Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners

By Lindsay Pinchuk | Female Founder & Small Business Marketing Expert

Dear FoundHer… is a How I Built This–style podcast sharing real stories from female entrepreneurs, female founders, and women in business, especially women 40+, who are building companies

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How many episodes does Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners have?

The podcast currently has 373 episodes available.

Best of Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: The Exit, Part 2: Walking Away From My Business, and What I Built After
Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE. Lindsay Pinchuk shares the real story of negotiating her way out of her own company, the moment it finally broke her, and how the exit led her to found Dear FoundHer... Part 2 of The Exit picks up where Part 1 left off: a female founder fighting to hold onto the values and the partnership that built her company, inside a corporate acquisition that stopped honoring its promises and contracted obligations. Lindsay shares the breaking point that made her decide to leave, the values conflict with new leadership during a pivotal cultural moment, and the exact negotiation that got her out of her contract on her own terms. She opens up about blacking out on her last day, flying to Colorado the next morning, and how the idea for Dear FoundHer... was born on that trip. The episode closes with the hard lessons from a business exit that didn't go as planned, and why Lindsay chose to tell this story publicly for the first time, as the entry point into her new Premium series, The Aftermath. This episode is for any woman entrepreneur navigating a business partnership gone wrong, negotiating an exit, or rebuilding an identity after leaving a company she built. Check out The Aftermath, Part 1: What Nobody Tells You Happens After the Deal Closes Subscribe to The Foundher Files, our Substack, for more tips straight to your inbox every week. Follow Dear FoundHer... on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
August 12, 202618min
Number 2: How to Tell If a Business Coach Has Actually Built a Business
Get action oriented advice sent straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe to our Substack, The FoundHer Files for advice you can put into play to grow your business starting today. If you've ever paid for advice from someone with a massive following and quietly wondered whether they've actually built a real business, this episode is for you. Host, Lindsay Pinchuk breaks down why building an audience and building a business are two completely different skill sets, calls out how AI-generated advice is quietly flooding the coaching and course industry, and walks through The Build Check, her exact three-step process for vetting any coach, course, or program before you hand over your money. Along the way, she gets honest about her own business exit, the parts of it that went sideways, and why that experience, not a follower count, is what actually qualifies her to teach this. What You'll Learn: Why a viral follower-growth number rarely means what it looks like it means, and the ratio math to run before it makes you feel behind • The real reason so few female founders talk publicly about what happens after they sell a business • How corporate acquisitions can turn on the founders who built the company, and the pattern to watch for • Why building a following and building a business are not the same skill set, even when the content looks identical • How AI-generated advice is quietly showing up in courses, coaching programs, and masterminds without being disclosed • The Build Check: a 3-step, 15-minute process for vetting any business coach or program before you pay, including the exact search terms and the exact question to ask • The one question that reveals within seconds whether a coach has actually built and sold a business, or just built an audience talking about it Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE. Subscribe to The Foundher Files, our Substack, for more tips straight to your inbox every week. Follow Dear FoundHer... on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
August 04, 202619min
Number 3: Christine de Wendel on Starting a Business After Corporate and Raising $145 Million
Join Lindsay for a Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event on Thursday, August 20th. Click here to save your seat, it's free. She spent over a decade scaling two of Europe's most successful tech companies, reaching the C-suite along the way. Then she moved back to her hometown and nobody knew her name. That tension is the heart of this episode of Dear FoundHer, and it sets up one of the clearest examples of starting a business after corporate you will hear this year. Host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Christine de Wendel, co-founder and U.S. CEO of sunday, the digital checkout platform used in over 3,500 restaurants across the U.S., U.K., and France. Christine spent over a decade scaling two of Europe's biggest e-commerce companies before leaving corporate at 40 to build a company of her own. Her story shows what transitioning from employee to founder really looks like once the safety net disappears. Christine describes the three humbling months she spent building connections in Atlanta before the idea for sunday took shape, and how a phone call from an old friend turned into a co-founding partnership. She also opens up about startup funding and whether having a male co-founder changed how easily she raised capital. Lindsay and Christine talk candidly about networking for women, credibility, and why making a career pivot later in life can be an advantage instead of a setback. If you have ever wondered whether starting a business after corporate means starting from zero, Christine’s story offers a clear answer: the experience, relationships, and skills you have already built still count. Press play to hear how she used them to help raise $145 million for sunday. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 From Tech Executive to Unknown in Atlanta 02:56 Christine's Path From Bain to Paris Tech 05:47 Why She Waited Until 40 to Start 08:25 Uprooting the Family and Moving to Atlanta 11:43 The Phone Call That Became sunday 14:47 How the sunday App Works 16:33 A Review Turns Into Real Restaurant Change 19:08 How sunday Makes Money 20:57 The 2021 Raise and What Came After 22:45 Doubling Transaction Volume 24:25 Why Restaurants Are Slow to Adopt 26:15 Building Brand Ambassadors and Referral Networks 29:47 Funding, Her Co-Founder, and Gender in Fundraising 32:55 Motherhood, Pacing, and Doing It All 36:46 Three Tips for Women Starting Out Connect with Christine de Wendel: Follow sunday App on Instagram Connect with Christine on LinkedIn Subscribe to The FoundHer Files Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 28, 202641min
Number 4: How to Reactivate Your Network: The Email Strategy That Reopens Every Door
For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files Lindsay Pinchuk shares the importance of proactive network outreach for business growth, emphasizing a specific email strategy to reconnect with contacts and generate new opportunities. Learn how to craft personal reintroduction emails that activate your network and boost your pipeline. This episode includes: The importance of proactive outreach to your existing networkHow to craft a personal reintroduction emailThe five-part structure of an effective outreach emailThe role of relationship-building in business growthStrategies for activating your network to generate opportunities Takeaways Sending personalized reintroduction emails can quickly generate new business opportunities.Your network is active and waiting to be engaged, not passive.A well-structured, personal email can re-engage contacts and open doors.Building and maintaining relationships over time is crucial for business success.The key to effective outreach is clarity, specificity, and genuine connection. Chapters 00:00 The Importance of Communication in Business 02:31 Reactivating Your Network 05:09 Building Relationships for Success 08:17 Crafting the Perfect Reintroduction Email 10:52 Taking Action: Your Email Assignment Join us for this month's Forum Workshop on July 9th: The 2-Part Email System Behind Consistent Scalable Revenue REGISTER HERE Subscribe to The FoundHer Files Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 30, 202614min
Number 5: The Invisible Truth Most Women Entrepreneurs Never Say Out Loud
For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files Most women entrepreneurs build a business to solve a problem they found in the market. Sadie Lincoln built one to solve a problem she had been hiding for a decade. Sadie is the co-founder of Barre3, a mindful fitness company with more than 200 studios and an online platform reaching clients in over 100 countries. On Dear FoundHer with host Lindsay Pinchuk, she finally says out loud what took years to admit. A secret eating disorder, a body she was trying to conquer, and a pregnancy that cracked something open she had not been able to reach before. What she discovered in her living room in 2008 became the foundation of everything Barre3 stands for. And every major business decision since then, including walking away from a deal that would have made her a household name in fitness, has traced back to that same truth. Female founders who are scaling a business while trying to stay honest about what it costs will recognize themselves here. Sadie built a community for business the old-fashioned way, face painters at a fountain, free classes above a health food store, relationships that no algorithm can manufacture. She course-corrected when outside pressure pulled her away from her values and called it growing without burnout before that phrase even existed. And the personal brand decision she made, choosing to stay small enough to stay true, is one most founders never have the nerve to make. Know yourself first. Do the research. Surround yourself only with people who are excellent at what they do and who respect why you are excellent too. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Sadie Lincoln, Co-Founder and CEO of barre3 04:00 How Barre3 Was Built Around Mindful Fitness and Why That Was a Radical Idea in 2008 06:19 The Invisible Truth Behind the Business and What Sadie Finally Said Out Loud 09:27 Why the Hardest Moments in Business Are Often the Seed of What Comes Next 13:56 From Living Room Workouts to a Fitness Company Built to Franchise 17:01 The Grassroots Marketing Strategy That Still Outperforms Social Media 21:47 Why Community Is the Actual Product at Barre3 and How That Drives Sustainable Growth 25:25 What Kept Barre3 Standing While Other Boutique Fitness Brands Fell Apart 28:00 The Deal Sadie Walked Away From and the Financial Hit She Took to Stay True 31:53 The Kitchen Moment That Changed Everything 37:27 What’s Next for barre3 40:21 Three Pieces of Advice for Women Starting a Business Connect with Sadie Lincoln: Follow Sadie on Instagram Connect with Sadie on LinkedIn Subscribe to The FoundHer Files Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 23, 202646min