E.118 - What Building a Near $1BN Company from Zero Taught Me About People w/ Alina Vandenberghe

Alina Vandenberghe — Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Chili Piper — shares what happens when survival mode ends and success no longer motivates you.In this episode of What Makes You Tick, Alina reflects on leadership, belief, and the moment she realised that thinking about joy is a luxury when you’re in survival mode — and what it takes to rebuild your inner operating system once survival is no longer the driver.After selling her house to start Chili Piper, spending years in intensity, and scaling a company to a near-$1BN valuation, Alina reached a place few founders talk about: the moment survival stopped — and the deeper questions began.“If I’m not trying to survive, why am I here?”This is not a “how I built a startup” episode.It’s a conversation about identity after success, belief as a leadership skill, and why blame, fear, and punishment quietly destroy teams from the inside out.This episode is for founders, leaders, and high performers who’ve achieved external success but feel an internal disconnect — and are asking what actually matters next.In this conversation, we explore:Why joy disappears in survival mode — and what replaces itHow belief shapes leadership, culture, and decision-makingWhy “blame is a cancer” and how it spreads inside organisationsThe hidden cost of punishment, fear, and victim mentalityWhat founders don’t expect after financial successHow Alina thinks about impact, ownership, and meaning beyond metricsAlina is known for her uncompromising views on leadership and culture, including her belief that “blame is a cancer — once it starts, it spreads.” In this episode, she explains where that belief comes from, how it shows up in her leadership, and why psychological safety isn’t soft — it’s foundational.About Alina VandenbergheAlina Vandenberghe is best known for co-founding Chili Piper, which scaled to a near-$1BN valuation — but this conversation focuses on what came after that success.She is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Chili Piper, the Demand Conversion platform used by top GTM teams at companies like Monday.com, Gong, and Verizon. She started the company in 2016 after selling her house, with a mission to fix the broken B2B buying experience.Romanian-born and New York-based, Alina leads with a rare mix of conviction and vulnerability — and continues to work not because she has to, but because she believes deeply in the puzzle of building better systems for humans.🎧 Listen if you care about:Founder mindsetLeadership psychologyLife after successStartup cultureBelief, purpose, and meaningWhat actually drives high-performing people💬 Join the conversationWhat part of survival mode are you still stuck in?Share your thoughts in the comments — this conversation continues there.Follow Alina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alinav/Follow Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richwash/Read Richard’s Newsletter Growth Magnet: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7083793079794556928Subscribe for more conversations that go beyond tactics — and into what makes the people who build startups tick.🔔 Subscribe to What Makes You TickWeekly conversations with founders, operators, and leaders exploring what really drives them — beyond titles, metrics, and surface-level success.