PODCAST · business
Unicorn Leaders
by Unicorn Labs - Fahd Alhattab
The Unicorn Leaders podcast takes a deep dive into the world of building a billion-dollar company (a unicorn) in every episode. Join us while we explore the leadership and environments that create unicorn startups straight from those with first-hand experience (startup founders, VPs of talent, and more). The podcast is hosted by Fahd Alhattab, the CEO of Unicorn Labs and a millennial workplace expert who specializes in providing transformative leadership and team dynamics training for high-growth startups. Fahd has been researching what creates high-performing teams over the last five years. Join him as he asks his guests the hard questions to uncover what it means to be a leader in our fast-paced, information-based world.
Episodes
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Ep. 37 - Toys, Bankruptcy, and Trying Again with Brad Pedersen
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Brad Pedersen, entrepreneur and founder behind Lomi, Pela, and one of Canada's largest independent toy distributors, to explore his journey from selling flying toys out of a mall kiosk to reinventing himself again and again across toys, consumer goods, and...
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Ep. 36 - Bootstrapping a Billion-Dollar Underdog with Mike Wessinger
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Mike Wessinger, founder and Executive Chairman of PointClickCare, to explore his journey from installing desktop computers in nursing homes to building one of Canada's most valuable tech companies. Mike shares how a firsthand look at an industry still running…
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Ep. 35 - Surviving Long Enough to Win with Chris Grimes
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Chris Grimes, founder and CEO of Fundmore, to explore his journey from 20-year mortgage industry veteran to building one of Canada's fastest-growing fintech companies. Chris shares how firsthand frustration with a slow, paperwork-heavy mortgage system led him…
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Ep. 34 - The Good Guys in a Not So Great Industry
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Nic Beique, founder and CEO of Helcim, to explore his journey from self-taught programmer to building one of Canada's leading fintech companies. Nic shares how a commitment to solving real problems for small businesses led him to challenge the traditional...
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Ep. 33 - Be the First: Rick Hunter on the Importance of Innovation
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Rick Hunter, a former Canadian National Ski Team racer who made the leap from the slopes to the waterslide industry. Rick shares the lessons he learned from competing at the highest level of sport and how those same principles of passion, innovation, and...
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Hard to Kill: How a 30-Person Ottawa Startup Took On the Defense Giants with Samuel Witherspoon
Samuel Witherspoon was a lawyer who walked away from a safe career to co-found a tech company. The first thing he built? A platform for selling divorces online. He was ashamed to tell people what he did for a living. So he sat in a boardroom with his co-founders and asked a dangerous question…
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Ep. 31- Winning the Fan Battle- Vincent Ircandia on Disrupting Sports Marketing with Data
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Vincent Ircandia, CEO of Stellar Algo, a Canadian startup that’s revolutionizing the sports industry with data-driven fan engagement solutions. Vincent takes us through his journey of building a product that gives sports teams and leagues the power to…
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Ep. 30 - Pick Your Goliath: Ray Newal on Building Davids That Actually Win
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Ray Newal—startup advisor, ex-Microsoft and Yahoo exec, and a founder who moved across the world to build tech that mattered. Ray’s journey spans from selling ads for AltaVista to leading Techstars India, but it’s his time building in emerging markets that...
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Ep. 29 - Build the Infrastructure, Not the Spotlight: How Zak Lefevre Is Scaling the Future of EV
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Zak Lefevre, co-founder and CEO of ChargeLab, to unpack a modern David vs. Goliath story in one of the world’s fastest-growing industries—EV infrastructure. Zak started in 2016 with a drill, a parka, and a vision—installing EV chargers in freezing parking lots...
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Ep. 28 - Change the Definition of Victory: Ron Tite on Beating Goliaths by Playing a Different Game
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Ron Tite—comedian, author, and founder of Church+State—to explore how creative Davids take on industry Goliaths without selling out or burning out. Ron shares how he bootstrapped his agency through speaking gigs, built a brand that stood out by standing for...
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Ep. 27 - More Than a Thermostat: How Ecobee Took on Google—and Won with Stuart Lombard
In this episode, Fahd sits down with Stuart Lombard, founder of Ecobee, to unpack one of the most iconic David vs. Goliath stories in Canadian tech. What started as a personal mission to reduce his carbon footprint led Stuart to invent one of the world’s first smart thermostats—and take on giants...
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Ep. 26 - You Don’t Win Alone: Building High-Trust, High-Velocity Teams with Nora Beatty
In this episode, Fahd Alhattab sits down with Nora Beatty, VP of People Operations at Cohere, to unpack how small, high-trust teams scale in high-stakes environments. Nora shares her journey from Cohere’s 40-person startup stage to its 500-person rocketship rise—and what she’s learned about...
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Ep. 25 - Culture, Coaching, and the People Lever: What Founders Get Wrong About HR with Miranda Pokoy
In this episode of the Unicorn Leaders podcast, Fahd Alhattab sits down with Miranda Pokoy, SVP of People Success at Partnerize, to explore how HR can be a powerful driver of business performance. Miranda shares her journey from administrative assistant to executive leadership, and the strategic...
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Ep. 24 - Taking on Google: The People Strategy Behind Ecobee’s David vs. Goliath Win with Penny Farinha
In this episode of the Unicorn Leaders podcast, Fahd Alhattab sits down with Penny Farinha, former VP of People at Ecobee, to unpack what it really takes to scale a mission-driven startup through every phase of growth—without losing your soul (or your best people). Penny shares the...
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Ep. 23 - Hiring Fast, Hiring Smart: Rethinking Recruitment in Startups with Adam Gellert
In this episode of the Unicorn Leaders podcast, Fahd Alhattab sits down with Adam Gellert, founder of Linkus Group and Hypo, to talk all things hiring—from building high-performing teams to breaking outdated recruitment myths. Adam shares what it really takes to find top-tier talent in startups,...
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Ep. 22 - From DNA to Millions: Scaling, Exiting, and Playing the Long Game with Adrian Salamunovic
In this high-energy episode of the Unicorn Leaders podcast, Fahd sits down with serial entrepreneur and author Adrian Salamunovic for a raw, real, and wisdom-packed conversation on what it takes to build—and exit—category-defining companies. Adrian shares the behind-the-scenes journey from…
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Ep.21 - Scaling Through Chaos: Why Startups Need Clarity, Not Corporate Playbooks with Ali Farrell
In this episode of the Unicorn Leaders podcast, host Fahd Alhattab sits down with three-time Chief People Officer Ali Farrell, currently CPO at Apprentice, to unpack what it really takes to build high-performing teams in fast-growth startups. Ali brings a rare blend of corporate, VC-backed,...
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Season Two Kickoff - David vs Goliath: How Small Teams Win Big
In this season opener of the Unicorn Leaders podcast, Fahd Alhattab sets the stage for a new narrative—one centered around the underdogs. Drawing inspiration from the classic David vs. Goliath story, Fahd explores why small, scrappy teams often outperform their larger, better-resourced…
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Ep. 20 EmpowerED - A Bottom Up Approach to Employee Development with Eva Manole
In episode 20, Eva shares her use of a product led mindset for developing new strategies of learning and development at Fullscript with about 800 employees. She dives into how the traditional models of learning and development are not always agile or adaptive especially with the rise of AI…
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Ep. 19 - Leading with Purpose: Unveiling the Secrets of Impactful Leadership with Andre Fernandez
In episode 19, Andre dives into how he found his way into creating a socially impactful business while sharing valuable lessons and principles that he embraced on his journey to success as a leader. From letting go of micro details to building high performing teams and influencing decision making...
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Ep. 18 - What got you here won’t get you there with Jonah Midanik
In episode 18, Jonah Midanik shares his journey and experience in a growth mindset of recognizing that ‘what got you here won’t get you there. He has been lucky enough to have seen the startup journey from a variety of perspectives: as a successful bootstrapped founder/CEO, having helped launch…
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Ep. 17 Breaking the Glass Ceiling/Inspiring Women Leaders in Tech Startups with Jeanette Dorazio
Jeanette Dorazio, CEO of Leadpages, a no-code website and landing page builder. She has had various executive-level positions at leading organizations, including Oracle, 8thBridge, Verifone, and Solera. Jeanette’s passion comes from breaking down barriers and championing the inclusion and success...
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Ep. 16 - Creating Talent Strategies with Krista Skalde
On this episode we look at organizational systems and how to think when designing the organizational structure. Realizing that it should not be designed from a people centric place but rather around the needs and direction of your business. It’s important to be mindful when you do design around...
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Ep. 15 - The Work of a Startup CEO with Kyle Racki
Kyle Racki, the co-founder and CEO of Proposify, Kyle helps thousands of businesses remove the bottleneck of proposals and get more visibility into the close. In true serial entrepreneur form, Kyle also co-host his own podcast, The Racki and Symes Podcast, where he discusses ideas and strategies…
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Ep. 14 - Leading Effective Teams in a Remote Environment with Natalie Furness
Natalie Furness, CEO of RevOps Automated and Revenue Operations Consultant shares her journey and learnings along the way onto remote work and falling into the world of operations. She speaks of finding your people through value alignment for both the work you do and the work environment you...
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Ep. 13 - The Value of Vision for Employee Engagement and Success with Chris Williams
Chris Williams, former VP of HR at Microsoft has over 40 years of experience building and leading teams. Through his journey, starting from installing car stereos and while being pulled into firing employees because of his people skills, to eventually transitioning to a computer science and going...
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Ep. 12 - Finding Purpose In Your Work That Drives You with Florent Schmahl
Florent Schmahl, Chief of Staff of highly purposeful agtech company, Growcer, shares his journey and learnings along the way as he shifted his work from being focused on developing hard skills to now pursuing purposeful work. Over the years he’s has time to gather his insights on finding the work...
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Ep. 11 - The importance of creating a people-first company with Shawna Stewart
Today we have Shawna Stewart on the podcast, VP of People and Operations at Railz Financial. Shawna is truly a people-focused leader, she has extensive background in psychology and organizational behaviour and experience involving performance management, full scope operational effectiveness,...
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Ep. 10 - How Leaders Build Company Culture with Laura Mindorff
Laura Mindorff is the brilliant COO at Wicket. Laura has developed years of experience under her belt and shares her very tactical advice on how to create effective culture through things like rituals, culture champions, and what metrics to watch out for to check-in on your progress. I’m so happy...
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Ep. 9 Why Candidate Experience Matters When Building Your Team with Julia Fulton
In episode 9, Julia gives us insight into how she uses her humane recruiting approach to create a reputable employment brand that plays big dividends both inside and outside the company. She offers actionable tips on how to initiate trust on a team, how to lead the recruitment process to attract...
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Ep. 8 - Productive Conflict with Shawn MacDonell
Shawn MacDonell shares his unconventional story of saying yes to experiences from sports coaching, to facilitating tools for teaching in Columbia, to branding strategy, to professional coaching, to founding a creative agency. He speaks to how all of these offered him the experience of not being...
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Ep. 7 - How to Foster a Culture of Development to Improve Your Team’s Performance with Brittany Forsyth
What does leadership mean to you? Ex-Shopify Chief Talent Officer Brittany Forsyth, used to think it was the same thing as management. Over the years and various leadership roles she realized it means creating a following and driving that following towards a common shared goal. In episode 7 she...
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Ep. 6 - Team Composition: How to Attract and Hire Stars Employees with Amanda Gordon
“If you are building a talent strategy that’s based on a sample you saw online or a great book you read, you will not match what your business needs and so I think whenever I’m doing any kind of talent strategy or when I was consulting I was always asking people “what’re your business goals” and…
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Ep. 5 - Create a Compelling All-Encompassing Vision with Sam Witherspoon (CEO of IMRSV Data Labs)
Have you ever been in a position where you didn’t feel proud of what you were doing in your career? Has your chosen field ever caused you emotional distress? Sam Witherspoon is the founder and CEO of IMRSV Data Labs, a company dedicated to increasing the safety and security of Canada and its…
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Ep. 4 - What Motivates People? Understanding Motivation in the Workplace with Cassy Aite (Co-Founder and CEO of Hoppier)
We often have the preconceived notion that leaders have to treat everyone the same in order to be fair. However in truth, managers need to respect everyone’s individual needs and motivators. On episode #4, Cassy Aite, the co-founder and CEO of Hoppier, shares how different values, environments…
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Ep. 3 - How You Can Build a Culture of Leadership at Work with Aydin Mirzaee (Co-Founder and CEO of Fellow.APP and Creator of the SuperManagers Podcast)
Did you know that 70% of employee retention is based on their manager and no other factor? People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. Aydin Mirzaee is the co-founder and CEO of Fellow.app, a meeting productivity platform that helps organizations have fewer, better meetings. In this episode…
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Ep. 2 - Why Your Leadership Won't be Effective Without Psychological Safety with Craig Handy (Team Lead at Shopify, Founder of Jameson Strategies Consulting)
When you’re busy fighting for survival is there any room for growth? When any failure means disaster, the stakes are too high for you to take risks — this means you’ll always choose the safe route. Craig Handy leads a Global Revenue Operations team at Shopify, a fast growing startup, and he is...
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Ep. 1 - The Future of Leadership and Management with Michael Johnson (President & CEO, Multiview Financials)
“We ultimately believe that it’s our role as leaders, as coaches, to find out what about that individual is going to make them fulfilled and be able to achieve their best outcomes in both work and in life and in order to do that you have to be radically committed to that employee.” - Michael...
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The Beginning of Unicorn Leaders
Fahd is a consultant, coach, leadership speaker, and millennial workplace expert who teaches new managers how to lead multi-generational teams. He specializes in transformative leadership and team dynamics training for high-growth startups. He created this podcast to take a deep dive into the…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Unicorn Leaders podcast takes a deep dive into the world of building a billion-dollar company (a unicorn) in every episode. Join us while we explore the leadership and environments that create unicorn startups straight from those with first-hand experience (startup founders, VPs of talent, and more). The podcast is hosted by Fahd Alhattab, the CEO of Unicorn Labs and a millennial workplace expert who specializes in providing transformative leadership and team dynamics training for high-growth startups. Fahd has been researching what creates high-performing teams over the last five years. Join him as he asks his guests the hard questions to uncover what it means to be a leader in our fast-paced, information-based world.
HOSTED BY
Unicorn Labs - Fahd Alhattab
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Unicorn Leaders have?
Unicorn Leaders currently has 39 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Unicorn Leaders about?
The Unicorn Leaders podcast takes a deep dive into the world of building a billion-dollar company (a unicorn) in every episode. Join us while we explore the leadership and environments that create unicorn startups straight from those with first-hand experience (startup founders, VPs of talent, and...
How often does Unicorn Leaders release new episodes?
Unicorn Leaders has 39 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Unicorn Leaders?
You can listen to Unicorn Leaders on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Unicorn Leaders?
Unicorn Leaders is created and hosted by Unicorn Labs - Fahd Alhattab.
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