Nicole Glaros recently became Chief Innovation Officer of Techstars. In taking this role after serving as Managing Director of Techstars Boulder (the original Techstars accelerator) for years and the company's Chief Product Officer, she shed most of her direct reports because managing people wasn't her deepest passion.

Nicole may be the most gifted mentor and coach for startup founders in the world. She's smart, funny, fast and fiercely committed to growing great founder leaders.

In this Real Leaders podcast, Nicole also offers a real-time example of self-awareness, something she deems a critical feature of a founder worthy of investment. Nicole shares the backstory for her independent streak and discusses the downside of her extraordinary personal strength.

This episode is a great example of a "real" leader, something Nicole lives and breathes daily.