Mimir

Maddie Kelley
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  • Entrepreneurship
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Mimir exists to support early-stage founders. The early stage is the most critical, lonely, and underserved moment in a founder's journey, and almost nobody shows up for it. I do, because I'm living it too. Through Mimir the podcast, and The Well on Substack, I bring honest stories from fellow founders who are still operating in this messy middle. Not just the highlight reel, but the unfiltered reality, because no one should build alone.

  1. 3 days ago

    Lauren Kleban, Founder of LEKFIT, on building a company that’s ruthlessly you

    Lauren Kleban started her career as a professional dancer. She moved to Las Vegas and booked a show at the Paris Hotel. But like every Vegas dancer, that wasn't her only gig. She was stacking five jobs at once, showing up to a 10am audition after a job that ended at 3am. As a dancer, no one hands you drive. No one teaches you to read your own call sheet, or to advocate for yourself, or how to pivot when the steady thing falls through. Looking back, she credits most of her success as a business owner to those years. Today Lauren is the founder of LEKfit, the dance-based method she started out of her garage in Hancock Park. While the market was selling bikini-body countdowns and 30-day challenges, Lauren built the opposite, a complete method you do every day in under an hour. Her company grew into one of the most loved workouts in Los Angeles. Her studio on La Brea draws a client list that reads like its own call sheet (Busy Philipps, Michelle Williams, Kate Beckinsale, Emmy Rossum), and Lauren was one of the first trainers anywhere to put her classes online. TIME and Entrepreneur have both told her story, so I’m beyond jazzed and honored that she wanted to come onto Mimir. She built every bit of LEKfit self-funded, and mostly by word of mouth. Lauren is so impressive but also so fun to talk to. I learned from her how, as a dancer, being your own manager, agent, and basically CEO before anyone hands you the title, becomes the engine for building a company. The other thing I took home from this interview is something I’ve been trying to lean into on my own founder journey. Refusing to fake who you are is the single most important thing that builds your community and carries you through the challenges. You guys are going to learn a lot from Lauren. How to let demand pull you into overhead, not the other way around, and how to manufacture exclusivity before you need it. If you’re a founder whose revenue is capped by your own time or square footage, you’ll particularly find this interview useful since Lauren teaches you how to productize early so you don’t have to worry about those ceilings. And finally, what it means to split your company by zone of genius, and why it’s some of the best money you’ll spend on your business. More than anything if you're in the early stages of building something and you're scared that staying yourself will cost you, you need to hear this. Connect with Lauren: Perfect 10 App LEKFIT App Website Instgram If you want to support the podcast, please leave a review! If you're looking for more ways to contribute I would be deeply honored if you wanted to ⁠Buy me a matcha!⁠ Also, be sure dive into ⁠⁠The Well on Substack⁠⁠ and check out the ⁠playlist of what founders are listening to⁠.

    54 min

  2. 16 Jun

    We made it to episode 100

    It's been a long time coming. For 100 episodes I've sat across from founders and asked them how they built their businesses. For this one, it's just me, looking back at three years of doing this and asking the question I've been asked a million times: what was it all for? When I started Mimir in my San Francisco apartment three years ago, I had a sticky note on my desk that said in one year I'd have 100,000 followers on TikTok and Mimir would be paying my rent. Spoiler: none of that happened. What did happen is what this episode is about. There's also some big news. You'll have to listen to find out. If you've been here from the beginning, this one is for you. With every ounce of my being, thank you for letting me be part of your routines, your commutes, your spark of inspiration or motivation. You stuck with me through the times I was unsure, the formats that didn't quite work, the production gaps when life got in the way, the awkwardness. I see every single one of you, and I'm so appreciative. Dive into ⁠⁠The Well on Substack⁠⁠ Check out the new branding here.

    26 min

  3. 26 May

    You can't pour from an empty cup with Ashley Presti, Founder of Blended Bond

    Ashley Presti never set out to build a company. But Blended Bond grew out of a problem she was actively living, blending two families under one roof. Unsurprisingly, her business succeeded for the same reasons her family did: she asked the hard questions, stayed intentional, leaned on the people around her, and let it happen on its own timeline instead of forcing it. The heart of this episode is twofold. One how solving a real personal problem with honesty becomes the engine (and the moat) of a business, and two, how the founder's growth tends to mirror their growth as a person. For all my fellow founders listening, this episode is very worth your time. You'll hear how a single word changed how people treated and paid for her product. You'll get the unglamorous timeline, including the moment she said she was done, and what pulled her back in. You'll get a great lesson in distribution. How she found her people in places most founders overlook, and her intentional product evolutions as the brand started to scale. But as I was listening back to the interview, the thread that kept pulling at me was about pacing. Ashley is proof that you can't rush timing, that you can't pour from an empty cup, and that being a solo founder doesn't mean carrying the whole thing alone. Ashley accomplished what so many aspiring entrepreneurs think is impossible. She started this business in her forties, with a full-time job, a blended family, without letting it eat the life around her. If you've ever told yourself the good ideas are already taken, or that it's too late, or that you have to have it all figured out before you begin, you need to listen to this episode. Connect with Ashley: LinkedIn Blended Bondinstagram.com/theblendedbond Use code MIMIR10 for 10% off any Blended Bond deck! If you want to support the podcast, please leave a review! If you're looking for more ways to contribute I would be deeply honored if you wanted to ⁠Buy me a matcha!⁠ Also, be sure dive into ⁠⁠The Well on Substack⁠⁠ and check out the ⁠playlist of what founders are listening to⁠. See you next time!

    50 min

  4. 19 May

    An overnight success takes 9 years with Connie Lo, co-founder of Three Ships Beauty

    Today’s episode is a real pinch me moment. I was a Three Ships customer before I knew Connie Lo's name. I absolutely love their Jelly Drops for the most amazing glow and their soft serve lip balm before bed. I found Three Ships at Credo Beauty, one of my favorite places for truly clean products. As someone whose allergic to almost everything, finding products that are safe, let alone work is few and far between. So when my friend Amanda told me she had DM'd Connie on Substack and that Connie had not just responded, but written back with such warmth and kindness, I knew I had to shoot my shot. I sent the message, asked if she'd be willing to come on Mimir, and here we are! Ironically, the interview itself ended up being about shooting your shot. There's a story in here about 23-year-old Connie at the end of a beauty trade show, walking up to a woman with her name badge flipped around that nobody else was approaching. Halfway through the conversation, it was revealed that she was the buyer from Whole Foods. A year later, Three Ships was in half of California. The year after that, the whole country. That's the through line for the whole episode. The unsexy, slightly awkward, reality of how a brand actually gets built. If you are an early-stage founder, especially one in consumer or beauty, this is a rare operational masterclass. We talk about Three Ships’ 37% repeat rate, and what Connie attributes that to. We talk through a replicable product development process, and the realistic timeline for beauty products. Connie also shares the biggest mistakes founders make when they decide to start their companies. But outside of all the amazing wisdom Connie imparts, I’m really impressed by how she keeps her ego small, her identity bigger than the company, and her wins documented so she doesn't lose track of how far she's come. Connie is a huge inspiration to me and I am beyond excited to welcome her to the podcast. Connect with Connie: LinkedIn Susbtack Three Ships If you want to support the podcast, please leave a review! If you're looking for more ways to contribute I would be deeply honored if you wanted to Buy me a matcha! Also, be sure dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠ and check out the playlist of what founders are listening to

    54 min

  5. 4 May

    What rapid, enviable growth actually costs with Colin McIntosh, founder of Sheets and Giggles

    Colin McIntosh started Sheets and Giggles in 2017 and scaled it to $1.4 million per month by 2020. Last November, after eight years of building through COVID, supply chain crises, and a 2025 tariff shock that killed his first acquisition deal three days after Liberation Day, he sold the company. I couldn’t wait to talk to Colin. I came with pen and paper in hand poised to document his meteoric rise. I had to know how he did it so I could replicate it. But in our conversation, he tells me why he wouldn't build it the same way again. Colin is incredibly honest about the cost of scaling at that speed and right now, he’s a founder in recovery mode. I loved being able to pick his brain on all the mistakes he made, lessons he learned, and triumphs along the way. We talk about what strategic category selection looks like in practice, the three barriers that block new businesses (capital, complexity, risk), and why personal domain expertise is the only durable advantage in an AI era where the tools are commodity. But what I can’t stop thinking about is his perspective on why entrepreneurs don’t get enough empathy and the structural challenges to starting a business in America today. It felt like we were both realizing at the same time that the best thing you can do as an early stage founder today is build a brand that’s like yourself. One that comes from a passion, a mission to help others that only you're equipped to serve. So if you’re an early stage founder who doesn’t want to hear the raw truth of building, then keep scrolling. But the real ones know, entrepreneurship isn’t always glamorous. Connect with Colin: SheetsGiggles.com - my first company that we talked about a lot, sustainable bedding SheetsResume.com - AI Resume Builder and Job Search Platform ColinDMcIntosh.com - where people can go to learn more about me Dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! Buy me a matcha! playlist of what founders are listening to

    52 min

  6. 27 Apr

    Allie Stark on becoming a relaxed founder who still gets what she wants

    I don’t know about you guys but 2026 for me is certainly earning it’s title as year of the fire horse. I truly feel like I’ve been riding a fire breathing horse bareback at full speed. I’m just here holding onto the mane for dear life and he’s burning down what use to be. If you feel the same way, then this episode is for you. Last week I sat down with Allie Stark and it ended up being one of the most useful, fun, and fulfilling conversations I’ve had in a good minute. Allie coaches ambitious women through big chapters of growth and change, and she put articulate language on the experience of change. The way of being that got you here isn't going to get you there, and the in-between, the part where the old self is leaving and the new one hasn't shown up yet, is messy in ways nobody really warns you about. For some of us, it’s dramatic, for others it’s not, but I think it’s universal for everyone, especially us founders. We cover a lot in this episode. The feminine economy, and what it looks like to build a business on generosity and reciprocity instead of grinding. The kind of leader who can actually change you. Why entrepreneurship is essentially identity work in disguise. And the single most concrete exercise to do during times of change. I did it over the weekend. But the part of this conversation that genuinely changed how I'm thinking about my life right now was when I told Allie my deepest fear: what if I work so hard but I don’t get what I want. She didn't hand me a pep talk. She asked the question back at me sideways: what if you could be more playful and still get what you want? I've been thinking about that in every single instance of my life since. For anyone who runs on hustle and worries it might not actually work, that question is the whole episode. For the early-stage founders listening, especially the women: we are in a wildly transformative cultural moment, and if the old way of doing things doesn't fit anymore, then this episode is exactly what you need. Allie hands you a softer way of asking the question, and a few real ways of meeting yourself in the middle. Mentioned by Allie: The Awakened BrainThe feminine economy - sistersConnect with Allie: Check out Noria: my learning & development platform for a new era of living & leading ASW  Connect with Maddie: Dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! Buy me a matcha! playlist of what founders are listening to

    54 min

  7. 13 Apr

    Danielle Brooks: From the margins to the main thing, on how she grew Honey Truck from one hive to luxury brand.

    Today I'm sitting down with Danielle Brooks, the founder of Honey Truck, a boutique honey brand. Danielle and I met through a podcast matching platform. In her pitch to me she told me that Honey Truck was built in the margins of her life. She didn't have the luxury of building fast, so she had to learn how to build intentionally. It felt like she was speaking directly to me. I mean she was, but more specifically, she was speaking to a circumstance I am all too familiar with. I too am building in the margins of my life, constantly hunting for the path through the trees that gets me out and into the horizon of the future I want. I learned a lot from Danielle, but the lesson that leapt out to me was how she didn't manufacture a differentiator. She paid close attention to what was already special about her product instead of searching the competition for where she fit in. She noticed her honeys looked different, tasted different, depending on where her bees lived. And she built her entire brand around that. As a marketer, that's what I'm always looking for. Not something engineered, and as founders that’s a lesson you need to pay attention to. We also get into the mechanics of building a product-based business, from wholesale pricing to the question I think every founder building in the margins needs to ask themselves: Do I have a business or do I have an expensive hobby? And Danielle shares a version of work-life balance that is the opposite of hustle culture. It's about doing the next right thing. Even when it's painfully slow, even when the gap between where you are and where you want to be feels impossible to close. Honestly, that's the version of entrepreneurship that I designed this podcast to tell. If your scrappy beginning has you wondering whether you're doing it right, this is exactly what you needed to hear today. Connect with Danielle: Website: www.honeytruck.com Social media: @honeytruckco Dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! Buy my matcha this week!

    48 min

  8. 8 Apr

    How Your Reformer grew from a COVID workaround to a global business with Emma Stallworthy

    If you’re a female founder then you’ll probably know this feeling all too well. You’re trying to launch a business but you’re also thinking about getting married, starting a family and it feels like the sand is slipping through the hourglass knowing that neither is going to stop and wait for you. I’m right there with you. I’m getting married next year and my fiance and I are talking about kids. But my business is in the earliest of early stages and I can’t help but feel regret, like I should’ve started this business earlier. I find myself rushing, trying to get as much built as possible before my whole life changes. Being a female founder, this is the reality. You don’t know how you’re going to manage both. Talking to Emma Stallworthy, founder of Your Reformer, was not only educational from a business perspective, for me, it was a sigh of relief. Emma launched Your Reformer right after her second baby. She didn’t say it was easy or glamorous. But she told me that passion will carry you through the hard seasons. The business didn’t pull her away from being a mom, it made her a better one. That was what I took from this episode. But we also get into the stuff that makes her business worth studying. The economics of a reformer rental that I’m shook no other fitness founder is replicating. Why she refuses to use the word pivot. How she mapped her entire product ecosystem around a single customer lifecycle so that Your Reformer could meet someone wherever they are in their Pilates journey and grow with them. And finally, what nobody tells you about all the costs of scaling globally. If you’re starting a fitness brand, navigating life changes as a founder, or curious about alternative approaches to fitness business models, then this episode is for you. Connect with Emma: Your Reformer Emma's LinkedIn Your Reformer Instagram Dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! Buy me a matcha!

    52 min
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About

Mimir exists to support early-stage founders. The early stage is the most critical, lonely, and underserved moment in a founder's journey, and almost nobody shows up for it. I do, because I'm living it too. Through Mimir the podcast, and The Well on Substack, I bring honest stories from fellow founders who are still operating in this messy middle. Not just the highlight reel, but the unfiltered reality, because no one should build alone.

Information

  • Creator
    Maddie Kelley
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    102
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Maddie Kelley
  • Show Website
    Mimir