The Launch Playbook for Founders Who Expect a Traffic Spike with Michael Dodworth
From Tenacity with Sonia C. by Sonia Couto
February 24, 2026 · 34 min · Season 3 · Episode 120
About this episode
Sonia Couto interviews Michael Dodsworth about preparing for high-traffic product launches and maintaining leadership under pressure.
If you’re building something worth attention, you need to be ready for the spike. In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C., Sonia sits down with Michael Dodsworth, a product leader who has spent two decades operating in high-pressure launch environments at companies like Salesforce and Optimizely, as well as in live event ticketing, where millions show up at once. This conversation isn’t about tickets. It’s about what happens when: Your product goes viral 3 million people hit your site at once Bots flood your checkout You oversell Your team panics And social media is watching Michael breaks down what actually fails first during a launch meltdown, why most companies are underprepared for spiky demand, and the systems founders should build before scaling attention. Sonia brings it back to what matters most: leadership under pressure, resilience when things break, and why calm founders win. If you’re planning: A product drop A Black Friday launch An influencer collaboration A waitlist release Or your first viral campaign This episode is your pre-flight checklist. Because going viral isn’t the goal. Staying up is. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
People in this episode
Host: Sonia Couto
Guest: Michael Dodsworth
Topics covered
- product launch
- traffic spike
- leadership
- resilience
- scaling
- viral marketing
Keywords
- traffic spike
- product launch
- viral campaign
- leadership
- resilience
- checkout bots
- overselling
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Salesforce, Optimizely
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