If you’ve ever felt like building a business and leading a team means carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders—this one’s for you.

I sat down with Chiara Airoldi, co-founder and COO of Cloove, to talk about what it really takes to scale a startup, lead a team, and delegate without turning into a control freak. Chiara shares her journey from working in startups to building her own business, how she raised €400,000 in pre-seed funding, and the biggest lessons she’s learned about leadership, delegation, and building a team that actually takes ownership.

If you’ve ever found yourself micromanaging, struggling to let go of tasks, or feeling stuck in the operational weeds, Chiara breaks down the mindset shifts and systems that make all the difference.

We dive into:

(04:11) Why Chiara left the corporate world and what drew her to startups
(05:59) Raising €400K in pre-seed funding—and the biggest challenges that came next
(06:46) The hardest part of leading a team (hint: it’s not what you think)
(08:54) The one system every founder needs to avoid becoming a bottleneck
(12:35) How to hire people who take initiative (without just throwing money at the problem)
(16:21) The real reason founders struggle to let go of tasks—and how to shift that
(20:19) How to stop sweating small mistakes and focus on what actually moves the needle
(26:19) Managing team mistakes without damaging trust or morale
(32:08) Why standardization is your best friend—and the tool that changed the game for Chiara
(36:30) How Chiara finds time for personal development while running a startup

Chiara keeps it real about the challenges of leadership and how she’s grown as a founder—plus, she shares some practical ways to step out of reaction mode and into high-performance leadership.

If you’re building a team, scaling a business, or just trying to survive startup chaos, this is a must-listen.

Listen now and let me know what resonated most.

Connect with Chiara: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiara-airoldi/

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About Emily:
Emily Rose Dallara transforms underperforming teams and leaders into growth engines, driving more revenue, more time, and less stress for businesses.

With over 9 years of experience scaling marketing teams as a CMO, globally in Web3, startups, and crypto, Emily combines her expertise as a growth advisor & leadership coach with nervous system and energy management tools to optimize team performance and leadership dynamics.

She’s also a qualified somatic practitioner and the host of Bubbling Out, a podcast that explores insights from inspiring leaders and visionaries.

Awards: Emily was voted a Top Woman of the Future 2022 and a Woman in Web 3 Changemaker by N...