Little Pursuits

About Little Pursuits

A podcast for founders, leaders, and anyone building something they believe in. We sit down with startup founders, creatives, and change-makers in the middle of the messy, meaningful work of building. Honest conversations about vision and doubt, about clarity, and about the small steps that become big shifts. If you're in the thick of it, building a business, a movement, or a new path, this space is for you. One small pursuit at a time. Hosted by Dar Patel, Founder @ Little Pursuits

Publisher

Dar Patel

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Jan 2026

Latest episode

14 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

26 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Aug 2026

   You Don't Need a Chief of Staff Yet

   Clara Ma started out in recruiting, spent almost three years as the generalist at a four-person Bollywood dance fitness company, then ran operations at AngelList before becoming chief of staff at Hugging Face when it was ten people. She stayed through the Series B and the run to forty five. After two years building On Deck's Chief of Staff Fellowship, she gave herself a three-month sabbatical, kept circling back to the same subject, and started Ask A Chief of Staff from the road in October 2022. She had made three placements by December. This is a conversation about when a founder actually needs a chief of staff, how that role differs from an operations hire, and the habit of asking people about their plans long before you need anything from them. In this episode, we cover: → The signal that it is time to hire a chief of staff, and when the answer is a functional hire instead → How a chief of staff differs from a general operations role: the mandate is the principal → Engineered serendipity, and why she kept finding openings before they were ever posted → Done is better than perfect, and getting a rough first draft in front of people for buy-in → What community members say they want versus what they actually stay for → Why consistency on LinkedIn pays off even when nobody likes or comments Chapters: 00:00 - Meet Clara Ma, founder of Ask A Chief of Staff 02:32 - Political science, media studies, and the law school that never happened 05:14 - First job in recruiting, and learning to spot potential 09:07 - Three years as the generalist at a four-person company 14:11 - Hitting the ceiling, and landing at AngelList 18:50 - Discovering the chief of staff role 21:01 - Chief of staff at Hugging Face, from ten people to forty five 27:55 - Done is better than perfect 30:20 - Running the On Deck Chief of Staff Fellowship 32:40 - Engineered serendipity, and asking who is leaving 39:01 - Burnout, a sabbatical, and accidental entrepreneurship 44:40 - Why the community had to come after the placements 51:27 - When a founder should actually hire a chief of staff 53:35 - Chief of staff versus a general operations hire 57:33 - Growing on LinkedIn when nobody is engaging Host: Dar Patel, Founder of Little Pursuits Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darpatel/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/darpatel/) Join Founder Circle, our small-group coaching for seed-stage founders: https://littlepursuits.life/apply/ (https://littlepursuits.life/apply/) Newsletter: The Inner Game, on the inner game of building and leading: https://littlepursuits.substack.com/ (https://littlepursuits.substack.com/) Guest: Clara Ma, Founder of Ask A Chief of Staff

2. 

   6 Aug 2026

   The Product Is Only 10% of Your Business

   Nomiki Petrolla got a D minus in economics, restarted college from scratch, and went on to lead product at an AI company while running a consulting practice on the side for ten years. Theanna, her community-plus-software platform for women founders, is her fifth business: two dropshipping companies died in three months each, and a one-on-one coaching practice became the blueprint for something bigger. This is a conversation about why the product is only 10% of the business, building your own distribution through founder-led content, and growing a company without burning out. In this episode, we cover: → The illusion that building a product is building a business, and why the product is 10% of the job → How AI made building easier and everything else ten times harder, starting with distribution → She used to glorify founders who raised millions: what changed her mind → Testing the idea with a WhatsApp group of ten people before building the app → Founder-led content as the distribution channel no tool can replace, and why you have to suck at it first → Hustle without burnout, plus hiring a contractor before a full-time role Chapters: 00:00 - Meet Nomiki Petrolla, founder of Theanna 06:15 - The D minus that made her restart college 17:45 - Glorifying founders who raise millions, then changing her mind 22:47 - Four businesses before Theanna: consulting, dropshipping, coaching 27:56 - Test the idea with a WhatsApp group of ten 32:15 - The product is 10% of the business 34:01 - Founder-led content is your distribution channel 38:27 - Hustle without burnout 44:53 - Getting your first customers is the hardest part 49:23 - Community plus software, the hill she will die on Watch the full conversation: https://youtu.be/BNSmaY2tkOQ (https://youtu.be/BNSmaY2tkOQ) Host: Dar Patel, Founder of Little Pursuits Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darpatel/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/darpatel/) Join Founder Circle, our small-group coaching for seed-stage founders: https://littlepursuits.life/apply/ (https://littlepursuits.life/apply/) Newsletter: The Inner Game, on the inner game of building and leading: https://littlepursuits.substack.com/ (https://littlepursuits.substack.com/) Guest: Nomiki Petrolla, Founder of Theanna Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nomikipetrolla/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nomikipetrolla/)

3. 

   30 Jul 2026

   He Partnered With Uber When It Had 50 Drivers

   Zach Forester tested badly all through school, walked away from the mortgage company he co-owned when it started costing him his health, and cold-called his way into Uber when it had about 50 drivers. His black-car fleet became Uber's driver-training partner, over 150,000 drivers and a 16-year partnership later, and today he builds Optium, automating and offshoring back offices for other companies. This is a conversation about hiring for the trait and teaching the skill, finding the next business inside the one that is collapsing, and the inner work that kept him going through thousands of failures. In this episode, we cover: → The hiring rule behind his fleet and 150,000 trained Uber drivers: hire the trait, teach the skill → Cold-calling Uber at about 50 drivers, and why he credits luck and curiosity over strategy → Delegation in hyper growth: even if you want to own it, you have to give it up → When Lyft erased his moat, the next business was already inside the old one → Don't believe the AI hype, from a founder who sells automation → A decade of Jungian analysis, a yoga practice he refused to skip, and ideas that arrive away from screens Chapters: 00:00 - Meet Zach Forester, founder of Optium 01:48 - Testing badly in school, and German as the way in 17:58 - Business owner at 29, in a market in freefall 21:43 - Walking away from the mortgage industry for his health 24:55 - First client Goldman Sachs, then a cold call to Uber 29:07 - The secret sauce: hire the trait, teach the skill 33:58 - Lyft erases the moat, and the pivot hiding inside the business 38:07 - A garage sale leads to an autonomous vehicle company 44:14 - Don't believe the AI hype, from an automation founder 46:06 - I've failed thousands of times Watch the full conversation: https://youtu.be/3ttQQ1VB8HM (https://youtu.be/3ttQQ1VB8HM) Host: Dar Patel, Founder of Little Pursuits Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darpatel/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/darpatel/) Join Founder Circle, our small-group coaching for seed-stage founders: https://littlepursuits.life/apply/ (https://littlepursuits.life/apply/) Newsletter: The Inner Game, on the inner game of building and leading: https://littlepursuits.substack.com/ (https://littlepursuits.substack.com/) Guest: Zach Forester, Founder of Optium Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-forester/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-forester/)

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Spotify

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