Anika Sharma

• Age: 45
• Location: Toronto, ON (Leslieville)
• Occupation: Fractional Ops Lead / Founder of Runway Ops
• Income: $110,000
• Education: MBA (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto)
• Company size: 1
• Years in role: 3

“I don't believe in hustle culture, but I do believe in building systems that make the hard things inevitable.”

Anika Sharma grew up in Mississauga, the daughter of Indian immigrants who ran a small convenience store. She learned early that margins matter and that a well-organized back office can make or break a business. After a BA in Economics from U of T and an MBA from Rotman, she spent a decade in operations at a series of Toronto SaaS companies, scaling from 10 to 200 employees twice. She became known as the person who could untangle any messy process. But after her last layoff in 2021, she realized she was tired of corporate politics and wanted to work directly with founders at the earliest stages—where ops is often an afterthought. She launched Runway Ops, a fractional operations consultancy, targeting startups with 1-5 people. She now works with 4-6 clients at a time, helping them set up CRM pipelines, automate onboarding, and build SOPs that don't suck. Her tools of choice: Notion, Zapier, Linear, and a growing suite of AI tools like GPT-4 for drafting playbooks and Claude for analyzing process bottlenecks. She recently turned down a full-time Head of Ops role at a Series A startup because it would have meant giving up the variety and autonomy she values. Financially, she's careful: she keeps six months of runway, invests in index funds, and splurges only on travel and her weekly CrossFit membership. Status, for her, is not about titles but about being the person founders call when they're drowning in chaos. She's currently writing a short guide called 'Ops for the Uninitiated' and considering a part-time MBA teaching gig. Her relationship with time is obsessive: she time-blocks everything and hates meetings without agendas. She's single by choice, though she dates occasionally. Her cat Miso is her pandemic adoption and now her office mate. She's deeply skeptical of hustle culture but believes in disciplined execution. She votes in every election, donates to the Daily Bread Food Bank, and tries to mentor one aspiring operator per quarter. Her biggest constraint is her own bandwidth—she often wishes she could clone herself. But she's also aware that being a solo operator lets her stay close to the work she loves: building order out of chaos for people who are building the future. Recently, she started using a custom GPT to automate client onboarding emails and is considering hiring a part-time VA to handle scheduling. She struggles with loneliness sometimes but values her independence. She's a regular at a local coffee shop where she does her deep work, and she's planning a trip to Portugal in the fall to disconnect and hike the Rota Vicentina.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

5:30 AM wake, coffee, feed Miso. 6:00-7:00 CrossFit. 7:30-8:30 review emails, prioritize tasks in Linear. 9:00-10:00 client sync with a fintech founder. 10:00-12:00 deep work: building a CRM migration playbook in Notion. 12:00-1:00 lunch and a walk along the Leslieville boardwalk. 1:00-3:00 calls with two prospective clients. 3:00-4:00 update SOP templates and record a Loom walkthrough for a client. 4:00-5:00 catch up on Stratechery and Slack communities. 5:30-6:30 feed sourdough starter, prep dinner. 7:00-8:00 read a chapter of a sci-fi novel. 9:00 wind down, lights out by 10.

Lifestyle

Anika lives alone in a two-bedroom Leslieville apartment with her cat Miso. She wakes at 5:30 AM for CrossFit, meal-preps on Sundays, and spends evenings tending her sourdough starter or reading about AI operations. She budgets meticulously, maxes out her TFSA, and allows herself splurges on specialty coffee and one international trip per year. Her social life is small but intentional: a monthly dinner with former MBA classmates, a weekly call with her sister in Vancouver, and occasional coworking sessions with other fractional operators. She's not big on parties but enjoys deep one-on-one conversations.

Work life

As the founder of Runway Ops, Anika spends her days on Zoom with founders, building SOPs in Notion, triaging Slack channels, and automating workflows with Zapier and custom GPTs. She has no direct employees but collaborates with freelance designers and virtual assistants. Her biggest pressure is the irregular income and the emotional weight of early-stage chaos—founders often treat her as a therapist as much as an operator. She loves the variety but sometimes misses the camaraderie of a team. She sets strict boundaries: no meetings after 5 PM, and she always takes a midday walk.

How they sound

Anika speaks in crisp, direct sentences. She avoids jargon unless it's precise and hates buzzwords like 'synergy' or 'circle back.' She often says 'let me be blunt' before delivering hard truths. She uses 'founder' more than 'client.' She rarely swears but will say 'that's bananas' when frustrated. She tends to ask 'what does success look like here?' to cut through ambiguity. She avoids talking about her personal life in professional settings, preferring to keep the focus on the work.