What happens when the startup playbook that got you here stops working?

In this episode of The Stormy Stories Show, Angela Robertson sits down with Miranda Lievers, Co-Founder of Thinkific and Founder of Torch the Playbooks, to unpack the messy middle of scaling a business.

Drawing from her experience helping grow Thinkific from a scrappy startup through a $1B+ IPO, Miranda shares why scaling requires founders to rethink the habits, systems, and leadership styles that worked in the early days.

They explore why leaders need to get out of their own way, how to recognize when old playbooks no longer fit, the impact of AI on established ways of working, and why sustainable growth is about being directionally correct rather than perfect.

Miranda also reflects on stepping away for a two-year sabbatical, rediscovering what mattered to her, and why founders need to build at a pace that both they and their teams can actually sustain.

If you’re navigating growth and wondering why scaling feels harder than you expected, this conversation is a reminder that you’re not alone.

Connect with Miranda and learn more about Torch the Playbooks:
https://torchtheplaybooks.com/

For founders whose businesses are too big to wing it and too small to feel stable.

What happens when you build a product people want, prove the market exists, and then watch forces outside your control bring it crashing down?

On this episode of The Stormy Stories Show, Angela Robertson sits down with Darryl Hillock, Founder & CEO of Beatify, to unpack his journey from music entrepreneur to building one of the earliest blockchain-powered music streaming platforms.

Darryl shares what happened when the crypto collapse disrupted a platform that had already attracted thousands of users, the personal and financial cost of rebuilding, and why failure ultimately gave him the clarity to create something stronger.

They also explore the future of creator ownership, digital identity, direct payments, and why founders need the right people around them when things get difficult.

It’s a conversation about resilience, ownership, and having the conviction to keep building when walking away would be easier.

What does it really take to build a company when success doesn’t happen overnight?

In this episode of The Stormy Stories Show, Angela Robertson sits down with Bhavya Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of zipBoard, to explore the realities of building a bootstrapped SaaS company through uncertainty, setbacks, and constant change.

Bhavya shares the challenges of rebuilding after an early co-founder departure, learning to trust her own judgment, and redefining success around solving meaningful problems one customer at a time. She and Angela also explore why more technology doesn’t always create better collaboration, how AI can support experts without replacing human judgment, and why some of the biggest opportunities for founders are hiding inside industries and workflows others overlook.

It’s a candid conversation about resilience, trust, sustainable growth, and accepting that building something meaningful takes time.