Episode 21
Your Company Grows Only When You Do
Bruna de Guimarães
Founder, Be Bold
The conversation
Milan Savov talks with Bruna de Guimarães, former COO and CPO at Pipedrive, founder of Be Bold and advisor to more than 50 startups, about the founder as the real bottleneck to growth. Bruna has found that the most successful founders are highly self-reflective: they seek feedback, work with coaches and keep upgrading how they lead as the company changes. She explains why leaders should aim to be trusted rather than liked, even when that means difficult conversations.
She compares co-founder relationships to marriages and suggests doing something difficult together before starting a company. She also shares how showing vulnerability made her a stronger leader, because admitting mistakes builds trust and speeds up learning.
What came up
Introduction
What 50+ founders taught Bruna
Why successful founders keep changing
Delegation and founder bottlenecks
The hidden problems inside companies
Why co-founder relationships fail
How to choose the right co-founder
Trust vs being liked
Decision-making with limited information
Learning from mistakes
Leading people more experienced than you
Returning from maternity leave
When founders should take investment
The leadership lesson that changed everything
Building learning loops
About the guest
Bruna de Guimarães
Founder of Be Bold and former COO and CPO at Pipedrive. An angel investor and advisor to more than 50 startups across Europe.
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