Growth Department
Growth Department
Podcast Description
Welcome to Growth Department, the business podcast for founders, small business owners, and growth-minded leaders who want real answers to the question, "How do I grow my business?"Each week, host Chelsey Reynolds talks with experienced operators, executives, and entrepreneurs who share what actually worked (and what flopped) as they built their companies. We cover everything from how to find customers, scale operations, and lead with impact to how personal growth shows up in professional success.If you're tired of recycled advice, influencer hype, and growth hacks that don’t work in the real world, you’re in the right place. Expect honest conversations, battle-tested strategies, and the mindset shifts you need to scale smart and stay sane.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on actionable business growth strategies, personal development, and real-life entrepreneurial experiences, with episodes covering topics such as navigating startup challenges, effective sales techniques, and overcoming layoffs through entrepreneurship.
Growth Department is a business podcast for founders and business leaders who are actively building and want to keep learning as they grow.
Each week, host Chelsey Reynolds talks with operators, executives, and entrepreneurs about how real businesses are built and scaled. These conversations focus on the decisions, tradeoffs, and systems that shape growth over time.
You’ll hear practical insight on finding customers, building teams, scaling operations, and leading well, alongside honest discussions about how personal growth shows up in professional work.
Growth Department slows the conversation down so you can go further, faster.
We started this podcast in July 2025 with a bold goal:
Hit 50 episodes by the end of the year
Why? Ambitious goals can help you figure things out faster. I had to learn how to Do. The. Thing. and not let my fear or shyness get in the way.
The purpose of the podcast is to bring true, trusted, vetted business advice and leadership advice to the world, where more and more ai slop and hype messaging is sending founders in dangerous, costly misdirections. Plus, it is a blast to geek out on topics and meet cool founders and operators from all over the world!
What Happened? As I went through these 6 mos, I learned a great deal from all the guests, and I've been able to apply these lessons to the podcast along the way.
What Were the Lessons? When we pull all the transcripts from the 49 guest episodes, common themes emerged. We analyzed the number of times words and phrases came up, categorized the ”mistakes” and ”wins”, and put together this short and sweet episode to summarize.
1. Lack of effort isn't getting in your way of growth. Likely lack of scalable systems is likely at the heart of that slowing down or stalling you're feeling.
2. Alignment is crucial for growth. Not only does each role and piece of your business need clear systems, they need to be rowing in the same direction (or towards the same targets) as your other teams and pieces of the business. Misalignment can sneak up on you. If you're just a hair's width off track in a space ship, you may wake up one day in the wrong galaxy.
3. Leadership growth (mindset, skills), is not to be ignored. Get a coach, get a therapist, work on your limiting beliefs. Many leaders we interviewed had ”aha!” moments when they realized ”oh boy, I AM THE PROBLEM”.
What's Next?
You can enjoy all of 2025's episodes and articles anytime you'd like. Refer back to all these different topics whenever you feel stuck.
In 2026, we are going to do deep dives into specific topics, one per month starting in February. Our first topic is Category Design & Go To Market (defining each, IDing how they overlap/differences, and meeting people who wrote the book on AND are living examples of each of these through their career success)
Thank you for continuing to join us here. A like, subscribe, or share helps others find us, and I appreciate it very much. If you have any topics you're interested in or challenges you want us to unpack in 2026, shoot us a note at [email protected]
Happy New Year, and see you next time!
xo
Chelsey
Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.
If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.
Disclaimer
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