Heidi Zak, Co-Founder of ThirdLove, Revolutionized the Bra Industry By Listening to her Customers
Dear FoundHer...
Lindsay Pinchuk
5 • 854 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Subscribe to The FoundHer Files: No fluff. No gatekeeping. Just what works… because we’re better together.
Heidi Zak took a bra that didn’t fit and turned that frustration into ThirdLove, a DTC brand that challenged an industry dominated by one player and proved that listening to women could transform everything about how a product is made, marketed, and sold.
For Dear FoundHer’s 300th episode, Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Heidi about the decisions and risks that shaped ThirdLove’s growth, from introducing half-cup sizes that the industry said were impossible, to launching the “Try Before You Buy” program that asked women to truly live in the product before deciding if it was right for them. Heidi shares how customer feedback revealed insights far deeper than price or style preferences, and how those insights shaped both the brand’s identity and its ability to earn trust online. She shares about the missteps, the manufacturing roadblocks, and the moments where abandoning an idea saved time and money.
Lindsay and Heidi’s conversation is about building in direct response to the people you serve, scaling in a competitive DTC space without losing sight of product quality, and staying committed to innovation even when the path forward is messy and uncertain.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Introducing Heidi Zak
06:19 Heidi Zak’s Founding Story of ThirdLove
14:01 Launching the First Product Line and Market Strategy
19:35 Creating Half-Cup Sizes and Disrupting the Bra Industry
24:08 Building Trust and Driving Customer Acquisition
32:01 How Customer Feedback Shaped ThirdLove’s Growth
36:17 Lessons Learned from Failed Experiments
38:56 ThirdLove’s Current Status and Future Plans
Connect with Heidi Zak:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to another episode of Dear Found Her. I am your host, Lindsay Pinchuk, and today is our 300th episode. |
| 0:08.5 | When I say that number and look at it on paper, it's honestly astounding. I started Deer Founder as a passion project nearly four years ago. |
| 0:18.3 | I simply wanted to share the stories of amazing female founders in an |
| 0:22.5 | effort to help women in business. And what started as a podcast has not only naturally become the |
| 0:29.6 | greatest marketing vehicle for the services that I offer, but it's become an absolute movement |
| 0:35.7 | for women business owners over the age of 40. |
| 0:39.7 | Deer Founder is helping thousands of women over 40 realize their dreams by helping you to turn |
| 0:45.7 | your ideas into a reality. |
| 0:49.1 | In addition to the podcast, Deer Founder boasts a weekly newsletter, the Founder files, |
| 0:54.1 | we host regular networking events. |
| 0:56.7 | We've taken the show on tour with two more stops coming this fall. We have an online networking |
| 1:02.6 | community called the forum that is on fire. And we have a group mentorship for those of you |
| 1:07.5 | who are looking to level up your marketing strategies. We are here to support you |
| 1:11.8 | in any way you need. But the greatest support of all here at Dear Founder is the community itself. |
| 1:19.5 | It's each and every one of you. Your support started when I dropped my first episode and it's never |
| 1:26.1 | wavered. But you don't just support me. |
| 1:29.4 | You support each other. |
| 1:30.9 | And in building this community, there is truly nothing better than watching all of you |
| 1:35.6 | stand by one another, lift up one another, and help one another to succeed. |
| 1:40.7 | Which is one of the many reasons why I chose Heidi Zach, founder of Third Love, as the guest |
| 1:46.6 | on my 300th episode of Dear Found Her. Besides the fact that she is a huge proponent for women |
| 1:52.9 | in business and her story is amazing and you're going to learn so much today. This episode is the |
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