Explore every episode of the podcast The Next 100 Days Podcast

Warren Wise is Michael Diegelmann's "agentic finance" tool for CFOs. It helps them pre-empt investor reactions to financial reports by simulating analysis from value investors (e.g., Warren Buffett).

• Warren Wise AI: A tool for CFOs to pre-empt investor reactions to financial reports by simulating analysis from value investors (e.g., Warren Buffett).
• Core Value Prop: Enables CFOs to control their narrative and protect share price by identifying hidden risks (e.g., pension liabilities) that human analysts miss.
• Business Model: A subscription service, priced to reflect its value as a "synthetic stakeholder" and a secure, stable alternative to generic LLMs.
• Future Roadmap: Expand with more "synthetic stakeholders" like "Georgina Gecko Green" (an ESG/greenwashing detective) to address evolving reporting standards.

• The capital market's "buyer's roundabout" provides CFOs with biased feedback, creating a perception gap between their narrative and actual investor sentiment.
• Investment Bankers: Have a bias to sell M&A, capital raises, or bonds.
• Sell-Side Analysts: Have a bias to increase trading volume, resulting in an unrealistically high percentage of "buy" ratings (60–90%).
• Buy-Side Investors: Often distrust sell-side analysis and conduct their own deep dives, including into report footnotes, which CFOs cannot easily anticipate.

• Concept: A "synthetic stakeholder" AI agent for CFOs to simulate analysis from value investors (e.g., Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Charlie Munger).
• Function: Analyzes pre-publication financial reports to provide unbiased feedback on how the market will perceive the data.
• Key Features:
• Risk Identification: Uncovers hidden patterns and potential issues (e.g., pension liabilities vs. cash reserves) that human analysts might miss.
• Narrative Control: Empowers CFOs to proactively sharpen their story and manage expectations, moving from reactive to active communication.
• Governance Support: Helps non-finance board members understand complex reports and footnotes, improving their oversight.
• Scenario Planning: Instantly models the impact of financial decisions (e.g., goodwill impairment) on debt structures.

• Pricing: A subscription model with fees based on functions, not a low-cost SaaS.
• Rationale: The value delivered—a comprehensive assessment that could cost hundreds of thousands from a firm like KPMG—justifies a premium.
• Token Costs: Managed by a hybrid AI/coded architecture; generous token limits are planned, with a potential backdoor for excessive use.
• Security: Aiming for SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications to handle sensitive, undisclosed corporate data securely.
• Roadmap: Warren Wise is the first of several planned "synthetic stakeholders."
• Georgina Gecko Green: An ESG/greenwashing detective to address the growing importance of non-financial reporting (e.g., CSRD).
• Simon Chuck: A short-seller agent to provide a counter-narrative.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Intelligent Assessments is Peter Wardle's company. He digitises intellectual property to provide actionable insights.

• Intelligent Assessments digitises IP by converting manual frameworks (often in spreadsheets) into a SaaS platform, enabling consultants to scale their expertise globally and create recurring revenue.
• The platform provides actionable insights, not just scores. It analyzes answer patterns to generate specific, automated actions, moving beyond generic "red/amber/green" status reports.
• Its core value is enabling continuous improvement. The platform supports self-assessment, peer oversight, and independent assurance, creating a closed-loop system for tracking progress and benchmarking performance over time.
• AI is used to accelerate framework creation and power natural-language analytics. A future AI agent will automate evidence analysis for compliance checks, such as against the FCA handbook.

• Peter Wardle's background is in recovering failing projects. His initial method involved manual interviews and spreadsheets, which were:
• Inconsistent: Dependent on the interviewer's mood and approach.
• Inefficient: Time-consuming for large, distributed teams.
• Limited: Provided a one-time snapshot, not a continuous improvement mechanism.

• Intelligent Assessments (IA) was created to digitise and standardise this process, moving from a service model to a product model.
• Core Principle: Provide "delivery intelligence" to project managers, empowering them with tools for self-assessment and continuous monitoring, rather than relying on external audits.
• Methodology: A "three lines of defense" model, framed as:

1. Self-Assessment: Project managers run health checks.
2. Oversight: Peers or senior managers review work.
3. Independent Assurance: For complex projects, a third party provides an objective view.

• Actionable Reporting: Generates a "skill card" report that identifies strengths and weaknesses and provides specific, automated actions for improvement.
• Maturity Assessments: Measures organisational maturity on a 1–5 scale against a framework (e.g., asset management maturity for water companies).
• Evidence Tracking: The platform stores evidence for each score, enabling internal governance and external validation.
• Consultancy Enablement: Helps consultants digitise their IP, creating a sticky, recurring revenue stream and expanding their global reach.
• Benchmarking: Aggregates anonymous data to identify common weaknesses and benchmark client performance against peers.

IA uses AI in three key areas:

1. Framework Creation: Accelerates the conversion of manual frameworks into the platform.
2. Natural Language Analytics: Allows users to query data in plain English to generate custom dashboards.
3. Evidence Analysis (Future): An AI agent will analyze evidence against standards (e.g., FCA handbook) to automate compliance checks.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Kevin demonstrates ways you can adopt AI in the next 100 days

• Episode 2 of a mini-series within The Next 100 Days Podcast where Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith discuss how AI is influencing their work
• Pre-recording conversation touched on football transfers (Nick Pope, James Trafford) before the formal recording began
• Kevin identified four or five distinct areas of AI usage he wanted to cover

• Kevin's primary personal AI tool is Claude Cowork, which he connects to email, Notion, HubSpot, calendar, Dropbox, and Google Drive
• Use case: 10 minutes before a client call, ask Claude to summarise all recent interactions across those sources — it surfaces outstanding promises, discussion topics, and what to raise
• Claude can also draft emails into Gmail drafts (not sent), giving a ~90% ready version the user can refine
• Graham noted concern about integrating a Synology server; Kevin noted most personal data lives in Dropbox or Google Drive and Claude can connect to both

• Kevin runs two scheduled agents without manual triggering
• Agent 1 (daily): Scans calendar 30 days out and checks whether each diary entry has a corresponding task in Notion; creates missing tasks automatically, including a Notion page for notes
• Agent 2 (weekly): Scans upcoming 30 days for GrowCFO Show or Next 100 Days podcast recordings, researches the guest online, and appends notes (bio, website links, suggested questions) to the relevant Notion task
• Kevin deliberately ignores AI-suggested questions to preserve natural curiosity in conversation, but acknowledges suggested questions are useful for solo-host formats
• The same agent concept applies to client/partner meetings: an agent could automatically pull last interaction notes before any key meeting

• GrowCFO's current quarterly theme is Intelligent Finance Operations — covering the end-to-end finance cycle from purchase orders to final accounts
• Three-way matching: AI can match purchase orders, goods receipt notes, and invoices automatically; if all match, the invoice is paid without human intervention
• Fraud detection: AI spots anomalies far more effectively than manual review
• Reporting: AI can generate board reports and dashboards from accounting systems; demonstrated in a GrowCFO webinar with tech partner Round Treasury using Claude
• Key value: AI removes grunt work so finance professionals can focus on what the numbers mean, not just crunching them

• Significant job displacement expected in transactional/lower-level finance roles; less so for senior finance business partners whose work is relationship-based
• Challenge: AI often saves portions of multiple people's jobs rather than eliminating whole roles, making headcount reduction difficult — a pattern observed in shared services projects long before AI
• Supply of finance professionals is falling, particularly FP&A specialists in the US; AI may initially ease recruitment pressure rather than cut headcount
• Most finance teams are still at the "chatting with ChatGPT" stage, not yet using agentic or Cowork-style tools
• A live example of a fully agentic debt-chasing system: an AI agent that checks the debtors ledger, identifies overdue accounts, calls customers, and holds an intelligent conversation about outstanding invoices

• Claude's current integration with Xero is poor — only capable of producing basic debtor reports rather than actionable overdue lists
• Copilot and Gemini do not support Dropbox connectivity, limiting their use in Kevin's personal setup
• Hallucination risk is reduced when AI operates within a well-defined, high-quality data "cocoon" — the importance of a single source of truth

• "Faster close" — producing monthly accounts quickly rather than 10–15 days after month-end — has been a finance aspiration for 20+ years and AI now makes it achievable
• Rolling forecasts with multiple scenarios (e.g., 0%, 25%, 50% tariff scenarios) can be modelled and run instantly by AI rather than taking weeks to build

• Segregation of duties must be replicated in AI workflows: different agents or human approvers for setting up suppliers, authorising accounts, and making payments
• A single "super AI agent" handling everything end-to-end is not yet appropriate or auditable

• Kevin used ChatGPT Deep Research to read ~30 published documents from major consultancies (PwC, Deloitte, EY, Accenture, BCG, Forrester, etc.) on AI in finance ops in 15–20 minutes — work that previously would have taken two graduate trainees a fortnight
• He gave both ChatGPT and Claude the same prompt and found ChatGPT produced a better overall result, though Claude surfaced some content ChatGPT missed; he combined both
• AI is excellent at generating and researching text but structuring the final document, choosing diagrams, and making it consumable remains a human task

• A GrowCFO partner CFO used AI avatars of their board members to anticipate board reactions to finance reports before presenting
• Kevin tested a "virtual advisory board" in AI, including public figures like Michael Heppell, and received useful diverse perspectives
• The deeper goal: frame board materials to open up discussion rather than trigger defensive reactions

• Started from a ChatGPT conversation: "What if everything you've been taught about time management is a lie?" — leading to the insight that most productivity systems just create more tasks rather than freedom
• Evolved into KAIOS (Kevin's AI Operating System): a Dropbox-based knowledge structure containing Kevin's values, StrengthsFinder profile, career history, stories, and frameworks — accessible by any AI model via instructions stored within the structure
• A book outline, introduction, and chapter frameworks have been drafted with ChatGPT's help; the project paused in favour of building KAIOS first so the book has genuine personal stories and IP embedded
• Graham suggested this could be Kevin's biggest career opportunity — analogous to how MeclabsAI has built a multi-million pound business around systematised marketing knowledge
• Kevin noted he prefers positioning himself as an expert using AI in finance rather than as an AI expert per se, given how fast the field moves

• Both hosts reflected on the retirement vs. continued work question; Kevin expressed enthusiasm for staying engaged with AI developments and not wanting to reach the point where technology no longer makes sense
• Kevin acknowledged competitors in the AI-for-finance space (e.g., Nicholas Boucher's AI Finance Club) but sees his differentiation in applying deep finance and personal IP rather than competing directly
• GrowCFO Show is approaching episode

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Kevin Appleby interviews Graham Arrowsmith about AI applications, such as the lead conversion AI he offers through MicroYES. We also discuss personal productivity.

• Agent Delivery Systems (ADS) drive conversion by providing immediate value before asking for contact info, following the principle "Anonymous until irrelevant."
• "Intelligent Websites" are the next evolution, using a conversational interface to dynamically reshape the page with personalized content, moving intelligence from the user to the site.
• AI enables systematization for exit planning, allowing founders to capture their expertise in a "brain library" to reduce key-person dependency and increase business value.
• AI-enabled organizations face a new key-person risk: the ability to do more with less makes individual expertise a critical vulnerability.

• Most chatbots are ineffective because they force users into a rigid flow, demanding contact info before providing value.
• This approach fails to meet user needs for direct answers and frustrates high-value prospects, who will simply avoid the tool.

• Core Principle: "Anonymous until irrelevant."
• Provide immediate value through conversation.
• Ask for contact info only when it's logically required for the user's next step (e.g., booking a call).
• Built on MECLABS Institute's 30-year conversion methodology.
• Architecture:
• Expert: Sophisticated prompts guide the agent to listen, present arguments, and steer the conversation toward a conversion goal.
• Libraries: A contained, proprietary knowledge base ensures accurate, controlled answers, preventing "internet infection" and protecting IP.
• Apps: Embedded tools (e.g., calculators, booking widgets) allow the agent to perform actions within the conversation.
• LLM Agnostic: Can swap in models like Gemini, Grok, or ChatGPT based on client needs for speed vs. depth.
• Use Cases:
• Compliance: Acts as a gateway for regulated content (e.g., high-net-worth investments) by confirming user eligibility before sharing details.
• Lead Routing: Directs inquiries to the correct department (e.g., family law vs. commercial law).
• Phone-to-Agent: Answers calls and routes to a live human, creating a seamless experience.

• Concept: A conversational interface (voice or text) that dynamically reshapes the webpage with personalized content in real-time.
• Mechanism: The ADS architecture runs in the background, interpreting user intent and generating a unique page layout.
• Impact:
• Personalization: Replaces static pages built for a single avatar with a dynamic experience tailored to each user's specific query.
• Conversion: Increases conversion rates by delivering highly relevant information instantly.
• Insights: Captures user questions to reveal unmet needs and inform business strategy (e.g., a hotel discovering demand for wedding packages).

• Personal Productivity:
• Uses Claude as a primary tool, valuing its memory of past conversations.
• Applies AI to review legal agreements, getting tailored feedback relevant to GrowCFO's business model.
• Exit Planning:
• Goal: Systematize the business for a 3-year exit, making it less dependent on the founder.
• Method: Create a "Graham Arrowsmith library" to capture 40+ years of expertise, enabling an AI system to handle ~65% of the founder's tasks.
• Test Case: A 3-week cruise to Japan will test the business's ability to operate autonomously.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

You'll remember that Selling on Whatnot guest Stephen joined The Next 100 Days a while back to talk about building an Amazon business from scratch.

Since then, things have moved on quite a bit. Stephen's been deep into a newer side of the business, live selling on Whatnot. The team has been selling trading cards (Pokemon, specifically) and pulling in over $400,000 in the last seven months alone, teaching complete beginners with zero collectibles background to do the same.

This podcast features a discussion with Stephen Somers and his evolution from Amazon to the Whatnot live-selling platform.

• Business Model Shift: Stephen's company, Marketplace Superheroes, evolved from importing from China to a brand-direct wholesale model on Amazon and a live-selling strategy on Whatnot.
• Whatnot's Live-Selling Model: The platform combines live video with rapid auctions, creating an interactive, social shopping experience.
• Pokemon Card Strategy: The company's Whatnot success comes from selling foreign-language Pokemon cards to adult collectors (avg. age 33–38) who view them as an investment.
• Platform Economics: Whatnot charges shipping directly to the buyer and offers same-day payouts after a seller makes 1,000 sales, significantly improving seller cash flow.

• Amazon Strategy: Evolved from importing from China to a brand-direct wholesale model.
• Process: Partner with smaller brands → improve their Amazon marketing → buy wholesale from them.
• Rationale: As brand sales grow, wholesale orders increase, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
• COVID-19 Challenge: A freight company venture faced an 8x increase in shipping costs, creating a $1.1M problem.
• Resolution: The profitable training business offset the losses, providing a critical lesson in risk management.
• Whatnot Expansion: The company's first expansion beyond Amazon in 12 years, driven by the belief that live social commerce is a major trend.

• Platform Concept: A hybrid of QVC, Instagram, and Tinder, focused on live, interactive auctions.
• Core Functionality:
• Live Streams: Sellers host live video shows to auction items.
• Rapid Auctions: Bids are placed via a "swipe right" feature during short (e.g., 5-second) auctions.
• Buy-It-Now: An option for immediate purchases is also available.
• Growth & Competition:
• Revenue: ~$8–11B globally in 2025.
• Competitors: TikTok (with a new auction platform) and eBay (with eBay Live).

• Niche: Foreign-language Pokemon cards, chosen for their high value and appeal to adult collectors.
• Auction Process:

1. A sealed booster pack is shown live.
2. Viewers bid on the pack.
3. The pack is opened live to reveal the cards.
4. The winner receives all cards from the pack.

• Key Metrics:
• Sales: >£400k since Oct 2025.
• Profit Margin: 25–35%.
• Orders: >60,000 with zero returns, as buyers see the exact product they win.
• High-Value Finds: One card pulled was worth £800, increasing to >£1,000 after professional grading.

• Investment: £500–£1,000 for initial stock and setup.
• Seller Account: Free to create.
• New Seller Bonus: Whatnot offers cash matches on first-week sales (e.g., £150 bonus for £150 in sales) to attract streamers.
• Recommended Approach: Use a company entity for Amazon to appear professional to brands; a sole trader is sufficient for Whatnot initially.

• Listeners: Visit marketplacesuperheroes.com for free training on the Amazon and Whatnot models.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Guy Bartlett is ex military, but now helps others when they are buying businesses. He is the author of Business Magic. In his 30 years he's closed more than 200 deals, sitting on both sides of the table. He will buy, operate and grow UK businesses and help founders do the same. Guy Bartlett discusses M&A strategy for founder-led businesses.

• "Done-for-you" M&A Service: Fidelis Advisory acts as a fractional M&A director for founders, providing a lower-cost, lower-risk alternative to full-time hires.
• "Triangle of Success" Philosophy: Prioritizes the business's health alongside buyer and seller needs to ensure a stable, long-term outcome for all stakeholders.
• Seller's Emotional Exit: The process starts by defining the seller's post-exit lifestyle needs, then structuring the deal to meet that financial goal.
• AI as a Force Multiplier: AI's value is in improving efficiency and augmenting human capital, not in acquiring standalone AI companies.

• Background: 41 years in the Army Reserves.
• Services:
• Fidelis Advisory: "Done-for-you" fractional M&A director service.
• Business Buyers Club: "Done-with-you" coaching and network.
• Experience: 150+ transactions, from £200k to €15M.
• Client Profile: Ambitious founders (late 30s–mid 50s) of businesses with £5M–£20M turnover.
• Fidelis Advisory network (5k+ database, 18k+ LinkedIn followers)

• Core Principle: A successful acquisition balances the needs of three entities: the buyer, the seller, and the business itself.
• Seller-Centric Process:

1. Define Lifestyle Needs: Determine the financial sum required for the seller's desired post-exit life.
2. Value the Business: Conduct an independent valuation.
3. Bridge the Gap: If the valuation is lower than the required sum, structure the deal to bridge the difference (e.g., earn-outs).

• Buyer-Centric Criteria:
• Passion: Genuine interest in business, not just profit.
• Financial Literacy: Basic understanding of P&L, cash flow, and the balance sheet.
• People Skills: Ability to work with all stakeholders.
• Balance Sheet Health Check:
• Inverted Pyramid: A healthy balance sheet has high current assets and low liabilities.
• Shareholder Funds: A gently rising curve indicates stability.
• Asset Scrutiny: Verify the true value of assets like stock.

• Strategic Fit: The primary driver for an acquisition is cultural alignment, not just financial metrics.
• Example: A failed M&E group acquisition was due to cultural mismatch and geographic distance.
• AI in M&A:
• Current Role: A force multiplier for efficiency (e.g., pricing, contracts).
• Future Role: Unlikely to involve acquiring standalone AI companies, as the market is too volatile and lacks a dominant player.
• SaaS Vulnerability: Traditional SaaS models are at risk from AI-powered, bespoke solutions.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Lead Conversion expert Francis Rodino claims 15+ years working in sales and marketing, but as we'll find out, you can probably double that number. First in corporate, then building and scaling his own businesses. He's worked with 300+ clients across HVAC, engineering, construction, recruitment, and professional services.

Francis is the bestselling author of Leads Machine - a practical guide to building consistent, predictable sales for service businesses. He's not a consultant who disappears after the strategy session. Francis is in the system, in the data, and on the calls.

• Core Problem: Most businesses have a lead conversion problem, not a lead generation problem. They neglect the 95% of leads who aren't ready to buy immediately, leaving significant revenue on the table.
• Solution: Lead Hero uses a white-labeled HighLevel CRM, enhanced with AI agents, to automate lead nurture and follow-up. This "Freedom Tech" liberates teams from manual tasks and increases conversion rates.
• ROI: By improving conversion from 5% to 15%, a £10k ad spend can generate an extra £50k in revenue (£25k → £75k), adding a potential £1M annually without increasing the ad budget.
• Tech: Lead Hero's site uses Lovable, a fast React-based web app, for its agility in creating personalized pages for prospects, sacrificing some traditional SEO for speed.

• Lead Hero's premise: Most businesses have a lead conversion problem, not a lead problem.
• 95% Gap: Businesses focus on the 3% of leads ready to buy now and neglect the other 95% who are not.
• 9-Step "Leads Machine" System:
• Outlined in Rodino's book, Leads Machine.
• Focuses on deep market intelligence and customer journey mapping before investing in ads.
• Automation and AI accelerate a sound strategy; they cannot fix a broken one.

• Lead Hero's service is a white-labeled HighLevel CRM pre-built with custom workflows and AI agents.
• Client Profile: High-volume lead businesses (trades, medical, SaaS) that live and die by leads.
• Implementation Process:

1. Audit: Analyse the client's sales process and software gaps.
2. Build: Install the custom CRM with automated scripts and cadences.
3. Train: Onboard the client's team.
4. Maintain: Provide ongoing tech support.

• Case Study (Simply Eco):
• Before: Manual, paper-based lead process.
• After: Automated CRM system.
• Result: Grew revenue from £15M to £25M in ~4 years.

• Lead Hero's site uses Lovable, a React-based web app chosen for its speed and agility.
• Rationale: Prioritises fast creation of personalised pages for prospects over traditional SEO.
• AI Agent Use Cases:
• Database Reactivation: Re-engaging dormant leads with AI agents to answer questions and book calls.
• Webinar Follow-up: An AI agent on WhatsApp asks non-buyers why they didn't purchase, collecting valuable feedback to improve offers.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham is an inCruises Independent Partner, and is building up interest from people around the world in the World's Largest Travel Membership - inCruises. You can sign up and access 21,000+ cruises, hotels and tours by clicking HERE

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Today's guest is Andrew Sparks from Sydney Australia, who discusses business exit strategies for founders for them to build a business that can run without them.

• Build a Saleable Asset: A founder-dependent business is unsaleable (e.g., Dave the plumber's story). The goal is to create a business that operates independently, which maximizes its value for a future sale.
• Delegate Authority, Not Just Tasks: The "Ownership Map" is a key tool for this. It defines clear responsibilities and KPIs for each role, forcing founders to delegate decision-making and free up their time for strategic work.
• Maximize Profitability ("Savage Margins"): Shift from low-margin, time-based pricing (e.g., $50/hr) to high-value, outcome-based pricing (e.g., $300/hr) by repositioning the company for a premium market. This funds the team needed for operational independence.
• Plan Your Exit Early: A 12–15 month timeline is ideal for implementing the necessary structural changes. This proactive approach avoids a forced, low-value sale and allows founders to choose their exit: a "Heyday" (lifestyle freedom) or a "Payday" (commercial sale).

• A business built around the founder's personal brand and time is unsaleable.
• Example (Dave the Plumber): A successful plumber built a business so tied to his name and presence that he couldn't sell it, ultimately closing the doors and selling tools for pennies.
• The "Second Stage Squeeze": Andrew's firm, MyExit.com, targets established businesses ($2M–$20M revenue, 10–50 staff) that have proven product-market fit but are now constrained by the founder's time and capital.

• MyExit's framework has four pillars:
• 1. Strategic Core: The founder's role shifts from tactical work to high-level strategy.
• 2. SEAL Team: Build a capable team by delegating authority, not just tasks.
• 3. Savage Margins: Maximize profitability to fund growth and independence.
• 4. Slick Ops: Systematize operations for efficiency and consistency.

• This tool replaces a traditional org chart to delegate authority effectively.
• Function: Maps key responsibilities and KPIs to each role, ensuring clear ownership and accountability.
• Benefit: Prevents the founder from becoming a bottleneck and allows the business to operate without constant founder approval.

• A high-profit commercial model is essential for funding growth and team expansion.
• Action: Reposition the company to charge premium prices (e.g., $300/hr vs. $50/hr) by focusing on a higher-value market segment.
• Rationale: Most businesses are not unique. Success comes from mastering the commercial model, not just the product.

• Heyday (Lifestyle Exit): The business runs independently, giving the founder freedom to step away for extended periods (e.g., Andrew's 3-week Europe trip).
• Payday (Commercial Exit): The business is sold for maximum value.
• Key Principle: Achieving a "Heyday" is a prerequisite for a "Payday," as a founder-independent business is inherently more valuable.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Business Scaling & Exit Expert Alexis Sikorsky has launched, built and grown businesses. He knows it can be incredibly lonely doing this. Founders can feel swamped, overwhelmed, isolated and unable to make the right decision for what comes next in their business. That's where Alexis comes in. On this podcast you get a taste of what goes on.

• The £5-20M Founder Trap: Founders often become a liability at £5-20M revenue, getting stuck in urgent, non-delegable tasks. The solution is to identify and delegate all tasks except those only the founder can do.
• The "Cashing Out" Philosophy: Build your business for sale, even if you don't intend to sell. This forces efficiency and creates a high-value asset.
• The APEX Method: A four-step framework for exit readiness: Assess, Plan, Execute, Exit.
• Retirement Redefined: Post-exit, Alexis chose a "thin of it" advisory role over a high-pressure CEO position, prioritising purpose and family over money.

• Alexis Sikorsky, author of "Cashing Out," advises founders on growth and exit.
• Sweet Spot: Helping founders who are stuck, not early-stage startups.
• The £5-20M Trap: A founder's skill set can become a liability at this revenue stage.
• Problem: The founder is swamped by urgent, non-delegable tasks, losing focus on strategic vision.
• Solution: Identify "uniquely qualified" tasks (e.g., pre-sales meetings) and delegate everything else.
• Test: A 3-week off-grid vacation reveals critical operational dependencies.

• Core Principle: Build your business for sale to force efficiency and create a high-value asset.
• Origin: A post-retirement Oxford MBA revealed common founder mistakes.
• Self-Assessment: Alexis calculated his own past errors cost him $50M and 5 years.
• Key Lessons:
• Financial Buffer: Maintain 9 months of burn rate in cash.
• Why: A 2008 crisis event wiped out 75% of his revenue, nearly causing failure.
• Know Your Numbers: Track financials daily/weekly.
• Why: Quarterly reports are too late for corrective action.
• Know Your Costs: Avoid underpricing complex projects.
• Hire Managers: Leaders (vision) and managers (execution) are distinct roles. Hire managers early to delegate operational tasks.

• A four-step framework for exit readiness:

1. Assess: Know your company and your personal goals.

• "What's your number?" → The amount needed to never work again.
• Lifestyle vs. Growth: These require different strategies.

1. Plan: Create a 4-year plan.

• Why: Longer plans are unrealistic in a volatile market.
• Growth Levers: Organic sales, new geographies, new products, and M&A.

1. Execute: Implement the plan, adapting every 6 months.
2. Exit: Prepare for sale ("dressing the bride").

• Focus: Primarily on private equity exits.

• Post-exit, Alexis retired for 3 years before starting his advisory practice.
• Motivation: Helping founders, not money.
• Critical Decision: Declined an offer to return as CEO of his former company.
• Why: Prioritised family and a balanced life over the high-pressure CEO role.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

This podcast is all about founders having the capacity to grow. Nicola Anderson is a Business Growth expert and she shares her DASH framework to help founders push on from the £1-5m turnover level.

• Founder Bottleneck: Business growth often stalls at £1M–£5M turnover because the founder becomes the decision-making bottleneck, losing the strategic headspace needed for further expansion.
• DASH Framework: Nicola Anderson's framework (Delegate, Automate, Stop, Hire) provides a structured process to create capacity to grow before hiring, which prevents costly mistakes and ensures new roles are strategic.
• Human-AI Integration: The most successful businesses will integrate human connection with AI efficiency. Over-reliance on AI from a single person creates significant operational risk and lacks the trust required for major deals.
• Strategic Exit: Founders often seek to shift from day-to-day operations to a strategic role (e.g., Chairman) to gain lifestyle freedom without full retirement, requiring a business that functions independently.

• Businesses naturally grow around the founder, making them the central hub for all decisions.
• This model is sustainable to a point (e.g., £1M–£5M turnover) but eventually leads to the founder being consumed by day-to-day tasks.
• Consequence: Growth stalls because the founder loses the strategic headspace required for innovation, planning, and external opportunities like acquisitions.
• Impact: This also erodes the personal freedom and work-life balance the founder initially sought.

• The DASH framework provides a structured process to create capacity to grow before hiring, preventing costly mistakes.
• D → Delegate: Identify tasks that can be delegated.
• Prerequisite: Trust in the team is essential for effective delegation.
• Rationale: Delegate non-core tasks to free up time for enjoyable, high-value work.
• A → Automate: Use technology (e.g., CRMs, AI agents) to handle repeatable tasks.
• S → Stop: Eliminate unnecessary activities (e.g., redundant reports, legacy spreadsheets) that add no value.
• H → Hire: Only hire after completing the first three steps.
• Rationale: This ensures new roles are strategic and prevents hiring at the wrong level (e.g., a full-time COO vs. a fractional one).
• Risk: Hiring too quickly creates another "wire" (decision point) for the founder if the role isn't clearly defined.

• The most successful businesses will effectively integrate human talent with AI tools.
• Risk of AI-Only Models: Graham cited an example where a large company rejected an AI service provider after discovering it was a one-person operation.
• Reason: The operational risk was too high (e.g., if the person became unavailable), and the lack of human connection undermined trust.
• Human Connection: People buy from people they know, like, and trust, especially for significant investments. AI should support, not replace, this connection.

• Typical Clients: Founders at £1M–£5M turnover facing stalled growth, burnout, or preparing for an exit.
• Client Goals:
• Create a saleable business that doesn't depend on the founder.
• Shift from day-to-day operations to a strategic role (e.g., Chairman) for more lifestyle freedom.
• Engagement Model:
• Phase 1 (Intensive): A 30-day engagement for £2,500 to apply the DASH framework and create an action plan.
• Phase 2 (Partnership): Ongoing support for accountability and implementation, with a team of freelancers for specific tasks (e.g., CRM setup).
• Example: Nicola's work with David B. Horne helped him define the CEO role ("Karis") needed to transition to a Chairman position.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Dr Amanda Gummer, founder of FUNdamentally Children, is a renowned child development expert, and often features in media discussing the role of play in learning. Through FUNdamentally Children and the Good Play Guide, she offers valuable insights on educational toys and parenting, helping families make informed choices for their children's development and well-being.

This podcast explores play's role in child development and brand strategy.

• Mission: FUNdamentally Children translates academic research into practical advice for kids' brands (toys, media, education) to improve products and policy.
• Method: Research uses naturalistic observation in familiar settings to capture meaningful data, avoiding the "strange kids in strange places" bias of traditional lab studies.
• Impact: Services de-risk product launches (e.g., preventing a faulty toy release) and sharpen marketing (e.g., identifying a "pizza delivery boy" character as the licensing driver).
• Challenge: The biggest barrier is the perception of play as frivolous, which hinders its recognition as a powerful tool for developing critical life skills.

• FUNdamentally Children bridges the gap between academic research and practical application for kids' brands.
• Clients: Toy companies, digital game developers, TV content creators, playground designers, and policymakers.
• Core Principle: The Maya Angelou quote, "When you know better, do better." The company provides the "better" knowledge.

• Research avoids the "strange kids in strange places" bias of traditional lab studies.
• Method: Observe children in familiar settings with trusted people to capture authentic behavior.
• Quality Control: Rigorously vets other research papers (e.g., for the Children's Media Association) to ensure data validity.

• Funding comes from corporate clients paying for research and workshops.
• De-Risking Product Launches:
• Identified a faulty Thomas the Tank Engine toy (pegs too small for holes) in playtesting, preventing a negative launch and PR.
• Provided evidence to defend a toy train from a "toy train makes kid bald" headline, proving it was a user accident, not a product fault.
• Sharpening Marketing & Licensing:
• Research for a kids' TV show about motorbikes found the "pizza delivery boy" character was the most popular.
• Insight: Kids were focused on the pizza, not the bike's design or the show's friendship theme.
• Action: This insight redirected the licensing strategy to focus on the pizza theme.

• Play is a powerful tool for developing critical skills (critical thinking, self-reliance, social skills) that traditional education often misses.
• DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion):
• Focuses on practical accessibility (e.g., wheelchair ramps in playgrounds) to ensure all children can participate.
• Distinguishes this from political debates like transgender athletes in sports, which are separate biological issues.
• Play Commission:
• Amanda was a commissioner on this year-long project, which produced the "Raising the Nation" report.
• Goal: Provide evidence to government on play's impact across education, health, and youth justice.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Abel Prieto joins The Next 100 Days podcast to discuss InCruises as a side gig opportunity and its business model.

• Unique Membership Model: InCruises doubles members' monthly contributions (e.g., $100 → $200) into "Reward Points" for travel, forcing savings and guaranteeing a minimum 25% discount on bookings.
• Strategic Growth Engine: The affiliate model is a key driver for cruise lines, as 75% of InCruises' travelers are first-time cruisers—a market segment the lines struggle to reach directly.
• Significant Income Potential: The UK market is largely untapped. A mid-level goal of building a team generating ~$250k/month in sales yields a personal income of ~$50k/month (~£38k).
• Watertight Affiliate Tracking: The referral-link-only sign-up process prevents commission loss, a common problem with cookie-based affiliate programs.

• InCruises (corp. name: InGroup) is a travel club founded in 2016 by Frank Codina. Abel was onboarded as a Communications expert.
• Membership Tiers:
• Member: Pays a monthly fee (e.g., $100 or $250) which the company matches 100% in "Reward Points."
• Example: A $2,000 cruise costs the member $1,000 in cash and $1,000 in company-matched points, representing a 50% total value.
• Guaranteed Savings:
• Using Points: 25% minimum discount.
• Using Cash (Insider Pricing): 17% minimum discount.
• Key Rule: Points are for travel only and are non-refundable, ensuring members use them for vacations. They are transferable upon death.
• Partner: An affiliate who sells memberships.
• Partner Member: Both a paying member and an active affiliate.
• Company Profitability:
• Wholesale Pricing: InCruises buys travel inventory at wholesale rates.
• Commissions: Earns commissions from cruise lines on bookings.
• Unused Points: Profits from points that are never redeemed.

• Growth:
• Sales: $350M in 2023.
• Customers: 750k+ travelers.
• Inventory: 21k+ cruises, 430k+ hotels, 350k+ tours.
• Untapped Markets: The UK and Europe are largely unpenetrated, offering significant growth potential.
• Demographic Shift: Cruising is attracting a younger audience with more diverse offerings (e.g., Virgin Cruises, onboard activities), expanding the market beyond traditional demographics.

• Affiliate Model: Partners sell memberships, not individual travel bookings.
• Income Potential (UK Context):
• Mid-Level Goal: Generate ~$250k/month in team sales.
• Required Team: ~500–1,000 paying members.
• Resulting Personal Income: ~$50k/month (~£38k).
• Graham's Initial Strategy:
• Initial Test: A careers fair booth with a costumed "stewardess" (Karina) and leaflets to gauge interest.
• Target Audience: Affluent individuals (45+) who can afford the monthly membership.
• Leverage Existing Assets: Use the "finelyfettled" database of 278k cruise-takers for targeted outreach.
• Future Innovation: Develop an AI-powered "core agent" to provide personalised travel recommendations, adding value beyond the standard platform. 

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs. Through his https://upperdeck.cruises website, Graham introduces people to inCruises. Become a member today by clicking here

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Rest Tech innovator Shalece Daniels previously built and operated a seven-figure real estate investment and property management firm, coached multiple seven-figure businesses on scaling, then stepped fully into her zone of genius as an executive rest coach. Shalece created FLOW, an AI rest-tech assistant for organisations, and delivers corporate rest workshops that upgrade meeting norms, cut decision fatigue, and protect recovery time.

• 90-Second Reset: Emotions metabolise in 90 seconds. Shalece's method uses specific tools (e.g., Mind Fold, bubble-blowing) to reset the nervous system from "fight or flight" to "rest and digest," enabling clearer thinking.
• Data-Driven Proof: A smart ring tracks Key Relaxation Indicators (KRIs) like heart rate and HRV. This anonymised data proves the program's effectiveness to corporate clients, overcoming a key sales hurdle.
• Referral-Based Growth: The business grew from personal burnout and a Costa Rica sabbatical. Referrals from initial clients and a vocal advisory board were the primary drivers for landing larger corporate contracts.
• Respectful Disagreement: A discussion on DEI and immigration highlighted how personal experience shapes perspective, reinforcing the need for tools to manage emotional triggers and maintain respectful dialogue.

• High-pressure work environments keep leaders in a "fight or flight" (sympathetic) state, which impairs decision-making.
• The goal is to shift into the "rest and digest" (parasympathetic) state, creating the mental space for clear, strategic thinking.

• The method is based on Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor's research: emotions metabolise in 90 seconds.
• Key Tools & Rationale:
• Mind Fold: An eye mask that blocks light while eyes remain open. The brain's confusion triggers an automatic reset.
• Bubble Blowing: Exhaling longer than inhaling activates the vagus nerve, lowering heart rate and inducing calm.
• Acupressure Wristband: Stimulates the P6 nerve to reduce anxiety.
• Foot Roller: Activates nerve endings in the feet for discreet, bottom-up grounding.
• Personalised Approach: The method is tailored to the individual ("N=1"), requiring participants to find the 1–3 tools that work best for their nervous system.

• Key Relaxation Indicators (KRIs): A smart ring tracks vital signs (e.g., heart rate, HRV) to provide objective data.
• Corporate Dashboard: Anonymised data from all participants is aggregated into a dashboard.
• Why it matters: This data-driven proof overcomes the "how do I know it works?" question from corporate clients, enabling the program's sale and adoption.

• Origin: The method was developed after Shalece experienced burnout and took a sabbatical in Costa Rica.
• Initial Growth: Spread organically through referrals from a personal network who noticed a positive change.
• Scaling: A vocal advisory board and speaking engagements helped attract larger corporate clients.
• Program Delivery: Includes a physical kit, video exercises via QR code, and a tiered service model.

• A discussion on DEI and immigration highlighted how personal experience shapes perspective.
• Key Insight: Acknowledging that everyone is "triggered" by different inputs underscores the value of having tools to manage emotional responses and maintain respectful dialogue.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Mark Sherwood Edwards is the Sales Side Lawyer. This podcast is all about having a sales-centric approach to legal contracting.

• Problem: ~50% of deals die in contracting, often due to lawyers acting as a "Department for Sales Prevention" and triggering buyer anxiety.
• Solution: Treat legal risk as a price point. Frame buyer requests (e.g., for unlimited liability) as commercial choices that increase the price, shifting the negotiation from legal to business.
• Tactic: Reduce buyer anxiety by offering easy-out clauses (e.g., monthly after 12 months). This builds trust and forces the seller to focus on service quality to retain customers.
• Goal: Move all deals toward "no-touch" contracting (e.g., click-through T&Cs) to eliminate negotiation friction and speed up deal closure.

• Lawyers often act as a "Department for Sales Prevention," slowing deals and creating friction.
• The "Spoon" Analogy: Lawyers often make minor, risk-averse changes that alter the deal's structure, even if the core agreement is sound.
• Key Driver → Buyer Anxiety: The primary obstacle is a buyer's personal risk ("Fear of Messing Up"), not just corporate risk.
• Why: A long, complex contracting process increases the risk of the deal failing due to external factors (e.g., strategy changes, competitor bids).

• Core Principle: Treat legal risk as a price point.
• How: Frame buyer requests for increased risk (e.g., unlimited liability) as commercial choices that will increase the price.
• Why: This shifts the negotiation from a legal debate to a commercial one, where business stakeholders are more reasonable and budget-conscious.
• The "Sales Side Setup": Prepare for this by stating upfront in proposals that pricing is based on your standard T&Cs and that changes may affect the price.
• Easy-Out Clauses: Offer flexible termination terms (e.g., monthly after an initial 12-month period).
• Why: This reduces buyer anxiety and forces the seller to maintain high service quality to retain the customer.
• Caveat: This approach may not suit deals with high upfront costs (e.g., outsourcing), where a longer lock-in is needed to reach profitability.

• Contracting Spectrum: Classify deals into three types and aim to move all toward "no-touch."
• No-Touch: Click-through T&Cs (e.g., Google, HubSpot).
• Low-Touch: Minor negotiations.
• High-Touch: Significant negotiation.
• Simplify Contracts:
• Use plain English and clear headings.
• For simple deals, use a signed letter of agreement instead of a formal contract.
• Payment Terms:
• Goal: Get paid in advance to eliminate the need for legal recovery clauses.
• Response to Long Terms: Counter with a price increase (e.g., 5%) or remove scope to meet the budget.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from the UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Kidzplay is a national soft-play membership network that Lisa built from scratch — a wholesale model in which we buy fixed table capacity from partner venues and resell it through memberships.

Lisa is an accountant! Kevin will be in heaven. PwC-trained ACA. 18 years in soft play. One MBO (Gameplay, sold to Game Group). Several businesses were built, a couple were buried, and a lot was learned.

Flat Cap Friday is a grassroots broker network I co-founded with Nigel Bowers. Regionally rooted, built around genuine peer connection. No pitch decks, no lead-gen noise — just good people showing up on Fridays. Wired is a five-pillar framework for founders who are running on empty: business, financial, body, relationships, restoration. Twelve weeks. Broughton Estate, North Yorkshire. Lisa builds businesses to be cash-generative, mission-driven, and eventually sold or handed on.

• Kids Play: A membership model solving venue cash-flow volatility by buying fixed-price slots, making family activities affordable and accessible.
• Wired Framework: A coaching program using 12-week sprints to help founders align business strategy with personal purpose, health, and freedom.
• Core Purpose: All ventures are unified by a mission to build community and combat loneliness, stemming from a personal experience.
• Strategic Shift: A new model of delegating operational work enables a strategic focus on high-level thinking and personal freedom.

• A crisis of connection stems from modern pressures (cost of living, screen time), causing parents to sacrifice family time and leading to a youth mental health crisis.
• COVID-19 highlighted the devastating impact of lost social interaction on children's development.
• Lisa's mission is to bring families together and ensure no one feels lonely.

• Origin: Evolved from a soft play center Lisa bought in 2007.
• Business Model: A monthly membership for unlimited access to partner venues (soft play, farms, classes).
• Customer Benefit: Affordable, stress-free family activities.
• Venue Benefit: Stable, predictable income to offset cash-flow volatility (e.g., a sunny half-term cut revenue from a projected £30k to £4k).
• Mechanism: Kidzplay buys fixed-price slots from venues, de-risking their economics.
• Wider Purpose:
• Soft Play: Provides a safe space for physical activity and teaches sharing.
• Classes: Develop fine motor skills (e.g., needlework) to counter screen-time effects.
• Farms: Educate children on food origins.

• A coaching program for founders based on Lisa's personal journey from traditional accounting to purpose-driven entrepreneurship.
• Core Philosophy: Prioritize personal health and purpose first; business success will follow.
• Structure: 12-week sprints of intense focus, followed by a 1-month consolidation/rest period.
• Method: Uses the "7 Layers of Why" technique to help founders uncover their true purpose.
• Delivery: Full-day workshops at Broughton Estate to provide a focused, out-of-environment experience.

• Lisa's model is to delegate operational work to focus on high-level strategy.
• Rationale: This approach enables personal freedom and prevents burnout, a lesson learned from past overwork.
• Example: After realizing she was "making herself busy" with pitch decks, Lisa made the direct call to a key venue owner, Nick, securing a meeting.
• Other Ventures:
• Flat Cap Fridays: A relaxed, pub-based networking group.
• Inspiring Women: A goal to show women that career paths are non-linear and self-imposed limits should be challenged.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from the UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Burnout expert Dr Anton Janse van Rensburg is a practising medical doctor from Pretoria, South Africa, with 27 years of experience as an Integrative Practitioner. Besides his MBChB degree, he has a Master’s degree in Applied Human Nutrition from the University of Pretoria, and an Advanced Management Diploma from Manchester Business School. He is also a trained metal toxicologist.

His clinical practice focuses on burnout, mood disorders, adjuvant therapy for cancer patients, auto-immune disorders, severe intestinal conditions, and chronic infectious diseases.

• Burnout is a systemic depletion, not just fatigue. It results from neglecting many small, daily habits (rest, connection, diet), not just from overwork.
• Dr. Anton's method is prescriptive and holistic. It prioritises daily habits (e.g., 20-min power naps, strong connections) and uses comprehensive tests to find root causes before considering medication.
• Nutrition is a primary tool for managing chronic conditions. A high-fat, low-carb diet can reverse Type 2 diabetes and stabilise mood by reducing cravings for refined carbs and optimising brain chemistry.
• Purpose and challenge are critical for longevity. Complete retirement is a risk factor for rapid aging; staying engaged with meaningful work or new challenges is essential for maintaining brain health.

• Definition: A systemic depletion from neglecting many small, interconnected daily habits (physiological, emotional), not just from overwork.
• Origin of Insight: Dr. Anton's experience managing health for 9,000 workers on a high-stress construction site in Maputo, Mozambique (2000–2003).
• This role involved diagnosing 30–40 malaria cases daily and managing fatalities, providing a "crossroads" experience that informed his later focus on burnout.
• Dr. Anton's Prescriptive Approach:
• Initial Assessment: A deep history of work hours, rest habits, and personal connections.
• Daily Respite: Prescribes short, scheduled breaks to manage the body's natural circadian dip.
• Power Naps: 20-minute naps are ideal; naps >1 hour are detrimental to brain health.
• Social Connection: Emphasises strong relationships with friends, family, and colleagues, citing research on their importance for resilience and longevity.
• Physiological Testing: Uses comprehensive tests (bloods, stress ECGs) to find root causes, not just manage symptoms.
• Kevin's Experience: Burnout led to "reduced performance"—sitting at the desk with a large to-do list but accomplishing nothing.
• Solution: Stepped away from the desk more often and re-prioritised tasks to reduce stress.

• Definition: A broad term for unstable brain chemistry, which can manifest as sadness, cynicism, or even physical fatigue (e.g., heavy limbs, a known symptom of low serotonin).
• Societal Factors: Increased prevalence in younger generations is linked to social media exposure and a sedentary lifestyle, both of which negatively impact brain chemistry.
• Nutrition as a Primary Tool:
• Core Principle: The brain requires healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, nuts, meat) and is harmed by refined carbohydrates.
• Mechanism: A high-fat, low-carb diet reduces cravings for refined carbs, which drives illness and instability.
• Case Study (Mood Disorder): A patient with a severe mood disorder saw significant improvement within 48 hours of starting a high-fat, low-carb diet, avoiding hospitalization.
• Case Study (Type 2 Diabetes): A patient on metformin for 25 years was advised to challenge the medication's necessity.
• Process: A low-carb, high-fat diet for six months, monitored with fasting insulin and HbA1c tests, can reveal if the pancreas can function without medication.
• Outcome: If successful, medication can be slowly and carefully reduced.
• Calorie Counting: Dr. Anton strongly advises against restrictive diets and calorie counting, as they are unsustainable and against human nature.

• AI's Impact: The potential for AI to eliminate jobs raises concerns about a loss of purpose and meaning, which are often tied to work and contribution.
• Retirement & Longevity: Dr. Anton cautions that complete retirement is a risk factor for rapid aging.
• Recommendation: Stay engaged with meaningful activities (consulting, volunteering, mentoring) to maintain brain health and purpose.
• Challenge: The brain, like a muscle, needs to be challenged to grow and stay healthy. Avoiding challenges is detrimental to long-term well-being.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

RJ Talyor is the Founder and CEO of Backstroke a AI for eCommerce generative content platform for email marketers. Instantly create on-brand, high-performing email subject lines, preview text, mobile push notifications, and SMS messages.

Graham and Kevin introduce the Next 100 Days Podcast and welcome RJ Talyor from Indianapolis. RJ describes Indianapolis as offering the best of a big city with a small-city feel, with about a million people, great sports, culture, food, and good cost of living. He has traveled extensively but always enjoys returning home.

RJ introduces Backstroke.com, which generates performant email campaigns for e-commerce retailers selling clothes, pet food, furniture, and other products online and in-store. E-commerce brands typically expect 20-50% of revenue from email marketing while sending 3-5+ emails weekly, with customers spending 8-12 hours per campaign. Backstroke reduces this to approximately 15 minutes while personalising content so each customer receives a different message tailored to their interests and behaviour.

Backstroke personalises emails using multiple data layers: subscriber status, past engagement (opens, clicks, conversions), and appended third-party data revealing demographics like age, location, and gender. When additional data is unavailable, the platform uses progressive profiling—analysing engagement patterns to infer preferences. For example, if a customer consistently clicks on men's content over women's content, or prefers dark-coloured shirts over light ones, AI identifies these patterns to drive personalisation, which is more effective than manual analysis.

Graham shares a personal story about Son of a Tailor, a Portuguese apparel brand, where his initial experience was poor—they sent him a shirt too short for his frame. However, the company responded exceptionally well, ultimately creating a monogrammed, high-quality shirt that transformed him into an advocate. RJ explains this is valuable data: AI can flag customers who experienced negative-to-positive journeys as potential super-fans or loyalty advocates, a pattern most marketers miss because they lack time to identify such nuanced customer experiences.

Traditional RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) models reduce customers to transactional data, but AI can extract signal from unstructured data to identify complex patterns. For instance, AI can recognize when a customer buys different sizes (suggesting purchases for others) or when multiple preferences exist within one account—like RJ's Spotify feed where his children's music preferences mix with his own. AI discerns these overlapping patterns that aren't immediately obvious to humans, enabling more sophisticated segmentation.

RJ co-founded Backstroke with his wife Allison, who holds a PhD in deep data analysis and chemical reagents, bringing statistical rigour and predictive modelling expertise. RJ's background includes starting Pattern89 in 2016, an AI company predicting Instagram and Facebook clicks using computer vision and natural language processing, which he sold to Shutterstock. Many Pattern89 team members joined Backstroke, bringing 10 years of AI-based marketing experience, while the team continuously innovates with new foundational models from Anthropic and OpenAI.

Backstroke achieves an average 30% uplift in conversion rates for new clients. Implementation typically takes about a month for full transformation, but recognising customer demand for faster results, the company launched "Surge," enabling campaigns to launch in 48 hours. This rapid-deployment feature demonstrates predictive capabilities quickly, satisfying customers who want immediate proof before committing to full onboarding.

While technically capable of generating 10,000+ unique email variants, Backstroke has found that customers require human review of every variant version. Current implementations range from 60-100 variants, with combinations of hero images, subject lines, and templates creating exponential possibilities. The company is building QA agents to enable scaling to millions of variants while maintaining human oversight, recognizing that creative teams ultimately bear responsibility for brand representation.

A fundamental tension exists between brand teams (who enforce guidelines like "models must face forward" or "only use this colour") and performance marketers (who know "shirts perform better laid on a bed than on a human"). RJ explains this is often gut-feel decision-making based on outdated tests—teams cite tests from a year ago by employees who've since left, creating stale guidelines. AI enables rapid testing of creative variations to identify incremental opportunities, but requires organisational willingness to experiment beyond established brand rules.

Rather than trying to convince resistant customers to embrace AI, RJ focuses on the "one in 10" truly innovative marketers willing to change. He learned from his previous business that most prospects claim interest but quickly reveal organizational barriers requiring approvals. His strategy is to identify customers genuinely committed to transformation and willing to pay, directing others to resources instead. This approach conserves energy for high-potential partnerships where AI can deliver real impact.

Backstroke solves the "what" problem: what content, subject line, preview, template, hero image, product display, and offer to send to each person. The platform knows that 46% of clicks occur in the first 400 pixels, so it optimizes that space differently for men versus women, loyal customers versus new ones, and geographic regions. This focused specialization on content optimization is Backstroke's primary value, distinct from solving "when" (send time) or "who" (segmentation) problems.

For marketers using standard LLMs without specialised platforms, RJ recommends uploading all previous email data and creative assets, then asking the machine to identify winning creative dimensions. This approach reveals patterns in subject lines, imagery, copy length, and offers without requiring subscriber-level analysis, enabling better-than-average results for those without access to specialised tools.

Kevin raises frustration with receiving excessive emails from companies he likes, asking if AI can enable sending less email while achieving better results. RJ explains that higher engagement with personalised content could theoretically reduce frequency, but email is fundamentally a frequency game—brands send multiple emails weekly to stay top-of-inbox when customers are ready to buy. However, deliverability depends on engagement (opens, clicks), so sending irrelevant content backfires. Backstroke solves the "what" problem, but send-time optimisation and segmentation (the "when" and "who") remain separate challenges.

Backstroke focuses exclusively on B2C e-commerce in North America due to language complexity and GDPR privacy requirements in Europe. The platform serves impulse-purchase categories (apparel, furniture, bedding) differently than considered purchases (mattresses, cars), with separate trained models for each. Notable customers include Third Love (women's intimates), Cozy Earth (bedding), Helix (mattresses), and Emile Henry (cookware), representing the apparel and home goods verticals where Backstroke has developed deep expertise.

RJ's 18-month roadmap focuses on building predictive marketing agents that complete marketing tasks generatively while humans serve as brand stewards and strategists. This vision extends beyond email to SMS, apps, and landing pages, with personalisation as a core feature. Graham notes the challenge of making such systems intuitive enough for non-technical users, reflecting the broader industry shift toward AI-augmented rather than AI-replaced marketing roles.

While Backstroke is currently North America-focused, RJ is open to European partnerships but wants to be proactive about compliance. GDPR itself isn't a blocker, but European customers require security documentation and certifications that Backstroke hasn't yet obtained. The company recently achieved SOC 2 compliance (required by enterprise businesses) and plans to secure necessary privacy certifications before entering European markets, avoiding disqualification during sales cycles.

In the wrap-up, RJ praises the podcast for getting past fluff into real marketing challenges, appreciating the nitty-gritty discussion of how marketers actually work. Graham and Kevin reflect that the conversation revealed AI's potential to solve the "what" problem while highlighting remaining challenges in "when" and "who" decisions. They note that Kevin's observation about sending less email...

Allan Kazakh runs an agency specialises in generating exclusive, high-intent leads for annuity products. It is called Vroom Media Group. Annuity leads are a type of financial product that provides a guaranteed stream of income in retirement.

Allan runs a marketing agency that helps life insurance agents and financial advisors get more customers online. His agency specializes in generating exclusive, high-intent leads for annuity products, which are a type of financial product that provides a guaranteed stream of income in retirement. Allan explained how his team crafts targeted ads based on the specific pain points and needs of different customer profiles, such as affluent clients concerned about taxes versus average consumers looking for income stability.

Allan provided an overview of annuity products in the US market, explaining how they differ from traditional investments and serve as a "safety vehicle" for retirees looking to preserve their capital. He discussed how annuities have become more popular during economic downturns when the stock market is volatile, as they offer a guaranteed return. Allan also highlighted the importance of understanding the macroeconomic climate and how it impacts consumer sentiment when developing marketing strategies.

Allan detailed his agency's approach to advertising, which primarily utilizes Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads. He explained how they target specific customer profiles and tailor the ad creative and messaging to resonate with each group's unique pain points and needs. This includes using podcast-style ads, video ads, and other formats to grab attention. Allan also discussed the importance of testing multiple creatives to find what works best.

Allan discussed how his agency has leveraged AI to improve productivity and scale the business. By automating certain tasks like video creation, his team can produce more content and test more ad variations. Allan believes AI will continue to change the nature of work, but sees it as a tool to empower his team rather than replace jobs.

In the closing segment, Graham and Kevin reflected on the key insights from the discussion, including Allan's ability to identify and target specific customer pain points, his data-driven approach to advertising, and his use of AI to drive efficiency. They noted Allan's expertise in a niche market and his success in outperforming competitors through his marketing strategies.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Steve Turner is a multimedia PR expert. Solomon/Turner has managed and executed dozens of targeted campaigns for clients of all sizes. The firm enjoys a special expertise in both businesses to business and business to consumer publicity, as well as reputation management. Solomon Turner maintains an extensive list of relationships with many key members of the media from television, newspapers and trade journals.

Kevin and Graham introduce their guest Steve Turner, an expert in public relations who has written a book on the subject. They highlight his background in sports commentary and media work.

Steve shares the history of how he founded his PR firm Solomon Turner, starting in radio and advertising before transitioning to PR and merging with an advertising agency run by his now-wife Shelly.

Steve explains the concept of thought leadership and how he has helped clients like an author on Jeep history establish themselves as experts in their fields through media appearances, speaking engagements, and other PR tactics.

Steve outlines a 5-step process for developing an effective PR campaign: 1) Defining clear objectives, 2) Identifying the target audience, 3) Crafting the right messaging, 4) Selecting the right delivery channels, and 5) Measuring the results and ROI.

Steve discusses how PR has evolved in the digital age, with the rise of social media and podcasts providing new channels for thought leadership and third-party endorsement. He cautions against over-reliance on AI-generated content.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Nishant Sharma is the founder of Rutland Square. Their Chai Spiced Scottish Gin combines a unique recipe with a captivating story that sets it apart in the world of premium spirits. This extraordinary gin blends modern business principles with deep respect for tradition—a perfect fusion of two cultures. Our journey begins in India and traverses the globe to Scotland, resulting in a truly unique, complex, and luxurious sipping gin.

Nish shares his background, explaining how he migrated from India to Scotland and how his family history with distilling led him to start his spirits company Rutland Square. He discusses the process of developing his flagship gin product, which blends Indian and Scottish influences.

Nish describes the early challenges of getting Rutland Square's gin accepted by retailers, and how he overcame this by directly engaging with consumers at markets and events. He discusses the company's growth, including expanding into new markets and product lines like rum and whisky.

The group discusses the importance of Nish maintaining the passion and authenticity of Rutland Square as the company grows, and explores ideas around how he can position the brand distinctively in the market. They also touch on Nish's plans to use Rutland Square's success to support other entrepreneurs.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Christopher Carter is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Approyo, a Wisconsin-based managed services company that was one of the first to put SAP systems into the cloud (back in 2002). He founded Approyo in December 2013 to provide full SAP technology services with extensive capabilities in hosting, managing, upgrading, and migrating.

• Data Quality is the AI Blocker: AI's value is limited by the "crap in, crap out" problem. Carter advises a mandatory data cleansing project before any AI initiative, as AI tools alone are insufficient and require human oversight.
• Human-in-the-Loop Governance: Carter advocates for a human-in-the-loop for all critical AI processes to prevent compounding errors. He criticized McKinsey's reported plan for 30,000 autonomous bots, arguing they should be tools to augment human employees, not replacements.
• Mugatu AI Prevents Data Leaks: Mugatu AI is an AI security tool that uses predictive analytics and homomorphic encryption to prevent accidental data leaks. It flags risky emails (e.g., with sensitive spreadsheets) and suggests secure alternatives like shared links.
• Early Cloud Adoption: Carter was an early pioneer in virtualising SAP systems on VMware and Azure, which initially met with corporate resistance but ultimately proved to be a cost-saving, flexible innovation for the SAP ecosystem.

• Carter's core message: AI's effectiveness is directly tied to data quality.
• Problem: Legacy systems contain decades of "dirty data" from acquisitions, stagnant records, and inconsistent formats.
• Example: One client had 27 years of uncleansed EDI data.
• Example: Another client's acquisitions created duplicate part numbers (e.g., 7 different codes for the same part).
• Solution: A mandatory data cleansing project before any AI initiative.
• AI tools can assist with scraping and matching, but human oversight is essential for validation.
• The goal is a human-AI partnership to ensure data accuracy.

• Carter advocates for a human-in-the-loop for all critical AI processes to prevent compounding errors.
• Critique of McKinsey's Bot Strategy: Carter questioned McKinsey's reported plan for 30,000 autonomous bots, arguing they should be tools to augment human employees, not replacements.
• Relevance to Finance (FP&A): Clean data and human-AI collaboration enable rapid scenario planning (e.g., 4 forecasts instead of 1), a major game-changer for finance teams.

• Mugatu AI is an AI security tool named after the villain in the movie Zoolander.
• Function: Prevents accidental data leaks by flagging risky outbound emails.
• Mechanism: Uses predictive analytics and homomorphic encryption to analyse content in milliseconds.
• User Feedback: Provides a "security score" (0-100) and suggests secure alternatives (e.g., a shared link instead of an attachment).
• Status: 14,794 end-users across 3 major corporations; acquisition interest from companies like NVIDIA.

• Carter's career is marked by early adoption of disruptive tech, often ahead of corporate policy.
• SAP & Cloud Virtualisation:
• Pioneered virtualising SAP systems on VMware and later on Azure.
• This innovation initially met with resistance from SAP executives, who had not yet formalised a partnership with VMware.
• Re-engagement with SAP:
• After a negative client experience, Carter left the SAP ecosystem.
• A conversation with a friend (SAP's VP of Oil & Gas) over a bottle of Macallan scotch introduced him to SAP HANA, reigniting his interest.
• Carrick Rangers FC:
• A minority owner of the Northern Ireland Premier League football club.
• His involvement stems from a lifelong passion for soccer, including a past role as VP of Sales/Marketing for a professional team.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Stevey Arroyo joins The Next 100 Days podcast to discuss The Brand Exit. For Stevey, brand value is a prerequisite for exit. A strong brand is a transferable asset that de-risks a business for buyers, enabling a sale (e.g., Pimlico Plumbers sold for £134M, compared with an unbranded plumbing firm). Without one, an exit is often impossible. In the podcast, Stevey explains that you need to plan 3–5 years out for maximum value. This timeframe allows for strategic work to build brand equity, which compounds over time. Last-minute valuations are possible but miss the opportunity to create significant value.

Value is created via defensibility and premium pricing. Key actions include trademarking the brand name and using validated proof (e.g., independent studies) to justify a premium price, thereby improving profit margins. The founder must become dispensable. Buyers view founder-dependency as "key man risk." The goal is to build systems and a team that can operate the business independently, making the brand the primary asset.

• M&A buyers focus on "quality of earnings"—the numbers—not the founder's personal contribution.
• Founder-dependency is a major liability that makes a business unsellable.
• Example: Pimlico Plumbers built a transferable brand and sold for £134M, while a sole-trader plumber with no brand has no exit option.

• A brand is a digital asset that compounds, increasing in value over time.
• Core Principle: "If you've built a brand, sell the brand."
• Key Actions:
• Defensibility: Secure the brand name via domain registration (.com, .co.uk, etc.) and trademarking.
• Transferability: Systematise operations and build a team to reduce founder-dependency.
• Example: Amazon's brand value comes from its reliable service and customer experience, not its logo.

• This timeframe is ideal for strategic brand building, which compounds value.
• The Brand Exit's Process:
• Analysis: Identify strengths (to leverage), weaknesses (low-hanging fruit), and gaps (new initiatives).
• Value Creation: Improve financial metrics (quality of earnings) through:
• Pricing Power: Use validated proof (e.g., independent studies) to justify a premium price.
• Margin Improvement: Reduce marketing costs by increasing brand resonance.
• Positioning: Use the ISO 10668 standard for brand valuation to create an undeniable asset, then position the business to attract multiple buyers and competitive tension.

• AI can help reduce founder-dependency by automating processes and decision-making.
• Concept: Evolving from AI assistants (e.g., ChatGPT) to "AI executives" with delegated power. (Talk to https://microyes.ai)
• Risk: AI-generated apps can accumulate technical debt, requiring costly fixes.
• New Exit Option: Founders can sell the business but remain involved as high-paid consultants or board advisors.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Zana Goic Petricevic pivoted from a successful corporate career to find her true calling - coaching bold leadership. Zana's career change came about after being fired from a corporate director role for being "blunt" with the chairman, which she reframed as a necessary catalyst for her true calling. Now, a successful coach, she has developed the "SOUL" Framework: Zana's leadership model focuses on four "playgrounds": Self (inner beliefs), Others (relationships), Universe (system/culture), and Legacy (lasting impact).

A key coaching goal is helping leaders shift from a victim mindset ("this is happening to me") to one of agency ("I have a choice"), seeing change as an opportunity, not a threat. And she subscribes to the "Fake It 'Til You Become It" method. Zana advocates for taking risks before feeling 100% ready, citing her own experience of accepting a keynote speech before ever having delivered one.

• Zana's career in oil and gas ended abruptly when she was fired from her Corporate Communications Director role for being "blunt" with the chairman.
• This unplanned exit caused a significant identity crisis, as her professional role was central to her sense of self.
• A key realisation came when applying for lower-level jobs and being told she was overqualified, confirming that her corporate path was permanently closed.
• Reframing: Zana views this event as a "planting" rather than a "burying"—a necessary end that enabled a new beginning.

• The turning point was a 2016 co-active coaching course in London, which introduced her to a new type of conversation where she felt "seen, heard, and able to express myself."
• This experience revealed her passion → bringing these authentic conversations into organizations.
• To make this "fluffy" concept palatable to the corporate world, she supplemented her training with psychometric tests and other data-driven tools.
• Business Launch: With nothing to lose, Zana embraced networking and relationship-building—skills she had previously avoided—to secure her first clients.

• Zana's coaching framework guides leaders through four interconnected "playgrounds":
• S - Self: Understanding one's inner world (beliefs, values, patterns).
• O - Others: Building effective relationships through honest, kind communication.
• U - Universe: Navigating and shaping the organizational system and culture.
• L - Legacy: Defining one's lasting impact ("What stays when you go?").
• Legacy Defined: Legacy is not just measurable results but also the intangible impact on people and culture.
• Analogy: "Leaders bring the weather," creating either sunshine or storm. This "weather" is their legacy.

• Core Coaching Goal: Help leaders shift from a victim mindset to one of agency, seeing change as an opportunity rather than a threat.
• "Fake It 'Til You Become It": Zana advocates for taking risks before feeling 100% ready, citing her own experience of accepting a keynote speech before ever having delivered one.
• AI & Technology: Zana sees AI as a tool that forces conscious choice, helping leaders define what they want to keep agency over and what to delegate.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Dr. Denis Cauvier is an expert in HR, talent management, and leadership. This podcast discusses Denis's background and expertise, noting that he has written over 32 books on these topics.

Dr. Denis Cauvier is a global leadership strategist, executive advisor, and 30+ time author who helps organizations turn talent into measurable profit.

With 36 years of experience working across 68+ countries, Denis has advised CEOs, boards, senior leadership teams, small and medium-sized companies, and professional associations on how to attract, select, develop, and retain high-impact talent — not as an HR function, but as a core business growth engine.

His work has directly contributed to increased revenue, improved margins, stronger leadership pipelines, reduced costly hiring errors, and measurable improvements in employee retention and performance. Clients consistently engage him to transform talent strategy into economic leverage.

He is the author of The 80/20 AI Advantage: Leveraging AI to Attract, Select, and Retain GREAT People, where he challenges leaders to stop using AI as a content machine and start using it as a decision co-pilot. His frameworks focus on eliminating expensive talent mistakes, detecting performance drift before it becomes turnover, and turning HR into a strategic profit driver.

Denis reframes talent decisions through a commercial lens:

Hiring mistakes are profit leaks.

Engagement decline is margin erosion.

Leadership blind spots are growth constraints.

HR data, properly leveraged, is economic protection.

Through his 80/20 AI Talent Framework and Bounce Forward™ leadership system, Denis equips leaders to make faster, smarter, less biased decisions in the next 100 days — and beyond.

His core belief:

AI will not replace leaders.

But leaders who use AI strategically will outperform those who don’t.

Email: denis@deniscauvier.com

Website: www.deniscauvier.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdeniscauvier

Denis explains his focus on bringing humanity back into the HR process, helping organisations effectively pre-select, develop, and retain exceptional talent in a humanistic way. He emphasises the importance of talent as a key competitive advantage for businesses.

Denis discusses the challenges of using AI in talent management, noting that job seekers are often early adopters of AI tools to position themselves, while busy executives may be slower to adopt. He proposes a "5-1-4" formula for effectively leveraging AI in hiring, retaining, and developing talent.

Denis shares a case study of a meat processing plant with high employee turnover. By analysing the root causes and implementing targeted solutions, such as revising the supervisor promotion process and improving the hiring process, Denis was able to reduce turnover from 68% to 11%, resulting in significant cost savings for the client.

Kevin and Denis discuss the importance of investing in people as the most valuable and appreciating asset for a business, in contrast to other investments that depreciate over time. They emphasise the need for HR to act as a strategic business partner, not just a bureaucratic function.

Kevin raises concerns about the potential impact of AI on traditional talent development pipelines, such as using graduate trainees for research tasks. Denis suggests that the key is to develop wisdom and judgment in using AI, focusing on crafting the right prompts and leveraging AI's strengths while maintaining human skills in areas like emotional intelligence and relationship building.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Graham, Kevin, and Phil discuss Phil's new book "Human First Marketing", which aims to address issues like ad desensitisation, homogenised content, and the modern consumer's desire for authenticity. Phil explains his motivation for writing the book and the key principles behind the "human first" approach.

Graham, who has been in marketing since the 1970s, acknowledges that some of the issues Phil raised have been around for a long time. The group discusses how marketing has evolved, with AI and automation playing a bigger role, and the need to find the right balance between efficiency and maintaining a human touch.

Phil outlines three key steps for implementing a "human first" marketing approach: 1) Deeply understanding the target audience, 2) Making the company's leadership and team more visible and accessible, and 3) Deploying an "employee advocacy" program to leverage the reach and influence of a company's own employees.

The group debates the merits of the traditional marketing funnel model versus Phil's "pinball" concept, where customers bounce around non-linearly. They discuss the pros and cons of each approach and how to best adapt to the reality of modern, fragmented customer journeys.

The group wraps up the discussion, acknowledging the value of the "pinball" concept and the importance of challenging assumptions. They express interest in exploring the ideas further, potentially by bringing in other marketing experts like Flint McLaughlin.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Packaging expert Jason Wong shares his background, starting as a young entrepreneur selling things online and eventually discovering his passion for packaging and manufacturing. He describes how he bought factories in China to produce packaging for various consumer brands, leveraging his marketing expertise to expand the business.

Jason discusses the challenges his business faced when new tariffs were imposed on Chinese imports, but explains how they adapted and remained competitive by highlighting the cost savings they could still offer clients compared to domestic manufacturing.

Jason talks about how his business is leveraging automation and AI technology to improve efficiency and productivity in the packaging process, including using AI agents to handle various administrative and research tasks.

Graham shares ideas for potential collaboration between his marketing services and Jason's packaging expertise, particularly around creating unique "shock and awe" packaging experiences to promote certain products and reach high-net-worth individuals.

Graham and Jason explore the importance of packaging as a branding and marketing tool, discussing how the packaging can create a perception of quality and value for products. They identify opportunities to use packaging creatively to reach and engage target audiences.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Ingenion Medical, run by our guest Ed Cappabianca, is going to change the standard catheter in the UK - The Foley catheter. Urinary catheter-associated infections kill 2,100 people a year and block 1.2 million hospital bed-days. And yet, the Foley catheter - the standard of care - has barely changed in 91 years. Ingenion Medical has built what replaces it.

The cymactive™ 2.0R is a CE-marked, patient-controlled urethral catheter with a patented magnetic valve that is already in clinical use across the UK and 15 international markets. It is superior to either standard Foleys or intermittent catheters, and generates revenue today.

Here's the Investment case:

• Revenue generative, regulatory approved. CE Mark achieved Q1 2024. ISO 13485 renewed October 2025. FDA pre-sub meeting completed.

• Commercial traction. Distributor agreements in over 10 countries. NHS Supply Chain at contract award stage. 15 NHS hospitals active or in pipeline.

• Profitable at 1,600 patients per month (80 urologists x 20 patients). Breakeven H2 2027. £49m revenue projected 2030.

• Exit precedent. Comparable urology acquisitions: Urotronic > Laborie $600m;Neotract > Teleflex $1.1b; Augmenix > Boston Scientific $600m; .

• World-class advisors. Advisory board includes: Professor Chris Chapple (former European Association of Urology Secretary General) and Professor Kurt Naber, global authority on urinary tract infections.

• The Problem: Current catheters cause frequent, costly infections (£2k–£3.5k per cycle for the NHS) and severely limit patient mobility and quality of life.
• The Solution: Ingenion's cymactive catheter is a 30-day, self-voiding device with no external bag, restoring patient dignity and designed to reduce infection risk.
• Market Validation: The NHS created a new framework channel specifically for SimActive, signaling strong support for its innovation and cost-saving potential.
• The Ask: Ingenion is raising £2M (for ~10% equity) to fund commercialisation, targeting a future trade sale to a major urology firm for a potential 10x investor return.

• Urinary Retention: A common condition caused by issues like BPH (enlarged prostate), Parkinson's, MS, and spinal cord injuries.
• Foley Catheter (Indwelling):
• The 100-year-old standard, anchored by an internal balloon.
• Creates a "superhighway for bacteria," causing frequent, costly infections.
• Full cost of ownership for the NHS is ~£800/month per patient.
• Intermittent Catheters (Single-Use):
• Used 5–8 times daily, creating significant waste and inconvenience.
• Account for 90% (£157.5M) of the NHS's £175M annual catheter spend.
• Patient Impact:
• Fear of infection and public voiding → social isolation.
• Reduced fluid intake → dehydration, which can worsen conditions like dementia.

• Innovation: A 30-day, self-voiding catheter with no external tubes or bags.
• Mechanism:
• An internal, patient-controlled magnetic valve.
• An external magnet opens the valve; removing it allows the valve to close naturally.
• Infection Defense:
• The urethra seals over the valve's end, mimicking the body's natural defense against bacteria.
• Anecdotal evidence suggests reduced infections and restored function.
• Product Pipeline:
• Current: cymactive for male urinary retention (CE marked).
• In Development: Versions for women and for male incontinence.

• NHS Adoption:
• The NHS created a new framework channel for cymactive, as it didn't fit existing categories.
• Ingenion was the sole applicant and signed a 2-year contract on March 12, 2026.
• Ordering codes are now live for hospitals.
• Go-to-Market Strategy:
• Goal: Build awareness among clinicians and patient groups.
• Method: Target early adopters and use their case studies, shared by the NHS innovation team, to drive broader adoption.
• Rationale: A randomised control trial was unfeasible because Foley catheter users were unwilling to risk being randomised to the control group.

• The Ask: £2M for ~10% equity (pre-money valuation: £18M).
• Exit Strategy: Trade sale to a major urology firm (e.g., Coloplast, Becton Dickinson).
• Rationale: Leverage a large firm's infrastructure for rapid, global scaling.
• Target Return: A typical venture capital return of ~10x investment.
• Investor Profile: High Net Worth (HNW) or Sophisticated Investors.
• Due Diligence: Pitch deck available at ingenion.approvedinvestors.co.uk

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Carmen Sederino’s holistic approach to her Illuminated Story approach combines narrative structure, stage presence, and multimedia elements to create immersive, encore-worthy shows that resonate deeply with audiences. Drab speakers are a thing of the past!

Graham introduces Carmen Sederino, who is joining the podcast from Australia. Carmen shares her background, including her formal training in theater and performing arts, as well as her extensive corporate experience leading marketing and branding teams.

Carmen explains how she works with clients, often high-level executives, to transform their presentations and speaking skills. She focuses on crafting compelling stories and messages, as well as helping them develop their stage presence and delivery.

Carmen provides specific examples and techniques she uses to help clients, such as having them practice delivering content in different personas or styles to expand their range, and using pauses and energy to create more impact.

Graham and Carmen discuss the "Illuminated Story" brand and Carmen's focus on helping clients illuminate their stories and expertise through engaging presentations. They touch on the importance of storytelling in business communication.

Kevin shares that he is working on a presentation on a dry topic (ethics and governance) and asks Carmen for advice on how to make it more engaging and impactful.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

This is a lead generation focused podcast about a novel B2B sales follow-up strategy.

1. Novel Follow-Up Strategy: A third-party "good cop" provides hyper-relevant value (e.g., podcast intros) to prospects, bypassing their AI-filtered inboxes and achieving 70–80% reply rates.
2. AI-Proofing Business: The strategy is designed to be AI-proof by focusing on human connection, a core element Adam believes AI cannot fully automate.
3. AI's Primary Blocker: Kevin identified legacy systems as the main barrier to AI adoption in finance, not resistance to the technology itself.
4. Podcast Book Opportunity: The podcast's 500+ episodes offer a rich source for an AI-assisted book, distilling key lessons and future-casting.

1. Standard "just checking in" emails are ineffective, especially with high-value prospects ($5M+ revenue) who use AI-powered inbox filters.
2. These filters learn to ignore senders after 2–3 unanswered emails, causing messages to be routed to spam.
3. Result: 66% of marketing-qualified leads are lost because they are not ready to buy immediately.

1. Adam's firm, SimpleWins.io, acts as a third-party "good cop" to maintain engagement with prospects outside the main sales cycle.
2. Process:
3. Web Listening: A team monitors public signals (news, podcasts, blogs) to identify a prospect's current, hyper-relevant goals.
4. Value Delivery: The team offers non-sales-related value aligned with those goals (e.g., podcast intros, affiliate partnerships).
5. Expert Positioning: The "good cop" builds a separate relationship, subtly reinforcing the client's expertise until the prospect is ready to buy.
6. Result: This approach achieves 70–80% reply rates, far exceeding the typical 0–20% for standard sales emails.

1. Adam's Perspective:
2. AI will automate most administrative tasks, creating "super soldiers" who manage large pipelines with AI assistants.
3. The core human element of understanding business needs will remain essential.
4. Adam is in a "race" to automate his own business, noting AI reduced a software development task from 3 months to 14 minutes.
5. Kevin's Perspective:
6. The main barrier to AI adoption in finance is legacy systems, not human resistance.
7. Integrating AI requires a major transformation, not a simple bolt-on.
8. AI enables advanced capabilities like continuous, multi-scenario forecasting (e.g., Monte Carlo simulations) that are impractical for humans.
9. The current focus in finance is on governance, data security, and fraud prevention.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Ricky Ho is a young entrepreneur, already on his second start-up company that is set to dominate the sourcing products arena. Yes, he has Alibaba to outmanoeuvre, but the signs are good, and his AI-inspired model has much to recommend it to SMBs/SMEs around the world.

Graham, Kevin, and Ricky (from SourceReady) introduce themselves and provide background on Ricky's career and the inspiration behind starting SourceReady, a platform that uses AI to help businesses find and vet suppliers outside of China.

Ricky explains how SourceReady differentiates itself from platforms like Alibaba. They do this by using a data-driven, objective approach to ranking suppliers based on factors like quality, compliance, and customer relationships - rather than just supplier advertising. This helps democratize access to supplier information for small and medium businesses.

The discussion shifts to the importance of managing supply chain risks. They discuss such as compliance issues, supplier financial health, and reputational risks. Ricky highlights how SourceReady's tools can help businesses proactively screen for and mitigate these risks, which is especially critical for smaller companies that may lack dedicated procurement teams.

Ricky shares his vision for SourceReady to become the go-to platform for businesses of all sizes to discover and vet suppliers globally, beyond just China. He discusses the challenges of changing user behavior and the need to provide a significantly better experience than existing options to drive adoption. The group also touches on the favorable market trends, like supply chain diversification, that could benefit SourceReady.

Ricky provides a brief testimonial on his experience being interviewed, and the group wraps up the discussion, with Graham and Kevin expressing optimism about SourceReady's potential for success.

Graham founded Finely Fettled eleven years ago to help businesses market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner of MeclabsAI, providing AI Agents, workflows, and Phone-to-agent delivery systems. Now, Graham offers Answer Engine Optimisation so you get found by LLM search and Enterprise-level AI Solutions.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

How can AI Copywriting help Martin Booth, who has worked as a journalist and copywriter, but traditional clients are turning to large language models to draft their copy nowadays? An answer emerges during the conversation.

Martin shares his perspective on the growing impact of AI tools like ChatGPT on the copywriting industry. He explains how clients are increasingly turning to AI-generated content, which has reduced the demand for his services. The group discusses strategies for copywriters to adapt and remain relevant in this changing landscape.

Graham introduces the concept of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) as a potential solution for copywriters to differentiate themselves. He explains AI copywriting is how AEO focuses on crafting content that is optimised for how AI language models like ChatGPT search and surface information, rather than traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics. The group explores the technical and creative aspects of AEO, and the potential for Martin to position himself as an expert in this emerging field.

Kevin and Graham summarise the key insights from the discussion, emphasising the need for copywriters to adapt to the changing landscape and leverage AI tools in strategic ways. They express optimism about Martin's ability to capitalise on the AEO opportunity and become a thought leader in this space.

Graham founded Finely Fettled eleven years ago to help businesses market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner of MeclabsAI, providing AI Agents, Workflows and Phone to Agent delivery systems. Now, Graham offers Answer Engine Optimisation so you get found by LLM search and Enterprise-level AI Solutions.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Why copywriters are well-positioned:

1. LLMs don't just scrape keywords; they evaluate coherence, clarity, and authoritative structure
2. Answer engines prioritise content that demonstrates expertise through well-reasoned arguments, not just SEO tricks
3. Copywriters understand persuasion architecture - how to build credible cases that convince readers (and now, AI systems evaluating on behalf of readers)
4. Direct response copywriters especially understand question-answer flow and anticipating objections - precisely what LLMs look for when synthesising answers

The critical shift required:

1. Traditional copywriting optimises for human conversion
2. AEO copywriting must optimise for AI comprehension then human conversion
3. This means explicit structure: clear topic sentences, logical progression, supporting evidence, contextual markers
4. Less "clever" wordplay, more semantic clarity and entity relationships

Where copywriters have genuine advantage over AI-generated content:

1. Domain expertise translation - taking complex client knowledge and structuring it authoritatively
2. Evidence marshaling - knowing which proofs, testimonials, data points establish credibility
3. Question anticipation - your direct response background means you already think in terms of buyer journey questions
4. Understanding what makes content citable and quotable by LLMs

The reality check: Those copywriters who were primarily executing formulaic landing pages or generic blog content were always vulnerable to AI displacement. But copywriters who can architect information authority - structuring expertise so AI engines recognise and cite it - that's a defensible, valuable skill.

You're essentially asking: "Can craftspeople who've been building for human readers pivot to building for AI intermediaries who serve human readers?" The answer is yes, because the fundamental skill - persuasive information architecture - transfers directly.

Where does Executive Greatness come from? By helping executives, founders, and leadership teams communicate with conviction, clarity, and presence.

Ash is the Founder & CEO of the Executive Greatness Institute, where he has coached leaders at Cisco, Uber, Google, HPE, and Sprinklr to deliver powerful strategic narratives and keynote talks that inspire teams, boards, and customers.

He has also founded the Duh AI company, an incubator for AI-driven ventures.

The common thread across Ash's ventures and advisory work is conviction: the belief that when leaders communicate with purpose, people follow with energy and commitment. So, whether he is coaching executives, advising on digital transformation, or building AI platforms, his mission is to help people and organisations find their voice, tell their story, and realise their boldest ambitions.

The meeting begins with casual conversation as the participants introduce themselves and discuss topics like virtual backgrounds, lighting issues, and health concerns. They establish a relaxed, conversational tone.

The discussion turns to the importance of executive presence and effective communication. Ash Seddeek shares his expertise in helping leaders craft and deliver impactful messages tailored to their audience. He emphasises the need for energy, storytelling, and adapting the delivery style.

The group delves into the nuances of delivering effective investor pitches. Ash explains the importance of understanding the investors' perspectives and crafting the message accordingly, versus a more general employee communication. He highlights the need to build trust and excitement.

The conversation explores the potential impact of AI on communication and presentation. Ash and the hosts discuss the balance between AI-powered tools and the value of human expertise, presence, and the ability to provide honest, trusted feedback.

The meeting concludes with the hosts and Ash reflecting on the key takeaways from the discussion, including the importance of energy, audience adaptation, and the evolving role of technology in communication. They express gratitude for the insightful conversation.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

 Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

With a Dragon's Den appearance being released the day before we release this podcast, we wanted our returning guest, John McClarey, on Business Fives to explain the process.

• Dragon's Den Appearance: Business Fives will appear on Dragon's Den (Feb 19, BBC) after being scouted by producers. John McClary pitched for £50k for 5% equity to fund international expansion.
• Rigorous Vetting Process: The 5-month BBC vetting process was a "stress test" for the business, including deep financial due diligence and a psychological welfare check to ensure readiness for public scrutiny.
• Strategic Goal → Mentorship: The primary goal was mentorship from a Dragon, not just capital. The investment was earmarked for international research and a new CRM, not hiring, to protect the company's personal service USP.
• Podcast Release Delayed: The episode release was moved to Feb 20, 2026, to comply with a BBC embargo that prevents pre-show publicity and protects the broadcast's impact.

• Growth: Surpassed £1M revenue milestone.
• Operations: Delivers corporate charity sports events (football, rugby, golf) across the UK, Ireland, and Amsterdam.
• Charitable Impact: Raised nearly £1.4M for charity to date.
• Example: A winning team from Stockton (MAP Group) recently raised £3k for Butterwick Hospice, which was doubled via the Big Give campaign.

• Origin: Scouted directly by a BBC producer, not via application.
• Pitch: £50,000 for 5% equity.
• Process (Feb–June): A 5-month, highly confidential vetting process.
• Due Diligence: Thorough financial review by the BBC to verify all claims.
• Psychological Welfare Check: A call with a psychologist to assess mental readiness for public exposure.
• Secrecy: The process was consuming, requiring John to internalize all details.

• Primary Goal → Mentorship: To gain a strategic partner with a shared passion for the mission, not just capital.
• Investment Allocation:
• International expansion research (e.g., Australia, Abu Dhabi, US).
• New CRM implementation.
• Business Protection (Barriers to Entry):
• Network: A community of 5,000+ companies.
• Expertise: 10 years of perfected event management processes.
• Brand: The "As Seen on TV" status from Dragon's Den.

• Franchise Model: A key option for non-English speaking markets (e.g., Hungary, Georgia).
• Rationale: Leverages local knowledge where the core team lacks it.
• Challenge: Protecting the brand and ensuring partner alignment with the mission.
• Vision: A "World Business Fives" tournament, modeled on FIFCO's international corporate leagues.

Graham founded Finely Fettled eleven years ago to help businesses market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner of MeclabsAI, providing AI Agents, Workflows and Phone to Agent delivery systems. Now, Graham offers Answer Engine Optimisation so you get found by LLM search and Enterprise-level AI Solutions.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Marc Walton is a Professional Forex Mentor and Trader, and ex-fund manager, who has been working in the finance industry for over 25+ years. He started FMP in 2008 and mentors students on how to trade professionally.

He retired from full-time trading in spring 2020 and now focuses on running Forex Mentor Pro, which is his passion. On top of that, he takes on a few private clients who wish to fast-track their trading progress each year. He also actively invests in metals, mining stocks, and cryptocurrencies, which he shares with students in his second business, Your Investing Future.

Marc discussed the importance of financial education, noting that most people lack understanding of how money and the financial system work. He shared his own experiences of learning about personal finance, investing, and alternative income streams like trading and crypto. Marc emphasised the need to be proactive in managing one's finances and not relying solely on traditional retirement plans, which he believes are inadequate for the longer lifespans people are now experiencing.

The group discussed the growing impact of AI and automation on jobs, with Marc and Kevin sharing examples of how AI is already replacing certain tasks previously done by human workers, including graduate-level research and analysis. They noted that this trend will likely accelerate, requiring people to adapt and find new ways to create value.

The conversation turned to the challenges of finding fulfilling activities and ways to spend time in retirement. Marc shared his own struggles with this, while Graham and Kevin acknowledged similar difficulties in figuring out how they want to spend their time post-retirement, beyond hobbies like golf that they don't find particularly engaging. The group agreed that maintaining mental and physical health is crucial.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads, and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Business Owners have plenty of challenges. We thought it would be helpful to invite Bill Squires to share his knowledge of those challenges, and more importantly, what to do about them in the next 100 days. Bill has a keen eye for commerce and finances. He wants to help individuals, teams, and businesses achieve their full potential. He has coached business owners (all with challenges), executives, and teams in all aspects of building rapid growth and profitable companies.

Bill Squires discussed his background, including his experience in the oil industry, getting an MBA, and then transitioning into business coaching about 8 years ago. He emphasized the importance of helping clients develop a clear vision and plan for their business, rather than just jumping into execution. Bill shared his 90-day planning process and the value of accountability in driving results.

Bill outlined some of the key challenges he sees business owners facing, including finding enough leads and customers, hiring and retaining good people, and getting their team to be more accountable. He noted that many business owners are working long hours but not seeing the financial rewards they expect.

The discussion explored the value of long-term planning, with Bill advocating for 5-year plans that get broken down into 90-day and weekly goals. Kevin challenged whether 5 years is too long to plan for, but Bill shared examples of clients who have achieved their ambitious 5-year goals by sticking to the plan.

Graham and Bill discussed the potential for AI-powered coaching tools that could scale Bill's expertise, while noting the continued value of in-person coaching and the importance of accountability that a human coach provides. They explored how technology and human coaching could complement each other going forward.

Bill outlined his various coaching programs, including one-on-one, group, and community-based offerings. He also shared his plan to eventually step back from the business by bringing on additional coaches and a business development manager to sustain the community he has built.

Graham founded Finely Fettled eleven years ago to help businesses market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner of MeclabsAI, providing AI Agents, Workflows and phone-to-agent delivery systems. Now, Graham offers Answer Engine Optimisation so you get found by LLM search and Enterprise-level AI Solutions.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Beyond the Business creator Dave Rogers, is also known as ‘The Business Explorer’. He's a previous TEDx Speaker, an award-winning Business Consultant, Coach and Author. For 30 years, he's been using that curiosity to help businesses tackle challenges.

On top of that, Dave’s not your typical business consultant. Yes, he’s worked for big corporations. And yes, he knows how to turn lofty strategies into real, practical results. But what sets him apart is how he brings it all down to earth. He works alongside business owners, start-ups, and leaders to turn “what if” into “what’s next.”

Kevin introduces the topic of Dave's new membership service for business owners, which Dave has been developing since his last appearance on the podcast about a year ago.

Dave explains that the membership is aimed at business owners. You know, the ones who have built successful companies but are now feeling "stuck". Maybe their business is running them rather than the other way around. The goal is to help them find a different way of looking at their business.

Dave outlines the three-tiered structure of the membership. The entry-level provides self-reflection frameworks and tools, the middle tier offering group coaching and training, and the top "inner circle" tier providing more personalised one-on-one support.

Graham and Kevin provide feedback and suggestions on the membership structure, including potentially removing the entry-level tier, increasing the pricing for the middle tier, and emphasizing Dave's personal involvement and expertise across all levels.

The discussion turns to the role of AI and automation, with the group debating how to balance the use of technology with maintaining the human connection and expertise that Dave can provide.

The participants wrap up the discussion, wishing Dave success with the launch of his new membership service and agreeing to stay in touch as he refines the offering.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

If you’ve ever Googled handwritten post in the UK and then had a small financial wobble at the prices, you’re not alone. Daniella Paolozzi is proud to be a female leader of her handwritten marketing business. Choosing to market using handwritten post does not have to be a luxury beyond your marketing budget. Tune into this podcast to find out why it might be just the best decision you take in 2026!

Graham and Kevin introduce their guest Daniella Paolozzi, who describes herself as a "marketing nerd, website whisperer, and pen written direct mail enthusiast." They discuss Daniella's background in marketing and her transition to focusing on handwritten direct mail, which has proven to be a highly effective strategy for her clients across various industries.

Daniella explains how handwritten direct mail stands out in an increasingly digital world, evoking a more personal and emotional response from recipients. She shares examples of impressive results her clients have achieved, such as a builder receiving £68,000 in new business from a 5,000-piece handwritten mail campaign. The group discusses how handwritten mail can be more cost-effective than email marketing due to its higher response rates.

Daniella emphasises the importance of personalisation and customisation in her handwritten direct mail approach. She explains how her team uses technology to scale the process while maintaining a personal touch, avoiding a robotic or generic appearance. The group explores how this level of personalisation and attention to detail can help build trust and engagement with recipients.

Daniella shares her personal story, including her battle with cancer at a young age during the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses how this experience has shaped her perspective and drive to make a positive impact through her business and charitable work, including using sustainable materials and giving back to the community.

The group discusses the challenges of podcast growth and engagement in the current landscape, as well as the potential benefits of transcribing podcast episodes to improve search engine optimization and discoverability. They explore ideas for incorporating the transcript into the podcast distribution and leveraging it for additional content opportunities.

Graham founded Finely Fettled in 2014 to provide data from The UK High Net Worth Database to marketers targeting affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, creating lead generation AI Agents & Workflows and introducing the MeclabsAI Platform. Graham also provides an Answer Engine Optimisation solution to get your website in shape to be found by LLMs.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Faiza has gone from Student to AI Engineer, developing valuable solutions for MicroYES and Finely Fettled clients. Her skills include AWS, Linux, and DevOps. She hails from Southern India and will complete her MSc in International Management at York St John University in early 2026. She is currently developing lead generation AI solutions for Finely Fettled and MicroYES clients.

• Faiza Khan's career progressed from student to AI Engineer via a structured path: internship → placement → full-time hire.
• Her role involves building AI agents (e.g., "Phone to Agent") and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) to help clients get found in LLM answers, a critical shift from traditional SEO.
• The hiring process used Handshake, a university student-focused job platform, and video interviews, where key advice for students is to speak up, slow down, smile, and make eye contact.
• AI is shifting the workforce from manual research to higher-value roles like AI architecture, with low-code/no-code tools enabling non-technical entry.

• Background: From Kadapa, Southern India, with a Bachelor of Commerce.
• Early Skill-Building: Completed a 6-month course in AWS, Linux, and DevOps in Bangalore while working in inside sales.
• UK Education: Choose York St John University for its placement year option, which Manchester Metropolitan lacks.
• Hiring Process:
• Platform: Found via Handshake, a university job platform.
• Video Interview: A key step where students answer AI-generated questions on camera.
• Career Path:
• Internship: Initial role at Finely Fettled and its brand MicroYES.
• Placement: Extended 9-month contract.
• Full-Time: Hired as an AI Engineer/Architect and Marketing Manager.

• MeclabsAI Platform: Faiza's work on this AI solutions platform includes:
• AI Agent Delivery Systems: Personalised agents, not generic chatbots.
• AI Workflows: Self-service tools, like a database query workflow on the https://finelyfettled.co.uk website.
• "Phone to Agent": A new service for small businesses.
• An AI agent answers calls using the client's specific policies and pricing.
• Designed for natural conversation (e.g., "mm-hmm" confirmations, background noise).
• Rationale: Provides cost-effective, consistent phone support for busy professionals and small businesses.
• Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO):
• Rationale: Anticipates ChatGPT providing more answers than Google by early 2028, making AEO a critical marketing strategy.
• Goal: Structure website content to be found and cited in LLM answers.
• Execution: An AI agent guides clients through the process.
• The Value of Diversity: Kevin noted Faiza's value comes from her diverse perspective (age, gender, culture), which provides fresh insights.

• Set a Clear Goal: Define a career path and stay focused.
• Use University Resources: Actively leverage career services and platforms like Handshake.
• Prioritise Internships: Choose internships and placements over part-time jobs to build skills and experience.
• Video Interview Tips:
• Speak Up: Project your voice clearly.
• Slow Down: Pace yourself for better comprehension.
• Make Eye Contact: Look at the camera, not the screen.
• Smile: Convey a positive and approachable attitude.

MicroYES is a brand dedicated to advancing the adoption of MeclabsAI, introducing a specialised AI Agent tailored for Business Coaches. This agent seamlessly handles client enquiries—whether via phone call or digital interaction—and taps directly into the coach’s proprietary knowledge base to deliver natural, human-like conversations. It enables coaches to maintain ongoing, personalised engagement by checking in on progress, ensuring both coach and client remain on course with their objectives. When questions or concerns arise, the AI Agent responds with thoughtful advice, grounded in the coach’s unique strategies and intellectual property, creating a reliable and scalable extension of the business coaching experience.

Contact Graham Arrowsmith: graham@microyes.ai | +44 1535 654930 | https://microyes.ai

Graham founded Finely Fettled eleven years ago to help businesses market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner of MeclabsAI, providing AI Agents, Workflows, and phone-to-agent delivery systems. Now, Graham offers Answer Engine Optimisation, so you get found by LLM search and Enterprise-level AI Solutions.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Business Coaching of mid to upper-level management, high-potential leaders, and struggling leaders is Holly Golebiowski's focus in her coaching practice.

The participants - Kevin, Graham, and Holly - greet each other and engage in some casual conversation, including discussing Holly's Polish last name and Graham's past colleague Veronica.

The group transitions the discussion to focus on business coaching and leader skills, with Kevin and Graham clarifying that the main topic is about helping leaders develop their skills.

Holly shares how she became a business coach, including her own experience working with a coach named Nan who helped her improve as a leader when she was at risk of being fired from her previous COO role. She explains the value of self-awareness and empathy as key leadership skills.

Holly provides an overview of the Leader Skills program she co-runs with Nan, including the specific skills they focus on (e.g. conflict management, time management), the format of the program (online modules plus group discussions), and the types of companies they work with (ranging from startups to large enterprises).

Holly shares positive feedback and impact of the Leader Skills program, including a 99% satisfaction rate and a money-back guarantee that no one has ever used, indicating the program's value. She also discusses how the program helps companies, especially growing startups, develop the leadership skills needed as they scale.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Ziv Raviv's Micro Niche Podcasts model combines coaching with a full marketing agency (logo design, copywriting, web dev), delivering tangible results and justifying higher fees.

• Micro-Niche Strategy: Focus on a highly specific niche (3k–20k people) for rapid market entry. The small size enables high-touch outreach, turning a low reply rate (e.g., 2%) into enough collaborators for a full year of content.
• Podcast as a "Free Party": A podcast is the core tool for building trust and authority. Interviewing niche experts leverages their networks for audience growth and provides a platform for "listening harder" to discover real client needs.
• The 3-Test Validation Framework: Before committing, validate a niche with three tests: Findability (can you easily find people?), Braggability (will interviewees share the episode?), and Sellability (can you monetize the audience?).

• Ziv Raviv's "Fully Booked Coach" model defines "fully booked" as a sustainable 15–18 retainer clients, a number that avoids burnout.
• This model evolved from a standard coaching practice to "super coaching," which includes a full marketing agency stack.
• Rationale: Clients often need execution support, not just advice. This model delivers tangible results (e.g., a new logo) between sessions, justifying higher fees and increasing client retention.

• Core Principle: Serving everyone means serving no one. A micro-niche enables focused, high-impact outreach and rapid market entry.
• Size Sweet Spot: 3,000 (minimum) to 20,000 (ideal maximum).
• Rationale: This size provides enough people for outreach but is small enough for high-touch, personalized communication.
• Findability Test: A niche must be easy to find.
• High Findability (4.5/5): Dentists, plumbers (use Google Maps, Sales Navigator).
• Low Findability (1/5): Introverted business owners (no public identifier).
• Significance: High findability is critical for rapid results (within 100 days).

• A podcast is the core tool for establishing authority and building trust in a new micro-niche.
• Strategy: Interview well-known niche experts.
• Benefit: Leverages their networks for initial audience growth.
• Benefit: Provides a platform for "listening harder" to uncover the niche's true problems and pivot the service offering accordingly.
• Monetization: The goal is to sell coaching/services, not ad sponsorships.
• Rationale: Micro-niches have small audiences (e.g., 100–1,000 downloads/episode), which is insufficient for ad revenue but highly effective for converting a few listeners into high-value clients.

• Use this three-test framework to validate a niche before committing.
• 1. Findability: Can you easily find and contact people in the niche?
• Example: Women studio photographers (easy via directories).
• 2. Braggability: Will interviewees be proud to be featured and share the episode?
• Example: Model railway enthusiasts (high).
• Example: "Ugly Skin Disease Podcast" (low).
• 3. Sellability: Can you monetize the audience?
• Example: Offer a 10% coupon for a niche product (e.g., "NXT 2000 model").
• Significance: A niche must have a clear path to monetization; enthusiasm alone is not enough for a business.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Financial Advisor, Lisa Clements from Kansas joins The Next 100 Days podcast to talk about marketing herself as a financial advisor to single women executives.

Graham and Kevin welcome Lisa, a financial advisor from Kansas City, to the Next 100 Days podcast. They engage in some lighthearted banter about topics like the lottery, buying slippers, and Lisa's dog before transitioning to the main discussion.

Lisa shares her journey of leaving a high-powered corporate job. She went from Silicon Valley to return to Kansas City and start her own financial advisory firm. Her focus? single women. She discusses the challenges she faced as an independent woman managing her finances. Lisa wants to provide that support to others in similar situations.

Lisa explains that she has obtained various financial certifications and accreditations. These are so she can provide comprehensive, holistic financial advice to her clients. She emphasises her desire to be a trusted "friend" to her clients. In this way, she guides them through important decisions while respecting their autonomy.

Graham and Kevin provide insights on Lisa's marketing strategy. They discuss the importance of understanding her ideal client, leveraging informational interviews to shape her approach, and exploring educational webinars and content to reach a broader audience beyond her local client base.

The discussion explores the possibility of Lisa expanding her business beyond her initial 50-client target, potentially through educational initiatives or a virtual/online presence. Kevin and Graham encourage Lisa to consider how her passion for coaching and educating could be leveraged to help more women, while maintaining the personalized service she values.

Graham and Kevin express their appreciation for Lisa's participation and provide some final thoughts, wishing her continued success in her endeavors. They also discuss upcoming guests and topics for future episodes of the podcast.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Mental health expert Dr Fred Moss joins The Next 100 Days podcast to talk about being an un-doctor.

Kevin and Graham introduce their guest, Dr. Fred Moss, a psychiatrist who refers to himself as the "un-doctor". They engage in some lighthearted banter about pets and technical difficulties before welcoming Dr. Moss to the podcast.

Dr. Moss explains his untraditional approach to mental health, emphasising that he does not diagnose or medicate patients. Instead, he aims to help people see that their experiences are a normal part of the human condition, rather than pathological issues that need to be "fixed".

The group discusses how psychiatric diagnoses can become a way for people to avoid responsibility for their actions and experiences. Dr. Moss argues that these labels can become a crutch, preventing people from taking ownership of their lives and growth.

Dr. Moss emphasises the importance of embracing the full range of human emotions and experiences, rather than trying to eliminate or medicate them. He suggests that being "well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society" is not a sign of mental health.

Dr. Moss explains how many people learn to suppress their true selves in order to fit in and protect themselves. He encourages finding one's authentic voice and frequency as a path to healing and connection.

Dr. Moss outlines his "Moss Method", a list of 20 practices and habits that can support mental and emotional well-being, including gratitude, nature, creativity, and authentic communication.

The group reflects on the key insights from the conversation and the value of Dr. Moss' unconventional perspective on mental health. They discuss how his approach could be applied to support business owners and entrepreneurs.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

DNA Behavior CEO Hugh Massie joins The Next 100 Days podcast to talk about how he is set to transform the way behavioural data can transform financial and sales performance.

Graham and Kevin welcome Hugh Massie, the founder of DNA Behavior, to the podcast. They engage in some lighthearted banter about Hugh's Australian background and his business name spelling.

Hugh explains the core of DNA Behavior's psychometric system. He measures 8 primary traits and 24 sub-traits to build a comprehensive profile of an individual's natural tendencies. He emphasises the importance of understanding people's instinctive behaviours under pressure, not just their learned social behaviours.

The group discusses how DNA Behavior's insights can be used to understand the dynamics of teams and organizations, drawing parallels to the characters in the TV show "The Office". Hugh explains how the system helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and potential conflicts within a group.

Graham expresses concerns about whether people will be willing to surrender the "deeper" aspects of their personality? Hugh addresses this by explaining the importance of psychological safety and how the system is designed to build trust and transparency.

Hugh outlines how his approach can directly impact a company's financial performance and valuation. This is by helping leaders make better decisions around innovation, cost management, and other key business drivers. He cites data showing a 23% average revenue growth for customers.

The group explores how his profiling capabilities could be applied to other domains, such as investor screening and selection. Hugh explains how the digital scanning technology allows for profiling large groups of people at scale.

Graham and Kevin reflect on the insightful and engaging nature of the conversation, noting the unique capabilities of DNA Behavior's approach. They express interest in further exploring the system and its potential applications.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

This podcast discusses alternative ways to wealth management. Rebecca Irey from Austin, Texas, joins to share how she sets people free with generational wealth creation. A fascinating podcast.

The discussion begins with a casual conversation about the differences between England, Ireland, and the UK. Rebecca shares her American perspective that she sees them all as the same, which her Irish friends disagree with. The group debates the nuances of the regions and the local reactions to immigration.

Graham and Kevin introduce the "Next 100 Days" podcast and welcome Rebecca as a guest. They establish that the discussion will focus on wealth management from a US perspective, with Rebecca's expertise.

Rebecca shares her personal story of growing up on a ranch in South Dakota and experiencing the loss of the family's land due to financial mismanagement. This shaped her views on the importance of understanding financial rules and leveraging money rather than just earning it. She explains her belief that wealth is about having enough to do what you want, when you want.

Rebecca describes how she has set up her children and grandchildren to be financially secure, using tools like indexed universal life insurance policies to create generational wealth. She contrasts this with the traditional "earn, save, invest" approach and explains how she helps younger clients leverage their money rather than just accumulating it.

The group discusses the philosophical differences between "owning nothing and being happy" versus the traditional Western view of accumulating assets. Rebecca explains how she helps clients control their finances without necessarily owning everything, while Graham and Kevin share their concerns about the potential downsides of that mindset.

Rebecca provides a positive testimonial about her experience on the "Next 100 Days" podcast, noting that she enjoyed learning different perspectives from the UK-based hosts.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads, and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Financial Intelligence. Nikola Jakic from Compass App AI combines your financial data with context to give you confident decision-making.

Kevin and Graham introduce themselves and welcome their guest Nikola Jakic. Nikola is the founder of a financial AI tool called Compass AI. He provides background on how he came up with the idea for Compass AI based on his experience as a CEO of a software company. Then he discusses the limitations he faced in managing the financial aspects of the business.

Nikola explains that Compass AI combines a company's financial data with business context. Doing this provides insights and recommendations to help founders and fractional CFOs make better decisions. The tool can connect to accounting systems like Xero and QuickBooks, categorise transactions, generate forecasts, and allow users to interact with the data through natural language prompts.

Kevin and Graham discuss how Compass AI is positioned to serve small and medium-sized businesses. This as opposed to targeting the enterprise market that many financial software tools focus on. Nikola shares that his initial target audience was founders, but he has also found interest from fractional CFOs who can use the tool to provide more value to their clients.

The group explores Compass AI's competitive landscape, noting that while there are tools targeting CFOs and larger enterprises. He explains there is less focus on the small business market that Nikola is pursuing. They discuss Nikola's strategy of starting with founders and growing with them as their businesses scale, rather than chasing the enterprise market directly.

Graham and Kevin provide a positive recap of the discussion and encourage Nikola to continue focusing on his target market and leveraging the natural, conversational style he demonstrated during the podcast. They express enthusiasm for the product and suggest ways Nikola could use snippets of the conversation for marketing purposes.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

John Bush has created a way for businesses to be seen by Large Language Models called Answer Engine Optimisation.

Kevin and Graham discuss reaching their 500th episode of The Next 100 Days podcast. They reflect on their journey over the past 10 years and how the podcast has evolved. They introduce their guest, John Bush, an expert in "Answer Engine Optimisation" (AEO). John will discuss how businesses can optimise their content for AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT.

John shares his background, including his experience in telecom, startups, and cloud infrastructure. He explains how he became interested in AEO after seeing the impact of AI on his marketing consultant friend's business. John describes the process of developing an AEO analysis tool. The tool evaluates websites on factors like visibility, accessibility, and authority. The outcome means businesses can make their content more searchable and usable by large language models.

Kevin and John discuss the declining importance of traditional Google search and the growing prominence of AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT. They explore how businesses need to adapt their content and website structure to be more easily understood and referenced by these new search engines, rather than just optimising for Google.

John demonstrates a tool his team has developed that can automatically analyse a company's competitive landscape and provide insights based on the data, without relying on the company to manually gather and synthesise the information. He explains how this type of AI-powered analysis can be applied to various business functions, such as RFP responses and lifetime value calculations.

Kevin raises concerns about the potential risks of using AI-generated content, such as the ability to verify the accuracy and provenance of the information. John discusses efforts to address these issues, including watermarking content and providing audit trails for AI-powered decisions.

John and Kevin discuss the broader implications of AI in the enterprise. They cover the importance of data stewardship, security, and the role of human expertise in augmenting AI capabilities. They explore how AI can be used to automate and enhance various business processes, while also highlighting the need to carefully manage the integration of these technologies.

Kevin and Graham reflect on the evolution of The Next 100 Days podcast over the past 10 years, noting the shift in focus towards AI and technology. They express their enthusiasm for continuing the podcast and exploring the latest developments in this rapidly changing landscape.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Dan Norcross helps landlords, investors, and agents across Cheshire and the North West maximise property Income. There is hassle-free income and exceptional returns through expert property management, guaranteed rent, and serviced accommodation solutions. Tune into episode 499 of The Next 100 Days podcast to get the insights from Dan Norcross.

Kevin and Graham welcome Dan Norcross to the podcast. Dan introduces himself as a property entrepreneur who has been in the business for less than a year. He has already built up a portfolio of 6 rental properties. He explains that he is focused on the "rent to serviced accommodation" model. This provides short-term housing for contractors working on a major construction project in the local area.

Dan discusses how he has been able to scale his rent to serviced model quickly. He leverages investor financing to acquire additional properties. He explains the economics of the model, noting that he is able to generate around £1,000-£2,000 per month in profit per property. Dan also shares his plans to expand into other property investment strategies like title splits and purchase lease options.

Dan describes how he has been able to raise significant investor capital, around £400,000 over the past 6 months, to fund his various property deals. He discusses his approach to pitching deals and structuring the investments to provide attractive returns for his investors, often in the 30-50% range.

Dan shares that he is now looking to take on larger, more complex property deals, including a title split project on a block of flats in Devon. He explains the mechanics of the title split strategy and how it can add significant value. Dan also discusses a purchase lease option he is pursuing on a hotel in Scotland, which will involve raising £140,000 from investors.

Kevin raises the question of what would happen if something were to happen to Dan, noting that he is a single point of failure in the business. Dan acknowledges this as a potential risk and agrees that he should consider putting safeguards in place, such as partnering with a management firm to ensure business continuity in the event of an unexpected absence.

Graham and Kevin reflect on the interesting and innovative property investment strategies that Dan has shared, noting that it has opened their eyes to new models beyond the traditional buy-to-let approach. They express admiration for Dan's ability to structure win-win deals that benefit investors, tenants, and himself, and wish him continued success in his property ventures.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Etinosa said she doesn't have a nickname, but we felt she is the Pricing Maven! Get ready for some deep pricing insights on this week's episode of The Next 100 Days Podcast.

Etinosa, an expert in pricing and behavioural economics, discusses her approach to helping companies optimise their pricing strategies. She explains the "decision-offer pricing framework" which involves mapping monetisation zones, conducting pricing research, framing the pricing, and continuously testing and adjusting. Etinosa emphasises the importance of understanding customer psychology and value perceptions when setting prices.

Etinosa describes how companies often make the mistake of letting their sales team prioritise velocity over profitability, leading to excessive discounting. She explains how her team works to align the departments—sales, marketing, finance, and product— to develop a cohesive pricing strategy that captures the true value delivered to customers.

Etinosa discusses specific pricing tactics and frameworks, such as using "decoy pricing" to steer customers towards a preferred option, and the importance of understanding reference points and how customers evaluate value. She provides examples of how her team has helped clients reframe their pricing to be more effective.

Etinosa shares that in addition to her consulting work, she is also involved in real estate investing and financial counselling for individuals, which she finds very rewarding. She discusses how her background in behavioral economics informs her work.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Website Design agency "ALT Agency" was founded by Craig Murphy in 2005 and has grown to a team of 16, and is poised for significant expansion. In this podcast, we explore website design and what to consider in the age of AI.

• Craig, a neurodiverse founder with autism, has successfully built the agency by leveraging his strengths and adapting his leadership style
• The web design industry is evolving with AI, requiring agencies to educate clients and adapt strategies for brand building and search optimization

• Founded by Craig Murphy in 2005-2006
• Currently has 16 team members, recently added 5 new hires
• Expanding business development, development, design, paid media, and SEO teams
• Shifted from a Microsoft-style company culture to a more diverse team with varied personalities

• Shift from in-person meetings to efficient Zoom calls post-COVID
• Increased focus on ROI, lead generation, and conversion optimization
• Growing importance of AI in search and content creation
• Need for educating clients on AI's impact on web presence

• Three pledges: on budget, on time, and client satisfaction guarantee
• Money-back guarantee if clients are unsatisfied with designs
• Focus on high-end, luxury feel in their own website redesign
• Strong project management process to ensure client satisfaction

• Recently diagnosed with autism, which has influenced his approach to business
• Naturally gifted in coding and project management
• Learned to delegate responsibilities and trust team members
• Working with an executive director to structure the business for growth

• Mix of local Birmingham clients for smaller projects
• National clients for larger e-commerce and maintenance projects
• Specialising in web design, development, and digital marketing services

• Investing in team expansion ahead of anticipated growth
• Focusing on brand building through podcasts and media appearances
• Exploring AI-driven solutions for web design and customer interaction

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads, and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Ann shares how reading the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill in 1979 was a pivotal moment that set her on a path of personal and professional growth. Her credentials are long and impressive. Above all, she has an abiding personal commitment to serve.

The meeting begins with casual introductions and small talk between the three participants - Graham, Kevin, and Ann. They discuss Ann's background, her impressive construction career, and her work in personal development coaching.

Ann shares how reading the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill in 1979 was a pivotal moment that set her on a path of personal and professional growth. She explains her approach of helping clients get clear on their financial goals, create a plan of action, and hold themselves accountable through mastermind groups.

The group discusses the "Next 100 Days" concept that Kevin and Graham use, focusing on setting achievable short-term goals rather than just long-term visions. Ann emphasizes the importance of an ongoing journey of growth and improvement, rather than just aiming for a final destination.

The group explores Ann's perspective on retirement, which for her means having the freedom to do what she wants, when she wants. She shares her vision of continuing to serve and impact lives well into her 90s, guided by a strong sense of purpose and mission.

Ann shares her passion for creating opportunities and representation for Black women in the male-dominated construction industry. She discusses founding the National Association for Black Women in Construction to provide a supportive community and open doors for the next generation.

Kevin and Graham reflect on the key insights from the conversation, emphasizing the importance of having a clear dream or vision, and challenging listeners to identify their own dreams. They express admiration for Ann's work and the positive impact she is making.

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com