Key Learnings from Episode 25: Building High-Performing Teams and Scaling Culture with Ellie Romer-Lee, Chief People Officer at Isometric

Building a successful company takes more than a strong product, ambitious growth targets and the right funding. As teams expand, the systems, relationships and leadership approaches that worked in the early days often need to evolve.

In this episode of Beyond the Raise, Ellie Romer-Lee, Chief People Officer at Isometric, shares lessons from scaling Onfido from a small startup to a global business, and how those experiences are shaping her approach to building teams at Isometric.

From hiring with greater discipline to creating a culture that can withstand the pressures of growth, Ellie explores why people decisions are among the most important strategic choices a founder can make.

From Onfido to Isometric: Building Companies Around People

Ellie's career began in teaching, where she discovered an interest in helping people develop and a fascination with language. Frustrated by the bureaucracy of the public sector, she moved into the startup world, joining Hire Space as its first non-founder employee.

Working across sales, product, marketing and operations gave her an understanding of how early-stage companies function. She gradually moved into people management, often hiring specialists to take over roles she had initially handled herself.

In 2014, Ellie joined Onfido, where she worked alongside co-founder Eamon Jubbawy. Over approximately eight years, she helped the company grow from around a dozen employees to 400 people across international offices. Onfido was subsequently acquired by Entrust for $650 million.

After leaving Onfido, Ellie took time away from work following significant changes in her family circumstances. Her longstanding relationship with Eamon, alongside their shared interest in addressing climate change, eventually brought them together again to build Isometric.

Founded in 2022, Isometric provides AI-enabled certification for environmental markets. Its work focuses on verifying that environmental benefits, such as carbon removal, have genuinely occurred.

The company develops scientific protocols for evaluating environmental projects and provides a software platform, Certify, to make verification more efficient. Having initially focused on engineered carbon removal, its scope has expanded into nature-based solutions, super-pollutant reduction and lower-carbon materials.

For Ellie, the connection between Onfido and Isometric is trust. Both businesses seek to establish confidence in things that are difficult to verify, whether digital identities or environmental outcomes.

Key Takeaways

• Experience across different startup functions can provide a valuable foundation for leading people and operations.

• The lessons learned during one scaling journey can inform how founders approach their next business.

• Trust is central to Isometric's mission of bringing greater confidence and accountability to environmental markets.

What Breaks When a Startup Starts Scaling?

When asked what typically breaks first during rapid growth, Ellie's answer is straightforward: almost everything needs reconsidering.

Systems, processes, communication and established ways of working can quickly become inadequate as headcount increases. From her experience, reaching milestones of approximately 50, 100 or 150 employees often creates a need to redesign how the organisation operates.

Geographic expansion introduces another layer of complexity. At Onfido, the team experimented with maintaining a permanent video connection between international offices in an attempt to preserve a sense of togetherness. The experience highlighted how difficult it can be to maintain relationships once teams are no longer working in the same location.

Energy is another concern. Startups tend to attract ambitious, mission-driven individuals who are willing to work intensely to achieve their goals. However, those same qualities can make people susceptible to overworking and overlooking early warning signs.

Ellie believes Isometric benefits from having experienced leaders who have already navigated previous startup journeys. That experience has helped the team become more conscious of managing its own energy and recognising when colleagues may be under pressure.

Key Takeaways

• Processes and communication structures need regular reassessment as headcount increases.

• Geographic expansion can weaken the informal connections that hold early-stage teams together.

• Experienced leaders can bring greater awareness of the personal and operational pressures associated with rapid growth.

Building Structure Without Losing Startup Freedom

One of the lessons Ellie and Eamon brought from Onfido was the importance of establishing operational foundations early.

At Isometric, Ellie introduced career frameworks, pay structures and performance review processes while the company was still small. Rather than waiting until these systems became essential, she wanted to create a framework that would allow employees to concentrate on their work without unnecessary administrative uncertainty.

Eamon brought a similar emphasis on operational discipline, ensuring that information was organised, responsibilities were clear and the business was not overly dependent on individual employees.

However, this structure sits alongside a commitment to autonomy.

Ellie believes that people with a founder's mentality can have an enormous impact on growing companies. Isometric therefore aims to give employees the freedom to make decisions, develop ideas and take ownership of outcomes.

The expectation is that individuals can explain what they want to achieve, what resources they need and how success will be measured.

For Ellie, the goal is not to eliminate processes or impose unnecessary rules. It is to establish enough structure to make the organisation function effectively while preserving the independence that attracts people to startups in the first place.

Key Takeaways

• Introducing essential people processes early can prevent unnecessary disruption as a company grows.

• Operational discipline and employee autonomy are not mutually exclusive.

• Giving people ownership works best when expectations, resources and measures of success are clear.

Why More Hiring Doesn't Always Mean More Progress

A recurring theme throughout the conversation is the danger of equating company growth with headcount growth.

Ellie has seen founders respond to new investment by following what they believe a business at their funding stage should look like. This might mean appointing a full executive team, expanding internationally or recruiting rapidly without fully examining the underlying business need.

She recalls how opening a San Francisco office appeared to be an expected step for Series A startups during her time at Onfido.

Her advice is to return to first principles rather than following established patterns.

When a team leader proposes a new hire, Ellie challenges them to explain what the appointment will achieve, what alternatives they have considered and how they will measure the person's contribution.

Could responsibilities be reassigned? Could an existing activity be stopped? Is additional headcount genuinely the best way to solve the problem?

These questions matter because increasing team size introduces additional complexity. More employees require more management, communication, onboarding and coordination.

At Onfido, Ellie recalls onboarding groups of approximately 50 people at once. The challenge was not simply bringing new employees into the business, but ensuring that existing teams could support them without losing focus on their own responsibilities.

Her experience has led her to believe that smaller, highly focused teams can sometimes achieve more than larger organisations.

Key Takeaways

• Hiring decisions should begin with a clearly defined business problem rather than an expected organisational structure.

• Founders should consider alternatives to recruitment before committing to additional headcount.

• Rapid hiring can create operational demands that reduce the productivity of existing employees.

• Maintaining a lean, focused team can be an advantage when managing complexity.

How Leadership Needs to Evolve as Teams Grow

The qualities that make someone an effective leader in a 20-person startup do not necessarily equip them to manage a business employing several hundred people.

Ellie identifies passion, authenticity, communication and the willingness to lead by example as important leadership qualities at every stage.

What changes is the level of complexity.

As organisations grow, leaders must manage more relationships, communicate across larger teams and create clarity around responsibilities and performance. The informal approaches that once worked become increasingly difficult to maintain.

Ellie believes adaptability and humility are particularly important during this transition.

During her own career, she relied heavily on mentors and professional networks to navigate unfamiliar challenges. Being willing to admit uncertainty, seek advice and acknowledge mistakes helped her develop as a leader.

She also challenges the assumption that every talented employee needs to progress into increasingly senior leadership positions.

Some individuals are particularly effective in early-stage environments and may prefer to specialise in helping businesses grow through those initial phases. Recognising those strengths can be more valuable than expecting everyone to follow the same career path.

Key Takeaways

• Leadership approaches must adapt to the increasing complexity of a growing organisation.

• Seeking advice and acknowledging mistakes are essential capabilities for startup leaders.

• Career progression does not always need to involve managing larger teams or moving into more senior positions.

Resilience, Creativity and Taking Responsibility

When discussing the qualities she looks for in startup employees, Ellie places particular emphasis on creativity and resilience.

Startups regularly encounter problems without obvious solutions. In these situations, she values individuals who take responsibility for finding a way forward rather than becoming frustrated when their original approach fails.

A warning sign during recruitment is a candidate who consistently attributes previous difficulties to other people or circumstances without recognising their own contribution.

For Ellie, resilience means being prepared to keep experimenting, adapt an approach and work through challenges even when the answer is unclear.

Her coaching experience has also reinforced the importance of self-awareness.

People need to understand what restores their energy, how they respond to pressure and what support they require. Building relationships with colleagues, mentors and personal networks can help, but individuals must first recognise their own needs.

This understanding becomes particularly important in mission-driven businesses, where employees may feel a strong personal responsibility to achieve results.

Key Takeaways

• Creativity and resilience help employees navigate the uncertainty of startup environments.

• Taking responsibility for setbacks is more valuable than consistently assigning blame elsewhere.

• Understanding personal energy levels and support needs contributes to sustainable performance.

Attracting Exceptional Talent Through Culture

Isometric employs scientists, engineers and climate specialists, including individuals who have left established careers to join the business.

Ellie attributes much of the company's ability to attract talent to the workplace it has created.

She believes that when employees genuinely enjoy their work, feel connected to their colleagues and are proud of the organisation, that experience becomes visible to prospective candidates.

The company also aims to offer development opportunities that are difficult to find elsewhere.

Drawing on her coaching background, Ellie provides one-to-one coaching, peer coaching programmes and development sessions focused on areas such as time management and communication.

These initiatives are designed to help employees grow while creating a distinctive experience of working at Isometric.

Ellie also encourages a proactive approach to recruitment. Rather than assuming exceptional candidates are out of reach, she believes it is worth approaching them and starting a conversation.

However, she cautions against relying on an inspiring mission alone.

In climate technology, the desire to make a difference can be a powerful motivator, but it can also create unhealthy pressure. Employees still need to feel respected, recognised and supported in their everyday working environment.

Key Takeaways

• A positive employee experience can strengthen a company's ability to attract highly sought-after talent.

• Meaningful professional development can help differentiate an employer beyond salary and benefits.

• A compelling mission is important, but it cannot compensate for poor management or an unhealthy workplace culture.

Why People Strategy Belongs at the Centre of the Business

Ellie believes the people function has historically been undervalued as a strategic part of running a company.

Her argument begins with a simple observation: payroll is one of the largest expenses for most growing businesses.

If a substantial proportion of company investment goes towards people, decisions about how those people are recruited, developed and supported should receive comparable strategic attention.

At Isometric, bringing in senior people expertise was an early priority rather than something postponed until the business reached a particular size.

Ellie also works fractionally at Isometric while running her own coaching and consulting business, demonstrating how strategic people leadership can operate outside a conventional full-time structure.

However, she is clear that responsibility for culture cannot sit solely with a Chief People Officer.

The entire executive team must take ownership of the working environment, just as it takes responsibility for commercial performance and strategy.

She also believes people professionals need to avoid becoming overly focused on office perks and administrative activities.

The real strategic value lies in helping leaders think more effectively, developing talent and acting as a trusted partner when difficult decisions arise.

Key Takeaways

• People strategy deserves senior leadership attention because employees are central to business performance.

• Strategic people expertise can be valuable long before a company reaches a large headcount.

• Culture is a collective executive responsibility rather than a function delegated entirely to HR.

• Effective people leaders should act as strategic thinking partners, not simply administrators of policies and benefits.

Protecting Culture While Allowing It to Evolve

Founders often talk about protecting their company culture as they grow, but Ellie questions whether preservation should always be the objective.

A culture created by ten employees cannot remain exactly the same when the organisation reaches 300 people.

New colleagues bring different experiences, perspectives and ways of working. Rather than resisting every change, leaders need to distinguish between the qualities that make the business distinctive and the practices that can evolve.

Language plays an important role in this process.

At Onfido, the company developed values associated with memorable symbols and phrases that continued to resonate with employees long after they had left the business.

Isometric uses operating principles to establish a shared understanding of how people work and make decisions.

Ellie also believes recruitment is one of the most powerful influences on culture.

Rather than focusing exclusively on experience and qualifications, she encourages interviewers to understand candidates as individuals: what motivates them, how they think, what interests them and how they might contribute to the team.

Another important factor is creating an environment where people feel comfortable challenging decisions.

Small compromises can accumulate over time, gradually changing the organisation without anyone consciously deciding to take it in a different direction.

Encouraging constructive challenge helps teams recognise those moments before they become established habits.

Key Takeaways

• Company culture must be allowed to evolve as new people join and the organisation changes.

• Shared language and operating principles can help maintain consistency through growth.

• Hiring should consider how individuals will contribute to the culture, not simply whether their CV meets the requirements.

• Constructive challenge helps prevent small decisions from gradually undermining shared values.

Making Difficult People Decisions With Compassion

Some of the most significant cultural decisions involve who a company hires, promotes and ultimately lets go.

Ellie acknowledges that dismissing an employee is one of the hardest responsibilities of a people leader.

These decisions affect individuals beyond the workplace, including their families, financial circumstances and future careers.

She believes that finding such decisions emotionally difficult is an important part of approaching the role responsibly.

Her priority is to ensure that decisions are made for the right reasons and handled with compassion, honesty and respect.

This includes communicating openly, giving individuals as much agency as possible and helping them leave with their dignity intact.

Ellie also recognises that people leaders can become attached to the systems and processes they have created. Part of effective leadership is understanding when those structures need to change, even when considerable effort has gone into developing them.

Ultimately, preserving a healthy culture involves making difficult decisions without losing sight of the people affected by them.

Key Takeaways

• Hiring, promotion and dismissal decisions all shape the culture of a business.

• Difficult employment decisions require empathy, transparency and consideration of the individual.

• Leaders must remain willing to change systems and practices they originally created when the organisation's needs evolve.

Looking Ahead

Isometric's ambitions extend beyond its existing work in carbon removal and environmental certification.

Ellie anticipates the company expanding into adjacent areas such as water, soil and the built environment, alongside potential geographic growth.

She also sees opportunities in compliance-driven environmental markets, particularly as regulation and demand for credible decarbonisation solutions develop.

Asia is one region the company is considering as it explores future expansion.

For Ellie, the motivation remains both professional and personal. Her connection to the natural world, alongside her family's experiences, has reinforced the importance of working on challenges that matter to her.

She also speaks about how caring for her daughter has fundamentally changed her perspective on professional difficulties.

While she remains deeply committed to her work, she has become more conscious of the different challenges people face outside the workplace and the importance of understanding individual circumstances.

Looking ahead, what excites her most is the opportunity to continue working alongside a team she values and helping its members succeed.

Final Thought

Ellie's experience offers a useful reminder that building a company and expanding its workforce are not the same thing.

Growth requires more than additional employees, new offices or increasingly sophisticated processes. It depends on the decisions leaders make about how people work together, how responsibility is shared and what kind of environment they create.

For founders navigating the transition from startup to scale-up, one of her clearest recommendations is to approach the first senior people hire differently.

Rather than looking primarily for someone to manage HR administration, Ellie encourages founders to find a thinking partner: someone capable of challenging assumptions, contributing to strategic decisions and helping the business navigate the complexities of growth.

The wider lesson is that culture is not something a company establishes once and then protects indefinitely. It is shaped continuously through leadership, communication, recruitment and everyday decisions.

Building a high-performing team means giving those decisions the same attention as the commercial strategy they are intended to support.