AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups.
After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him.
He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building.
At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success.
If we don't understand people, we don't understand business.
But people are hard to understand....
Which is why this show exists!
scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.
AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups.
After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him.
He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building.
At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success.
If we don't understand people, we don't understand business.
But people are hard to understand....
Which is why this show exists!
scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.
Devika Wood is the CEO of the public company Brain+, who are leaders in improving dementia care. She is also one of the most honest and vulnerable founders I have ever interviewed. In this interview she not only shares her deep inner world and trauma experiences, but also an exclusive summary of a court case involving her previous startup, and a deep betrayal of trust.📖 Chapters00:00:00 - A letter to my younger self00:06:54 - How trauma can shape your impact on the world00:13:51 - Refining your 'why'00:18:48 - ROI for investors when your mission isn't money driven00:26:36 - The story of the previous startup and a betrayal of trust00:37:53 - The court case - lessons in leadership00:46:10 - Compartmentalising vs Bottling it up00:50:33 - The art of transparency in a team00:54:22 - Backing yourself in moments of crises00:56:50 - The best process to dealing with a crisis00:58:51 - The balancing of the masculinity and femininity01:11:32 - How your identity evolves as a founder01:16:52 - How to best support our partners and ourselves01:27:52 - WEALTH - Women In Health01:32:27 - What stamp do you want to leave on the world01:34:42 - How we can support DevikaIf you enjoyed this episode, you might love these:WeWork Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615sDangerous (But Common) Startup Myths | Sho Sugiharahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8eBlgYIVDg&t=2943s👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/
A 15-lesson reflection on £100k spent, 18 months, over 50 interviews with some world class entrepreneurs.
This is a very open and honest look under the hood into what it takes to create a podcast business. I've been focusing on founder interviews because I wanted to learn what it takes to create a great company and build an audience at the same time. I definitely learned one of them.... the hard way.
📖 Chapters
0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:13 - Pret A Manger & Itsu Founder - Get To The Truth
0:05:29 - Sharmadean Reid - Build Networks Of Power
0:12:30 - Busuu Founder - Operationalise Your Culture
0:17:19 - Count the pennies, and the millions will count themselves
0:21:49 - WeWork Cofounder - What Does It Mean To Change The World?
0:28:11 - Don't go slow to go fast... just go
0:31:10 - Know what you're selling first
0:36:44 - Distribution is 50% of the game
0:39:46 - The cost of isolation is delusion
0:41:31 - The answer isn't pushing harder
0:43:32 - Financial Breakdown (My P&L)
0:48:38 - Don't build for the wrong reasons
0:51:05 - Question your foundations
0:53:12 - The Cognitive Dissonance Spiral
0:54:43 - The art of learning from others' experiences
0:56:10 - Failure Is The Cost Of Entry
0:57:22 - The future of this channel
If you enjoyed any of the clips I shared, here are the whole interviews:
Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205s
Create Your Networks Of Power | Sharmadean Reid MBE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyskAAx_P90&t=3243s
One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s
From 80 VC Rejections To Rejecting VCs | Atilana Pinon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gK5uCJscFU&t=1852s
WeWork's Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s
Please subscribe and hit the bell icon to support the channel!
Much love,
AJ x
WeWork's Cofounder, Miguel McKelvey, shares the most vulnerable, insightful and rounded account of WeWork in his first interview since the startup's dramatic collapse 5 years ago.
📖 Chapters - In this interview we cover...
00:00 - The Guilt Of WeWork & How To Let Go
15:40 - What Does Changing The World Actually Mean?
22:03 - Business And Community Tensions
27:36 - What Does Community Actually Mean?
32:21 - Community Ideologies vs Geographies
38:20 - Wisdom & Naval Ravikant
44:38 - When Does A Startup Become A Cult? "
57:26 - "How do you scale culture? "
01:04:03 - What culture practices to invest in as a smaller startup
01:11:21- Leaning Into Conflict
01:13:07 - Team Adam vs Team Miguel
01:21:24 - Power Tensions
01:26:27 - Rebekah Neumann's Role in WeWork
01:32:23 - S-1 IPO Filing
01:37:34 - The Public's Reaction To Adam
01:47:19 - Miguel's Awareness Of WeWork's Finances
01:54:02 - How Much To Trust Others In The Leadership Team?
01:57:18 - Noticing Scrappy Scaling
02:00:31 - Why It Made Sense For WeWork To Buy An Artificial Wave Startup
02:02:41 - Adam & Miguel's Reality Distortion
02:10:45 - What Really Destroyed WeWork
02:12:40 - How To Step Outside Of Ourselves & Reflect
02:18:08 - Miguel's Advice For Entrepreneurs
02:27:40 - What Can We Support Miguel With
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too
Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands | Julian Metcalfe (interview)
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
When GoHenry's founder hit rock bottom, she was drowning...
She realised that the single point of failure was her. At 6am every morning, that familiar sick thump of dread would hit.
Here's how she built her company from the ground up, faced rejection from her own board, and emerged stronger than ever.
💡 What you'll learn in this episode:
▪️ How to identify and eliminate dangerous "single points of failure" in your business before they drown you
▪️ Why operationalising your values through your entire team is the secret to retaining talent for over a decade
▪️ How to navigate brutal board dynamics and still drive toward what's right for your company
▪️ The 6-month evolution framework that prevents you from running into walls as you scale
▪️ The counterintuitive approach to M&A that led to a successful £125M+ exit to Acorns
📖 Chapters
00:00 - What Keeps You Up At Night?
01:21 - When you are the Single Point of Failure
05:19 - Fixing the system when you're drowning
07:36 - The little Red Handbook!
13:59 - Fixing the Points of failure in practice
15:39 - Realising you might not be needed in a company you built
19:14 - Do they just want a yes man?
23:09 - Control as a leader: When to hold on and when to let go!
27:32 - Developing Finance Function... When and how to do it
30:21 - The board chose someone else to be CEO
35:30 - 2 Points: Identify Your Dragons and Learn The Art of Pre-Present
37:41 - Working with Dragons on your board
39:52 - Three biggest Board meetings, the biggest decisions
43:02 - Fundraising Learning Curves: Raised £125M, Acquiring Pixpay and Being acquired by Acorns
48:01 - How we Acquired Pixpay, finding a similar culture in your acquisition
48:03 - Biggest learnings from 6 rounds of fundraising
52:14 - Generosity within the company culture. A solidifying moment
56:08 - The ROI of paying for a holiday for all the staff
01:00:29 - What in the culture leads to people staying on for so long?
01:03:31 - Going from CEO to Executive Chair of the Board
01:07:44 - Make your passion your mission
01:12:08 - How to choose and win your battles
01:15:38 - What action we need to take
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesner (interview)
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter:
🔗 Guest Links https://www.gohenry.com/
LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/louise-hill-5197614
🔗 Affiliate Link Monk Ice Baths: discovermonk.com/SCALEWITHSOUL for £100 discount
Most founders think they can figure it out alone - until they crash.
Sam Knight was "very, very resistant" to coaching, convinced it was just "talking about feelings." Then his friend forced him to try it...
This is the story of how losing his father at 15 shaped his leadership blind spots, and why facing them transformed both his company and his life.
🧠 What You'll Learn
▪️ The performance management framework that separates high-growth teams from collections of individuals
▪️ Why "I am because we are" (Ubuntu philosophy) transforms competitive founders into collaborative leaders
▪️ The five pillars every leader must master (and why most CEOs score poorly on at least two)
▪️ How childhood trauma creates invisible leadership blind spots that sabotage teams
▪️ How to spot what you know is true now but will only admit in six months' time
▪️ Why feeling words at work unlock deeper team connection and performance
📖 Chapters
00:00 - From Resistant CEO to Coaching Convert
06:11 - The Yoko Ono Exhibition That Changed Everything
11:24 - Pollinate: Building and Selling a B2B Platform
13:52 - "I Really Just Wasn't Enjoying My Job"
17:38 - The Five Pillars of Leadership Framework
25:47 - Goal Setting vs Accountability: What's the Difference?
32:43 - Why Most Teams Avoid Performance Management
42:43 - The Question That Reveals Hidden Truths
49:02 - Ubuntu: "I Am Because We Are"
1:02:18 - Losing Your Father and Leading Others
1:13:06 - Preparing for Fatherhood After Loss
1:16:56 - The Ubuntu Philosophy That Transforms Teams
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too
Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands | Julian Metcalfe (interview)
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
🔗 Guest link
🔗 Affiliate Link
Most founders don't realise the biggest barrier to scaling isn't capital or talent — it's learning when to let go.
Carolyn Dawson built a 10,000-person founder community by understanding this one truth:
The best leaders know exactly when to stop being indispensable.In this interview you’ll discover what is needed to choose between entering the US vs Europe startup sector.
🧠 What You'll Learn:
▪️ Why European founders' "humanity" in hiring decisions might actually be holding back the ecosystem
▪️ How celebrating failure accelerated growth at Supercell (and why most founders get this backwards)
▪️ The curation secrets behind building the UK's most exclusive founder community
▪️ Why "founder mode" becomes dangerous after Series B and when to transition
▪️ The internal vs external balance that separates unicorn founders from the rest
📖 Chapters
00:00 - UK vs US: The Narrative Problem
06:27 - When Founders Should Actually Exit Their Companies
11:43 - Building a People-Driven Business at Scale
22:46 - The Stories Behind Closed Funding Rounds
24:15 - What Separates the Top 1% of Founders
31:03 - The Quality vs Speed Trade-off in Company Building
33:22 - Building Loyalty: The Team That Follows You Everywhere
39:13 - From Control Freak to Strategic Leader
42:05 - The External vs Internal Balance Every Founder Must Master
45:21 - What Information to Share vs Keep Private
47:37 - European vs US Firing Culture: The Speed vs Humanity Debate
57:28 - Going Global: Boots on Ground vs Remote
59:09 - The Inner Voice That Builds Resilience
62:06 - Taking Yourself Too Seriously: The Success Trap
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge
https://youtu.be/XcBwsq-KzmI?si=-WhZcPjyXXLWZYMq
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter:
https://the-aj-connection.kit.com/e2d35e66c4
🔗 Affiliate Link
HEIGHTS Brain + Gut Supplements - 15% OFF https://www.heights.com/scalewithsoul
He built a company to millions, hired someone better to run it, and walked away.
Why stepping down as CEO can be your greatest act of leadership.
Most founders cling to their CEO titles long after they've outgrown the role.
Evgeny Shadchnev did the opposite. He recognised the misalignment, planned his exit over 14 months, and handed the keys to someone who could scale what he'd built. What he soon learnt transformed both his life and the business.
🧠 What You'll Learn:
▪️ How to recognise when you've outgrown your own company (before burnout forces the decision)
▪️ The difference between founder skills and CEO skills — and why confusing them kills companies
▪️ A framework for making confident leadership transitions without destroying what you've built
▪️ The breathwork techniques that shift your nervous system from reactive to strategic
▪️ Why starting a company for belonging can lead to profound misalignment later
📖 Chapters
00:00 - What A Founder Coach Does
00:41 - What Founders Don't Talk About
05:02 - "Predicting the Future of the Company"
08:10 - The Founder's Job: Make Sure It Survives
11:15 - The Skills Needed at Pre-Product Market Fit
14:17 - Moving to Product Market Fit - "This Is a Very Specific Skillset"
15:15 - "The Skills You Never Stop Needing - Fred Wilson's Advice"
17:48 - The First Alarm Bells
20:24 - CEO Transitions Take Time
22:16 - Feeling Misaligned: Childhood Experiences
27:59 - The One Thing That Helped Me Make the Tough Decision
35:23 - Ego Wanting vs Heart Longing
37:40 - Success 10 Years Ago vs Success Now
40:07 - The Startup Is Not There to Make You Happy
45:09 - Running Away or Braving the Wind
49:26 - Working Long Hours Sustainably
58:22 - Decision Making
01:05:31 - What Makes You Tick?
01:08:20 - Revelation on Simplification of Life
01:13:12 - What Your Fiancée Said About You
01:15:25 - Read Evgeny's Book!
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Why Your Outer Voice Is Your Biggest Threat | Soheil Ahmadzadeh - Coach
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter:
🔗 Guest Links:
Mentioned Resources:
"Let Your Life Speak" by Parker Palmer Other Sheep breathwork app
Fred Wilson's blog on CEO framework (Union Square Ventures)
🔗 Affiliate Link
If you want to help Freddie's research on founders please fill this out: https://forms.gle/jLiW7TJBniXQfDRK8
Most founders obsess over their company metrics while completely ignoring their own performance metrics.
What if the secret to scaling your startup isn't just building better systems, but becoming a better human?
Finder coach Freddie Birley has spent years studying what separates venture-backed rockstars from the rest ... and it's not what you think.
🧠 What You'll Learn
Critical Founder Insights:
▪️ Avoid the spiritual poverty trap that follows most successful exits
▪️ Master the balance between masculine drive and feminine intuition in leadership
▪️ Discover the 3 core traits that define outlier performers in venture-backed startups
▪️ Understand why 50%+ of founders report wellbeing as their biggest personal challenge
▪️ Learn why alignment beats intelligence when it comes to sustainable high performance
▪️ Data Vs Debate: What founders at different stages (0-10, 10-20, 20-50, 50-150 team size) struggle with most
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro - Headhunting Taught Me to Coach
02:50 - What Actually Makes a Venture Rockstar
05:47 - The Three Pillars: Authenticity, Value Creation & Leadership
11:35 - Founder Challenges by Company Stage (Research Insights)
14:55 - Why First-Time vs Serial Founders Face Different Identity Crises
19:50 - The Performance Paradox: Preparation vs Play
25:47 - When Success Becomes a Spiritual Prison
29:09 - Internal vs External Motivation: Signs of an Emotionally Rich Founder
32:39 - Building High-Performance Culture Without Cracking the Whip
37:33 - Founder Circles: What Makes Them Thrive vs Die
43:44 - Breathwork for Founders: The Wild Modality Explained
50:29 - Connecting with Yourself as the Ceiling for Leading Others
52:31 - What the Startup Ecosystem Gets Wrong About Human Nature
54:57 - Balancing Masculine Structure with Feminine Intuition
1:05:40 - The Fundamental Principles of Being a Better Human
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too
Dangerous (But Common) Startup Myths | Sho Sugihara
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
🔗 Guest Links & Resources Connect with Freddie Birley
🔗 Affiliate Link
For a £35 Discount on a Digital Detox Cabin - Unplugged
Use Code - UPMSCALEWITHSOUL
Most founders won't talk about this…
But the line between grandiose confidence and dangerous delusion is thinner than you think.
James Roycroft-Davis stood on Putney Bridge, hearing voices telling him to jump, before discovering his bipolar diagnosis would become his greatest teacher.
This is the unfiltered story of how ego, untreated mental health, and founder identity nearly destroyed everything - and how radical self-awareness rebuilt it all.
💡 What you'll learn in this episode:
▪️ How to spot the early warning signs of ego-driven decision making that destroy startups
▪️ Why bipolar disorder can be both a founder's greatest asset and deadliest trap
▪️ Why most founder therapy misses the mark - and what actually works
▪️ How becoming a father rewired his entire relationship with success and identity
▪️ A framework for making decisions based on who you want to be, not who you think others expect
▪️ The difference between £100M ego goals and £500K happiness goals (and why one nearly killed him)
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:19 - The Bridge Call That Changed Everything
07:28 - 20 Years of Trauma Exploding at Once
09:07 - The Guilt of Surviving
11:12 - Nature vs Nurture in Mental Health
12:19 - When Granddad's Death Flipped the Switch
15:31 - The Israeli Psychologist Who Gets Startups
18:10 - "Most Founders Do Have Grandiose Sense"
25:49 - Type 1 vs Type 2: Why It Matters
28:58 - The £500/Hour Diagnosis Story
34:13 - Ego Work: From Validation to Creation
38:20 - Why "Founder" Identity Makes You Unemployable
42:21 - Two Job Offers, One Ego Check
44:51 - Old James vs New James
46:58 - The Exit Community Vulnerability
49:02 - Alex McDonald's Life-Changing Advice
50:48 - Happy and Comfortable vs £100M Dreams
58:32 - The CBT Technique That Rewires Your Brain
01:02:15 - Dual Purposes: Father and Founder
01:06:26 - Final Asks: Jobs, Dad Groups, and Baseline
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Shazam Founder Interview; Secrets of Luck, Persistence & Success (Ep. 1)
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
🔗 Guest Links & Resources
James Roycroft-Davis : LinkedIn
🔗 Affiliate Link
What does it really takes to SCALE (not just grow...)?
Neda Sahebelm was an early joiner at Multiverse, achieving 98% retention and 50% diversity in her teams, whilst delivering multiple £20M quarters.
Growth is doing more with more.
Scale is doing more with less.
In this episode she reveals the system that transforms chaos into high-performing teams.
🧠 What You'll Learn
▪️ Growth vs Scale: The difference between success and chaos
▪️ "Operation Thrive": How to flip a toxic team culture in 6 months
▪️ The hiring system that achieved 98% retention and radical diversity
▪️ The 3-pillar framework: Org Design, Recruitment, and Retention done right
▪️ How to fire people gracefully (and why most leaders get this catastrophically wrong)
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
06:14 - Growth vs Scale: Why Most Founders Get This Wrong
10:11 - The "Operational Efficiency" Myth.
16:32 - The SVB Crash Aftermath: Market Shifts and Human Costs
24:35 - Start with Product (Not People or Process)
30:34 - The Org Design Crisis: Why Founders Hire Wrong
38:14 - Building Scalable Hiring Systems: The 55-Person Quarter
46:04 - The Diversity Masterclass: 98% Retention Secrets
58:11 - "Operation Thrive": Turning -5 NPS Into +68
1:08:00 - The "Train Analogy": Managing Exits with Grace
1:16:23 - "Don't Bring Your Whole Self to Work" - The Leadership Reality
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
🔗 Affiliate Link:
For a £100 Discount discovermonk.co.uk/SCALEWITHSOUL
A Universe Class Coaching Session...
This is an insight into the framework to separate your inner wisdom from the fear-based voices that keep you small. This isn't therapy. It's reconnecting with your humanity.
🧠 What You'll Learn
▪️ The “5 Pillars of Connection” that transform any relationship
▪️ 9 Steps to identify "outer voices" Vs your authentic inner voice
▪️ The visualisation technique that silences self-doubt in minutes
▪️ How to turn your values into actionable "inner voice archetypes"
▪️Ask "If X wasn't there, what would be different?"
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
02:01 - "I've Never Been Career-Driven" - Led by Curiosity
10:13 - Meet Soheil: Founder of ReHumanity
14:15 - The 5 Pillars of Connection Framework
17:11 - Inner vs Outer Voices: The Foundation of Self-Awareness
21:25 - 9 Signs You're in "Outer Voice Territory"
25:10 - Moving from Outer Voice to Inner Voice
31:38 - Creating Inner Voice Archetypes from Your Values
57:18 - A Firm Foundation - "My Work Is Led by Love"
59:40 - How to Connect: Building Humanity in Startups
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Google's Expert Communication Coach | Kay Munday (interview)
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
🔗 Guest Links Connect with Soheil Website
Instagram: @rehumanity
🔗 Affiliate Link For a £35 Discount on a Digital Detox Cabin - Unplugged
Use Code - UPMSCALEWITHSOUL
A Billionaire AND World Champion Powerlifter?
Jodie Cook, after selling her agency for 7-figures, is now building Coachvox whilst training to be a world champion. And the secret isn't talent, it's systems.
This discussion explains how to crack the code on any goal; why Jodie never looks at competition; and the exact framework that's taking her to the top of two completely different games.
🧠 What You'll Learn:
▪️ How to identify your personal success system from past wins (and apply it to anything)
▪️ Why "extreme people get extreme results" and how to test your edges safely
▪️ The 3-part superpower matrix: Ace Cards, Best Self, and Success Systems
▪️ The spirit animal framework that instantly shifts you from reactive to zen
▪️ How to build user manuals for your team that eliminate 90% of friction
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
04:21 - From Birmingham Agency to Global Ambitions
07:07 - Lifetime Goals Vs Annual Targets
14:19 - Cognitive Biases and the Halo Effect
17:12 - The Superpower Matrix: Ace Cards, Best Self, Success Systems
22:15 - Lion vs Pomeranian Puppy 28:12 - What Makes You Human in an AI World?
31:44 - Your Success System (Extract It from Past Wins)
40:06 - Finding People's Superpowers on Your Team
52:20 - Jody 2.0 vs 3.0: The Card Exercise
57:43 - Horizontal vs Vertical Relationships in Teams
1:08:18 - High Standards for Yourself, No Standards for Others
1:26:47 - The Content-Beliefs-Community Flywheel
1:34:42 - "Don't Waste Your Potential"
1:39:10 - Applying Success Systems to Becoming a Billionaire
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Mastering Leadership - Growing Teams & Growing Yourself | James Grant
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
🔗 Guest Links
Connect with Jodie: LinkedIn
Mentioned Resources:
The Courage to Be Disliked (Book) Blue Ocean Strategy (Book) Rocket Fuel (Book) Power vs Force (Book)
🔗 Affiliate Link
The "ruthless" business world tells us kindness is weakness – but what if that's backwards?
Marcus Exall has built a reputation as one of the most respected angel investors in the world, not through aggression, but through genuine care for founders.
His approach challenges everything we think we know about succeeding in startups.
🧠 What You'll Learn
▪️ Why treating kindness as strength (not weakness) creates better investment returns
▪️ The 6-month founder evaluation process that's led to 2.5x returns across 31 investments
▪️ How to build resilience through saying problems out loud instead of carrying them alone
▪️ How to separate exceptional founders from good ones through focus and vulnerability
▪️ Why obsessing over product features (not problems) kills most early-stage startups
▪️ The storytelling framework that makes impossible visions feel inevitable
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:03 - From Tokyo Diner to 31 Angel Investments
03:07 - What Japanese Culture Taught Me About Company Building
13:08 - Balancing Kindness with Ruthless Business Decisions
17:22 - The Swan Problem: Creating Safe Spaces for Founders to Be Real
24:45 - Why Marcus Doesn't Invest Primarily for Money
33:21 - How to Spot Exceptional Focus in Founders
39:06 - Building Resilience: Why You Must Keep Getting Up
42:03 - The £150k Mistake Most Founders Make
01:02:07 - The Choice Between Health and Building Big Business
01:03:28 - Marcus's Mum on Raising a Future Angel Investor
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Shazam Founder Interview: Secrets of Luck, Persistence & Success (Ep. 1)
👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul
📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter
Affiliate Link
Monk Ice Bath For a £100 discount on the world's first smart ice bath, visit - www.discovermonk.com/SCALEWITHSOUL
How to comeback from over 80 VC rejections.
Atilana Pinon, CEO & Founder of Retorna, went from constant rejection to investors fighting for her, all by telling her story.
🧠 What You'll Learn In This Episode:
▪️ How to shift the power dynamic with VCs
▪️ The research framework that identifies aligned investors before you waste time
▪️ Why being profitable before fundraising is the ultimate negotiating position
▪️ Elite cash management mindsets
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:44 - "Saying No to £600K"
05:31 - The Breaking Point: 80+ VC Rejections 07:47 - The Moment Everything Changed
11:03 - How to Research Investors Like a Pro
13:47 - The Preparation That Made All the Difference
19:52 - Cash Management: "Take Care of the Pennies"
27:08 - Revenue-Based Bonuses That Actually Work
31:14 - Growing Double-Digit Monthly (The Secret Sauce)
41:01 - From Solo Founder to Co-CEO Partnership
45:08 - Building Mutual Respect and Trust
52:29 - "Stop Worrying About the Future"
59:05 - "I Don't Deserve to Be Successful" - Breaking Limiting Beliefs
1:02:07 - Building a Zebra, Not a Unicorn
🍿 WATCH NEXT If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
My Identity Was Crippling My Company | Will Pearson - Ocean Bottle
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🔗 Connect with Atilana: Atilana's
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/atilanapinon/?locale=en_US
Website - https://retorna.app, or other relevant links]
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Why do most startups fail?
Harvard's largest startup study reveals this as the #1 cause of failure, yet most founders don't realise.
Orr Vinegold, CEO of Unrest, has built an entire programme around solving this hidden crisis.
💡 What You'll Learn:
▪️ Why interpersonal issues kill more startups than any other factor
▪️ How to separate your ego from your business before it becomes toxic to your team
▪️ The trauma-to-fuel framework that turns personal pain into authentic brand messaging
▪️ A practical 4-pillar resilience system to "fix the roof when the sun is shining"
▪️ Why most founders confuse their identity with their company (and how to break free)
▪️ The neuroscience behind founder burnout and the salience network that controls motivation
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - From Israeli Politics to Startup Psychology
02:16 - The Four Dimensions of Self-Development
04:10 - What Kills More Startups Than Anything Else
11:22 - The Circle of Connection: Self vs Others
14:13 - Creating Challenging Relationships That Push You Forward
22:02 - Dangers of Building a Business to Heal Yourself
26:06 - The Trinity - I Am, I Will, I Must
31:45 - Four Pillars Framework
39:29 - The Three Arenas: Personal, Community, or World Impact
43:06 - From Aberdeen to Israel: A Founder's Origin Story
58:23 - The Rooms We Haven't Entered: Unprocessed Trauma
01:09:02 - The Energy Cost of Carrying Unresolved Pain
🍿 WATCH NEXT If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too
You Find Your Edge When You BREAK | Emmie Faust - Female Founders Rise
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After 70 rejections and six months of pain, Mai Le made one phone call that changed everything. She asked for help for the first time in her life, and raised £6.5M in seven days.
This is the unfiltered story of how a hyper-independent founder learned that sometimes all it takes is one person with conviction.
💡 What You'll Learn
▪️ How to turn 70 rejections into a £6.5M round in one week
▪️ How to handle co-founder breakups with respect and generosity
▪️ The "smart but nice" hiring framework that builds unshakeable trust
▪️ The three pillars of authentic leadership: respect, abundance, consistency
▪️ Why masculine "giving" energy must balance with feminine "receiving" energy
📖 Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:03 - From Vietnam War to Entrepreneurial Mastery
03:48 - "You Can Never Fail Until You Quit"
09:09 - Project Bold: The £10K Learning Disaster
16:05 - The "Smart but Nice" Hiring Philosophy
20:20 - The Biggest Struggle as a Leader
27:23 - When Logic Meets Intuition in Leadership
35:24 - The Remote vs Hybrid Hiring Strategy
42:14 - 70 VCs, 6 Months of Pain, Then Magic
52:31 - The Practical Side of Resilience No One Talks About
61:25 - Mai's Ask: Take Care of Yourself First
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge
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Most founders talk about near-death experiences, but few admit the brutal truth: sometimes the company survives, but you lose pieces of yourself you can never get back.
James Lo had 2 weeks left before bankruptcy, watched a team member become a stalker after layoffs, and wrestled with whether building venture-scale companies requires abandoning your deepest values.
This is his unfiltered reckoning with what it really costs to build.
🧠 What You'll Learn
▪️ How to survive the 48-hour countdown to bankruptcy
▪️ Why consensus-building will destroy your startup - and the conflict framework that saves it
▪️ The hidden psychology of why deep friendships at work become emotional time bombs
▪️ How Sequoia plays a 10-year game most founders never see coming
▪️ Why the "spend money to grow" VC playbook is fundamentally broken in 2025
▪️ The automation-first hiring philosophy that could revolutionise early-stage companies
📖 Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:24 - Two Weeks From Bankruptcy
4:58 - "We Were Completely Wrong..."
7:45 - The Portuguese Holiday That Nearly Killed Us
10:21 - When Deep Friendships Become Toxic at Work
15:17 - From Hong Kong Activism to Silicon Valley
22:13 - "You Look Down at Your Footsteps, Walk Upward in Flow"
25:16 - Why Activism and Entrepreneurship Are the Same (And Different)
30:47 - The Guilt of Abandoning the Movement
35:20 - How We Pivoted After Raising (And Why Antonio Still Backed Us)
40:04 - How Sequoia Scouted Me for 2 Years Before I Knew It
46:18 - The 30-Person Founder Speed Dating Experiment
50:12 - How to Test Co-Founder Chemistry in Crisis
55:46 - From Consensus Builder to Conflict Embracer
60:21 - Why "Hire Your Way Out of Problems" Will Kill You
65:16 - The Controversial Truth About VC Growth Mentality
70:19 - Building Vision from Personal Problems (Not Top-Down Idealism)
78:53 - How Simplicity Reveals Unexpected Vision
88:00 - The Team Member Who Became a Stalker
95:17 - Balancing Ruthlessness with Humanity
🍿 WATCH NEXT If you liked this conversation, you'll love
Why 93% of Entrepreneurs Fail at Content Creation | Dan Murray-Serter
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Most founders don't realise they're killing their brand until it's too late. The very growth they're chasing becomes the poison that destroys what made customers fall in love with them in the first place. Bryony Simpson has spent 20 years watching brilliant startups scale themselves into irrelevance—and she knows exactly why it happens. 🧠 Critical Founder Insights What You'll Learn:
▪️ Why 90% of scaling brands lose the human connection that built them
▪️ The four relationship principles every resilient brand must master
▪️ How to spot the early warning signs before your customers start leaving
▪️ Why personalised marketing often feels like spam (and what works instead)
▪️ The simple feedback loops that keep you connected as you grow
▪️ How tech and data can deepen relationships instead of destroying them
📖 Chapters 00:00 - Intro
01:21 - Human Connection Built Civilisation
04:15 - What's Actually Broken About Branding
09:12 - The Four Principles of Relationship Building
16:22 - Building Trust: Don't Break Promises
20:00 - Short-Term vs Long-Term Brand Thinking
23:04 - Knowing Yourself: The Brand Foundation
28:38 - Getting to Know Your Customer
37:48 - How Growth Destroys Customer Connection
48:05 - Becoming Human-Centred
52:13 - The Human-Centred Mindset in Practice
59:35 - How Data Can Build (Not Break) Relationships
1:06:36 - Growing Together: Evolution, Not Revolution
1:18:26 - The Solo Founder Challenge
🍿 WATCH NEXT If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
Google's Expert Communication Coach | Kay Munday (interview)
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Startups are meant to be rocket ships - some reach outer orbit… Others crash back down to earth in a ball of flames
Rob Bridgman built Snug from £1M to £31M revenue in just three years, only to watch it nearly collapse overnight when the market turned. This is the unfiltered story of what it really takes to survive as a founder when everything falls apart.
🧠 What You'll Learn:
▪️ How to build challenger (or “Pirate”) thinking into your culture from day one
▪️ The "Clear Is Kind" framework that transforms difficult conversations into breakthroughs
▪️ Why Rob's "Golden Hour" policy became their secret weapon for creativity and retention
▪️ The brutal reality of what happens when growth-stage funding disappears overnight
▪️ How feedback loops with customers can drive exponential product-market fit
▪️ How to scale from 12 to 70 people without losing your startup soul
📖 Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:06 - From Childhood "Inventor" to Entrepreneur
3:42 - The Values That Built Snug's Culture
10:10 - How "Clear Is Kind" Revolutionised Team Performance
15:49 - Working With the Best: Hiring Top 5% Talent
17:17 - The Nonviolent Communication Framework
24:04 - Give Every Team Member Professional Coaching
26:21 - Making Culture Tangible: Weekly Pulse Surveys & NPS
39:46 - The ICE Framework: How to Prioritise 100+ Product Ideas
44:22 - Year One: Selling One Sofa to £1M Revenue
46:26 - The Three Pillars: Product Innovation, Customer Journey & Brand
52:25 - Year Two: £7M Revenue During COVID Chaos
54:32 - Year Three: £31M and 70 People - "It Was Absolute Chaos"
57:24 - Scaling Pains: From 12 to 70 People in One Year
59:29 - Fixing Our Management Structure Crisis
67:00 - The Fundraising Nightmare: From £70M Valuation to £900K Exit
69:23 - Selling to SCS: From Pirates to Navy
78:13 - What I'd Do Differently: Standing Your Ground From Day One
85:33 - The Fork in the Road: Rebuild Snug or Start Fresh?o
🍿 WATCH NEXT
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
The Human Side Of Startup Leadership | Margot De Broglie
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Most founders don't talk about this... but success isn't years of experience... it's confidence!
Emilie Vanpoperinghe, CEO of Oddbox, built a wonky vegetables business into a £20M+ scale-up.
This revolutionary female founder explains the uncomfortable biases women have in business, her hiring protocol and what leadership advice backfired on her.
🧠 What You'll Learn:
▪️ Why confidence trumps experience in determining entrepreneurial success (and the 20% confidence gap that's holding women back)
▪️ How to stay close to customers without losing focus as you scale to 50,000+ users
▪️ The uncomfortable truth about hiring bias
▪️ How small sustainable actions create bigger behavioural shifts than grand gestures
▪️ Why asking for input when you don't really want it damages team trust
▪️ The art of being directive as a leader without being authoritarian
📖 Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - From Finance to Fighting Food Waste
08:03 - Tangible vs Intangible Impact
13:00 - The Sustainability Brand Balancing Act
19:17 - When Product-Market Fit Isn't Enough
25:24 - Staying Close to 50,000 Customers
32:00 - The Values Exercise That Almost Failed
38:22 - "I Ended Up Hiring All Men"
43:18 - The Confidence Research That Shocked Emilie
52:15 - Why She doesn't post on LinkedIn
57:23 - Co-founding With Your Husband
01:03:58 - "Stay Odd" — What It Really Means in Management
🍿 WATCH NEXT (on Youtube)
If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:
How To Be A Great Manager | Mel Murray-Serter (interview)
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