Show notes
Success doesn't feel like success. Even when you've built something that changed hundreds of millions of lives.
That's the gap sitting underneath this conversation with Miranda Lievers, co-founder of Thinkific, one of Canada's most successful technology companies. Miranda took the company public, and still woke up the day after ringing the bell feeling empty despite everything she'd built, standing in what she describes as an empty ballroom with no idea what came next.
Who is Miranda Lievers?
Miranda Lievers is the co-founder of Thinkific, an online course platform that went public in 2021. After stepping away from the company's day-to-day, she took what was supposed to be a six-month sabbatical that turned into two and a half years, a period that included a late autism diagnosis and a complete rebuild of how she defines success, connects to her own body, and decides what's worth her time. She's now writing a book to change the language around what it actually takes to scale a business, and she works with entrepreneurs at torchtheplaybooks.com.
Miranda Lievers's Story: When Success Doesn't Feel Like Success
Before Thinkific existed, Miranda's definition of success was simple: pick up whatever was handed to her and march toward it. Good grades led to the right job, which led to the next promotion, which led to the next box to check. She never questioned whether the goalposts were even hers to chase.
For years, building the company meant staying heads down, occasionally looking up long enough to notice it was working, then getting back to it. There wasn't time to feel any of it, and the feeling never arrived the way she expected. The cost showed up quietly at first, then all at once, on the day Thinkific rang the opening bell. Instead of the moment she'd been working toward for years, Miranda described waking up the next morning like she was standing in an empty ballroom the day after the biggest event of her life, with no calendar, no plan, and no idea where to go.
She stayed another three years before stepping away from the day to day entirely, and that's where the real shift started. Miranda gave herself six months with one rule: no new company, no board seats, nothing to fill the calendar. Somewhere in the middle of building a spreadsheet to analyze every project she'd ever loved or hated, she found a thread she couldn't explain, followed it, and discovered she is autistic. What was supposed to be six months became two and a half years of unlearning almost everything she thought was true about how she worked, what she needed, and who she actually was underneath the version of herself everyone else had come to expect.
Today, Miranda describes her goal in a phrase she liked so much she tattooed it on her arm: she wants to build a future so meaningful that everything before this moment becomes merely a footnote in her biography. Not because Thinkific didn't matter. Because she's no longer building for anyone else's definition of what matters next.
What we talk about in this episode:
Why success doesn't feel like success, even after the milestone everyone told you would fix it. Miranda walks through what it actually felt like to ring the opening bell, and why the moment everyone else was celebrating left her feeling completely ungrounded.
The difference between stepping back and stepping away. How Miranda knew it was time to leave the company she built, and why loving your work doesn't mean it's still the right place for you.
What a late autism diagnosis reveals about a lifetime of masking. Miranda unpacks the small, tactical ways she'd been solving problems, like working at 5am or avoiding music with lyrics, without ever understanding what she was actually solving for.
Feeling empty despite accomplishment, and what was actually underneath it. For years, Miranda attributed every emotion to hunger. She talks about what changed when she finally started sitting with what she felt instead of intellectualizing her way around it.
"The identity crisis is the price of admission for the next version of us." Why the grief of letting go of an old identity isn't a sign something's wrong, it's the cost of becoming who's next.
Redefining success as a moving target you get to set yourself. Miranda on why she no longer needs to check boxes for anyone else, and what she's building instead.
Why she's writing a book to change how entrepreneurs think about scaling. The gap between the corporate playbooks everyone hands you and what actually helps a business grow.
This episode is for you if you've ever:
Hit the milestone you'd been working toward for years and felt strangely empty on the other side of it
Kept moving the goalposts because "enough" never actually felt like enough
Been the person everyone assumed had it together while quietly wondering what you were even building toward
Solved a problem in your life for years without understanding what the real problem actually was
Realized you could describe your feelings in words but couldn't actually locate them in your body
Built a life, a career, or a company that impresses everyone else and still left you asking what's next
Sensed you'd outgrown the rules you were following, without knowing you were even allowed to question them
Why Doesn't Success Feel Like Success Once You've Already Made It?
Miranda's story lands because it names something a lot of high achievers won't say out loud: reaching the milestone doesn't automatically deliver the feeling you assumed would come with it. You can build something that changes hundreds of millions of lives and still wake up the next day without a sense of who you are underneath the achievement. That gap between what you've built and what you feel isn't a flaw in your effort. It's usually a sign you've been running toward someone else's definition of success the entire time.
Ready to see the pattern you're running?
If any part of Miranda's story felt familiar, the checking boxes, the milestone that didn't land the way you expected, the sense that you've outgrown a version of success you used to want, that recognition is worth paying attention to. The Success Paradox Assessment will show you exactly which pattern has been driving your version of the gap between what you've built and how it actually feels, and what it's costing you to keep running it. Take it at lisacarpenter.ca/assessment.
If you're ready to go deeper and work through this directly, you can apply to work with Lisa at lisacarpenter.ca/wwm.
Connect with Miranda Lievers
Website: torchtheplaybooks.com
Instagram: Miranda Lievers
LinkedIn: Miranda Lievers
Success is a feeling, not a destination. Miranda's story is proof that you get to keep redefining it, no matter how much you've already built.
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