Season 9 | Ep30 Emily Angeloni: Why She Nearly Walked Away From WOW After 9 Years of growth

About this episode

Emily Angeloni discusses her journey of nearly walking away from her successful business after a co-founder exit and rediscovering her purpose.

Emily Angeloni co-founded WOW Recruitment in Sydney at 22. No salary for six months. Just her laptop, working from a building set for demolition. Nine years later: a team of 18 across every major Australian state, New Zealand, and the United States. One of the most respected boutique sales and marketing agencies in the country. The year she became a mother, her co-founder told her he was leaving. She came back from maternity leave to a business that had saved every problem for her return, hit a serious road block, and stood in a strategy offsite thinking she could not do it anymore. She needed to rediscover her why. She did. WOW has since had its strongest period in nine years. But then she had a valuation done. And as she says herself: valuations can be a pretty uncomfortable truth. This week on The RAG Podcast, Emily breaks down what it actually looks like to lose a business partner, build something you are not sure you even want to continue, find the clarity, and watch everything change. We cover: - How a co-founder exit right before maternity leave forced Emily into the driver's seat for the first time - Why she seriously considered walking away from nine years of work, and…

People in this episode

Host: Sean Anderson

Guest: Emily Angeloni

Topics covered

• co-founder exit
• maternity leave
• business growth
• leadership challenges
• hiring model
• personal clarity

Keywords

• WOW Recruitment
• business partner
• maternity leave
• hiring model
• business growth
• leadership
• strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WOW Recruitment

Places: Sydney, New Zealand, United States

More episodes of The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

• Season 9 | Ep33 Greg Fischer: $4.2M Revenue, $1.4M Net - Then He Left With Nothing but a Handshake · June 9, 2026 · 1h 15m
• Season 9 | Ep32 Paul Strouts: When Growing Headcount Is a Strategy and When It Is Just a Cost · June 2, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Season 9 | Ep31 Nathan O'Connell:Building a £1M R2R business on 4 x Retained Clients · May 26, 2026 · 1h 13m
• Season 9 | Ep29 Charlie Saffro: What Nobody Tells You About Selling Your Recruitment Business · May 12, 2026 · 1h 22m
• Season 9 | Ep28 Blaine Daws: £1.5M Year One to £15M Today. Working 7 Days a Week to Get There. · May 5, 2026 · 1h 16m
• Season 9 | Ep27 Andy Strong: Why He Waited 17 Years to Start His Own Recruitment Business · April 28, 2026 · 1h 17m