chief of Staff. In this episode, you will learn about David’s prior Chief of Staff-like roles, his solopreneurship journey, and the starting the A Chief of Staff community and events in New York. This episode was originally published on the A Chief of Staff with David Nebinski podcast in late July 2026. Learn more about A Chief of Staff at www.achiefofstaffpodcast.com

David reflects on how Community-Led Growth Conference 2 (CLG2) came together — from a spontaneous catch-up call with Ruthie Berber to Zach Hawtoff's immediate "let's do it" — and why he keeps coming back to the idea of compounding: building on projects, relationships, and momentum instead of starting from scratch each time. CLG2 happens October 2 in New York at Fabrik. More info at luma.com/clg2.

Cristina Ciaravalli, Founder and CEO of Valli Ventures, shares about building a community-first business — from fitness-focused Founder events to a growing recruiting and advisory practice. She shares how her recruiting arm grew out of casual favors for friends, what it took to scale from a solo operation to a team of seven, and about the flywheel she has built that fuels everything.

Melissa Wong returns five years after her first appearance to talk about her new book, The Fluid Career. She and David dig into why multi-hyphenates and portfolio careerists are best positioned to weather AI-driven job anxiety. They also reflect on David's own career transition over the past year. Enjoy!

An audit can be much more than an assessment, it can be the beginning of a great conversation. This episode explores how providing business owners with an audit creates something tangible to discuss, encourages collaboration, and helps uncover opportunities together. I did this last summer when I was transitioning, wanted momentum, and it went better than expected. Learn all about it here.

Taking chances can change the direction of our lives. In this episode, multiple voices share their perspectives on taking risks, embracing uncertainty, and saying yes to opportunities, even when you don’t know exactly where they’ll lead.

When I use social media, I am often projecting something. A story. A message. An event. Something. And at the same time, there is a lot more going on in my life that I often do not post about, or know where or how to do so. Insert: a Now page. It is a page on my website that I can communicate what is holistically top of mind to me. It is very handy when communicating with people digitally too. Learn more about this webpage and why you need a Now page.

Olivia Leavengood shares her journey from full-time Chief of Staff to bootstrapped Founder to fractional chief of staff, and she's now niched down into helping B2B founders master founder-led sales. She breaks down why niching down is key to building a fractional or consulting practice, why warm referrals drive most early-stage B2B sales, and how AI is shifting where founders should spend their scarce time. Olivia also introduces her "When to Think of Me" doc, a simple, low-fi alternative to a personal website that keeps her top of mind with her network. Enjoy!

In this episode, Nkem Oghedo and David Nebinski talk Chief of Staff transitions, the "identity economy," and why leaning into the unknown beats chasing certainty. Nkem shares the news that she's stepping away from fractional work to go full-time with one of her clients, and what that means for her portfolio career going forward.

Natalie Trotta used to be a Chief of Staff. Now she is building her own consulting business. She started off calling it fractional work and now it has grown. You will learn about how she positions herself, how she has found clients, the importance of conversation, and much more. If you are a Chief of Staff thinking about what is next or wanting to start doing consulting or fractional work, this episode is for you!

In this episode, you will learn about how I am building my portfolio career, how it compares to the prior quarter and what I have learned through this. You will learn about what has been energizing me in my work and how I enjoy work that is compounding and growing. I also talk about a new project and what stood out to me about it. Enjoy!