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.

Luke Davis went from “employee #31” at a fast-growing tech scale-up to co-founder of Diversifying.io, a job board tackling workplace diversity long before it was headline news.

In this conversation we cover:

• Bootstrapping in real life – why Luke still hasn’t taken VC money and how that forces “creative discipline.”
• Fund-raising vs. reality – the hoops a Black female-led team still has to jump through (including an invoice-financing deal that disintegrated the moment ID was requested).
• The $20,000 domain lesson – how ignoring the “.com” cost Luke’s team a chunk of runway.
• Life-threatening illness mid-startup – Luke’s colon-cancer battle, what it did to his mental health, and the power of therapy and marathon training in the aftermath.
• Why “hire another person” is not the default answer to every scaling problem.

If you’ve ever wondered what it really feels like to juggle growth, cash-flow panic and a health crisis—while the market mood swings on diversity—Luke lays it all out.

Ben Read joins Tom to explore the dynamic between visionary founders and the integrators who keep them grounded. From 10-ideas-a-week chaos to the reality of execution, this episode dives into what happens when startups lack the balance between bold thinking and operational discipline.

Ben reflects on the early risks, personal sacrifices, and what founders often get wrong when they try to go it alone.

If you’ve ever tried to build while flying blind, this one’s for you.

🎙️ Episode 00 – What How NOT to Be a Founder Is All About

Before we dive into the real stories, the mistakes, and the moments nobody posts on LinkedIn, I wanted to quickly share why I started How NOT to Be a Founder.

This podcast isn’t about the highlight reel. It’s about the real journey — the screwups, the pressure, the near-misses — and what actually shapes founders.

Because sometimes the best lessons aren’t in the wins. They’re in the stuff that almost broke you.

New episodes every week. First full interview drops 28th April.

🔔 Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode: https://www.youtube.com/@howNOTtobeafounder

📣 Follow along on Instagram: @how_not_to_be_a_founder

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