Mimir

Maddie Kelley
  • 5.0 (30)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to Mimir, the podcast for aspiring entrepreneurs. Every week you'll hear interviews from successful founders on exactly how they went from idea to thriving business. Hi! I'm Maddie, your host! Even after publishing two books and getting my podcast off the ground, I still consider myself an aspiring entrepreneur. Each week I dive deep into the entrepreneur journey to give you, and me, the tools necessary to build our dream lives! My sincerest hope is that by tuning in, you'll find the inspiration and the know-how to take the first steps towards those dreams.

  1. 3D AGO

    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

  2. MAR 30

    Why your social media "strategy" isn't working with Emma Tessler, Founder of Ninety Five Media

    Most founders sit down to post on social media and go completely blank. But I have good news! You don’t actually have a content problem, you have a clarity problem. At my 9-5 creating content is easy because someone handed me the mission, I’ve learned the market well enough to know exactly what pain points we need to address and how our product solves them. The content writes itself. That infrastructure: mission, audience, pain points, outcomes, etc. is the part founders skip. They start posting because it feels like that’s what you’re supposed to do, and you are. But content without the foundation is not a strategy, so it’s no wonder you feel confused. That’s why I brought Emma Tessler on to the podcast. Emma Tessler is the founder of Ninety Five Media and has been in social media since 2015. She has worked with hundreds of brands and she does not pull punches. Every single piece of advice she gives in this episode is downstream of one question: does this actually serve your specific audience, or are you posting because it feels like progress? In our convo we cover what to do in the first 30 days of posting, what metrics you should be focusing on and spoiler alert, it’s not comments or follower count. What successful founder content looks like, and why paid options should always come last. There is also a moment where we talk about an important nuance that I need every early-stage founder to hear. Nobody cares about your values. Values are internal. Your mission is what converts because it names the problem you solve and the person you are solving it for. Make sure you stay through to the end because Emma shares her marketing growth blueprint built specifically for early-stage founders who want an expert-led strategy they can execute on their own. If you are ready to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall, this episode is for you. Connect with Emma: Get $500 off your Marketing Growth Blueprint - exclusively for MiMir Podcast listeners!**WebsiteInstagramEmma’s LinkedInNinety Five LinkedInThe Stop Scrolling, Start Scaling Podcast Looking for more from Mimir? Dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! If you'd like to support this podcast, I would be deeply honored if you buy me a matcha!

    50 min

  3. MAR 16

    How to validate your idea with zero technical experience, with Rashmi Aimiuwu founder of Givva

    Rashmi Aimiuwu moved from Canada to Silicon Valley. The literal epicenter of tech, and spent months quietly wondering if she had any business being there. No engineering degree. No startup experience. Just 17 years in commercial real estate marketing and a growing frustration with birthday parties. That frustration became GIVA, a gift-giving platform that just launched in beta. And in this episode, Rashmi pulls back the curtain on every step of getting there. From teaching herself to build a prototype with AI tools to firing her developer two and a half months into an MVP and starting from scratch. Rashmi is the earliest stage founder I've ever had on Mimir, and that's exactly why I wanted her here. This show is for early stage founders, and her story mirrors yours more than almost anyone I've talked to. She's figuring it out in real time, building in a space she didn't come from, without a roadmap. Honestly, I'm learning right alongside her. I wanted to bring this conversation to the forefront because it shines a light on the parts that have to happen before you get the big breaks. After listening to our conversation, you’ll walk away with how she validated the idea before writing a single line of code, what it felt like to jump into a business with zero technical background and sit with that imposter syndrome for months. and what she wishes she'd done differently with her name and brand from day one. It's one of those conversations that's going to hit differently depending on where you are in your journey. But if you're early, you need this one. Connect with Rashmi: Givva's website & her LinkedIn profile If you enjoyed this episode and want more, dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! And if you feel called to support this podcast, I’d be deeply honored if you Buy me a matcha!

    52 min

  4. MAR 9

    The uncomfortable truths of entrepreneurship with Irene Saliendra

    Today’s conversation is about the uncomfortable truths of entrepreneurship. Something every early stage founder needs to get familiar with. I’m sitting down with Irene Saliendra, a serial founder who has built across multiple industries, from sustainable fashion to women’s health tech, and now runs Digital Flow. So many founder stories get told in hindsight. But when you’re in it, the reality is a lot messier. I experienced this myself when starting a company. You’re putting yourself in rooms where you feel underqualified. You’re figuring out co-founder dynamics, equity structures, accelerators, and fundraising, often for the first time. And sometimes you’re doing all of that while still trying to hold down a job, pay bills, and convince people your idea is worth believing in. I’m still doing this! So it was really refreshing to sit down with Irene and talk about what it takes to move before you feel ready. Irene is sharing tips for validating your idea, how to ask better questions instead of just pitching harder, and all the unsexy, and often awkward motions you need to put in place to have healthy co-founder relationships. We also unpack accelerators and fundraising. I imagine these things are top of mind for any founder in the early stages as it was for me. So I had Irene dive deep. You’ll learn when they’re useful, when they’re not, and what they’re actually designed to do. But one of the most powerful takeaways from this conversation is something deeper. Building a company doesn’t just create businesses. Those can come and go. What entrepreneurship really builds is self-trust. Once you’ve navigated uncertainty enough times you start to realize that no matter what happens next, you know how to begin again. And that’s a kind of confidence no one can take away from you. If you want an honest look at what early-stage entrepreneurship actually feels like, keep listening. Because sticking through the uncomfortable parts of the journey is often exactly what changes you. Connect with Irene: website linkedin Dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠ If you feel called to support this podcast, I'd be honored if you Buy me a matcha!

    56 min

  5. MAR 2

    Turning empathy into industry disruption with Samantha Diamond, Co-Founder of Bird&Be

    Today’s guest is Samantha Diamond, co-founder of Bird&Be, a reproductive health company built alongside fertility doctors to help people be proactive about their fertility — from “trimester zero” through pregnancy and postpartum. What I learned from Sam is that empathy, when embedded into how you build, becomes a competitive advantage — especially in stagnant industries. Fertility, and female healthcare more broadly, hasn’t meaningfully evolved in how it shows up for customers. There’s very little empathy for the emotional reality of the journey. Sam saw that gap firsthand, and what she’s done with Bird&Be proves that mission-driven founders build more than just products. They have the power to shift the culture that surrounds those products. Through intentional product design, obsessive customer listening, and a retail partnership with Ulta, Bird&Be has moved reproductive health from the back corner of the pharmacy into the beauty and overall wellness conversation. If you’re building in fintech, healthtech, edtech, climate, HR — any space where trust matters and culture feels stuck — this conversation will show you how mission, when embedded deeply enough, can become your edge. You’ll learn how Sam operationalizes empathy at every level of the business. And what it actually takes to go from an idea in 2016 to a national retail expansion in 2025. We unpack the long timeline, the patience, and the strategic decisions required to scale without losing the mission. Finally in true Mimir fashion, I couldn’t let Sam go without asking her how being a founder has shaped her as a person. She’s sharing the key to resilience, putting in uncomfortable reps, and how to found in spaces you don’t have technical expertise in. Keep listening to learn how empathy can move from pretty words to infrastructure — and how that shift can change not just your industry, but the culture surrounding it. Dive into the well on Substack! Buy me a matcha! Connect with Sam: birdandbe.com @birdbeco LinkedIn

    48 min

  6. 12/08/2025

    Why productivity hacks won’t save you (habits need more than discipline)

    I originally wrote this piece as a Substack essay, but as we head into 2026, aka the season of vision boards and productivity hacks, I wanted to bring it to the podcast too. This topic has been sitting with me for a long time because I think so many of us struggle with the same fear: Why am I not reaching my goal fast enough? And even when we do hit a milestone, why does the joy disappear almost instantly? I started questioning the illusion of progress we all subscribe to. If reaching the dream is fleeting… then what’s the point? I explore that question through a few different lenses: Ecclesiastes, the story of Exodus, and even my very humbling personal experiences. What ties it together is this: success doesn’t save us from doubt. So, a big part of this episode is about learning how to enjoy the work. But that requires something most of us aren’t taught to cultivate: self-grace. When you treat yourself like a creator instead of a critic, you actually build the emotional safety required to notice the small wins, learn from mistakes, and feel proud in the middle. Going into the holidays, if you’ve been feeling stuck, discouraged, or disconnected from your own progress, this episode is going to give you language and logic for what you’re experiencing, and a path forward that is more sustainable than any productivity hack. Thanks for listening! Come hang out on Substack over the holidays. And if you’re going to try your own 60-day habit stack, tell me what you’re choosing so we can keep each other accountable.

    28 min

  7. 11/24/2025

    Why your email list should be a top priority in 2026, and how to build it with Kieryn Wang, Founder of ALLMOST

    I once heard one of my favorite founders say that despite her huge social following, the channel that actually moves her business forward is her email list. Most of us already know email matters. But how many of us truly understand why? I brought Kieryn Wang, Founder of ALLMOST, to the podcast to help answer two questions: Why should founders treat email as a core growth channel? And how do you actually start building one from scratch? Kieryn has over 13 years of experience in some of the hardest industries to market, like cannabis, alcohol, sex tech, where social accounts get shut down all the time. She learned early that owned channels simply aren’t optional. They’re critical for survival. Half of our conversation is super tactical. Kieryn walks through how to get from zero to your first 500 subscribers, what makes a newsletter worth opening, and how to understand your metrics so they become a source of insight instead of insecurity. I actually implemented one of her tips right after we recorded and saw immediate conversion — so trust me, it works. But this episode goes beyond newsletter best practices. One of the reasons that email is a core growth channel is that it gives founders clarity. It tells you what resonates, what’s confuses, and what moves customers to buy. Even more so, email is one of the few tools that protects future you. Kieryn shares her learning lesson that working on the business is just as important as working in the business. Most founders only do the work that keeps the business alive today, but the results of that work don’t show up until 30–90 days later. The same is true in reverse: when you stop building channels or nurturing an audience, the consequences show up 90 days later when you have no pipeline. That’s why systems like email matter. It’s one of the few channels that keeps nurturing, compounding, and generating demand while you’re operating the business. So if you’ve been stuck while trying to build your own newsletter, or it’s something that’s on your radar for 2026 goals, this episode is going to teach you not just how to do it, but also why it’s critical that you stay on top of it. Connect with Kieryn: Website: https://www.itsallmost.com Social: https://www.instagram.com/itsallmost Membership Community: The Conversion Club  Special Offer for Mimir listeners: use code MIMIR for $30 off the first month If you enjoyed this episode and you're looking for more, dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! There you'll find more founder wisdom, and essays on entrepreneurship.

    51 min

  8. 11/17/2025

    Turning “mission-driven” from a tagline into an operating system with Kat Dey, Co-Founder of Ettitude

    If you’re building something mission-driven, you know the real challenge isn’t choosing between purpose and profit, it’s learning how to honor both at the same time. We talk about “values” and “purpose” like they’re complicated strategies. But one of the things that really landed for me in this conversation is how simple the right decisions become when your mission is real. Who you are as a person leaks into how you build. The real question is: how far, and how deep, are you willing to take your mission? Today’s guest has spent her entire career doing exactly that. Kat Dey is the co-founder and president of Ettitude. Through proprietary innovations like CleanBamboo®, Ettitude creates sustainable bedding, bath essentials, apparel, and textiles, offering a clean, plant-based alternative to highly polluting materials like cotton, viscose, silk, and cashmere. Kat’s a serial entrepreneur who has spent more than 15 years building, scaling, and selling mission-driven companies. In this episode, Kat translates mission into real operating decisions, from sourcing standards and packaging to performance reviews and customer promises, and why scaling a mission-driven company isn’t about being “pure,” but about making values-aligned choices that also show up in the numbers. We talk through what B Corp certification actually entails, and why early founders can use it as a compass long before applying. Kat also opens up about healthy co-founder dynamics, and shares the three tactical levers she believes drive hypergrowth. What I love about Kat is that she’s honest about tradeoffs. She talks about removing plastic packaging even though it was more expensive. She talks about transparency with her team, and the reality that you can’t make a positive environmental impact if you’re not a financially sustainable business. If you’re an early-stage founder building something with heart and you want to scale, this conversation will give you both clarity and tactics for the road ahead. Keep listening to turn your mission into an operating system, not just a tagline. Oh, and stay tuned until the end to get an exclusive discount code to shop at Ettitude. Connect with Kat: Get 25% off your purchase at Ettitude with discount code MIMIR25 LinkedIn If you enjoyed this episode and you're looking for more, dive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! There you'll find more founder wisdom, and essays on entrepreneurship.

    47 min
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About

Welcome to Mimir, the podcast for aspiring entrepreneurs. Every week you'll hear interviews from successful founders on exactly how they went from idea to thriving business. Hi! I'm Maddie, your host! Even after publishing two books and getting my podcast off the ground, I still consider myself an aspiring entrepreneur. Each week I dive deep into the entrepreneur journey to give you, and me, the tools necessary to build our dream lives! My sincerest hope is that by tuning in, you'll find the inspiration and the know-how to take the first steps towards those dreams.

Information

  • Creator
    Maddie Kelley
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    95
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Maddie Kelley
  • Show Website
    Mimir