scale with soul – Details, episodes & analysis

Sharmadean Reid MBE is a serial entrepreneur and founder of The Stack World - a global community of ambitious, mission driven women. This is a powerful, deep dive conversation into:

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro

02:20 - Relationship With Control

06:45 - Impact of Covid

08:15 - George Floyd Murder

14:20 - Support Spreadsheet

16:20 - Support As A Leader

20:40 - How To Ask For Help

24:23 - Short & Long Run Balance

29:40 - Female Founders & VC

38:08 - Women's Socialisation

47:30 - Creative vs Commercial

51:00 - Networks Of Power

01:02:25 - No Therapy

👇 Follow me on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-connection/

🙋‍♂️ Who am I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building. Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

James Routledge is a serial entrepreneur, Chief Product Officer and Venture Capitalist who says it how it is. This is a deep dive conversation into:

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro

04:00 - Mentorship

06:50 - Doing Startup Things Well

07:53 - VC-Backable Business

15:00 - US / UK Differences

18:40 - What To Do With $250m?

21:45 - Product Market Fit

27:45 - Founder & Investor Market Fit

35:18 - Scaling

39:05 - Work/Life Harmony

43:30 - Org Chart Design

49:00 - Skill of Decisiveness

53:40 - Rockstars & Superstars

01:02:10 - People As Revenue Centres

01:05:30 - Managing Superstars

01:16:10 - What does failure mean?

01:18:30 - Principles For Enjoying Failure

👇 Follow me on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-connection/

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building. Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

Beta Lucca is a serial entrepreneur, BAFTA winner, investor, non-executive director, with guest judge appearances of TV shows like The Apprentice. She is also a singer/songwriter, improv. actor, and multifaceted creative. In this interview we tap into how to inject creativity into business while also peeling back the layers of her upbringing and inspirations.

📖 Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:58 Stimulus from Connections

09:50 Emotions In Business

11:39 Spaces For Creativity

14:09 Creative Principles

21:30 Hiring T-Shapes

28:50 Quit Or Carry On?

34:17 Unfair Advantages

36:38 Making Life More Game-Like

42:27 How Gamers Brains Are Unique

44:10 Type Of Decisions

48:50 Strong Team Probabilities

49:45 Investor Relationships

01:05:28 David Bowie

01:08:10 Being unapologetic

01:13:20 Her Mum's Inspiration

👇 Follow me on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-connection/

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building. Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

Dhiraj Mukherjee co-founded Shazam in 2000, which then went on to sell to Apple for $400m. They raised $150m in the company's lifetime. In this energising interview we cover:

00:00 Intro

04:45 Hiring For Values

11:00 No Absolute Strengths

14:00 Beliefs from stories

19:00 Lessons from failures vs successes

25:25 Recipe For Persistence

33:40 How To Delegate

39:18 Luck

45:30 Loving Fundraising

49:40 Impactful Questions

51:30 What's next? (Climate & Young People)

1:00:30 Old & Young Working Together

1:02:30 Conditions For Being Fluid

01:08:10 Adopt A Culture Of Change

01:12:30 Selling To Apple

01:16:20 What stories to tell?

01:19:00 Sibling relationship 01:23:50 Badges

01:25:50 Living out our values

👇 Follow me on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-connection/

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I? If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building. Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

Bernhard Niesner is the founder of Busuu, which sold to Chegg for €436m in 2021, making it the largest EdTech Exit in Europe. However, the company almost died 7 years in which marked a pivotal moment for Bernhard, specifically with how he approached startup culture.

_ _ _

👉 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 and community building

_ _ _

Bernhard was kind enough to share his incredible story and lessons from the rollercoaster ride of Busuu!

_ _ _

📖 Video Chapters

00:00 - Intro

04:19 - Culture Crisis

17:30 - Culture Exercises

21:42 - Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast

32:02 - Team of A Players

38:55 - 100 Rejections From VCs

47:56 - How much to raise?

50:37 - Relationships with investors

58:05 - Evolving our internal chatter

01:02:12 - Success is the struggle

01:05:50 - M&A Learnings

01:17:43 - Post-exit life

01:20:11 - Family : Work Harmony

01:24:10 - What's impossible?

01:28:55 - Unconventional Opinion

01:30:04 - How we can help Bernhard

_ _ _

🍿 WATCH NEXT (Youtube)

Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands| Julian Metcalfe

Hard Startup Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

_ _ _

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

_ _ _

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos on Youtube, the podcast and my writing on Linkedin and in my newsletter, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling people-centric business!

_ _ _

👉 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 people-centric company building

Katy Turner is a serial startup founder, investor and advisor. She's wise, cool and also incredibly silly.

_ _ _

👉 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 and community building

_ _ _

Katy and I have been close friends since I started running Foundrs and we had so much fun in this conversation with topics ranging from...

📖 Video Chapters

00:00 - Intro (sillyness)

12:18 - The Human Experience

14:02 - Work Isn't A Family

22:56 - Overcoming conflict aversion

29:06 - Creativity in business

37:14 - Culture

48:04 - How To Solidify Values

53:48 - Foundations Of Stories

01:06:31 - Different 'Why's

01:09:35 - Soren Kierkegaard

01:15:21 - Katy's Best Friend

01:17:44 - What's under your bed?

01:18:52 - Katy's influences

_ _ _

🍿 WATCH NEXT (Youtube)

Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands| Julian Metcalfe

Hard Startup Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

_ _ _

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

_ _ _

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos on Youtube, the podcast and my writing on Linkedin and in my newsletter, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling people-centric business!

_ _ _

👉 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 people-centric company building

Jamie Mitchell was the MD of Innocent Drinks, Tom Dixon (designer furniture), and now he's a serial Non-Executive Director and Board Chairman.

_ _ _

👉 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 and community building

_ _ _

Jamie and I met when I advised him on his community of entrepreneurs (called All Together) which was started during covid, connecting volunteer advisors with startup founders.

This was a brilliant conversation about...

📖 Episode Chapters

00:00 - intro

05:09 - ADHD

24:12 - Great board meetings

28:30 - When should we have a board?

31:00 - Who should we have on our board?

35:00 - What problems do boards tackle?

41:00 - How to know when the meeting is going well

44:23 - CEO mistakes with their board

49:00 - CEO : Chairman Relationship

51:18 - When should the board fire you?

55:51 - How to nurture board relationships

57:49 - All Together (community)

01:03:49 - Asking for help

01:08:00 - Do world changers love themselves?

🍿 WATCH NEXT (Youtube)

The Hardest Part Of Scaling: What You Can't Delegate | Hannah Feldman

Shocking Stories From A Successful Startup Founder | Graham Hobson

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

Hannah Feldman scaled her company, Kidadl, from 12 to 450 people in two years. In this podcast interview she shares the hard truths of scaling, and the life of a full time entrepreneur and parent.

_ _ _

👉 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 and community building

_ _ _

Hannah and I have been good friends for years (she was even the catalyst to me proposing to my fiancé - which we speak about at the end) so this is as honest a conversation between entrepreneurs as it gets.

📖 Video Chapters

00:00 - Intro

01:28 - 4 Year Rollercoaster

10:48 - Scale Up Lessons

13:11 - Impactful Processes

19:08 - Measuring Quality : Quantity

21:32 - Culture With Global Freelancers

25:55 - Growing Pains

29:59 - What you can't delegate

34:11 - Interview Qs

37:32 - Juggling parenthood & startups

40:39 - How to keep going

44:49 - Where did you learn resilience?

47:54 - Unlocking fulfilment

51:12- Mental models for home and work

55:15 - Roles split at home

58:23 - What characteristic are you most proud of?

01:00:10 - How Hannah changed my life

🍿 WATCH NEXT (Youtube)

Hard Startup Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

Shazam Founder Interview; Secrets of Luck, Persistence & Success

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

Stu MacDonald has built the world's tastiest peanut butter. From auto-immune disease, to accounting, a trip to Argentina, scrappy beginnings and then 8 years of grind to build ManiLife to what is it today.

- - -

👉 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 and community building

- - -

Stu has been one of the most supportive people on my content journey and his generosity, openness and wisdom shines through in this interview where we cover...

📖 Episode Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:53 - Wilson's Disease (The 'Fuck You' Driver)

05:16 - Psychosis, Mania, Depression

10:42 - Who Is Stu?

11:40 - Why Are People So Important?

13:38 - Edu, The Supplier

16:51 - Love As A Currency

23:00 - Listing With Holland & Barrett

25:39 - One Favour A Day

27:46 - Balancing Ambition And A Family

32:29 - Doing Things That Don't Scale

41:56 - Interviewing For Care

44:16 - Trickle Down Attention To The Team

45:35 - Balancing Accountability & Care

47:52 - Long Run vs Short Run

52:50 - How To Get Out Of The Way

54:47 - What's Unique About You As A CEO

🍿 WATCH NEXT (YouTube)

The Human Side Of Startup Leadership | Margot De Broglie

From Vision to Action: Olio’s Bold Goals & Cofounder Dynamics | Saasha Celestial-One

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

- - -

👉 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 and community building

Margot De Broglie founded Juno, a free app for women and non-binary people to help them become more financially literate. Margot is a very honest and passionate entrepreneur who, in this podcast, shares her relationship with key investors, advisors and her sibling cofounder relationship as well as her relationship with herself.

This is the best summary of the human side of startup leadership I've ever seen.

- - -

👉 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 and community building

- - -

Margot and I have been good friends for years so this is as honest a conversation between entrepreneurs as it gets. We deep dive into...

📖 Episode Chapters

00:00 - Intro

02:57 - Sibling Cofounder Relationship

09:30 - Encouraging Employees To Push Back

12:21 - When To Systemise Your Management

16:17 - The Impact of Advisors

25:04 - Vulnerable Investor Relationships

29:20 - Leaning Into Inexperience & Imposter Syndrome

32:45 - Masculine & Feminine Leadership

43:10 - How To Bring Play Into Work

47:18 - Story Of A Human Moment

49:42 - Founders Never Get Positive Feedback

51:32 - How Is Your Mental Health?

56:51 - Founders Are More Polyamorous

01:01:09 - What existential crisis are you going through?

01:10:29 - Who are you outside of work?

🍿 WATCH NEXT (Youtube)

Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

Why 93% of Entrepreneurs Fail At Content Creation | Dan Murray-Serter

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my podcast, my videos on Youtube and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

- - -

👉 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 and community building