the talktank – Details, episodes & analysis

In this special live-recorded episode of FoundHER, we sit down with Connie Nam, the visionary behind global jewellery brand Astrid & Miyu, for an intimate fireside chat hosted at the London School of Economics. What began as a single idea during her time at London Business School has now grown into a community-driven brand with 32 stores across the UK, Europe, and the US, and a cult following that continues to redefine the modern jewellery experience.

She shares how “unscalable” early actions (like hand-delivering orders and inviting customers to her flat) shaped the brand’s warm, personal culture, and how that now lives on through experiential retail: ear stacks, piercings, welded bracelets and more. We also explore her bold pivot from investment banking into entrepreneurship, the moment she knew the “safe path” wasn’t for her, and what it really takes to make that leap.

Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction to the Fireside Chat
• 03:10 Connie's Journey to Entrepreneurship
• 06:07 Building a Community Around the Brand
• 08:59 Creative a Positive Working Culture
• 11:51 Marketing as an Experiential Journey
• 14:59 Transitioning from Banking to Entrepreneurship
• 18:07 Insight from her own podcast 'UNBOXED'
• 21:10 Challenges Faced as a Female Founder
• 26:48 Overall Setback and Building Resilience

In this episode of FoundHer, Helen Sampson, founder of Encouple®, shares her journey from a corporate career to entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of mindset shifts, overcoming doubt, and the concept of Mesotrauma®. She discusses how stress can be reframed as a superpower and offers valuable advice for aspiring female entrepreneurs, highlighting the significance of authenticity, connection, and personal values in defining success.

Takeaways:

- Empowerment comes from sharing authentic journeys.

- Mindset shifts can turn perceived disadvantages into advantages.

- Mesotrauma® highlights the cumulative effects of daily stressors.

- Building trust is essential for credibility in business.

- Stress can be reframed as a superpower for growth.

- Success is subjective and should align with personal values.

- Networking and authenticity are key to building connections.

- Overcoming doubt requires strong belief in one's vision.

- Mistakes are part of the entrepreneurial journey; learn and adjust.

- Self-care and managing stress are crucial for founders.

Chapters:

• (00:00) Introduction
• (01:36) Mindset Shifts in Entrepreneurship
• (08:03) The Leap of Faith
• (11:19) Skills Transfer from Law to Entrepreneurship
• (16:03) Understanding Mesotrauma®
• (20:28) Applying Frameworks to Personal Journey
• (23:41) Resilience in the Face of Challenges
• (26:13) Reframing Stress as a Superpower
• (29:00) Defining Success on Your Own Terms
• (32:32) Navigating Bias as a Female Founder
• (34:36) Advice for Aspiring Female Entrepreneurs
• (45:40) Unexpected Joys of Entrepreneurship
• (49:33) Trusting the Process and Energy Attraction

The Bits & Bytes Series - Tunde Adekeye

Hosted by Danilo Dukanovic

Starting with a background in law, Tunde took a leap into the world of investment banking at Credit Suisse, where he navigated the intricacies of Telecom media mergers and acquisitions on the media and tech side. 💼📡

But here's where it gets interesting – Tunde then ventured into the startup realm, cold emailing his way into an agriculture tech startup in Berlin during its Series A phase. Fast forward to Series B, and the startup turned into a unicorn, marking Tunde's initiation into the world of unicorns and disruptive innovation. 🦄

Equipped with startup experience, he made a pivot to the world of venture capital, working with two seed funds – Local Globe VC and Icebreaker VC. The latter, a pre-seed fund, made early investments in the likes of Spotify and Tunde supported 13 startups in their pre-seed stages during his time there. 🏃🚀

Currently, Tunde is now in the space of advising founders on nailing their pitches and developing his own startup that does this with an AI model called Pitch Doctor:

https://thepitchdoctor.tv/

I, myself, have been fundraising for my startup for the last couple of months and some time ago, I hit up Tunde for a mock pitch. His feedback improved my pitch but also dished out some real insights on what VCs truly value. I believe this helped me achieve positive results. 👨‍⚕️

Hear all about Tunde’s journey, the green and red flags of pitches, and how to execute a short pitch minute-by-minute. Whether you’re pitching yourself for a job or your startup for investors, you don’t wanna miss out on this one!

Major thanks to Myra Stok for editing this (her first) episode! 🕺

The Artistpreneurs Series - Marion Carré 🖼

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova 🎙

Today we speak to the extraordinary Marion Carré - AI entrepreneur, teacher, speaker, author, and artist!

Marion co-founded Ask Mona, a company that uses AI to develop experiences for more than 80 cultural institutions across the world. 🏛️🗿

Why don't you Ask Mona?

https://www.askmona.fr/en/home/

Marion also works as an expert evaluator for the European Commission and teaches courses at Sorbonne, Sciences Po, and other universities where she explores the intersection of art and artificial intelligence. Her insights come alive in her book, "Talk about art and artificial intelligence. Artist in the making?". 🤖🎨

Forbes honored her achievements by naming her to their "30 Under 30" list.

Check out Marion Carré:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marion-carre-ask-mona/

Thanks to Jessica Ge for producing this episode. 🥂

The Bits & Bytes Series - Ahana Banerjee

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova

Today we are speaking to the extraordinary Ahana Banerjee - the founder of the Clear skin social app, which assists you with your skincare routine. Clear was featured under Best Apps in App Store. 📈🌟

Join the skincare social scene!

Check out Clear

At just 21, Ahana embarked on her entrepreneurial journey while studying at Imperial College London. Ahana's remarkable achievements include being accepted into Y Combinator and being named in Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2023. 😉

Produced by Jessica Ge 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Sam Marchant

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova ❤️

Today we are speaking to Sam Marchant. From founder to investor, Sam thrives as an Investment Associate at the global investment firm, Hambro Perks where he helps companies build products that matter. 👷‍♂️💰

Before his journey as an investor, Sam graduated with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science and became the Youngest National League hockey coach. 🏒

Now he's not only a successful investor but also a LinkedIn sensation, sharing invaluable insights. Today, we will dive deep into his mind, asking him all the most intriguing questions, from industry trends to the anatomy of successful founders, don’t miss out! 🌟😉

Check out Sam Marchant:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-marchant/

Shoutout to Jessica Ge for producing this episode! 🎧

The Beyond Profit Series

Hosted by Udbela Escanero

In this episode, we speak to Johannes Weber. Johannes is a passionate entrepreneur, pioneering impact investor and a father of three children. After a successful IPO in his mid-twenties, Johannes followed his dream to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges by harnessing the power of entrepreneurship. Johannes co-founded Ananda Impact Ventures in 2009 and was recognized as a ‘Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum’. The company has since become one of the largest impact venture capital firms in Europe. 🚀🌍

Check out Johannes' Ananda Impact Ventures:

https://ananda.vc/

We discuss start-ups, sustainability, responsible investing, impact, and accountability and more about the European VC sphere. You don’t want to miss out on this one! Tune in now on all our platforms! 🙇🏻‍♀️

Special thanks to the talented Udbela Escanero for self-producing this episode! 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Simona Xu

Hosted by Sia Sha

The Oh Collective is a sexual wellness startup launched in 2021. It has been featured in several media outlets, including the Economist and Elle magazine. Simona Xu, one of four co-founders, has previously worked for companies such as Zalando and Nike across cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, and Shanghai. Tune in now to hear all about it!

Check it out:

https://www.theohcollective.com

Timestamps:

1:05-What is Oh Collective?

1:57- Discussion of sexual wellness

4:00-Why is sexual wellness important?

11:20-Discussion of Simona's mom's opinion on sexual wellness.

16:10-Discussion of what it is like to operate Oh Collective in an environment like China compared to the West.

25:00-PWC studies on sexual wellness, and the biggest market in Asia.

32:58-discussion of stigma surrounding sex toys.

49:15-What makes Oh Collective different and unique?

54:48-Discussion of raising money for Oh Collective and how it progressed in the sexual wellness industry.

1 hour 10 minutes-What is the worst and best advice Simmons has ever received?

1 hour 15 minutes: Outro

The Artistpreneurs Series - Mirijam Trunk

Hosted by Udbela Escanero

Today, we are speaking to Mirijam Trunk: after working as a journalist for Bayerischer Rundfunk and reporter for ARD, Mirijam decided to make her journey from the writer’s room to top-level business management.

In 2019, she became CEO of the Bertelsmann Audio Alliance and built the company's podcast business. She has grown the production company Audio Alliance into the largest private-sector provider of podcasts, launching around 150 formats that reach over 7 million unique users per month.

She has been part of the first management level of RTL Deutschland since 2022 and, as Chief Crossmedia Officer, is responsible for brand, content and talent development. She also heads the Sustainability and DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) departments.

Mirijam is a passionate supporter of equality and diversity initiatives and works as an author and speaker to raise awareness of structural inequality in Germany. Don’t miss out on this exciting episode!

Mirijam Trunk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirijam-trunk/

Timestamps:

1:28 Introducing Mirijam

2:42 Overview of Bertelsmann

3:00 Miriam’s trajectory - classical singing to journalism to business management?

4:24 Structural issues noticed within journalism

6:57 The current media and business landscape and its fast changes

7:27 About Bertelsmann’s podcast company (Audio Alliance) 

10:33 Power of storytelling - podcasting as as medium?

11:57 People as the amazing experience or component of her career

17:05 Networking - gender differences!

21:11 Sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion challenges

25:20 How did Mirijam end up at RTL Germany?

27:58 How much did Miriam’s journalism education help her get into creative management?

30:52 Tips on starting out - learning to understand yourself! “Who are you?”

35:35 If you could change one thing about society, what would it be?

36:29 Chaos as Miriam’s unconventional truth to success

38:13 If you could invite anyone in the world for a podcast interview, who would you invite?

The Bits & Bytes Series - Joe Cross

Hosted by Olivia Coletti

Today we have the pleasure of talking with the insightful Joe Cross. Joe is now an angel investor who invests and advises in early-big stage ideas. As previous VP of brand marketing and communication and member of the senior leadership team at Wise money services, he has lots of experience and expertise on marketing and startups. Joe is a Digital masters award winner who is interested in growth marketing, go to market moves, communication and workplace culture. His market segment and philanthropic interests reflect that. 📈🤩

Angel Investor: Advising and investing in early-stage big ideas.

Award Winning: 2020 Digital Masters Winner - Excellence in Marketing.

Interests: Growth. Marketing. Go-to-market. Comms. Culture.

History:

Joined TransferWise (WISE) as employee #12 in 2012. Stepped off the rocketship 8 years later, waving g'bye to an awesome team of 2,300 people. Member of senior leadership team throughout, as Head of Marketing (Start-up stage) >> US General Manager >> Head of (VP) Brand Marketing & Comms (Scale-up stage).

2008 Masters in media and comm. at LSE.

Check Joe Cross out:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemcross/

Timestamps:

1:40 What does the company do and why do you find it inspiring?

5:25 Are there any specific sectors that you are interested in?

10:10 How do you assess founders?

15:45 What does sustainable investing mean to you?

20:30 What are your thoughts on the ESG industry?

27:15 What are you involved in in your free time?

Shout out to Humzah Rahman for producing this episode! 👏