The Heartbeat Podcast

A podcast about leadership hosted by Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team. In each episode, Claire interviews a leader she respects to distill their greatest management mistakes, business learnings, and advice.

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Previous Episodes

Episode 9: Interview with Wil Reynolds, Founder of SEER Interactive

As the founder of a 100+ person company who recently turned down an 8-figure offer for sale, Wil talks about naiveté, transparency as ...

Episode 8: Interview with Amanda Lannert, CEO of Jellyvision

As the CEO of Jellyvision, a 400-person software company, Amanda Lannert has won just about every “best CEO” award in ...

Episode 7: Interview with David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO of Basecamp & Creator of Ruby on Rails

As the Creator of Ruby on Rails and Founder & CTO of Basecamp, David Heinemeier Hansson shares with me what he wishes he learned ...

Episode 6: Interview with Joanna Wiebe, Founder of Copy Hackers

As the Founder of Copy Hackers and Airstory, Joanna gets real about her biggest struggles as a leader. Joanna Wiebe is the founder ...

Episode 56: Interview with Jeff Kahn, Co-Founder & CEO at Rise Science

As the Co-Founder and CEO at Rise Science, Jeff Kahn discusses the challenge of being emotionally present as a leader, the power of ...
Jennifer Garvey Berger

Episode 55: Interview with Jennifer Garvey Berger, Author of “Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps”

As the author of “Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps” and the CEO of Cultivating Leadership, Jennifer Garvey Berger discusses the ...

Episode 54: Interview with Matt Davey, COO at 1Password

As COO at 1Password, Matt Davey talks about eschewing perfectionism, being an empathy-led business, why it’s important that everybody ...

Episode 53: Interview with Dr. Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler, Ph. D., Author of Optimal Outcomes and Founder + CEO of Alignment Strategies Group

As a leading conflict expert who’s worked with leaders and teams at organizations such as IBM and the United Nations, Dr. Jennifer ...

Episode 52: Interview with Shane Parrish, Founder of Farnam Street

As Founder of Farnam Street, Shane Parrish talks about leaders’ tendencies to ignore positive outcomes and focus on the negative ...

Episode 51: Interview with Jerry Colonna, Coach and CEO at RebootHQ

As Coach and CEO at RebootHQ, Jerry Colonna talks about just because you feel like shit doesn’t mean you are shit, that there’s ...

Episode 50: Interview with Jason Fried, Co-Founder & CEO of Basecamp

This week, Jason Fried, CEO and Co-Founder of Basecamp and I, your host, Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team, interview each other for this ...

Episode 5: Interview with Halleemah Nash, Executive Director of iMentor Chicago

As an acclaimed nonprofit leader and public speaker, Halleemah Nash reveals what “authentic leadership” really means… Claire ...

Episode 49: Interview with Matt Westgate, CEO and Co-Founder of Lullabot

As CEO and Co-Founder of Lullabot , Matt Westgate talks about starting a company from scratch, teaching himself what he needed to know ...

Episode 48: Interview with Edward Kim, Co-Founder and Head of Engineering at Gusto

As Co-Founder and Head of engineering at Gusto, Edward Kim talks about transitioning from a developer to a leader and the difficulty he had ...

Episode 47: Interview with Pooja Brown, VP Platform Engineering at Stitch Fix, Former VP Engineering at DocuSign

As VP Platform Engineering at Stitch Fix, Former VP Engineering at DocuSign, Pooja Brown talks about how every experience is a learning ...

Episode 46: Interview with Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media

As Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Tim O’Reilly talks about valuing your financial people, the fact that leadership ...

Episode 45: Interview with Will Larson, Head of Foundation Engineering at Stripe, and Author of An Elegant Puzzle

As Head of Foundation Engineering at Stripe, and Author of An Elegant Puzzle, Will Larson talks about that not all decisions are final ...

Episode 44: Interview with Esther Derby, Organizational Dynamics Expert, Consultant, and Author

As an Organizational Dynamics Expert, Consultant, and Author, Esther Derby talks about the fact that organizations should not strive to ...

Episode 43: Interview with Chip Conley, Entrepreneur and NYTimes Best-Selling Author

As an Entrepreneur and NYTimes Best-Selling Author, Chip Conley talks about how your emotions as a leader are contagious, candid ...

Episode 42: Interview with Ritu Bhargava, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Salesforce

As the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Salesforce, Ritu Bhargava talks about learning to say no, preparing for hard meetings, and ...

Episode 41: Interview with Nick Francis, CEO and Co-Founder of Help Scout

As the CEO and Co-Founder of Help Scout, Nick Francis talks about being self-aware of all the things that you don’t know as a leader, ...

Episode 40: Interview with Camille Fournier, Managing Director of Two Sigma, and Author of The Manager’s Path

As the Managing Director of Two Sigma, and Author of The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change, ...

Episode 4: Interview with Des Traynor, Co-founder of Intercom

As the founder of a 300+ software company, Des talks about the silence cost to being nice, the pitfalls of transparency as a leader, and ...

Episode 39: Interview with Katica Roy, CEO and Founder of Pipeline

As the CEO and Founder of Pipeline, Katica Roy talks about knowing your own values as a leader, the delineation between worthiness and ...

Episode 38: Interview with Sahil Lavingia, CEO and Founder of Gumroad

As the CEO and Founder of Gumroad, Sahil Lavingia talks about the presumption of success and defying statistical odds, the fact that ...

Episode 37: Interview with Bryce Roberts, Founder of Indie.vc, Co-Founder of OATV

As the founder of Indie.vc, and Co-Founder of O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Bryce Roberts talks about the importance of accepting your ...

Episode 36: Interview with Rand Fishkin, CEO of SparkToro, Author of “Lost and Founder,” and Former CEO of Moz

As the CEO of Sparktoro, author of “Lost and Founder”, and former CEO of Moz, Rand Fishkin talks about the economic and power ...

Episode 35: Interview with Mollie West Duffy, Co-Author of No Hard Feelings + Senior Org Designer at IDEO

As the co-author of the book, “No Hard Feelings,” and senior organizational designer at IDEO, Mollie talks about over and under ...
Cap and Claire chatting via the podcast

Episode 34: Interview with Cap Watkins, Founder at Practical Works + Prev. VP Design at Buzzfeed

As the founder of the leadership consultancy Practical Works (and former VP of Design at Buzzfeed, to boot), Cap shares what he wishes he ...
Wade and Claire Chatting

Episode 33: Interview with Wade Foster, CEO and Co-Founder of Zapier

As the CEO and Co-Founder of a $35MM+ revenue company with over 2 million users, Wade shares what he wishes he would’ve learned ...

Episode 32: Interview with Natalie Nagele, CEO and Co-Founder of Wildbit

As the founder and CEO of a company serving over 100,000 people all over the world, Natalie shares the one thing she wish she ...

Episode 31: Interview with Joel Gascoigne, CEO + Co-founder of Buffer

Running a $19MM+ remote company with 82 employees, serving millions of people, Joel shares his greatest leadership lesson. Every few weeks ...

Episode 30: Interview with Amir Salihefendić, CEO + Founder of Doist

With over 13 million customers all over the word, Amir talks about his motivations as a leader and the importance of constant learning. ...

Episode 3: Interview with Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe

As the CEO and co-founder of Stripe, a payments company processing billions of dollars each year, Patrick Collison shares ...

Episode 29: Interview with Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Founder + CEO of Pearachute

A second-time founder who scaled a business to $5MM+ annual revenue and appeared on SharkTank (getting an offer from Mark Cuban, no less), ...

Episode 28: Interview with Kathryn Minshew, Founder and CEO of The Muse

As the founder + CEO of a company serving 75 million people worldwide, Kathryn shares her biggest leadership lessons around trusting your ...

Episode 27: Interview with Peldi Guilizzoni, Founder + CEO of Balsamiq

As the founder of a 10-year old $6.3+MM bootstrapped company, Peldi talk about how your greatest strength can be your greatest weakness. ...

Episode 26: Interview with Ryan Carson, Founder + CEO of Treehouse

As the founder of a company that’s helped 850,000 people learn to code, Ryan talks about the value of trust as a leader . Every two weeks ...

Episode 25: Interview with Wayne Sutton, Co-founder + CTO of Change Catalyst

As a serial entrepreneur who has been featured on CNN, USA Today, BBC, and the Wall Street Journal, Wayne talks frankly about ...

Episode 24: Interview with Hiten Shah, Founder of KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg, FYI and Product Habits

As the founder of multiple successful SaaS companies, Hiten shares the pitfalls of being too nice as a leader. Every few weeks as part ...

Episode 23: Interview with Jordan Buckner, Founder and CEO of TeaSquares

As a Forbes 30 under 30 founder of a two-year-old snack company now sold in Whole Foods, Jordan shares the importance of vision. Every few ...

Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp

An expert on employer brand and recruiting at the 900+ person company, Mailchimp, Aynn shares what she wishes she learned earlier. Every ...

Episode 21: Interview with Katrina Markoff, Founder + CEO of Vosges Haut-Chocolat

As the creator of a luxury chocolate empire exceeding $35MM annually, Katrina shares insights on what not to forget as a leader. Every few ...

Episode 20: Interview with Rob Walling, Founder of Drip + MicroConf

Rob Walling is the Founder of Drip, an email automation platform. A serial entrepreneur who has published books, ...

Episode 2: John Maeda, Global Head of Computational Design & Inclusion at Automattic

As a world-renowned designer, thinker and executive, John Maeda shares with me what he wishes he learned earlier as leader. “Just ...

Episode 19: Interview with David Cancel, CEO of Drift

David Cancel is the CEO of Drift, a conversational sales platform that has over 100,000 customers. Having started five companies ...

Episode 18: Interview with Steve Larosiliere, President of STOKED

An acclaimed nonprofit leader featured on the TODAY show, Steve shares his biggest lessons learned around empathy, self-care, and ...

Episode 17: Interview with Elena Valentine, CEO of Skill Scout

With a focus on diversity and inclusion, the CEO of a Chicago-based media company focused keeps it real about the myths and struggles of ...

Episode 16: Interview with Daniel Houghton, CEO of Lonely Planet

Daniel Houghton is the CEO of Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide book publisher in the world. As a 29-year-old CEO with ...

Episode 15: Interview with Dan Mall, Founder of SuperFriendly + CEO of SuperBooked

As a creative leader who’s worked with everyone from Apple to ESPN, Dan shares his biggest leadership lessons on servant leadership and how ...