Growth Department

Cien Solon bootstrapped Launch Lemonade with 1.5 people, reached 150 countries and 7,000 users without a single dollar of funding, and just closed her pre-seed round with 8,000 experts already building on her platform.

She did it by doing exactly what she teaches: scaling with AI agents instead of headcount.

As an AI founder, Techstars mentor, trainer, and investor, Cien is on a mission to make sure every entrepreneur and business owner gets to participate in the AI economy. Her tagline says it all: no one gets left behind.

In this episode of Growth Department, Cien breaks down what it actually looks like to build and scale a business with AI agents; no technical background required.

You'll learn:

• Why 99% of the world is still on the same AI learning curve as you; and why that's great news
• The single most important question to ask before adding an AI agent to your business
• How to decide when to hire a human vs. deploy an AI agent
• How business roles are shifting from executors to orchestrators of AI
• How to keep your team aligned when every department is experimenting with agents
• Why building in public is still the cheapest and most effective way to find customers

Whether you're a founder trying to figure out where AI fits, a business leader preparing your team for what's coming, or someone who just wants to understand what's actually possible, this conversation will give you the clarity and confidence to take the next step.

🎧 Subscribe to Growth Department on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. 

🔗 Follow Cien on socials and search Human in the Machine for her podcast and Substack. 

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cienandai
• IG:  https://www.instagram.com/cienandai
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciensolon/
• Substack: https://humanandthemachine.substack.com/

🍋 Check out Launch Lemonade → launchlemonade.ai 

📖 Her reading Recommendation:  The Coming Wave https://the-coming-wave.com/

🌐 More from Growth Department → growthdepartment.com

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

Most business owners think growth means more top line revenue. More revenue means more salespeople. More salespeople means more problems.

Greg Stanley has spent over 30 years watching that equation fail.

With strategy and revenue responsibility for over $325 million at PwC, and now as founder of Accelerant Consultants and adjunct professor of sales leadership at Butler University, Greg has seen what actually separates companies that scale from companies that just get busier.

The answer isn't volume. It's value. And there's a framework for building it.

In this episode of Growth Department, Greg breaks down why chasing top line revenue is killing your margins; and what to optimize for instead.

You'll learn:

• The difference between an income-based org and a value-based org; and why most companies are building the wrong one
• The four pillars of an optimized revenue function and what happens when even one is missing
• Why your highest volume customer might actually be destroying your profitability
• How to lead a B2B sales team toward outcomes instead of activity
• When to fix your revenue strategy before you ever think about adding headcount

If you're a B2B founder or revenue leader who's tired of chasing volume and ready to build something valuable and transferable, this episode is required listening.

🎧 Subscribe to Growth Department on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. 

🔗 Connect with Greg: 

• at Accelerant Consultants: https://www.accelerantconsultants.com/
• on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-stanley/
• On Mike Weinberg's Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-sales-compensation-aligned-with-strategy-and/id1538657842?i=1000692992225

🌐 More from Growth Department → growthdepartment.com

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

What if your next hire wasn't a "Human Employee"?

After two B2B exits, Amos Bar-Joseph is done with the "growth at all cost" playbook. The one that has you raising millions before you know who you're selling to, scaling headcount before you have product-market fit, and building a B2B company too bloated to maneuver when the market shifts.

Now, as Co-Founder & CEO of Swan, he's building something different: the autonomous business model. Three co-founders. 200+ customers. Millions in pipeline generated mostly by one person writing social content on the internet and letting AI agents handle the rest. His mission is to hit $30M ARR without ever throwing bodies at a scaling problem; proving that revenue per human employee, not just adding headcount, is the real growth metric.

In this episode, Amos breaks down exactly how founders and B2B revenue leaders can stop bolting AI onto broken go-to-market processes and start scaling with intelligence instead of headcount.

You'll learn:

• Why 90% of AI GTM implementations fail; and the two root causes behind it
• The "zone of genius" framework for deciding what your humans should own vs. what AI agents should automate
• Why replacing humans with AI is a losing bet; and what the second wave of AI companies is doing differently
• How lean teams can get started with AI even when there's no time to figure it out
• Why brand is now your most important competitive moat in an AI-native world

Whether you're a founder trying to do more with less, a B2B revenue leader building a smarter go-to-market motion, or just trying to understand where this is all heading; this one is required listening.

🎧 Subscribe to Growth Department on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

🔗 Follow Amos on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/amos-bar-joseph

🤖 Check out Swan → getswan.com

🌐 More from Growth Department → growthdepartment.com

Also, check out the podcast that Amos mentions here: https://youtu.be/13CZPWmke6A?si=5ssfQnfbDTWYM2KL

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

When your messaging is unclear, it shows up everywhere. In sales calls. In hiring. In customer churn.

In this episode, Chelsey sits down with Amanda Rabideau, messaging expert and Founder and CEO of Promanda, to break down the difference between positioning and messaging, why unclear messaging creates internal friction, and how it quietly costs companies customers after the sale. 

With two decades of experience shaping brand narratives, Amanda shares what she calls the “zero-to-one messaging problem” and why most teams skip this work until it’s already slowing them down.

Inside the conversation:

• The difference between positioning and messaging and why both matter
• How unclear messaging creates confusion inside your team and in the market
• Why founders avoid messaging work and what it’s really costing them
• How to test your messaging without spending money
• Why AI can help but won’t replace human insight

Messaging is not copywriting. It’s the foundation everything else builds on. When your team is aligned and your story is clear, growth becomes simpler.

About Our Guest

Amanda W. Rabideau is the Founder and CEO of Promanda, an AI-powered messaging platform designed to help professionals solve the zero-to-one messaging problem. With two decades of experience in go-to-market strategy and brand storytelling, she has helped startups and established companies turn complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives that drive growth. Amanda built Promanda to give marketers, consultants, and agencies the structure and strategic clarity needed to align teams and confidently bring powerful stories to life.

You can find her here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandarabideau/

Promanda.ai website (there's a trial!) - https://www.promanda.ai/

Subscribe to Growth Department and share this episode with a founder who’s ready to sharpen their message and scale with confidence.

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

Marketing is shifting faster than most teams can process. AI is automating the mechanics. Performance channels are more crowded than ever. And founders are asking the same question: what actually creates durable advantage now?

In this episode, Chelsey sits down with Anthony Kennada to unpack what he learned building the Customer Success category at Gainsight, why category creation is harder than people admit, and why he believes the next era of marketing belongs to brands that embrace what machines cannot replicate. From conferences that built movements to the 95–5 rule and the rise of analog experiences, this conversation connects the dots between strategy, storytelling, and staying human in an AI-driven world.

You’ll walk away with practical insight on:

• What category creation really requires and when it makes sense
• How to build trust with the 95% of buyers who are not ready yet
• Why 80% of marketing may be automated and what remains
• What Brand Humanity means for founders and CMOs
• How smaller companies can compete without massive budgets
  
  

If you’re building, repositioning, or preparing for the next shift in marketing, this one is worth your time.

About Anthony Kennada
Anthony is a B2B marketer who believes business brands should feel human. As the first Head of Marketing at Gainsight, he helped build the Customer Success category and scale the company from early stage to over $100M in ARR and a $1.1B acquisition. He later served as CMO at Front and Hopin, founded AudiencePlus, and now leads Goldenhour, a movement helping founders and CMOs put Brand Humanity into practice.

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/akennada/

X:  https://x.com/akennada

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/akennada

Anthony's site: https://www.kennada.com/

goldenhour website:  https://goldenhour.net/

Check out Anthony's podcast, Brand Humanity:  

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brand-humanity-show/id1830643380

Thank you for listening! If you liked the ep, we'd love to have you along for the ride! You can subscribe, follow, and share with a founder who is thinking about the future of their brand.

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

Even world-class products can struggle when buyers don’t know where to place them. In this episode, Chelsey Reynolds sits down with globally renowned positioning expert, April Dunford, to unpack why great products get ignored and how positioning, when done well, sets the context that makes value instantly obvious.

April shares how she defines positioning, why it’s more than messaging, and how misaligned context can flatten even the strongest product story. Drawing from her work with hundreds of technology companies and the expanded edition of Obviously Awesome, she breaks down what founders and leaders need to decide before they ever touch a positioning exercise, and how to avoid the traps that slow teams down or send them back to square one.

You’ll hear practical guidance on how positioning evolves as products ship faster, markets change, and competitors multiply, plus how to know when it’s time to revisit your positioning and when to leave it alone.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why positioning is about context, not clever messaging
• The critical decisions to make before starting any positioning work
• How to choose between head-to-head, big fish small pond, or category creation strategies
• When positioning should change and when it should stay put
• What founders often miss when positioning for customers versus investors
  
  

If this conversation resonates, follow or subscribe for more leadership-focused conversations on growth, positioning, and building products people understand and love.

About our Guest:

April Dunford is the world's foremost authority on product positioning. As a consultant, April helps companies make complex products easy to understand and love. After a 25-year career as a VP of Marketing at various rapidly developing technology firms, she has consulted with 300 technology companies, including Google, Epic Games, Postman, and others. April is the acclaimed author of the best-selling book, "Obviously Awesome," which delves into the art of positioning, and the newly released, "Sales Pitch," which unveils the secrets to crafting a winning sales narrative in the market.

April's Website: https://www.aprildunford.com/

SubStack:  https://aprildunford.substack.com/

Follow her on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/

Follow her on IG:  https://www.instagram.com/aprildunford

Her Book, "Obviously Awesome!"

Her fun book she's reading right now: Children of Time

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

Category design shows up in a lot of founder conversations, but few teams understand how to actually use it. In this episode, Chelsey Reynolds sits down with Jason Wellcome to define what category design is, why it matters, and how it helps companies shape markets instead of competing inside them.

Jason brings nearly two decades of experience working with global brands, high-growth startups, and category-defining teams behind Play Bigger. Together, we break down why competing on “better” leads to incremental progress, while designing for “different” creates leverage, belief, and long-term market leadership.

This conversation explores the traps of existing markets, the role of leadership conviction in category creation, and what it actually takes to align a company around a new point of view. If you’re building something that doesn’t fit neatly into today’s boxes, this episode will help you rethink how you frame the problem, the market, and your position within it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What category design is and the specific problem it solves
• Why positioning alone keeps companies anchored to existing markets
• How founders unintentionally fall into the existing market trap
• Why leadership belief and commitment matter more than tactics
• When creating a new category makes sense, and when it doesn’t

Subscribe to the Growth Department podcast for conversations with founders and operators shaping what comes next. If this episode sharpened your thinking, share it with someone navigating growth and market positioning right now.

Connecting with Jason:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wellcome/

https://www.playbigger.com/ 

(lots of resources and their newsletter ^ here)

Also mentioned: 

What Jason's listening to and reading these days

https://libraryofminds.com/

https://www.bg2pod.com/

Monetizing Innovation book

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

We started this podcast in July 2025 with a bold goal: 

Hit 50 episodes by the end of the year

Why? Ambitious goals can help you figure things out faster. I had to learn how to Do. The. Thing. and not let my fear or shyness get in the way. 

The purpose of the podcast is to bring true, trusted, vetted business advice and leadership advice to the world, where more and more ai slop and hype messaging is sending founders in dangerous, costly misdirections. Plus, it is a blast to geek out on topics and meet cool founders and operators from all over the world!

What Happened? As I went through these 6 mos, I learned a great deal from all the guests, and I've been able to apply these lessons to the podcast along the way.

What Were the Lessons? When we pull all the transcripts from the 49 guest episodes, common themes emerged. We analyzed the number of times words and phrases came up, categorized the "mistakes" and "wins", and put together this short and sweet episode to summarize.

1. Lack of effort isn't getting in your way of growth. Likely lack of scalable systems is likely at the heart of that slowing down or stalling you're feeling.

2. Alignment is crucial for growth. Not only does each role and piece of your business need clear systems, they need to be rowing in the same direction (or towards the same targets) as your other teams and pieces of the business. Misalignment can sneak up on you. If you're just a hair's width off track in a space ship, you may wake up one day in the wrong galaxy.  

3. Leadership growth (mindset, skills), is not to be ignored. Get a coach, get a therapist, work on your limiting beliefs. Many leaders we interviewed had "aha!" moments when they realized "oh boy, I AM THE PROBLEM". 

What's Next?

You can enjoy all of 2025's episodes and articles anytime you'd like. Refer back to all these different topics whenever you feel stuck.

In 2026, we are going to do deep dives into specific topics, one per month starting in February. Our first topic is Category Design & Go To Market (defining each, IDing how they overlap/differences, and meeting people who wrote the book on AND are living examples of each of these through their career success)

Thank you for continuing to join us here. A like, subscribe, or share helps others find us, and I appreciate it very much. If you have any topics you're interested in or challenges you want us to unpack in 2026, shoot us a note at [email protected]

Happy New Year, and see you next time!

xo

Chelsey

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

Consistency is rarely flashy. It's little actions you take again and again (even if boring or hard), and finally... momentum clicks. 

In this episode of the Growth Department podcast, Chelsey Reynolds sits down again with Dee Henry, founder of The Sales Loft and creator of Boundaries, to unpack what actually happened after her layoff story went viral.

Dee returns to share how “The Great Lock In” became her personal operating system for growth. From building two businesses at once to landing brand partnerships with companies like Microsoft and Coursera, this conversation is about what happens when you pair courage with structure and let sales math do the heavy lifting.

You will hear how Dee turned consistency into a competitive advantage, why community from the internet outpaced expectations from real life, and how Boundaries evolved from a personal need into a startup built to help founders with ADHD protect their time, energy, and revenue.

This episode is for founders, operators, and creators who want proof that steady action compounds faster than motivation alone.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How “The Great Lock In” created momentum across content, sales, and speaking
• Why consistency beats intensity when building a startup and a personal brand
• How Dee balanced a consulting business while self-funding a SaaS product
• The role community played in accelerating confidence and opportunity
• How to turn overwhelm into systems that support growth

Where to find Dee:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deidremhenry/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@deidreofficial

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@deidreofficial

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deidreofficial/

Thanks for listening! We have one more episode in 2025, and are so happy you chose to come on this journey with us.

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

Successful growth depends on more than new technology or big initiatives. It depends on people. 

In this episode of the Growth Department podcast, Chelsey Reynolds sits down with Scott Sheinbaum, Founder and Senior Managing Partner at Anthros Partners, to unpack what truly drives adoption and ROI during organizational change.

Scott brings nearly three decades of consulting experience, having led transformation initiatives at firms like KPMG, IBM, Wipro, and Cognizant. His work spans ERP implementations, digital transformations, mergers and acquisitions, and operating model shifts. Across it all, Scott is known for his servant leadership mindset and pragmatic, business-first approach to change.

In this conversation, Scott explains why most transformation efforts stall, how leaders can reduce change fatigue, and what it takes to get teams bought in from day one. He also shares why change management should be part of every organization’s operating rhythm, not something brought in after problems appear.

If you’re planning a major system rollout, introducing AI, or navigating multiple initiatives at once, this episode will help you lead change that actually sticks.

What you’ll learn in this episode

• Why people, not technology, determine whether change succeeds
• How leaders can spot early warning signs of poor adoption
• Practical ways to reduce change fatigue and burnout
• The role managers play in building trust and alignment
• How to connect transformation efforts directly to ROI
  
  

Learn more and connect with Scott here:

Anthros Partners Website: https://anthrospartners.com/

Scott's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsheinbaum/

Subscribe to the Growth Department podcast for conversations that help founders and executives scale with clarity, alignment, and confidence.

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.