From Ballroom to Bootstrapped — Sydney de Arenas & Audrina on Risk, Rejection & THAT Investor Horror | Ep 03 – How NOT to Be a Founder

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Please try again later

Please try again later

Please try again later

Please try again

Please try again

Please try again

Listen for free

View show details

Two totally different routes, one very real destination: founder reality.

Sydney de Arenas grew up around family businesses, quit a soul-crushing sales job at 23 and never looked back—until a bad hire in Paris almost wiped her out.
Audrina went from pro Latin-ballroom dancer to VP at a performance-marketing startup—then a shock lay-off pushed her straight into Summit Chasers and, eventually, co-founding Hive with Sydney.

Together they unpack:

The myth of the “glamorous” founder life—and why their bank balances said otherwise.
Why early wins can be dangerous (including the car Audrina wishes she’d never bought).
Sydney’s jaw-dropping investor meeting that turned into a personal-space assault—and how she rebuilt her fundraising strategy.
A Guatemalan hostel “fridge scam,” tornado-dodging sales calls, and other moments you truly can’t make up.
What not to do next: overspending, saying yes to every client, and building a company that can’t survive without you.

Raw, practical and occasionally ridiculous—exactly what this show is about.

No reviews yet