The High-EQ Founder With Renita Kalhorn

Today, I’m speaking with Taku Harada, co-founder and CEO of Peatix. What started in 2011 in the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, as a simple event-ticketing tool, turned into something much bigger once Taku and his co-founders realized their first users weren’t looking for tickets — they were looking for connection. Fifteen years later, Peatix is live in 22 countries, with 5.6 million people gathering through it every year, and Taku is still chasing the same question he started with: how do you scale a profitable business while keeping human connection and community as the core purpose.

We talked about:

* Why he didn’t want to be “just a ticketing company” — and why he’s determined to crack the code of building a revenue model around community

* How Taku sees mistakes as their most valuable asset — and how that mindset has given Peatix an edge over competitors making the same mistakes years later

* The “hail Mary” move they made when the pandemic hit — and how it turned into Peatix’s best growth years yet

Enjoy my conversation with Taku!

Connect with Taku here.

Connect with Renita here.

Deep tech founders are building some of the most transformative companies on the planet — but cutting edge science alone isn’t enough to succeed. The difference between a company that scales and one that stalls often comes down to clear communication around what they’re doing and why it matters, to the right audience.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Hailey Eustace, founder and CEO of Commplicated, the leading strategic communications firm for deep tech startups in the UK and Europe. Hailey began her path in deep tech as an analyst at one of the largest deep tech seed funds in the US, then led communications at MassChallenge, the world’s largest startup accelerator, before going in-house at a pre-seed deep tech startup in Cambridge and helping it grow to 50 employees and tens of millions in funding.

We talked about:

* the misperception that communications can wait until you have a product — and what it’s costing founders in funding, talent and attention

* why founders should think of communications as an investment, not an expense — and what the ROI actually looks like

* the golden KPI that tells you your communications strategy is working — and how it completely changes your leverage with investors

* why overselling and being too understated are equally risky for deep tech founders — and the cost of getting it wrong

Connect with Hailey on LinkedIn here.

Connect with Renita on LinkedIn here.

In this episode, I break down the Founder State Matrix — a diagnostic tool that maps the four states founders cycle through, from fear-driven burnout to vision-driven flow.

You'll learn which state you're actually in, why most burnout advice doesn't work, and what's really driving your decisions and your team's behavior.

Plus, real examples of founders who've made the shift from running on fear to building from vision.

Deep tech now accounts for 25% of new unicorn startups — but building a sustainable deep tech business is one of the hardest things you can do. So what separates the founders who go the distance from those who burn out?

In this episode, I’m speaking with Chris Reichhelm, founder of Deep Tech Leaders, who’s spent 30 years in executive search working with the most ambitious companies on the planet — from advanced materials spinouts to quantum computing pioneers.

We talked about:

* the five founder CEO archetypes in deep tech — and the specific risk factors hiding inside each one (read Chris’ article here).

* what radical honesty has to do with speed — and why the most candid cultures move the fastest

* why love — yes, love — separates the good from the truly great and how it translates into a competitive advantage

Enjoy my conversation with Chris!

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn here.

Connect with Renita on LinkedIn here.

Most people don't associate empathy with the Special Forces. But in this episode, a Green Beret Captain shows us exactly what strategic empathy looks like in practice — and why it might be the most powerful leadership tool you're not using.

Learn what it actually means to have empathy and three moves you can start using today — in your 1:1s, town halls, and board meetings.

In this episode, I break down two reframes that will change how you think about giving feedback. You'll learn why most feedback creates resistance instead of change, what continuous feedback actually looks like in practice, and how to give critical feedback without triggering a defensive reaction. Plus, real examples from founders who've made the shift.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Sarah Fleischer, co-founder and CEO of battery recycling startup tozero. With global lithium demand set to quadruple by 2030, Sarah and her team are on a mission to recover critical raw materials from lithium-ion batteries and reintroduce fresh raw materials back into the supply chain.

Sarah and I talked about:

* making fast decisions based on first principles thinking — and why she’s willing to do a complete 180 when new data changes her worldview

* the counterintuitive pricing move that defied industry norms and customers loved

* her two favorite phrases as CEO — and how she learned (the hard way) to strip away assumptions before making critical decisions

* why she doesn’t believe in luck — and how she capitalizes on opportunities that most people don’t even see

Enjoy my conversation with Sarah!

Learn more about your FounderEQ and get your score for free in 5 minutes here.

If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please consider:

* Subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

* Giving a rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts. (Even a short two-sentence review helps!)

* Want support in leveling up your leadership? Send an email to [email protected] to learn how we can work together.

Today, I’m speaking with Deepak Shukla, serial entrepreneur and CEO at Pearl Lemon Group, a diverse portfolio of 10+ companies, some of them very brick and mortar, like pet transport and event catering.

We talked about:

* why going into business with old friends often doesn’t work

* what the sweet spot for finding business partners and co-founders actually is, and how to align expectations upfront to prevent painful breakdowns later

* how a string of software company failures actually turned out to be good luck

* how persistence, even with two years of zero traction, led to breakthrough success

Enjoy my conversation with Deepak!

Learn more about your FounderEQ and get your score for free in 5 minutes here.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, please consider:

* Subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

* Giving a rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts. (Even a short two-sentence review helps!)

Want support in leveling up your leadership? Send an email to [email protected] to learn how we can work together.

In an age of AI, self-awareness will be a meta-skill. In this episode I zoom out and take a broader look — not as a fluffy “nice-to-have,” but as a practical operating system for how you lead, make decisions, and navigate hard conversations.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Schedule a call to get acquainted and let's see if the High-EQ Founder group coaching program is a fit.

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