There are few pieces of career advice more damaging than the idea that success requires sacrifice.

For Sam Yarbrough, that message came during a job interview. When she explained that she was committed to both her career and her family, she was told, "Well...you chose to work."

It was a mindset she'd encounter again and again—that ambitious professionals, especially working moms, should expect to trade time with their families for career success. But instead of accepting that belief, Sam used it as a filter. If an organization couldn't respect her values, it probably wasn't where she wanted to lead.

That perspective eventually led her to walk away from a prestigious executive role, navigate an unexpected identity crisis, and co-found Arcadia—a leadership community built on a different philosophy: you don't have to choose between building a meaningful career and living a meaningful life.

In this episode, Lindsay and Sam unpack the myths we've accepted about ambition, boundaries, and leadership—and why the best leaders are whole humans, not just high performers.

What You'll Learn

• Why "you chose to work" is one of the worst pieces of career advice working parents receive
• How boundaries reveal whether a company's culture truly aligns with your values
• Why leaving a prestigious role led to an unexpected identity crisis
• How to separate your worth from your title and paycheck
• What "whole-human leadership" really means
• Practical ways to identify your priorities before making career decisions
• Why harmony—not balance—creates more sustainable leadership
• How Arcadia is helping leaders grow without sacrificing what matters most

About Sam Yarbrough

Sam Yarbrough is the co-founder of Arcadia, a leadership community that helps executives and go-to-market leaders build successful careers while staying connected to what matters most. After years leading high-growth teams in the corporate world, Sam left a prestigious executive role to create a new model of leadership—one that prioritizes career, family, health, relationships, and purpose instead of forcing people to choose between them. Through Arcadia and its immersive Leadership Experience, she helps leaders grow as whole humans, not just professionals.

This episode is for anyone who's ever felt like they had to choose between career success and the life they wanted outside of work. Whether you're a working parent, an aspiring leader, or simply questioning what success should look like, this conversation is a reminder that you really can have both.

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🏔️ Learn about the Arcadia Leadership Experience

When Kristi Candela started building BeeCene, she thought she already knew the first step.

Find a technical co-founder.

It wasn't just advice she heard once. It was embedded in startup culture. Investors asked about it. Accelerator applications reinforced it. Other founders repeated it. Everywhere she turned, the message was the same: if you weren't technical, you needed someone who was before anyone would take your company seriously.

So she waited.

She searched for the right partner. She built a manual version of her product instead of a technical one. She convinced herself that hiring technical talent wasn't enough—and that building without a technical co-founder wasn't an option.

The longer she waited, the more momentum she lost.

Everything changed when an advisor introduced her to the possibilities of AI-powered development. Using tools like ChatGPT and Atlas alongside today's growing ecosystem of no-code platforms, Kristi realized she didn't need permission to start building. Instead of waiting for the perfect co-founder, she began rapidly testing ideas, learning directly from customers, and iterating faster than she ever thought possible.

In this episode of Actually, I Can, Kristi shares how one piece of conventional startup advice became a founder trap, why waiting can be more expensive than building imperfectly, and how questioning "prerequisite" advice can unlock momentum for entrepreneurs everywhere.

What you'll learn:

• Why "you need a technical co-founder" isn't true for every founder
• How startup culture reinforces beliefs that can keep entrepreneurs stuck
• The hidden cost of waiting instead of building
• Why co-founder relationships shouldn't be rushed
• How AI and no-code tools are changing what's possible for nontechnical founders
• Why rapid learning matters more than building the perfect product
• How customer feedback accelerates better products and better decisions
• Why founders should question advice that creates unnecessary prerequisites
• Why some investors still require technical co-founders—and what that signals
• How BeeCene is helping founders find the right funding instead of chasing the wrong investors

About Kristi Candela

Kristi Candela is the founder and CEO of BeeCene, a funding intelligence platform helping early-stage founders identify the right funding opportunities based on their business, goals, and stage of growth. Rather than encouraging founders to "spray and pray," BeeCene equips entrepreneurs with the research and intelligence they need to pursue capital that actually fits their business.

Before founding BeeCene, Kristi spent more than 15 years in financial services, where she saw firsthand how access to capital often favors the same types of founders. Today, she's working to democratize access to funding by helping entrepreneurs navigate fundraising with greater confidence, clarity, and strategy.

This episode is for anyone who has ever believed they needed one more credential, one more connection, or one more person's permission before they could begin. If you've ever delayed pursuing an idea because you thought you weren't ready, this conversation will challenge what you believe it really takes to build something meaningful.

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💼 Learn more about BeeCene: https://www.beecene.com/

When Leslie Venetz decided to leave a successful corporate sales career and start her own business, she expected people to have opinions.

She didn't expect so many of those opinions to sound exactly the same.

If you're going to start a company, they told her, it needs to scale.

You need employees.

You need growth.

You need a bigger vision.

Otherwise, what's the point?

The advice came from people she respected. People who had built successful careers. People who genuinely believed they were helping. And because Leslie was leaving a 15-year career in sales leadership during the peak of the SaaS industry's "growth at all costs" era, the message was everywhere.

For a while, she wondered if they were right.

Today, Leslie runs a successful business built around something very different: freedom.

No investors.

No pressure to hire.

No obsession with growth for growth's sake.

Just a business intentionally designed to support the life she wants to live.

In this episode of Actually, I Can, Leslie shares why the pressure to scale almost pulled her away from her own vision, how burnout helped her rethink success, and why discernment may be the most important skill a founder can develop.

What you'll learn:

Why advice can be well-intentioned and still be wrong for you

How to recognize when someone else's fear is disguised as guidance

Why the "growth at all costs" mindset became so dominant in business

How burnout pushed Leslie to question her definition of success

The role discernment plays in entrepreneurship and leadership

Why building a business around freedom can be just as ambitious as building one around scale

How Leslie designed a four-day client workweek and protects time for herself

Why serving the person you used to be can become a powerful business strategy

The question every founder should ask before accepting advice

About Leslie Venetz

Leslie Venetz is the founder of the Sales-Led Go-To-Market Agency, where she helps organizations build effective outbound sales strategies that create meaningful conversations and measurable revenue. Before launching her own company, Leslie spent more than fifteen years leading sales teams and revenue organizations throughout the SaaS industry.

Today, she is a consultant, speaker, and author of Profit Generating Pipeline. Her work focuses on helping companies build sustainable growth through modern sales practices while challenging conventional wisdom around success, scaling, and entrepreneurship. Leslie is a vocal advocate for intentional business ownership and building a company that aligns with your values instead of someone else's expectations.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt pressure to chase a version of success they didn't actually want. If you've ever wondered whether your goals were ambitious enough—or whether you're allowed to define success differently—this conversation will help you trust your own vision.

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📖 Learn more about Profit Generating Pipeline

💼 Learn more about the Sales-Led Go-To-Market Agency