A Direct Reflection of Leadership, Culture Shapes How Your Startup Operates in the Day to Day

In this episode of It Comes Back to People, Netysha Santos of Avion Consulting sits down with Nathalie McGrath, Co-Founder of The People Design House and former VP of People at Coinbase, where as one of the first employees, she helped scale the company from roughly 10 to over 1,000 employees. Nathalie discusses building culture intentionally from a company's earliest days, and how that culture must evolve rather than stay fixed as an organization moves through different stages of hypergrowth. She dives into the challenges of leadership transitions at scale, including how to support long-tenured employees as new, more experienced leaders come in above them. The conversation also covers the role of coaching and psychological safety in helping teams take risks and grow, practical lessons for first-time managers, and how she sees AI reshaping the value of human-built, in-person, and creative work going forward. Expect to Learn: Why culture is a reflection of the founder or leader, not a separate initiative How to diagnose and codify a company's real culture through structured questioning What's at stake financially and operationally when culture and behavior are misaligned How culture needs to evolve, not just persist, through different stages of hypergrowth Why leadership transitions during scaling are painful but necessary, and how to handle them with care How AI is reshaping the value of human-built, in-person, and creative work Episode Breakdown with Timestamps: [00:00] - Nathalie's journey from marine biology to Stanford GSB [04:46] - Joining Coinbase as employee #11 and shifting into people & culture [07:09] - Building an intentional culture from day one at early-stage Coinbase [09:33] - Defining culture: intentionality, honesty, and the founder's reflection [11:15] - Diagnosing and codifying culture through founder interviews [16:00] - Navigating culture through hypergrowth from 11 to hundreds of employees [24:21] - Leadership transitions and bringing in new leadership as organizations scale [29:35] - Coaching, growth, and learning to make mistakes [33:08] - Lessons for first-time managers and managing across generations [38:25] - AI, the future of work, and the value of human-built craft "Disclosure: Portions of this episode (such as the introduction or promotional segments) use AI-generated voice narration produced under human editorial review." Follow the Guest, Nathalie McGrath: LinkedIn:   / nathaliemcgrath   Company's Website: https://thepeopledesignhouse.com/ Company LinkedIn:   / the-people-design-house   Follow the Host, Netysha Santos LinkedIn:   / netysha-santos-laborbe   More for Avion Consulting: LinkedIn:   / avionconsulting   Website: http://www.avionconsulting.com/