This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast explores how our digital world has turned attention into the ultimate commodity. Jess Butcher MBE, founder of Scroll Aware, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to discuss the hidden costs of constant connection and what it’s doing to our ability to think and focus.

Together they trace her journey from early tech pioneer to advocate for balance, reflecting on how business models built on distraction have reshaped society, and why making analogue cool again might be the next great act of rebellion.

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https://www.scrollaware.com 

A @Sassy+ original podcast series

This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast dives into the uneasy relationship between creativity and data in modern marketing. Max Osborne, co-founder of This That, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to explore how performance metrics and short-term thinking have reshaped the industry—and why it’s time to put intuition back in the mix.

Together they unpack the origins of brand lift, the limits of benchmarking, and why true marketing success often looks like failure before it becomes a breakthrough. From influencer measurement to community-driven brands, they discuss how embracing uncertainty may be the only way to grow.

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A Sassy+ original podcast series

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This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast explores the future of influence — who really holds it, how it’s shifting, and what that means for brands. Timothy Armoo, founder of Fanbytes, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to dissect the state of influencer marketing, the rise of niche communities, and why today’s real tastemakers might just be 16-24 year-olds on TikTok.

Together they dive into the mechanics of trust, the art of showmanship in advertising, and how brands can stop borrowing attention and start becoming influencers themselves. From perfume to Gymshark, TikTok “aura farming” to the early misfits of AI, this episode unpacks how cultural waves are created — and how smart companies can ride them.

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This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast explores how creators turn audiences into real businesses — and why many struggle to grow. Jordan Schwarzenberger, manager of The Sidemen, reveals how they built an empire that spans restaurants, vodka brands, and sold-out stadium shows. Together with Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba, they explore the forces reshaping the creator economy, the opportunities ahead, and the funding hurdles that hold many aspiring entrepreneurs back.

Join Rory, Elfried, and Jordan for a deep dive into the business of creators and what it takes to turn cultural relevance into long-term success.

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Elfried and Rory tackle a defining challenge: convincing people that AI meeting software isn’t a spy in the room and that AI isn’t about replacing people. Fireflies.ai CEO Krish Ramineni reveals how his team built trust, scaled to 20 million users, and reached a $1B valuation. Along the way the trio explore privacy, the risks of over-automation, and whether dependence on AI erodes or strengthens genuine human connection.

Join Rory, Elfried, and Krish as they talk all things AI and trust.

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This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast explores what it really takes to build a billion-dollar brand. Ben Francis MBE, founder and CEO of Gymshark, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to discuss how obsessive focus, community, and self-awareness turned a side project into one of the UK’s most successful global companies.

Together they unpack the real story behind Gymshark’s rise — from sewing T-shirts at his nan’s dining table to leading a worldwide fitness brand — and reveal why staying close to the customer, thinking like a 19-year-old entrepreneur, and protecting startup energy remain at the heart of Ben’s philosophy.

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A @Sassy+ original podcast series

This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast discusses the toxic nature of modern politics. Economist Nicholas Gruen joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to explain why debating now feels like a never-ending battle, where the centre ground gets drowned out by the most extreme voices and most people are trying to win arguments rather than solve problems.

They also explore why everyday communities often handle difference better than the internet does, and why GDP is a weak guide to how well a country is really doing. Education and housing, they argue, have increasingly become status bottlenecks rather than engines of shared progress, leaving us spending more without necessarily living better.

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A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Growth stalls when founders lose focus.Lottie Whyte, founder of MyoMaster, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack how simplifying the business, listening to real demand, and saying no to opportunity unlocked scale.From early trade-show insights and customer objections to near-failure and relentless focus, this conversation explores how clarity, not complexity, drives sustainable growth.

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A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Clarke Ching — author of The Bottleneck Detective — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack why progress stalls, how leaders quietly become constraints, and why fixing the obvious problem often makes things worse.

Most organisations don’t fail because of a lack of effort.
They fail because effort is applied in the wrong place.

From traffic systems and hospitals to founders, governments and scaling teams, this conversation explores how bottlenecks hide in plain sight — and why seeing them requires a different kind of thinking.

This episode is about the uncomfortable truth that growth rarely fails where people expect it to.

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A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Ama Amo-Agye scaled Plantmade from £100 to £13m — and discovered that success changes the rules faster than founders expect.

Ama joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to explore how the skills that drive early momentum can quietly become constraints as a business scales.

From building in public to recognising when the company had outgrown her original operating model, this episode examines why success can become the hardest thing to manage.

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A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Oscar Ryndziewicz — founder of DFYNE — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack the decisions behind one of the UK’s fastest-growing private companies.

Ryndziewicz explains how DFYNE grew from a £6,000 credit card bet into a global activewear brand, why the company chose to scale from Glasgow rather than London, and how autonomy, simple metrics and trust replaced traditional management controls as the business expanded.

Drawing directly from DFYNE’s growth journey — culminating in its recognition as the UK’s fastest-growing private company in The Sunday Times 100 — this conversation explores how location, culture and leadership design quietly shape scale.

This episode looks at what happens when founders stop optimising for appearances, focus on outcomes instead of activity, and build systems that let people think for themselves.

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A Sassy+ original podcast series

Dr. Eliza Filby — historian and author — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to examine why inheritance now matters more than income.

The conversation explores how the Bank of Mum and Dad has become a private financial system, why wages no longer deliver independence, and how access to family money shapes the risks people can take.

It looks at why Gen Z now inhabits a world where work alone no longer leads to security or progress.

This episode unpacks what happens when families quietly replace markets and the state as the real source of economic stability.

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A Sassy+ original podcast series

Ellie Norman — Chief Marketing Officer at Formula E and former Chief Communications Officer at Manchester United — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to talk about her time at Honda and Virgin Media through to Formula One and now Formula E.

Ellie explains how she walks into every room convinced she doesn't have all the answers, is always asking questions, and always learning.

The conversation explores how constraint forces creativity, why brand defensibility matters more than impression counts, and how the creator economy is rewriting the rules of sports marketing.

This episode unpacks what it really means to build fame, be easy to find, and be hard to leave — why she likes to hire people who are comfortable with uncertainty — and why common sense remains the rarest skill in any marketing department.

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https://www.fiaformulae.com/en

A Sassy+ original podcast series

What does it take to build a career that lasts three decades — and stay curious enough to keep reinventing it?

June Sarpong — broadcaster, author, entrepreneur and host of Culture Conversations — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to talk about culture, leadership, and why visibility changes what people believe is possible.

June reflects on her journey from teenage work experience at Kiss FM to becoming one of the UK’s most recognisable media voices, sharing what she has learned about staying relevant, taking risks, and refusing to define herself by a single title.

The conversation explores how strong cultures are actually built, why leaders must live the values they promote, how representation changes ambition, and why the most important skill in business might simply be making people feel seen.

This episode unpacks why luck matters more than people admit, how great founders expand their own capacity as their companies grow, why the Kardashians might be the greatest marketers of the modern era — and why Africa has the opportunity to build entirely new systems rather than inherit old ones.

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https://www.youtube.com/@Culture-Conversations

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Conny Kalcher, Chief Marketing Officer at Zurich, joins Rory Sutherland to explore why most companies get customer experience wrong.

After decades at LEGO and now at one of the world’s largest insurers, she explains how businesses drift into short-term thinking — and what it takes to shift back to building real, lasting relationships.

During her time at LEGO, she helped expand the brand beyond children into a global creative platform, unlocking new audiences and deeper engagement. In her current role at Zurich, she’s applying that same thinking to transform a 150-year-old organisation from product-led to customer-led.

From training empathy across 60,000 employees to using AI to simplify thousands of customer interactions, this episode is about turning “customer-first” from a slogan into a system.

They explore trust, retention, human behaviour, and why the companies that win are the ones that stay valuable over time.

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A Sassy+ original podcast series

What happens when you literally die — and come back with a completely different view on business, risk, and what actually matters?

Matt Pohlson — founder and CEO of Omaze — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to share the story behind building one of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses, and how a near-death experience changed everything.

Matt recounts flatlining for four and a half minutes, the moment his mother refused to let doctors give up, and how surviving something he “shouldn’t have” forced him to rethink both his life and his company. What followed was a radical shift — away from celebrity-driven campaigns towards a model that would eventually scale to over £400M in just five years.

This episode unpacks the power of storytelling in business, why making the customer the hero changes everything, how brands like Mr Beast win by showing tangible impact — and why Omaze has already given over £120M to charity while building a profitable company.

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https://omaze.co.uk/

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Robbie Lyle started AFTV with a borrowed camera, a borrowed mic, and a belief that football fans deserved to be heard. Thirteen years later, he’s built one of the most influential fan media businesses in sport, with billions of views, millions of followers, and a whole new generation of creators following the path he helped create.In this episode, Robbie and Elfried explore the real story behind AFTV, from filming outside stadiums while still working as a building surveyor to building a 25-person media company across AFTV, DR Sports and the Global Fan Network.They talk about execution, fear, criticism, spotting talent, learning from new platforms, and why the biggest opportunity in media still belongs to the people willing to move first.

Follow RoryInstagram: @rorysutherland_clipsTikTok: @RorysutherlandclipsX: @rorysutherlandLinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/Follow ElfriedInstagram: @elfriedsambaLinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/Website: butterflyeffect.xyz/Follow Robbie LyleInstagram: @robbielyleofficialLinkedIn: in/robbie-lyle-14a077134/Follow AFTVYouTube: @AFTVmediaWebsite: aftv.co.ukTikTok: @aftvmediaInstagram: @aftvmediaFacebook: @aftvmediaX: @aftvmediaSnapchat: @aftvmediaTwitch: @aftvmediaPodcasts: aftv.co.uk/podcastsA Sassy+ original podcast seriesInstagram: @rorysutherland_clipsTikTok: @RorysutherlandclipsX: @rorysutherlandLinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/Follow ElfriedInstagram: @elfriedsambaLinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/Website: butterflyeffect.xyz/Follow Robbie LyleInstagram: @robbielyleofficialLinkedIn: in/robbie-lyle-14a077134/Follow AFTVYouTube: @AFTVmediaWebsite: aftv.co.ukTikTok: @aftvmediaInstagram: @aftvmediaFacebook: @aftvmediaX: @aftvmediaSnapchat: @aftvmediaTwitch: @aftvmediaPodcasts: aftv.co.uk/podcastsA Sassy+ original podcast series

Jamie Bartlett has spent 15 years investigating the strange corners of the internet before they crash into the mainstream. In this episode, he joins Rory and Elfried to explore how AI, video, podcasts, crypto, conspiracy culture and online subcultures are changing how we think, trust and behave.

From chatbot delusions and “techno admin” to why outsiders often spot the future first, this is a funny, unsettling and deeply useful conversation about what happens when new technology meets human nature.

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https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/233361/jamie-bartlett

A Sassy+ original podcast series

James Watt quit law after two weeks, spent seven years as a captain on a North Atlantic fishing boat, then built BrewDog from two humans and a dog into a business making a million cans of beer a day.

In this episode he joins Rory and Elfried to talk about the power of naivety, why differentiation always beats optimisation, and what it actually takes to build a challenger brand from nothing.He also opens up on what really happened at BrewDog — the private equity deal that almost worked brilliantly, and finishing a painful second in the bid to buy his own business back. And he reveals his plan for a new beer business called Second Best.Plus: why community will always beat audience, the danger of bottom-of-funnel obsession, and what his new platform SocialTip is doing to bring word-of-mouth marketing into the digital age.

Follow RoryInstagram: @rorysutherland_clipsTikTok: @RorysutherlandclipsX: @rorysutherlandLinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/Follow ElfriedInstagram: @elfriedsambaLinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/Follow JamesInstagram: @captainjameswatt / @socialtiphq / @secondbestbeerLinkedIn: in/jameswatt-investor-entrepreneur-punk/X: @JamesBWattA Sassy+ original podcast series

Tesla veterans Mark Tapscott and Daniel Davey are the co-founders of Longbow Motors — a British electric sports car company with a radical idea: that cars should be getting lighter, simpler and more exciting, not heavier, duller and more expensive.

They join Rory and Elfried to explain what it actually takes to build a car company from scratch in 2026. From first principles and physics to the new motor manufacturing business model, this is a conversation about great product design, the death of corporate thinking, and why the UK might be sitting on the most exciting opportunity in automotive since the internal combustion engine.