The Scaling Mistake That Nearly Cost Her Everything with Lauren Kwedar

The Scaling Mistake That Nearly Cost Her Everything with Lauren Kwedar

From Tenacity with Sonia C. by Sonia Couto

May 22, 2026 · 36 min · Season 3 · Episode 128

About this episode

Lauren Kwedar shares her experience of scaling a business and the challenges that come with rapid growth.

What happens when your business grows faster than your systems, leadership, and life can handle? In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C , Sonia sits down with Lauren Cockerell, founder of Kaidar & Co, to unpack the scaling mistake that nearly cost her everything. After being laid off while 8 months pregnant, Lauren built her company from the ground up. But years later, rapid growth, hiring pressure, operational chaos, and leadership stress forced her to confront a hard truth: more revenue does not automatically create a better business. Lauren shares the real behind-the-scenes reality of scaling a service business, including: Growing revenue by 70% and watching systems break Making hiring decisions too quickly Navigating a business partner exit Balancing leadership with motherhood learning why niching down creates clarity Rebuilding the company around intentional growth instead of survival mode This conversation is for founders who are: overwhelmed by scaling pressure experiencing founder burnout struggling with leadership decisions trying to build a sustainable business questioning whether the company they built still fits their life If you are scaling fast but feeling…

People in this episode

Host: Sonia Couto

Guest: Lauren Kwedar

Topics covered

  • business growth
  • leadership challenges
  • scaling mistakes
  • entrepreneurship
  • work-life balance
  • founder burnout

Keywords

  • scaling
  • business systems
  • leadership
  • revenue growth
  • entrepreneur
  • sustainable business
  • niching down

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kaidar & Co

More episodes of Tenacity with Sonia C.

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Tenacity with Sonia C. podcast page.