Unicorn Podcast

Building a $5bn Company From Scratch | S2 E5

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:54:19 +0000

In this episode of The Unicorn Podcast, Simon Squibb sits down with Rishi Khosla as they dive deep into the highs and lows of building a bank worth $5 BILLION, as well as what it takes to disrupt an industry that is stuck in its traditional ways.

Rishi Khosla is the CEO and co-founder of OakNorth. He started his first business, Copal Partners, a financial research company, in 2002 with just $60k. Over 12 years, he and his co-founder, Joel Perlman, scaled it to a 3,000-employee organization across 13 markets, before selling it to Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) in 2014.

They then set out to build their second business, OakNorth, a financial technology company with a mission to empower the ‘Missing Middle’ - businesses that are the largest contributors of economic and employment growth, yet still struggle to access fast, flexible debt finance. OakNorth is addressing this funding gap with its Credit Intelligence software which it licenses to commercial lenders such as Fifth Third, PNC, and Old National, and that it uses within its own bank in the UK, OakNorth Bank.

Rishi Khosla is an early-stage investor in a number of leading technology companies, including PayPal. In 2019, he was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) from her Majesty The Queen for services to business.

Rishi: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rishikhosla1

Oaknorth: https://oaknorth.co.uk/investors/our-cofounder-rishi-khosla/

Get business help for free, and get rewarded for helping at HelpBnk!

https://helpbnk.com

Disrupt or Be Disrupted: How Bolttech Exploded Its Way To Unicorn Status | S2 E4

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Thu, 8 Jun 2023 12:15:14 +0000

In this episode of The Unicorn Podcast, Simon Squibb sits down with Rob Schimek, CEO of Bolttech, the groundbreaking unicorn insuretech company that has been making waves in the insurance industry. Simon and Rob delve into the rapid growth and success of Bolttech, discussing how it shot from startup to $1.6B valuation in such a short time frame. Rob shares the unique story behind Bolttech, revealing the pivotal moments that defined its path to success. Hear about the hurdles and triumphs of developing an innovative insuretech platform that disrupts traditional insurance models. Learn how Rob and his team leveraged technology and AI to drive growth and revolutionise customer experience in the insurance sector. Get ready for a deep dive into the process of building a unicorn with Rob Schimek and Bolttech's extraordinary journey.

Rob: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/rob-schimek-59b37a1

Bolttech: https://bolttech.io/

Get business help for free, and get rewarded for helping at HelpBnk! https://helpbnk.com

Meet The Man Who Changed The Hotel Industry Forever - Girish Jhunjhnuzwala | S2 E3

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Sat, 13 May 2023 15:00:17 +0000

Meet The Man Who Changed The Hotel Industry Forever Girish Jhunihnuwala is the Founder and CEO of Ovolo Group. He is famous for disrupting the hotel industry across Asia and Australia.

The Fastest European Unicorn EVER! $0-2 Billion in 14 months: Philip Belamant Co-Founder, Zilch | S2 E2

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Sat, 1 Apr 2023 17:25:09 +0000

In this episode, we delve into the mind of Philip Belamant, the visionary Co-Founder and CEO of Zilch, a groundbreaking fintech company revolutionizing the way we think about and interact with finance.

Zilch has become the fastest European company EVER to reach double unicorn status, and in this episode, Simon and Philip go deep into the core values and mission that enabled Zilch to reach this huge level of success so quickly.

We also explore the origins of Zilch, the personal experiences that inspired Philip to create this unique platform, and how it's transforming the landscape of digital finance.

Zilch: http://bit.ly/3KeMwhr

Philip: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-belamant/

For more help start here: http://go.simonsquibb.com/

The UK’s Most Controversial CEO Isn’t Who You Think He Is - Brewdog Founder: James Watt | S2 E1

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Wed, 8 Mar 2023 11:04:25 +0000

In this episode of The Unicorn Podcast, Simon sits down with James Watt, the co-founder of BrewDog, one of the fastest-growing craft beer companies in the world. James shares the truth behind the controversy surrounding his brand, as well as his revealing his marketing secrets.

We explore James's unique leadership style and the company's unconventional approach to business, including their plans to use beer to save the planet. James also admits why he chose to give away £100m of his shares in the business, while his co-founder did not.

Whether you're a craft beer enthusiast, an entrepreneur, or just interested in hearing from an incredible billion-dollar-founder, we know you’ll love this one. So grab a cold one and join us for a lively conversation with James Watt of BrewDog!

Follow James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-watt

Follow James on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brewdogjames/?hl=en

Watch James on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesWattBrewDogCEO

Brewdog’s Website: https://www.brewdog.com/uk

Table Yeti: https://www.brewdog.com/uk

For more help start here: http://go.simonsquibb.com

We’re Not All Steve Jobs - How To Succeed Anyway | Tessa Wijaya: Xendit

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 10:59:33 +0000

Tessa Wijaya is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Xendit. She graduated from The University of Sydney, has vast experience in the field of private equity from large companies such as Principia and Mizuho and grew up in Indonesia. Tessa describes herself as “a unicorn among unicorns among unicorns.” There are a lot of people in her family who are entrepreneurs who ran small canteens and hawker stalls.

Tessa started a few side businesses before Xendit. she started a restaurant, which failed, and a batik brand with one of her closest friends, but they discontinued it to focus on their full-time jobs. she started a jewellery business as well with some friends, whom she is a silent partner right now.

As an Indonesian woman running a $1 billion financial technology start-up in Southeast Asia, she is a rather rare breed. Women leaders in tech are uncommon. This is especially true in fintech, where they hold 7% of leadership positions.

Xendit is an Indonesian fintech platform that processes digital payments for businesses in Southeast Asia, like Grab, Wise and Traveloka. Xendit was founded by Moses Lo, Tessa Wijaya, Juan Gonzalez and Bo Chen. Since launching in 2015, Xendit has grown rapidly. in 2021, it processes more than 65 million transactions worth $6.5 billion annually. It reached the $1 billion “unicorn” status in September 2021.

Xendit currently has more than 3,000 customers. Xendit said its annualized transactions tripled from 65 million to 200 million over the last year. The total value of the transactions also jumped from $6.5 billion to $15 billion. Some of its clients are Traveloka, Transferwise, and Grab.

As a woman who strives in the technology field, Tessa Wijaya is very aware of gender issues in Indonesia. She asserted that Indonesia needs more platforms where women could take a part in the technology field and also could inspire other women.

Tessa:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-w-41043020/

Xendit:https://www.xendit.co/en/

For more help start here: https://purposefulproject.com/

John Caudwell: How I Became A BILLIONAIRE (And Why It Was Painful)

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Thu, 6 Oct 2022 11:00:00 +0000

We had the opportunity to interview John Caudwell LIVE on stage at Ideas Fest 2022. John founded Caudwell Group, the telco company which included Phones 4U, the UK’s largest independent mobile phone retailer with over 600 stores across the country. When he sold Caudwell Group in 2006, the business was selling 26 phones a minute!

But after all of his success, John says that “Nothing gives him the same feeling as helping people”. Living a life of purpose is what makes John feel complete, and while remaining active in the business world, he devotes most of his time to his lifelong philanthropic ambitions, pledging to donate 70% of his wealth to charitable causes!

John's site:

https://johncaudwell.com/

Buy John's autobiography:

https://amzn.to/3SIsA87

Ideas Fest:

https://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/ideas-fest

For more help start here:

https://purposefulproject.com

How The Metaverse, Crypto and Web3.0 Can Save The World: Yat Siu

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Thu, 1 Sep 2022 07:56:41 +0000

Yat Siu is an entrepreneur and angel investor. Born and raised in Vienna, Austria, he moved to Hong Kong in 1996 to set up Hong Kong Cybercity, the first free web page and email provider in Asia. Before Hong Kong, he landed his first job at Atari in Germany, and later at graphic software company Lexicor, where he served as director and head of the U.S. East Coast division. In the late ‘90s, he set up Outblaze, which was sold to IBM in 2009 and incorporated into IBM's LotusLive suite of services.

In 2011, he founded Hong Kong-based Animoca, one of the world’s largest apps for developers and publishers. The company is behind hit apps such as Pretty Pet Salon (one of Apple's top apps of 2011) and Cinderella Cafe. Receiving early funding from venture capital firms Intel Capital and IDG-Accel, Animoca went on to develop and publish hundreds of apps across both Android and iOS platforms.

In 2014, Siu founded Animoca Brands, a company created through the spinoff of the licensing and publishing arms of Animoca, that uses technology like blockchain and artificial intelligence to develop and publish mobile products like The Sandbox, and it’s the official distributor of CryptoKitties in China.

During his fruitful career, Yat Siu was named “Global Leader of Tomorrow” and a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum and received various other awards for his contributions to business and society. In this episode, Yat tells Simon exaclty how Web 3.0 can save the world if navigated in the right way, as well as giving his advice to young people looking to start a business in the modern world of crypto, Web 3.0 and the metaverse.

Topics

0:00 - Intro
2:16 - Who is Yat Siu and what are Animoca brands?
4:00 - What is a digital dictatorship?
10:40 - Is there an alternative to big platforms like Facebook?
14:20 - Will we see the fall of the big platforms?
19:40 - What should young people build today?
23:51 - What do you look for when investing in companies?
31:00 - What is the future of crypto?
39:22 - How Yat raised 75 million in the bear market
41:05 - NFTs and the truth about crypto
49:44 - ‘F*ck the metaverse’?
55:50 - Purpose
01:02:22 - Yat’s net worth
01:10:00 - The education system is broken, how we fix it

Animoca Brands:

https://www.animocabrands.com/

StartmeupHK:

https://www.startmeup.hk/startmeuphk-festival-2022/

HKBN / HKBN Enterprise Solutions:

www.hkbn.net / www.hkbnes.net

Why Having No Money Is GOOD In Business - GOGOX Co-Founder, Steven Lam

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Steven Lam is the co-founder, executive director & co-CEO of GOGOX Holdings Limited, the first app-based logistics platform in Asia committed to providing extensive logistics services through innovative technology. Steven built the company with the vision of “Simplify Logistics”, aiming to resolve logistics inefficiencies and enable users to enjoy seamless logistics services.

Over the years, GOGOX has evolved from a van-hailing platform to a diversified logistics platform that supports instant delivery to customised logistics solutions. GOGOX instantly connects individuals and businesses with millions of logistics partners to fulfil all sorts of delivery needs, redefining the delivery experience by providing speedy, agile and convenient logistics services that are unmatched.

Steven’s wealth of experience in entrepreneurship has brought him accolades in different categories, including Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia in 2016, Hong Kong’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons Selection in 2018, and 50 Asians to watch of The Straits Times in 2018. In this episode, Steven and Simon go deep on how to start a business with little money, how to find the right investors and much more.

Topics

0:00 - Intro
1:59 - How GOGOX was born
3:07 - How did you start with so little capital?
14:16 - Supply first
18:17 - Founder structure
25:04 - Getting investment
35:30 - Steven’s family opinions
38:09 - Have you ever thought about quitting?
41:18 - Company Culture
45:04 - Do you have any regrets?
48:27 - Advice for young people

GOGOX:

https://www.gogox.com/index/

StartmeupHK:

https://www.startmeup.hk/startmeuphk-festival-2022/

HKBN / HKBN Enterprise Solutions:

www.hkbn.net / www.hkbnes.net

Airwallex Co-Founder: From Coffee Shop To 5.5 $BILLION - Max Li

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 08:06:46 +0000

Max Li is Co-founder and Head of Design of Airwallex , where he provides the creative vision for the business, and is responsible for developing and managing Airwallex’s product design initiatives. Leading a global team, Max drives the implementation for designing functional and human-centric products that enable quality user experience in every market where Airwallex operates.

Previously, Max was a professional architectural designer with extensive experience in architecture, product design and user experience. Max also ran a coffee business prior to founding Airwallex, making his entrepreneurial experience so far both diverse and unique.

In this episode, Simon and Max discuss his biggest lessons in building a unicorn company, how self-belief plays a huge part in success, and the future of business + technology.

5 books that Max recommends:

For an excellent cover all guidebook to building products: Build, by Tony Fadell

For emotional baseline: The subtle art of not giving a fuck, by Mark Manson

For perspective: 21 lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Harari

Books with behind-the-scene, detailed processes for different industries are always good reads, recently: Secret Life Of Groceries, by Benjamin Lorr

If language (especially writing) is not your forte: On Writing Well, by William Zinsser

Topics

0:00 - Intro
1:25 - How Airwallex was born
6:33 - Raising money
7:46 - Transitioning from a cafe to Airwallex
8:40 - Staying focused
12:41 - Max’s Family Background
14:23 - Working with co-founders
18:10 - Changing roles
19:40 - Self belief
21:00 - Biggest lessons on reflection
23:10 - Imposter syndrome
25:05 - What motivates you
26:51 - The future
30:51 - Regulation challenges
32:35 - Max’s thoughts on the Metaverse
35:03 - Approaching competition
37:24 - Luck
39:36 - Startup culture
44:52 - Advice for your younger self
47:20 - Do you have any regrets
50:31 - Outro

Max Li:

https://www.airwallex.com/uk

StartmeupHK:

https://www.startmeup.hk/startmeuphk-festival-2022/

HKBN / HKBN Enterprise Solutions:

www.hkbn.net / www.hkbnes.net

Meet The Man Who UNLOCKED Remote Working For Millions - Tony Jamous

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Wed, 3 Aug 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Tony was born in Beirut, Lebanon, during a violent civil war, and was lucky enough to travel to France at the age of seventeen to study for a computer sciences degree, then attended the IMD Business School in Switzerland.

After graduating, Tony founded Nexmo, a pioneer in the Communications Platform as a Service (“CPaaS”) category. Nexmo made it easy for software developers to add essential communications capabilities (like sending messages between ride-sharing drivers and passengers) to their applications, on a global scale. Nexmo went public via a merger with Vonage in 2016.

After the Nexmo exit, Tony took some time off to consider what to do next. He began to invest in “platform models that can change the world”, Tony’s investments include Pento, Truelayer, Dialpad, Hopin, and Claap.

That other talented individual in emerging economies should enjoy similar career opportunities, without the need for geographic displacement, is a persona, passion and the ideological cornerstone of Tony’s career. It is where the idea of Oyster was born.

For most people in emerging economies, career fulfilment means moving to another country. Tony believes this necessity to be in the office sets up unassailable inequalities for many people in emerging economies. Why should they have to move halfway around the world, away from their community and support system, to have a successful career?

Tony created Oyster to remove the remaining barriers to successful remote work, including hiring, compensating and managing team members who are physically far away from the office.

In this episode, Tony reveals the secrets that helped him scale Oyster to 1$ Billion valuations, as well as his unique journey to success. Simon and Tony also go deep on how to get investment, purpose and Web3.

Topics

How Tony Became An Entrepreneur
Getting Investment
Choosing The Right Investor
How Tony Came Up With The Idea Of Oyster
Building Oyster From Scratch
Connecting World Labour
Being Purpose-Driven
Web3
Are Entrepreneurs Born Or Bred?

Tony Jamous:

https://www.tonyjamous.com/

Youngest EVER Dragon & ClearCo CEO - What It Takes To Hit $1 BILLION

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Wed, 6 Jul 2022 10:30:00 +0000

Tech titan Michele Romanow is the Co-founder and CEO of Canadian unicorn, Clearco - the world's largest e-commerce investor. The company has invested $3.2 billion in over 7,000 ecommerce and SaaS companies. Michele is a serial entrepreneur having started six companies before her 35th birthday. In addition to her work as an entrepreneur, Michele is a “Dragon” on the Canadian hit TV show Dragons’ Den (Canada’s Shark Tank).

She previously co-founded SnapSaves, which was acquired by Groupon and was also the Co-Founder of Buytopia.ca. A prolific investor, Michele was recently named as one of Fortune’s 40 under 40, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and Canada’s Angel Investor of the Year.

Michele is a regular media commentator and her work has been profiled in Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, and The Globe and Mail. Michele is a director for Vail Resorts, BBTV and Queen’s School of Business. Previously she was a director for Freshii, Whistler Blackcomb, SHAD International and League of Innovators. Michele also co-founded the Canadian Entrepreneurship Initiative non-profit with Sir Richard Branson.

In this episode, Michele teaches us how she approaches investments, what it takes to build a billion dollar company, her experience working with romantic partners and much more!

How Michelle Approaches Investments
What Michelle looks for in an investment
Failure
Work/Life Balance and The Entrepreneur Lifestyle
Working With Romantic Partners
Rebranding from Clear Bank to Clearco
Changing Position From President To CEO
From Entrepreneur To Employee To Entrepreneur Again
Revenue-Based Funding
Investing In Under-Represented Entrepreneurs
Solving The ‘University Route’ Narrative
Are Entrepreneurs Born Or Bred?
What Makes An Entrepreneur?
It’s Not The Years It’s The Miles.
Entrepreneurship From A Young Age
Michelle’s Favourite Dragons’ Den Investments
Clearco Funded Companies
Where Does All The Money Come From?
Experience vs Books
Do You Have Any Regrets?

Michele:

https://instagram.com/micheleromanow?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

ClearCo

Www.clear.co

For more help start here: www.purposefulproject.com

Suneera Madhani - Why Less Than 2% Of Female Founders Hit $1M In Revenue (The Truth Revealed) | Unicorn Podcast E5

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Wed, 8 Jun 2022 09:24:35 +0000

Suneera Madhani is a payments innovator who has disrupted the industry with her unicorn company Stax. After seeing the need for a better payment experience for merchants, her entrepreneurial spirit took hold and she decided to solve the problem herself. She built Stax from the ground up, providing a sophisticated and business-friendly platform

Stax is a subscription-based payments processor that charges merchants a flat subscription fee rather than a percentage of sales for in-person and digital transactions. Over the past eight years, the 300-person company has processed $23 billion in payments for more than 20,000 customers across retail, professional services, and health care.

On top of being CEO at Stax, Suneera also runs CEO school, a platform that empowers women to understand the power they have to change their lives, shift their legacy, and alter the course of history. In this episode, Suneera reveals the 3 steps to building a billion-dollar business, the TRUTH about why less than 2% of female founders make it to $1 Million, and much more

Topics

What makes the perfect co-founder
Shareholder agreements
Are you having fun?
The tough task of raising investment as a woman
Are accelerators worth the hype?
Rebranding Stax
Keeping your ego in check
Culture building
“You have it”
Are entrepreneurs born or bred?

Suneera’s Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/suneeramadhani/

CEO School:

https://theceoschool.co/

Stax:

https://staxpayments.com/

FOR MORE HELP START HERE: https://purposefulproject.com

Tony Fadell - Inventing The iPod & iPhone, The Problems With The Metaverse & His Biggest Regrets | Unicorn Podcast E4

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Unicorn Podcast) — Sat, 21 May 2022 08:31:56 +0000

Tony Fadell is the creator of the iPod, co-creator of the iPhone, and founder of Nest Labs, which was acquired by Google for $3.2 Billion. Named as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2014, Tony believes that instead of building artificial platforms like the Metaverse, we need to focus on building products that fix and improve the real world.

Tony’s first job out of college was such a disaster that it killed all new development in consumer-oriented personal computers for a decade. The next products he built were commercial failures, then he started his own company – a year before the .com bubble burst. But after 10 years he learned – with every team, every product, every disaster – how to design, manufacture, market and sell something people actually wanted.

In this podcast, Tony goes deep on why failure is good, the problems with the metaverse, and the key to work/life balance and he also tells us his biggest regret. We’re so excited to bring you this interview with such an incredible entrepreneur and Unicorn. We know you’ll love this one, if you enjoy the episode all we ask is that you share it online so that we can help more people start and grow a business of their own. Enjoy!

“You only fail if you give up. If you don’t give up and you learn from your mistakes, that’s a normal cycle of learning and it’s okay! Failure sounds like such a harsh word but I don’t see it that way. You only learn what you love to do by doing a lot of things that you don’t like doing.”

Topics

Reinventing yourself
Failure
Overcoming fear
When to quit
How to find balance
Working with family
How to find a co-founder
Naming the book
"Fuck the metaverse"
Device Addiction
Steve Jobs deleted Tony's number
Device moderation
Do you have any regrets?
What do you want to learn?
If you could interview anyone, who would it be?

Get Tony’s Book ‘Build’:
https://tonyfadell.com/

https://amzn.to/3sP4s8V

📚 FOR MORE HELP START HERE: https://purposefulproject.com

Unicorn Podcast Trailer

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 19 May 2022 11:04:46 +0000

Unicorn Podcast Trailer by Simon Squibb

Shazam Founder: The ‘Impossible’ Business That We Sold To Apple: Chris Barton | Unicorn Podcast E3

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 15:56:33 +0000

Chris Barton is a well-respected entrepreneur and one of the masterminds behind the music recognition app, Shazam. Shazam was created in London over 20years ago and caught the interest of Apple who went on to purchase the technology for a speculated $400 million in 2017. The app is now among the most popular apps on both iPhone and Android with over 1 billion downloads to date.

Chris’ career also includes companies such as Google where he worked for 8 years and Dropbox, where he held the position of head of mobile operators' business development. He has collected a wealth of knowledge and experience through his journey to make him a leading entrepreneur within the digital field and more specifically, mobile applications. He is now embarking on creating a new startup focused on machine learning and computer vision.

In today’s special episode of The Unicorn Podcast, Chris tells his story of building software that was so ahead of it’s time, as well as giving you all the highs and lows of his career, so you have the knowledge you need to replicate his success for yourself.

"Things take longer than you expect. You hit different hurdles and unknown things happen. Early revenue in your business is like oxygen. Make revenue for your business a priority from day one. If I had realised how important that was, even if it meant delaying my main vision, it would have been a better route to take."

Topics:

How Chris became an entrepreneur

Chris’ unconventional start-up approach

Shazam - How it went from an idea to a reality

Shazam - Finding an engineer to ‘invent’ the technology

Shazam - The four co-founders and their partnership dynamic

Shazam - Allocating job roles

Shazam - Raising funding

Persistence + Timing

Hiring CEO’s + getting out of your own way

Chris’ new company ‘Guard’

Apple’s acquisition of Shazam

What is it like after selling a company?

Why Guard?

One piece of advice to your younger self

Chris Barton:

https://chrisjbarton.com/

📚 FOR MORE HELP START HERE: https://purposefulproject.com

The £1 Bet That Turned Into A Billion-Dollar Company: John Roberts | Unicorn Podcast E2

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 15:50:14 +0000

John Roberts is the Founder and CEO of AO World, the online retailer specialising in household appliances and electricals. AO operates following John’s two personal mottos of ‘treat every customer like your gran’ and ‘make your mum proud’, which has allowed the company to attain more 5* reviews than any other electrical retailer.

John started AO in 2000 after a friend bet him £1 to set up a business. He had previously been working as a kitchen salesman, and the internet was just reaching mainstream utility, so he decided to set up a company that would sell appliances online. In 2014, Roberts led AO World’s listing on the London Stock Exchange, valued at the time at £1.2 billion.

John has also supported Bolton Lads and Girls Club for 25 years, he’s a chairman at OnSide Youth Zones and a councillor at OneYoungWorld. Each of these organisations supports young people and aligns with John’s mission to leave the world a better place. In this episode, John gives us an in-depth insight into his life and career, as well as what it takes to build a billion-dollar company.

“Be really clear about what it is that you’re going to do, and be awesome at it. Obsess about being awesome, and be clear on what problems you’re solving because If you’re going to be average at it… Well, there's a lot of average in the graveyard.”

Topics:

John’s early life
The importance of learning
Relationships and treating people fairly
The £1 bet
Why being interesting is everything
Taking AO public
The Metaverse/Web 3.0
John Roberts: https://twitter.com/johnrobertsao

AO: https://twitter.com/ao

BILLIONAIRE SPECIAL - Starling Bank CEO: How I started a $1.5 billion business at 54: Anne Boden

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 15:42:56 +0000

Anne Boden is the Founder and CEO of Starling Bank, a modern British bank that brings new technology to the forefront, delivering a more engaging experience for customers than traditional high-street banks. Since 2014, Anne’s vision has served more than 2.5 million customers as Starling continues to grow into one of the UK’s leading banks.

In January of 2014, Anne decided to quit her job to pursue her vision of creating a better bank, defying all stereotypes of women in their 50s with a corporate background. Starting a bank is one of the most challenging businesses to launch, and people thought she was crazy, but Anne was determined to make it work.

“I felt silly, I felt people would laugh at me for having this audacious goal. I didn’t just want to create a new bank, I wanted to create one that had the very best technology right from scratch, treated customers very fairly, with a new way of doing things and engaging with customers. Nobody believed me. Nobody thought it was possible.”

Topics:

Starling’s first steps
Raising money + building a team
Being a sole founder
Building the technology
‘Banking on it’ - Book
Securing the $48m investment
Crypto
What success looks like for Anne
Work/life balance
Are entrepreneurs born or bred?
Luck
Advice to her younger self

Anne:

https://www.instagram.com/anneboden/

https://twitter.com/anneboden

Anne's book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BANKING-How-I-Disrupted-Industry-ebook/dp/B084H6N2GS

Starling Bank:

https://www.starlingbank.com/

📚 FOR MORE HELP START HERE: https://purposefulproject.com

S2, episode 13 | Adam Kamani, CEO Move Streets

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 1 Apr 2021 09:00:40 +0000

In episode Adam Kamani is an award-winning property entrepreneur, start-up investor, mentor and CEO of Kamani Property Group, KM Capital and YourNxtDoor. He has just launched a next-gen property app called Move Streets.

S2, episode 12 | Tom Mercer, Founder MOMA

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 22:00:09 +0000

In Season 2, Episode 12, Simon talks to Tom. Tom Mercer is the Founder of MOMA Foods, a London oat brand. Frustrated with the lack of quality breakfast on the market Tom decided to leave his job in the City and do something about it. MOMA was a genuine grassroots start-up – the first kitchen was under a railway arch in South London and the first retail outlet was a stall (made from a converted filing cabinet) in Waterloo station. MOMA is now the go-to premium porridge brand in the UK, the #1 bircher muesli brand, and a fast-growing player in burgeoning oat milk market

Tom is from a farming family in Staffordshire, read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, and prior to MOMA worked as a management consultant for Bain & Co. In his personal life Tom is a proud husband and dad.

S2, episode 11 | Ali Parsa, Founder and CEO of Babylon Health

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 17:00:13 +0000

In Season 2, Episode 11, Simon talks Dr Ali Parsa. Ali is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary AI and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth.

Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs. He was formerly a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and the Chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Tech Forum. He has a PhD in Engineering Physic.

S2, episode 10 | Alexia Inge, Co-founder & co-CEO of CultBeauty

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 16:30:58 +0000

In Season 2, Episode 10, Simon talks to Alexia Inge. Singularly committed to curating a ‘Beauty Hall of Fame’, featuring only the best hero products from across the globe, Alexia Inge co-founded Cult Beauty with a lifelong passion for beauty and a mission to become the most trusted beauty retailer in the world.

Under Alexia’s leadership since 2014, Cult Beauty has become the place to go for beauty discovery and incubating trends – from the latest scientific wellbeing discoveries to centuries-old remedies that have never been bettered. It has fast become home to some the biggest names and need-to-know burgeoning brands: from being the first independent e-tailer to stock Anastasia Beverly Hills to bringing Milk Makeup across the pond and herding Drunk Elephant into the EU.

S2, episode 9 | Sach Kukadia, Serial Entrepreneur, CEO, Chariman and NED

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 4 Mar 2021 22:00:02 +0000

In Season 2, Episode 9, Simon talks to Sach Kukadia. Sach is a serial entrepreneur, non-executive director, chairman, board advisor and angel investor. He launched his first start up, SecretSales.com at the age of 22 and over a period of 10 years, raised £18m through leading Venture Capital Institutions and drove annual sales of £47m. He eventually sold the business to a London based Private Equity firm in 2017.

Sach’s current interest lies with Residently, a disruptive Property Tech platform alongside a new D2C business launching in Q2 2022 that allows you to invest in gold. In addition, Sach is Chairman to vintage furniture business Rehaus, and NED to a number of other consumer facing businesses.

S2 episode 8 | Patrick Tsang, Chairman at Tsangs Group

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 17:00:22 +0000

In season 2, episode 8, Simon talks to Patrick Tsang. Patrick Tsang is Chairman of Tsangs Group, a fourth-generation China-focused Single Family Office from Hong Kong. Patrick invests in various companies with a positive influence and positive impact. Born and raised in the United Kingdom with deeply-rooted Chinese heritage, he has a robust global network as a seasoned investor.

He has worked on numerous IPO and M&A transactions globally and has successfully made investments in Asia, mainly in Hong Kong and China, North America, and Europe. Patrick holds several prestigious appointments, including the Trade Commissioner of Grenada in Macau, to promote international business and investment.

S2, episode 7 | Dan Murray-Serter, Co-Founder Heights

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 18:00:15 +0000

In Season 2, episode 7, Simon talks to Dan Murray-Serter. Dan is a multi-award winning serial entrepreneur, who talks openly about failure, mental health, mental performance, and 'braincare' - which includes his journey using science to build habits, cultivating a positive mindset & nutrition for optimizing his brain's health. Having started (and failed) the UK's #1 fashion app, Grabble, he is now back building his new company, Heights. In his spare time, he podcasts with both the Braincare podcast for Heights, and Secret Leaders, one of the UK's top business podcasts.

S2, episode 6 | Nick Wheeler, Founder & Chairman, Charles Tyrwhitt

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 14:00:42 +0000

In Season 2, Episode 6 Simon talks to Nick Wheeler. Nick Wheeler first had the idea for Charles Tyrwhitt shirts - to make the best shirts, using only the finest materials, at great value, with unbeatable service - whilst studying Geography at Bristol University in 1986;. He used his middle names - Charles Tyrwhitt – more anonymous (and better sounding!) than “Nick Wheeler shirts” The first brochure was a one-page leaflet with 8 shirts and 8 ties.

The product range has developed from just shirts and ties to suits, shoes and a full casual offering. Today the business is a multi-channel retailer and a leading British brand. The company grew rapidly to sales of £220M in 2018, but then hit Covid…

Charles Tyrwhitt’s mission today remains true to Nick’s founding principles - to provide quality and value, and to deliver them to the customer with unrivalled customer service. Nick is also a non-executive director of The White Company. He is married to Chrissie Rucker, founder of the White Company. They have four children and live in Oxfordshire. Nick was awarded an OBE for services for retail in December 2017.

S2, episode 5 | Nick Jenkins, Founder Moonpig

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 4 Feb 2021 16:00:38 +0000

In season 2, episode 5, Simon talks to Nick Jenkins. After graduation, Nick spent eight years trading sugar in Moscow for Glencore. In 1998 he returned to the UK to study for an MBA at Cranfield, after which he started Moonpig.com, the personalised greeting card retailer. By 2011 the business had over 5 million customers and Nick sold a majority of his holding to Photobox. Nick now divides his time between the charity sector and investing in early stage businesses which led to him joining the panel of BBC2 Dragons’ Den in 2015 and 2016. He now has a portfolio of 19 angel investments, mostly in ed-tech, med tech and e-commerce.

S2, episode 4 | Stepan Galaev, Founder & Venture Capitalist for Former Dragons

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 10:00:17 +0000

In Season 2, Episode 4, Simon talks to Stepan Galaev. Stepan Galaev identified the growing demand for portfolio management services in the angel investment community while working on the investment portfolio of renowned UK angel investor – Nick Jenkins. After several years of deep-diving in the venture capital environment, he saw an opportunity to build a multi-family office that would cater to individuals with similar business ethics, and the strong belief that investing in young ventures can deliver both social and economic returns.

S2, episode 3 | Anne Skare Nielsen, Chief Futurist

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 11:00:49 +0000

In S2 Episode 3, Simon talks to Anne Skare Nielsen. Anne is one of Scandinavia's - in fact the world's leading futurists. With her great interest and knowledge in radical change and transformation of thinking, she is in high demand as a lecturer and provocateur all over the world.

You see her very often in the media. Among other things, she has been on DR's popular radio program 'The Philosopher, the Author and the Woman of the Future', and has been a TV host on the program 'NewScience' on TV2 News.

Season 2 trailer

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 09:17:01 +0000

Season 2 trailer by Simon Squibb

S2, episode 2 | Hugh Thomas, CEO and Co-Founder Ugly Drinks

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 16:00:16 +0000

In season 2 episode 2, Simon talks to Hugh. Hugh Thomas is the NYC-based CEO and Founder of Ugly Drinks. Ugly is a flavored sparkling water brand, now available in over 15,000 stores globally and with offices in both the UK and US. Ugly believes in an omni-channel approach to business, and has built its business online as well as in traditional retail. Before starting Ugly, Hugh worked at Vita Coco in Europe, leading bra

S2, episode 1 | William Reeve, CEO Goodlord

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 7 Jan 2021 16:00:10 +0000

In season 2, episode 1, Simon talks to William Reeve. William is CEO of fast growth technology business Goodlord, a role he's held since 2018. Alongside this, he's non-Exec Chairman of Nutmeg and non-Exec Director at Dunelm PLC. William is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded Fletcher Research, LOVEFiLM.com, and Secret Escapes. He is also an experienced angel investor.

Episode 60 | Pippa Murray, Founder Pip & Nut

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 10:00:04 +0000

In episode 60, Simon talks to Pippa Murray. Pip Murray, 32, is the Founder of Pip & Nut, an award-winning food brand that launched to market in January 2015. Over the last five years, she’s been shaking up the healthy food and drink sector with her range of naturally nutritious nut butters and recently launched nut butter cups. Pip & Nut is now the fastest growing nut butter brand in the UK and is a certified B corporation.

As a self-confessed peanut butter addict, Pip had the inspiration for the brand after searching, unsuccessfully, in the supermarkets for a range of peanut butters that were free from palm oil. With no options available, she started making her own natural range of products in her kitchen with her blender, before trailing them at Maltby Street Market. Today Pip & Nut can be found in over 5,500 stores around the UK and Ireland. Her mission for the brand is to help people love food that loves them and break down the perception that choosing a ‘better for you’ option has to feel like a sacrifice.

Amongst other accolades, Pip was most recently named in the Evening Standard Progress 1000, London’s Most Influential People 2019 and the ‘Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Natwest Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

Episode 59 | Nick Telson, Founder of Horseplay Ventures & DesignMyNight

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 16:00:04 +0000

In episode 59, Simon talks to Nick Telson. Nick co-founded DesignMyNight 10 years ago. Coming from a marketing background at L’Oreal, where he launched 2 brands in the UK, he grew DesignMyNight into 8 million views a month website with three ground-breaking B2B hospitality systems with over 15,000 customers. DesignMyNight was acquired by The Access Group in November 2017. He now hosts a top 10 global business podcast, Pitch Deck and has founded a new spin on venture for startups; Horseplay Ventures - a Startup Playground, where he has already invested in 25 startups in the UK and US.

Episode 58 | John Elkington, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder at Volans Ventures

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 18:00:08 +0000

In episode 58, Simon talks to John Elkington, Co-Founder & Chief Pollinator at Volans. John is one of the founders of the global sustainability movement, an experienced advisor to business, and a highly regarded keynote speaker and contributor, from conferences to advisory boards.

In 2008, The Evening Standard named John among the ‘1000 Most Influential People’ in London, describing him as “a true green business guru”, and as “an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable”. In 2009, a CSR International survey of the Top 100 CSR leaders placed John fourth: after Al Gore, Barack Obama and the late Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, and alongside Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank.

John has addressed over 1,000 conferences around the world. He was a faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008. He has served on over 70 boards and advisory boards. John has won numerous awards and is the author or co-author of 19 books. The 20th book was published in April: Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism (Fast Company Press).

Episode 57 | Norris Koppel, Founder & CEO at Monese

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 12:00:00 +0000

In episode 57, Simon talks to Norris Koppel. Norris is Founder & CEO of the European banking service Monese. He launched Monese in 2015, after his first-hand experience of the hassle involved with opening a bank account in a new country. With its multi-currency current accounts that are available in 31 countries, Monese enables people to bank like a local across the UK and Europe.

Since 2007, Norris has co-founded and built a number of fintech companies. He is passionate about financial education and is founder of the Artha Foundation that focusses on educating children about money.

Episode 56 | Jeff Rotmeyer, Founder at ImpactHK and Love 21 Foundation

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 6 Dec 2020 19:00:05 +0000

In episode 56, Simon talks to Jeff Rotmeyer. Jeff Rotmeyer is the Founder and CEO of ImpactHK, a charity transforming the lives of the homeless in Hong Kong.

ImpactHK started with just a few individuals wanting to show kindness to those in need. It has now grown into a humanitarian movement, involving thousands of participants, that is truly saving lives. Jeff is also the Founder and CEO of Love 21 Foundation, a charity supporting the down syndrome and autistic community with sport and nutritional programmes.

Originally from Vancouver Canada, Jeff has lived in Hong Kong for 14 years and spent his first 13 years teaching in a government primary school. Jeff is dedicated to living a meaningful life through social work and is passionate about making positive impact for those in need.

Episode 55 | Rich Goldsmith, Founder MOJU

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 19:00:02 +0000

In Episode 55, Simon talks to Rich Goldsmith. Rich founded MOJU in 2015, alongside his best mate, Charlie Leet-Cook. Rich has a degree in Engineering and worked in commercial and finance roles before discovering his passion for innovation in food & beverage. MOJU has grown from a craft juice made in a home kitchen and sold at local markets and music festivals, into the market leader of juice shots and the fastest growing brand in the UK juice & smoothie category.

Rich is forever fascinated by how things work and connecting the dots. He’s a huge believer in the power of collaboration and the ability of teams to bring big ideas to life, that has the potential to help drive positive societal change. Rich was named a Young Gun in the startups.co.uk awards in 2018 and is a steering committee member of 1% for the Planet, a community of businesses that donate 1% of their annual sales to environmental impact causes.

Episode 54 | Jeff Lynn, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Seedrs

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 19:00:03 +0000

In episode 54, Simon talks to Jeff Lynn. One of the world's largest platforms for investing in private companies. He also serves as Chairman of The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), a non-profit advocacy group for UK startups and scaleups. Jeff began his career as a corporate lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York and London. He has been named one of the 100 most influential men in the UK by GQ and one of the 10 coolest people in tech by Business Insider.

Episode 53, James Chase, Director at Chase Distillery

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 09:30:21 +0000

In episode 53, Simon talks to James Chase. As a member of the family that invented Tyrrell’s Crisps in the nineties before going on to found Chase Distillery in 2008, it is little wonder that entrepreneurialism is in James Chase’s blood.

The Director at Chase Distillery cut his teeth on the family farm, helping his father to challenge the status quo of the spirits industry. They did this by adopting a unique field-to-bottle process, using the potatoes grown on the farm to distill into vodka and then gin.

James was inspired having spent time in the USA, where he witnessed the success of the hard seltzer market; catering for the demand for alcoholic drinks with lower calories that were still big on flavour.

Episode 52 | Angelina Riccio and Tenna Anette, Founders of Purearth

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 8 Nov 2020 20:59:59 +0000

In episode 52, Simon talks Angelina Riccio and Tenna Anette. The pair turned their back on a fast paced, party lifestyle after a case of burn-out inspired them to create products that would actively benefit the wellbeing of themselves and their families. Prior to Purearth, Angelina became an entrepreneur at a young age, founding a global modeling agency Reality Check Management, whilst Tenna is an ex-event manager at Sketch.

The pair, who became flatmates for over a year and a half to help support the business, produce cold-pressed juices, water kefir’s, and more recently, CBD shots which have helped achieve a 61% annual growth year on year. They work with industry-leading scientists such as Dr. Gabriel Cousens and David Wolfe to help identify new superfoods that can boost immunity and protect people from illness – especially relevant in today’s world.

Episode 51 | Duro Oye, Award-Winning Social Entrepreneur and Filmmaker

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 1 Nov 2020 21:00:04 +0000

In episode 51, Simon talks to Duro Oye. Duro is a London based award-winning social entrepreneur and filmmaker. Duro is Chief Executive of 2020 Change a youth empowerment organisation focused on the social mobility of young people from low socio-economic backgrounds. He strongly believes that every young person should have the opportunity to live to their fullest potential.

Oye’s national recognition came in 2013 after he raised £50k to fund his first independent film project ‘247365 Change’. Since then he has worked on documentary film projects with The BBC's ‘County lines, Teenage Drug Runners’ & Channel 5 ‘Gangland Season 1 & 2.

2020 Change’s flagship programme ‘I Am Change’ which runs in prisons, schools and local communities across London, uses alternative education in a unique way to engage young people in interactive workshops and seminars about discovering purpose, potential and most importantly their unique identity.

Episode 50 | Mads Faurholt, Serial Entrepreneur & Bestselling Author

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 18:00:06 +0000

In Episode 50, Simon talks to Mads Faurholt. Mads is a serial entrepreneur and best selling author. He has started over 20 companies across technology, financial services, marketing, HR and education, with thousands of employees, and investors such as Goldman Sachs, Alibaba, Peter Thiel and the World Bank. Prior to starting his current company, Nova Founders Capital, Mads was Global Partner and Managing Director of the German internet giant, Rocket Internet; Head of Asia at Groupon (the world’s fastest-growing company), and Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company. Mads received his bachelor from Copenhagen Business School at the shortest time ever recorded while managing a sales team of 50 and subsequently took his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Episode 49 | Mark Tilbury, Entrepreneur and Social Media Influencer

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 19:00:04 +0000

In episode 49, Simon talks to Mark Tilbury. Mark left school at 16 with no qualifications and no money. No one believed in him especially his teachers. His first job was making wooden trashcans and it paid less than $2 per hour. Mark's manager bullied him and gave him all the bad jobs. He decided to quit and start his own business, it was a big risk. 30 years later, he runs a million-dollar business. Mark has grossed over 50 million. He has the house of his dreams, but most importantly has the freedom to spend time with his family.

Mark is now helping entrepreneurs become financially free as well!

Episode 48 | Sonalie Figueiras, Founder & Editor-In-Chief Green Queen Media

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 17:00:05 +0000

In episode 48, Simon talks to Sonalie Figueiras. Sonalie is the founder & editor-in-chief of Green Queen, an award-winning impact media platform advocating for social & environmental change in Hong Kong with a mission to shift consumer behaviour through inspiring & empowering original content.
She is also the founder & CEO of Ekowarehouse, the global sourcing platform for certified organic products, with a mission to make safe, quality food accessible & affordable for the whole planet. With over a decade of experience in publishing, digital marketing, organic trade and health & sustainability, she is an eco wellness industry veteran with a keen eye for market trends and a sought-after international speaker and moderator, sharing her expertise on stages across Asia and beyond, including TEDx and Harvard Business School.

Episode 47 | Jenny Knighting, Founder of Nutcracker Agency

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sun, 4 Oct 2020 18:00:07 +0000

In episode 47, Simon talks to Jenny Knighting. Jenny has worked with a number of ambitious start-up’s, leading commercial strategy and making bold business growth plans a reality. With a wealth of experience in media, manufacturing, services and events, Jenny brings a unique creativity and perspective to every launch, scale and strategy. As founder and CEO of Nutcracker Agency, Jenny has led her team to win multiple awards, including finalist in the Best New Business at The National Business Awards. Since launching Nutcracker in 2014, the business has grown 60% year on year, helping countless clients in a wide range of industries to fulfil their vision through targeted, exciting and results-driven marketing.

Episode 46 | Paul Smitton, CEO & Managing Director at Asia Miles

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 17:00:04 +0000

In episode 46, Simon talks to Paul Smitton. Paul is the CEO and Managing Director for Asia's leading travel and lifestyle rewards programme, with more than 12 million members and over 800 programme partners worldwide. Responsible for 200+ team members delivering the P&L for this important business unit.

Episode 45 | Bernard Moon, Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Group

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 16:00:04 +0000

In episode 45, Simon talks to Bernard Moon. He is the Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Group, which is a network of startup accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in over 280 companies across the globe. Previously, he was Co-founder & CEO of Vidquik, a web conferencing & sales solutions platform. Bernard was a Managing Director at the Lunsford Group, which is a private investment firm with holdings in real estate, healthcare and other industries. Bernard was Co-founder & VP of Business Development of GoingOn Networks, a social media platform for companies, and also led their product development where BusinessWeek recognised them in their "Best of the Web" list.

Episode 44 | Sophie Baron, Founder of Mamamade

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 16:00:08 +0000

In episode 44, Simon talks to Sophie Baron. Sophie is the Founder of UK based parent/baby digital start-up Mamamade; a fast growing direct-to-consumer business. With the use of AI Mamamade creates bespoke nutrient-dense meals for children aged 6-36 months.Originally from New York, Sophie ventured to the UK to undertake a PhD at London School of Economics before becoming Head of Operations at a tech company.

Episode 43 | Dr Margaret Kalmeta, Founder & CTO of BioRegentech

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 9 Sep 2020 17:00:09 +0000

In episode 43, Simon talks to Dr Kalmeta. She presently completed a 25 month international chronic wound project in which her company, BioRegentech, successfully transferred its technology: successfully tested all prototypes of advanced wound medical devices, active substrates, and the associated protocols. This work was a dedication to humanity to prevent one of humanity's greatest suffering, limb amputations. Under Dr. Kalmeta leadership, BioRegentech has grown and currently has 2 divisions: Advanced Wounds and COVID 19.

Every 22 seconds, a leg is amputated and 85% of these amputations are the result of a diabetic foot ulcer. BioRegentech is a new life science company that has developed disruptive technology that can completely heal these open wounds by growing up to four layers of fresh tissue, a completely impossible task for modern medicine. Our mission is to give doctors our advanced tools in order to prevent further amputations, which are especially prevalent in the disproportionately affected populations.

Episode 42 | Hayley Peacock, Founder & Head of Atelier 21 School

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 2 Sep 2020 17:00:17 +0000

In episode 42, Simon talks to Hayley Peacock. She is the Managing Director and Owner of Little Barn Owls Nursery group in West Sussex, her Horsham setting being awarded Nursery World UK Nursery of the Year in 2015/16. Her three nurseries are Reggio Emilia Inspired Forest and Farm Schools, the largest being based on a farm and is home to 20 animals including pigs, chickens and ducks that children look after every day, and another bring a full time forest school.

Hayley’s newest and most exciting project is the opening of ATELIER 21 FUTURE SCHOOL – a revolutionary new school for children 4-16 years old which is planned to open in September 2020 which will be inspired by project -based learning, Guy Claxton’s Learning Power Approach and the Reggio Emilia Approach. A blend of academic workshops, outdoor learning through Wild Friday’s and time for Self – Directed Learning and Entrepreneurship projects gives pupils a holistic, experiential education where they are supported and developed to make progress in the skills they will need to compete and thrive in the 21st Century.

Episode 41 | Spencer Matthews Founder & CEO of Clean Liquor Co

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 15:00:17 +0000

In Episode 41, Simon talks to Spencer Matthews. Spencer is the Founder & CEO of The Clean Liquor Co and keen investor in start-ups and early growth companies. The development of The Clean Liquor Co. has been a long and personal journey. CleanGin - their first product, represents everything they stand for, a complex and beautifully produced liquid in a stunning bottle that will stand the test of time as a classic drink.

Why Clean? Spencer felt that describing what they offer as “Clean” was a more positive approach than the often negative connotation surrounding No & Low alcohol. It makes for an easier bar call and more sense for people like me who drink less, or not at all as part of a cleaner lifestyle. They strive to create the most authentic products in this exciting new category and will continue to experiment across other key spirits and more.

Episode 40 | Frederick Demopoulos, Founder of Queen's Road Capital

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:00:17 +0000

In episode 40, Simon talks to Frederick "Fritz" Demopoulos. He has been an entrepreneur and investor within the media and internet industries for over 10 years. He co-founded Qunar.com, China's largest travel internet company; and Shawei.com, China's largest sports internet company. Fritz also had senior positions at Netease and The News Corporation.

Episode 39 | Maximilian Von Poelnitz, Founder & CEO of NOSH

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 17:00:05 +0000

In Episode 39, Simon speaks to Maximilian Von Poelnitz. Maximilian is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and start up advisor. He has spent 10 years in Asia both in Hong Kong and Singapore. Following business school at INSEAD, he launched his first venture in food e-commerce in 2011.

By 2015, his 4th start up - delivery only cloud kitchen NOSH - received funding from Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund. More recently, he started a food tech fund called New Territory Ventures that focuses on angel investments in the future of food. Max is passionate about food tech, supply chain management software, and alternative food sources.

Episode 38 | Jonathan Sattin, Founder of triyoga

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 19:00:03 +0000

In episode 38, Simon talks to Jonathan Sattin. He is founder of triyoga – London’s leading centre for yoga, pilates and treatments. In 1985, Jonathan was a senior partner in his own west end law practice – and relied on coffee and cigarettes to deal with stress until a colleague introduced him to yoga.

He launched triyoga having raised the funds via a group of investors. David Svendsen, who was then Chairman of Microsoft, was a supporter from early on triyoga which was founded in Primrose Hill in 2000. There are now centres in Camden, Soho, Chelsea, Ealing and Shoreditch.

Episode 37 | Sara Jane Ho | Etiquette Expert & Founder, Institute Sarita

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 5 Aug 2020 20:00:02 +0000

In Episode 37, Simon speaks to Sarah Jane Ho. Sara opened China’s first finishing school in Beijing in 2012.

Inspired by her mother whom she saw create magic moments and give people a sense of belonging through entertaining, Sara continued her legacy by combining her passion for social with a market need in China for etiquette.

She is empowering women in China to live a more confident and positive life at work and home.

Episode 36 | Peter Goodman | Co-founder and CEO of Aventus

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 20:00:06 +0000

In episode 36, Simons talks to Peter Goodman. Peter is an entrepreneur, investor, mentor and avid golfer.

Since selling Brighter Option (http://social.com) Peter is now taking on the insurance world with a new start up Aventus.

Episode 35 | Adele Lim | Television Producer and Screenwriter

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:59:59 +0000

Adele is a Malaysian-born American film and television producer and screenwriter for the 2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians. She has also given her support to young writers as mentor and speaker to the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE).

Adele is known for her writing on TV series such as One Tree Hill, Life Unexpected, Reign, Star-Crossed, Private Practice and Lethal Weapon. She is also best known for being recruited by Disney to develop an animated feature film "Raya and the Last Dragon", which is coming soon.

Episode 34 | Girish Jhunjhnuwala | Founder of Ovolo Hotels

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 20:00:06 +0000

In episode 34, Simon talks to Girish Jhunjhnuwala. Girish is the entrepreneur, founder and visionary behind Ovolo Hotels in Hong Kong and Australia.

In 2002, he quite literally stumbled into his first service apartment, bringing a new, refreshed outlook on the definition of modern hospitality.

Since then, Girish has continued to challenge industry conventions, riding the wave of change by transitioning into a boutique hotel brand in October 2010. Under Girish’s leadership, Ovolo has grown into a diversified international brand with a collection of ten designer properties.

Episode 33 | David Yeung | Co-founder and CEO of Green Monday

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 23:00:04 +0000

In episode 33, Simon talks to David Yeung. David has pioneered a one-of-a-kind integrated platform that engages and empowers millions of people, along with public and private sectors, towards green awareness, action and economy. His work earns him the award of “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” by the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation. Other honors and recognitions include “Roddenberry Prize” and “Ten Outstanding Young Persons Hong Kong”.

As an iconic environmentalist and entrepreneur, David has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Milken Institute Summit, TEDx, as well as financial and academic institutions such as Credit Suisse, UBS and UCLA. He is a graduate of Columbia University, an Ashoka Fellow and the author of a number of best-selling books on Zen wisdom and mindfulness.

Episode 32 | Chris Kyme | Co-founder & Creative Director of Kyme Chow

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 9 Jul 2020 23:00:24 +0000

In episode 32, Simon talks to Chris Kyme. Chris has spent over 25 years in Asia with multi-national agencies including Leo Burnett, Grey and FCB.

He was the Regional Creative Director and a member of the worldwide creative board at FCB. He has created some of Hong Kong's best loved ads, trained many of today's creative talents, and produced award-winning work from just about any agency he has worked at, including Kymechow!

Episode 31 | Angie Lau | Founder & CEO of Forkast News

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 8 Jul 2020 23:00:01 +0000

In episode 31, Simon talks to Angie Lau. She is the CEO & founder of Forkast News. As an award-winning 20+ year veteran in broadcast journalism, Angie is most recognized for her role as Bloomberg Television’s Asia anchor of “First Up with Angie Lau” where she’s collected 10,000+ interviews in her career, including some of the top newsmakers and business leaders in the world.

Episode 30 | Karena Belin | CEO & Co-Founder WHub, Co-Founder & CFO AngelHub

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Tue, 7 Jul 2020 23:00:01 +0000

In episode 30, Simon talks to Karena Belin. She co-founded W Hub out of passion for entrepreneurs and startups to make a difference to the growth of the ecosystem, believing in startups to drive innovation and improving the world we live in. In line with this passion, Karena also co-founded AngelHub, HK's first SFC-licensed startup investment platform for professional investors and global startups raising growth capital.

Episode 29 | Lavine Hemlani | Co-founder & CEO of Xccelerate

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Mon, 6 Jul 2020 23:00:01 +0000

In episode 29, Simon talks to Lavine Hemlani. Founder and CEO of Xccelerate, a leading ed-tech and future of work company headquartered in HK with 5,000+ alumni across Asia. Xccelerate is founded on the vision that the greatest opportunity for improving lives is education and addresses the colossal talent and skills challenges in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Software Engineering, Blockchain and Design.

Xccelerate drives outcomes for individuals, enterprises and governments fin
by leveraging expert instructors, proprietary curriculum and learning software. Prior to Xccelerate, Lavine co-founded FLYR and worked with deep learning start-up Thread Genius (acquired by Sotheby’s). Lavine began his career in investment banking in NYC at Lazard’s Mergers & Acquisitions division (M&A) and held investment roles at the following funds: Atlas Capital, Marwar Capital and Union Park Capital.

Lavine also serves as Vice President of the Artificial Intelligence Society of HK, Board of Directors of the 24 Hour Race, the largest global movement against modern slavery and President of Founders Circle, an eco-system of leading entrepreneurs scaling their impact.

Episode 28 | Hernán Zanghellini | Founder of Zanghellini & Holt

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 2 Jul 2020 14:01:45 +0000

In episode 28, Simons talks to Hernán Zanghellini. Hernan is the founder of Zanghellini & Holt (ZHA)which is an Architectural & Interior Design consultancy specialising in high quality hospitality and F&B projects.

Born in Chile in 1959, Hernan obtained his architectural degree from the Faculty of Architecture & Urban Design of the University of Chile in 1983, and immediately set up his own design studio working mainly in residential projects. In 1986 he emigrated to Australia where he developed concept designs for urban and resort projects in South East Asia. Prompting his move to Brunei in 1993 where he worked on large residential projects whilst started to design restaurants in Hong Kong as a hobby.

In 1996 Hernan settled in Hong Kong working originally for The Hong Kong Brewing and Restaurants Co. before establishing Zanghellini & Holt Associates in 1998. Since then, ZHA has participated in the design and opening of over 650 restaurants throughout Asia.

Episode 27 | Yat Siu | Co-founder & Chairman, Animoca Brands, Founder & CEO, Outblaze

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 1 Jul 2020 20:00:01 +0000

In Episode 27, Simon talks to Yat Siu. Yat Siu is a technology entrepreneur/investor based in Hong Kong. He is co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, a company focusing on leveraging popular brands, gamification, AI, blockchain, and mobile technology to make engaging apps ranging from games to fitness solutions.

Yat is a director for TurnOut Ventures, a partnership between Outblaze and Turner Entertainment that brought to prominence the hugely popular emoticon character Tuzki. In 2017 he set up the Dalton Learning Lab, a digital lab environment that supplements Hong Kong students with skills not emphasized by the local education system, including divergent thinking and design thinking.

Yat has earned numerous accolades including Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the DHL/SCMP Awards.

A classically trained musician, Yat is a member of the advisory board of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and a director of the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Episode 26 | Douglas Young | Co-Founder of G.O.D

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 20:00:02 +0000

In Episode 26, Simon talks to Douglas Young. Douglas Young was born in Hong Kong. He grew up in the UK and now he has the best of both worlds! He is the Co-Founder and designer of an iconic brand called G.O.D.

Douglas turns everyday subjects into truly extraordinary objects with humour and creativity. During the podcast, he shares his views on luck, business and his thoughts on living in Hong Kong. He found a partner that has different skills to him and together they have built a unique Hong Kong brand which has now been active for 24 years.

Episode 25 | Sojin Lee | Founder of Toshi

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 20:00:12 +0000

In Episode 25, Simon talks to Sojin Lee. Sojin is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and founder of Toshi. She believes today's consumer lifestyle is geared to the on-demand economy in all elements of their lives, with convenience at its core.

The evolution of retail is Home Services and for this reason she launched Toshi with the intention of providing the last mile to last metre solution for retail brands. Toshi brings in-store services directly to the customer, at home, on-demand. Toshi bridges the online and offline experience today by providing an additional channel for brands to physically reach their customers.

Episode 24 | Saasha Celestial-One | Co-founder & COO of Olio

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:41:57 +0000

In Episode 24, Simon talks to Saasha Celestial-One. She is the co-founder and COO of OLIO, a free app harnessing the power of mobile technology and the sharing economy to provide a revolutionary solution to the problem of food waste, which is the 3rd largest contributor to the climate crisis. OLIO is empowered by 50k+ volunteers. 2m users have successfully shared over 4.2m portions of food in 49 countries.

Before OLIO, Saasha spent 13 years at Morgan Stanley, McKinsey & American Express. Saasha has an MBA from Stanford, is mum to 7-year-old Nolan, and the proud daughter of hippy entrepreneurs.

Episode 23 | Rachael Flanagan | founder & CEO of Mrs.Buckét

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 3 Jun 2020 23:36:42 +0000

Rachael Flanagan has been an entrepreneur from the age of 18 when she founded Mrs.Buckét Commercial Cleaning Services. In this episode she shares her insights on building a business from scratch and how important purpose is in business today.

The Good Luck Club is a podcast and video series that focuses on the idea that luck is an ingredient that's absolutely necessary in order to have a successful life and business.
#Luck #Insights #podcast

In each episode of The Good Luck Club we invite an entrepreneur or change-maker to share their journey to success. For most, it’s never a straightforward one, and there’s much inspiration and learnings in the struggles they’ve been through along the way. And, as our name suggests, we’ll also dive into their stories about luck; the good and the bad, and its role in success.

Connect @ Linkedin: http://bit.ly/2vFY3Cp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodLuckpodcast
Socialize @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodLuckClub...
Snap @ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodluckclu...

If you enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends.

Subscribe to The Good Luck Club channel https://bit.ly/2xzfHZS

We always reply to comments, so please let us know what you think below! Thanks for watching.

—————

About our host Simon Squibb

Simon is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, motivational speaker, and mentor. He has started 17 businesses, invested in over 65, and has mentored hundreds of founders. Having sold his award-winning insight-driven branding and digital agency, Fluid, to PwC, Simon now focuses on inspiring, motivating and guiding both budding and experienced entrepreneurs by sharing his personal experiences, insights, ideas and tips on his website simonsquibb.com and through his social channels.

Watch @ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/simonsquibb
Connect @ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonsquibb/
Invest @ AngelList: https://angel.co/simonsquibb
Socialize @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimonASquibb/
Debate @ Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonsquibb
Dance @ TikTok: https//tiktok.com/simonsquibb8
Snap @ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonsquibb/

Episode 22 | Deborah Kan | Founder, Being Patient

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 27 May 2020 18:15:25 +0000

About Deborah Kan

Deborah is an award-winning journalist and media entrepreneur. She spent five years as executive producer of video for the Wall Street Journal where she oversaw the expansion of multi-media throughout Asia. Deborah interviewed many business and political leaders throughout her career, including Google’s Eric Schmidt when she broke the story of Google’s criticism of the U.S. National Security Agency. She has also covered exclusive stories, including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s historic trip to North Korea, when she was selected as the only journalist from Asia to cover the story. Deborah is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She founded Being Patient after her mom’s Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis to reinvent how people get accurate information on long-term illness, pioneering a community-driven editorial strategy. When not working, she can be found on a running trail or covering mom duties for her three children.

➜ Connect to Deborah Kan via https://www.beingpatient.com/team/deborah-kan/
➜ Please leave a comment below, it's like oxygen to get your feedback.
➜ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/simonsquibb

About GLC
The Good Luck Club is a podcast and video series that focuses on the idea that luck is an ingredient that's absolutely necessary in order to have a successful life and business.

Connect @ Linkedin: http://bit.ly/2vFY3Cp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodLuckpodcast
Socialize @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodLuckClubPODCAST
Snap @ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodluckclubpodcast

If you enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends.

Subscribe to The Good Luck Club channel https://bit.ly/2xzfHZS

We always reply to comments, so please let us know what you think below! Thanks for watching.

—————

About our host Simon Squibb

Episode 21 | Adele Parks | Bestselling Author

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 20 May 2020 13:15:49 +0000

In Episode 21, Simon speaks to Adele Parks, who is one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women’s fiction writers in the UK. Adele has sold over 3.5 million books in the UK alone and her books have been translated into 26 different languages.

➜ Grab Adele's latest book 'Just My Luck" via https://www.adeleparks.com/
➜ Please leave a comment below, it's like oxygen to get your feedback.
➜ Subscribe to our host's YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/simonsquibb

About Adele Parks:

Adele was born in Teesside, NE England. Since graduating from Leicester University, where she studied English Language and Literature, she has worked in advertising and as a management consultant. In 2010 she was proud to be awarded an honorary doctorate of Letters from Teesside University.

She always dreamed of being a writer and her first novel - Playing Away - was published in 2000; that year the Evening Standard identified her as one of London’s ‘Twenty Faces to Watch’.

Just My Luck, Adele's latest book is available via https://www.adeleparks.com/

She likes to keep busy and is pretty flattered when described as one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women’s fiction writers in the UK, Three and a half million copies of her UK editions have been sold and I’m translated into 26 different languages. she has published 20 novels in 20 years, and she says she is lucky that they've all hit the bestseller lists!

Her past titles include:

Playing Away (2000)
Game Over (2001)
Larger Than Life (2002)
The Other Woman’s Shoes (2003)
Still Thinking Of You (2004)
Husbands (2005)
Young Wives' Tales (2007)
Happy Families (2008)
Tell Me Something (2009)
Love Lies (2009)
Men I've Loved Before (2010)
About Last Night (2011)
Whatever It Takes (2012)
The State We're In (2013)
Spare Brides (2014)
If You Go Away (2015)
Love Is A Journey (2016)
The Stranger In My Home (2016)
The Image of You (2017)
I Invited Her In (2018)
Lies Lies Lies (2019)
Just My Luck (released in May 2020)

About Simon Squibb:

#simonsquibb #founder #advice

Connect @ www.simonsquibb.com
Watch @ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/simonsquibb
Meet @ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonsquibb/
Invest @ AngelList: https://angel.co/simonsquibb
Socialize @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimonASquibb/
Debate @ Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonsquibb
Dance @ TikTok: https//tiktok.com/simonsquibb8
Snap @ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonsquibb/

About The Good Luck Club

The Good Luck Club is a podcast and video series that focuses on the idea that luck is an ingredient that's absolutely necessary in order to have a successful life and business.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends.

Subscribe to The Good Luck Club YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2xzfHZS

Episode 20 | Dr. Christina Dean | Founder | Redress and The R Collective

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 13 May 2020 21:02:00 +0000

In Episode 20, Simon talks to Dr Christina Dean, Founder of Redress and The R Collective.

Christina is a sustainable fashion advocate and founder of Redress and The R Collective. Redress was founded in 2007, and is a charity whose mission is to reduce waste in the fashion industry. The R Collective, founded in 2017, is a social impact upcycled fashion brand, which creates sustainable luxury fashion using luxury brands' waste materials and debuted in Barneys New York and Lane Crawford.

Christina is also an award-winning journalist, having written opinion pieces for CNN Style, Huffington Post and China Daily, and is widely quoted in VOGUE, BBC, New York Times, Forbes and Bloomberg Business Week. She hosted the TV documentary Frontline Fashion I and 2 and her TEDx talk, ‘You Are What You Wear’ has been widely watched. Christina has received numerous recognitions, including by UK Vogue as one of the UK’s ‘Top 30 Inspirational Women’. She currently splits her time between Hong Kong and London.

➜ Please leave a comment below, it's like oxygen to get your feedback.
➜ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/simonsquibb

About Simon Squibb

About The Good Luck Club

The Good Luck Club is a podcast and video series that focuses on the idea that luck is an ingredient that's absolutely necessary in order to have a successful life and business.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends.

Subscribe to The Good Luck Club channel https://bit.ly/2xzfHZS

#TheRCollective #founder #advice

Episode 19 | Carolyn Cowan | Entrepreneur, psychosexual & relationship therapist, Yoga teacher

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 6 May 2020 20:22:12 +0000

In Episode 19, Simon speaks to lifetime entrepreneur Carolyn Cowan, who is a psychosexual and relationship therapist, Kundalini Yoga teacher and Teacher Trainer amongst other things. Before becoming a therapist, Carolyn was a fashion designer and photographer, and earned acclaim as a makeup artist in the pop music video industry.

In this open and honest interview, Carolyn shares her story of highs and lows as a entrepreneur and former addict. She will inspire you, as well as remind you that we must all be open to telling our true story and be our authentic self.

///

About Carolyn Cowan

Carolyn is Psychosexual Therapist specialising in couples, pre & post natal, addiction, trauma recovery. She runs workshops in various subjects in the UK and abroad.

➜ Connect with Carolyn Cowan: https://carolyncowan.com/
➜ Learn more about Carolyn Cowan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Cowan
➜ Please leave a comment below, it's like oxygen to get your feedback.
➜ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/simonsquibb

About Simon Squibb
#simonsquibb #founder #advice

Episode 17 | Rutger Bruining | Founder & CEO | StoryTerrace

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 19:10:45 +0000

In Episode 17, Simon talks to Rutger Bruining, the founder of Story Terrace, a personal biography service that helps people turn their life story into a book. You might recognise Rutger from his appearance on the BBC's Dragon Den in April 2019, where he secured a deal with Dragon, @Tej Lalvani. Rutger talks about his Dragon Den's experience, why he eventually turned down Tej Lalvani's offer, how he got the idea for Story Terrace, why it took him so long to finally start his own business and his own encounter with the SARS virus in China in 2003.

Episode 16 | Simon Loong | Founder & Group CEO | WeLab Bank

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 19:41:53 +0000

In Episode 16, Simon sits down with Simon Loong, the inspirational and forward-thinking founder and Group CEO of WeLab to hear his journey to building WeLab into one of the world's largest Fintech startups with over 43m customers (and he's just getting started!)

➜ WeLab: https://www.welab.co/en
➜ Check out the Q&A with Simon Loong via https://youtu.be/5KVOz3NJR94
➜ Simon Loong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-loong/
➜ Let's talk business! Please leave a comment below for all of us at GLC. We will always reply.
➜ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGzn...

Our guest this week is Simon Loong is the Founder and Group CEO of WeLab.

WeLab is the leading fintech company in Asia with one of the first virtual banks established in Hong Kong. WeLab provides financial services by creating seamless digital experiences to over 40 million individual customers, and also provides B2B enterprise solutions to traditional financial institutions which utilise WeLab’s technology to offer fintech-enabled services to their customers. WeLab operates WeLend and WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, Wolaidai (我来贷), Taoxinji (淘新机) and Tianmian Lab (天冕) in Mainland China and a fintech joint venture AWDA in Indonesia.

Prior to founding WeLab, Simon spent 15 years in retail banking divisions of Citibank and Standard Chartered. Simon has a Master of Science in Management (MSM) from Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Simon serves as an advisor to many professional organizations including Shenzhen Consumer Council, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and was also a founding Board Member on the FinTech Association of Hong Kong. Simon has received several awards in recognition of his achievements including 2016 "CEO of the Year" by Capital CEO, 2017 “Innovation Leadership Achievement in Hong Kong” by The Asian Banker, 2018 "The InnoStars Award" by Our Hong Kong Foundation and “The World Outstanding Chinese Youth Entrepreneur Award”. Simon has also been named as “one of the 20 people shaping Hong Kong’s future” in the next 20 years by leading Chinese media outlet, YiCai.

///
Simon is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, motivational speaker, mentor and recently sold his leading global branding and digital agency fluid (HQed in Hong Kong + China), to PwC.

He is currently the subject of SimonSquibb.com, an online business series highlighting what it’s like to be an experienced entrepreneur who knows luck is vital to it all. He is also the host of #GoodLuckClub Podcast, a business and advice Q&A show online that gets real about what is success and how luck plays a part in everything.

Good Luck Club // Subscribe: www.GoodLuckPod.com
Simon Squibb // Subscribe: www.simonsquibb.com

Episode 15 | Malcolm Wood | Founder | Maximal Concepts & Adventure Athlete

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 8 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Our guest this week is serial entrepreneur and adventure athlete, Malcolm Wood. Malcolm is the founder of A Plastic Ocean / The Last Glaciers / Maximal Concepts.

Malcolm is a reputable influence in the F&B industry. His passion for design and food led him to co-found the multi award-winning Maximal Concepts, a hospitality group that has created and owned over twenty individual brands and has restaurants in numerous international locations. In addition to acting as Culinary Director, Malcolm is also Global Managing Director. Maximal Concepts is one of the fastest growing F&B companies in the world and one of the most awarded in Asia.

Malcolm is heavily influenced by his love for the environment and often engages with conservation projects. A passionate environmental filmmaker and social entrepreneur, he has been on the Board of Directors for several charities and is actively involved in their various projects, including Plastic Oceans Foundation, Hong Kong Shark Foundation and Skeena Wild. His involvement includes the world-renowned production “A Plastic Ocean”, which was one of the most awarded documentaries in 2017 and more recently, “The Last Glaciers”, a film that highlights the global issue of climate change.

Teaming up with several different individuals including the world renowned, Director and Producer Craig Leeson, Malcolm’s goal is to release a set of environmental films over the next few years to highlight the many global environmental issues we are facing. Not only do they highlight key environmental issues, but the solutions that are available as well, playing an important role in individual and government environmental policy making. He has recently been selected as the first paraglider, speedflyer and film maker to join UN Environment’s campaign ‘Mountain Heroes’. The team consist of a group of other famous athletes such as Canadian ice-climber Will Gadd, Austrian cyclist Michael Strasser, Kenyan Olympic skier Sabrina Simader and adventurer Ben Fogle, helping to draw attention to emerging environmental issues in mountains including climate change, waste and biodiversity loss.

Episode 14 | NiQ Lai | Co-owner & CEO | Hong Kong Broadband Network

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 1 Apr 2020 11:41:37 +0000

➜ Our guest this week is NiQ Lai, CEO of Hong Kong Broadband Network: https://www.hkbn.net/personal/home/tc/landing
➜ Let's talk business! Please leave a comment below. We will always reply.
➜ Subscribe for inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGznz4NfW5iymkvn1l40qyA?sub_confirmation=1

NiQ Lai is an inspirational leader. He leads by caring with HKBN's model of 'doing good and doing well' and highlights that these two things can work together.

HKBN is Hong Kong’s second largest Residential Fibre Broadband service provider. Named by Speedtest as Hong Kong’s fastest Internet Service Provider, HKBN delivers exceptionally stable and fast broadband at competitive prices.

With over 6,000 'talents' in the HKBN eco-system they are motivated to care about their customers and their co-workers by a common purpose.

We can all learn a few things from NiQ, his amazing team and his company ethos! Any questions about this business model pioneered by HKBN and how they are coping with the Coronavirus, let us know.

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About the Podcast host: Simon Squibb is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, motivational speaker, mentor and recently sold his leading global branding and digital agency fluid (HQed in Hong Kong + China), to PwC.

Good Luck Club // Subscribe: www.GoodLuckPod.com
Simon Squibb // Subscribe: www.simonsquibb.com

Episode 13 | Jonathan Zeman | Entrepreneur & CEO | LKF Group Hong Kong

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 17:33:32 +0000

In Episode 13, Simon sits down with Jonathan Zeman, the CEO of LKF Group to hear about how he's navigated becoming part of and then driving and diversifying a well-established and world-renowned family business.

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About Jonathan Zeman

Jonathan is Chief Executive Officer of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, a diversified property development company with business interests in commercial and residential property, resorts, hospitality, entertainment, film, media and technology in Asia. He has over 20 years’ experience working in Greater China and leads a creative and diverse team of over 400 professionals distributed through offices in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Thailand.

Since becoming CEO, Jonathan has led various property development and redevelopment projects for the Group in addition to leading the Group to diversify its business into new synergistic businesses to complement its core property development business.

Under his leadership, the Lan Kwai Fong Group has become one of the leading experts in leisure and entertainment property development in Greater China. The Group portfolio includes projects in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chengdu and other parts of China as well as award winning projects in Phuket Thailand.

Jonathan is a dynamic, well informed, creative thinker who has lived in Hong Kong for over 40 years. Starting his career with the Group after completing his bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies with honours at the University of California Los Angeles, Jonathan worked his way through different divisions within the Group, from hospitality, information technology, project management and operations to eventually becoming a core member of the senior management team.

Jonathan has received various honours and has sat on the executive committees and as advisor to various organisations. In addition, his linguistic abilities include fluency in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, French and he is conversant in Thai.

///

About The Good Luck Club

The Good Luck Club is a podcast and video series that focuses on the idea that luck is an ingredient that's absolutely necessary in order to have a successful life and business.

In each episode, we invite an entrepreneur or change-maker to share their journey to success. For most, it’s never a straightforward one, and there’s much inspiration and learnings in the struggles they’ve been through along the way. And, as our name suggests, we’ll also dive into their stories about luck; the good and the bad, and its role in success.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends.

Subscribe to The Good Luck Club channel https://bit.ly/2xzfHZS

We always reply to comments, so please let us know what you think below! Thanks for watching.

///

About Simon Squibb

Episode 12 | Damien Nicol | Founder | Back & Active Osteopaths

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 19:58:01 +0000

In this week’s podcast, I speak with London-based entrepreneur Damien Nicol. He owns the family business Back & Active in Belsize Park in London.

We recorded this podcast a few weeks ago before Coronavirus kicked into high gear in the UK but his message that success for him means being able to spend time with your family, resonates more so today than ever.

Like any small business owner, things are tough for his business right now. So, today I bought 10 sessions from him in advance to support his business (I am going to have a back problem soon enough as I have a 2.5 year old who wants me to carry him everywhere still!).

If that’s the sort of thing you can do for people in your community - buying services in advance, you’ll help to ensure their survival and show them their appreciated.

If you like his insights please go and show love on his social media via www.backandactive.co.uk

Episode 11 | Ben Poole | Founder | The Health Kitchen (THK)

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 18:58:01 +0000

Welcome to episode 11 of The Good Luck Club Podcast!

Our POD guest this week is entrepreneur Ben Poole. Father, trainer & cookie king!

He shares his real life story with us about building The Health Kitchen - the lows and sugar highs!

➜ Starting a business ain't easy, being a sole founder is even harder
➜ Podcast hosted by Simon Squibb. Guest this week is Ben Poole, Founder of The Health Kitchen
➜ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGznz4NfW5iymkvn1l40qyA?sub_confirmation=1
➜ Good Luck Club: www.GoodLuckPOD.com

Episode 10 | Keshia Hannam | Founder & Performance Speaker | Camel Assembly

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 4 Mar 2020 15:47:16 +0000

Welcome to episode 10 of The Good Luck Club. Our guest this week is Keshia Hannam. Keshia is a former journalist and now performance-speaker, the co-founder of women’s movement Camel Assembly, a global collective of activists and artists, and a storyteller with media company Dear World.

Keshia has spoken for The New York Times, Fortune 500 companies like Marriott and Macy’s, and last year at the United Nations. She has contributed regularly to National Geographic, Fortune, Forbes and CNN among others, and delivers performance-based keynotes to universities, conferences and art-based events all over the world.

Episode 9 | Jordan Schlipf | Entrepreneur, Founder & CEO | Rainmaking Venture Studio

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 18:43:27 +0000

Welcome to Episode 9 - The Good Luck Club Podcast

This week we interview Jordan Schlipf.

Jordan is a serial tech entrepreneur, venture capital investor and an expert Lean Startup trainer.

Today, he is Founder & CEO of the Rainmaking Venture Studio, where he partners with large corporations to de-risk the process of creating new businesses.

Episode 8 | Patrick Lee | Founder | Rotten Tomatoes

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 21:28:41 +0000

This week we interview Patrick Lee - Entrepreneur, Co-founder and former CEO of Rotten Tomatoes.

Patrick Lee is a serial entrepreneur, He is an advisor to a number of startups including Casetify, ChargeSPOT, Instaread, Kiwi Campus, Oishii, WePloy, and Zeuss Technologies; and a mentor at a number of organizations including SOSV, Berkeley SkyDeck, Blue Startups, and Founder Institute. Patrick holds a BA in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Episode 7 | Ian James | Co-founder | Melrose & Morgan

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:45:48 +0000

My guest today is entrepreneur Ian James. He is the co-founder of the brand Melrose & Morgan.

Melrose & Morgan is a modern grocer and kitchen with shops in Primrose Hill and Hampstead Village, London.

Ian believes that local shops should be at the heart of the community. He has a passion for supporting local bakers, fishmongers, butchers, specialty cheese suppliers, and other independent retailers and is committed to championing small-scale artisan producers through his shops and on-line store.

Ian has been focused on making his retail dream come true for the last 15 years - working on any business even your own for 15 years isn't easy and he will share some of the highs and lows and lessons learnt along the way with us today.

Episode 6 | Nigel Levy | Producer and Director

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 5 Feb 2020 13:06:40 +0000

Nigel is a Writer, Producer and Director working in TV and film.

He began his career at the BBC and has produced programs and series covering science, the arts, history, education, business and sport.

He has won multiple awards and nominations - including an Emmy nomination for one of his documentaries.

You may have heard of the hit Formula One: Drive to Survive, for Netflix, Nigel was the series editor, it was one of the biggest hits for the channel in recent times.

He also works in drama and directed the Hollywood feature film ‘Mothers and Daughters’ starring Sharon Stone. He has long been fascinated by the mechanics behind story telling and directing and has a unique view and insight on luck to share with us today.

Episode 5 | Hugo Tobar | Founder and CEO | NK Institute

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 08:30:29 +0000

Hugo knows a thing or two about the unknown. Hiss career as an entrepreneur, teacher and civil engineer is driven by this goal:

"The Power is Making The Unknown, Known"

He believes there is no such thing as luck in life and instead focuses on something he describes as being a good "manifestor".

He believes that saying you are unlucky is just an excuse for thinking the wrong way and not taking responsibility for your actions.

As the founder of Neuro-Energetic Kinesiology, he has the skills to understand "luck" in a way many cannot.

Episode 4 | Michael Q Todd | Entrepreneur

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 07:50:21 +0000

Michael is a lifelong entrepreneur who has had his measure of good and bad luck.

Not so long ago, he lost US$15m in cash and a thriving business, yet even with this experience, he is one of the most upbeat and positive people I have interviewed.

He shares his insights into how to grow a business and stay sane in the mad world of being an entrepreneur.

Episode 3 | Christine Gonsalves | Entrepreneur

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:41:51 +0000

Christine Gonsalves is an entrepreneur and writer with a legal background who believes she's never had bad luck.

Christine has had many careers and loves to take risks: "taking risks makes you lucky."

Starting her career as a defense lawyer, and having an idealistic idea of protecting the wrongly accused, she soon discovered the reality of the profession was far from the perfect purpose-driven career path.

Episode 2 | Daniel Grant | Entrepreneur

simonsquibb@gmail.com (Simon Squibb) — Wed, 8 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Simon Squibb interviews Daniel Grant and explores how luck has played a role in his life and why he and many others never fell totally happy with what they have got.