Join me, Hattie Willis, as I chat with the incredible Thea Brook, a seasoned entrepreneur and CFO-turned-founder, about her remarkable journey from finance to founding her own businesses. We dive into Thea's unconventional background, from training as a dancer to opening a dance school at 20, and how she eventually found her way into finance and entrepreneurship. Thea shares valuable insights on mental health, personal branding, and her approach to social media as a founder. Get ready for a cand...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Ever felt the pressure to keep your startup afloat, even when it's not working out? In this episode, we dive into the tough topic of shutting down your business with Joy Mpofu and Cameron Orcutt, two founders who have been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale. They share their honest experiences of closing their companies, and how they supported each other through the process. We explore the stigma of failure in the UK, the importance of having a support system, and the lessons learned f...
Feb 11, 2025•55 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Are you tired of the painful process of finding investors for your startup? Today, I'm joined by Daniel Sawko, co-founder of ShipShapeVC, who's on a mission to make fundraising easier for founders. In this episode, Daniel shares his journey from consulting to entrepreneurship, and how he's helping founders navigate the complex world of investments. We dive into the importance of empathy in sales strategy, how to reduce the time to accessing capital, and the reasons why founders should focus on b...
Jan 28, 2025•53 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Join us as we dive into the inspiring story of Neda, founder of Keshty, as she shares her journey of overcoming rejection, building a successful business, and investing in others. From her experiences as an only child to navigating the world of entrepreneurship, Neda opens up about the lessons she's learned along the way. Don't miss this episode as we explore the importance of org design, rejecting transactional relationships, and building a strong support network. Neda shares her story of start...
Jan 14, 2025•58 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Cecil Adjalo, founder of Foundervine, one of the UK's largest and most vibrant accelerators, having designed a high-impact training program that provides ambitious entrepreneurs with the skills, tools, and support they need to confidently scale their ventures. Cecil has a passion for operational efficiency, automation, and creating data-driven organisations which led him into the field of Data and Analytics. He began his career by troubleshooting issues...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Did you know that 20% of your employees, customers, and friends are likely to be neurodivergent? In today's episode, we're diving into the importance of neuro inclusivity in entrepreneurship, with Sasha Evans, a brilliant entrepreneur and expert in experience design and neurodiversity. Join me, Hattie Willis, as I chat with Sasha about her journey into entrepreneurship, from theatre to startups, and how she's helping founders design for neuro inclusivity. We'll cover practical tips for founders ...
Nov 26, 2024•55 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Joining us this episode is Marcus Exall, serial founder, angel investor, and investor in residence at Virgin Startup. In this episode, Marcus shares his journey from building and exiting a digital advertising company to supporting countless founders along the way. We dive into his early days as an entrepreneur, from running a paper round as a kid to selling tickets at a nightclub, and how those experiences shaped his approach to business. Plus, we debunk some common myths around investment and e...
Nov 12, 2024•54 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Storytelling is one of the most underrated founder skills! It’s critical for motivating your team, selling to customers, and of course, raising investment. It can also position you as a thought leader, which yes, helps all those things too. But it’s one of the things that trips sooo many founders up. From pitches that make it obvious they were created to follow a formula, to LinkedIn posts that show zero personality, to team talks that end with glazed eyes, it’s so easy to get it wrong. So in th...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Have you ever wondered how to stay on top of the hottest new tech tools and trends as a founder? Curious how you can leverage platforms like TikTok and Instagram to market your B2B startup in a fun, engaging way? Get ready to learn because in this episode I'm joined by Ghita El Haitmy, the smart and sassy founder of Tech Bible, which empowers professionals to gain a competitive edge by keeping them up-to-date on the latest tech through bite-sized social media content. Ghita has an amazing entrep...
Oct 15, 2024•51 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Have you ever found yourself drowning in fundraising legals and language? This is the interview you’ve been waiting for… In this episode, we're joined by the brilliant Sam Simpson, Co-founder of FounderCatalyst, who's on a mission to simplify and accelerate the early-stage investment legal journey. Sam's not just talking the talk; he's walked the walk, having co-founded and exited several tech start-ups, including the 17th fastest growing company in Europe in 2017. Oh, and did we mention he took...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 53
🚀 What’s it like to go Corporate Employee> Founder > Founder > Corporate Employee? At Not My First Guess we love a squiggly career path! 🏁 That’s why we’re so excited to have serial founder, and once again corporate employee, Adam Goodall share his journey and lessons learned, from taking the first leap into full-time entrepreneurship, to deciding when to sell, to why he's enjoying being back in someone else's company. 🌐💡 Adam is a serial founder with two startups under his belt - P...
Jul 01, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Are you worried you’re not using enough AI as a founder? I promise you’re not alone. In fact, after interviewing our incredible guest today, I went away and automated a LOAD of my own processes - sometimes you just need to understand the art of the possible! This episode is a GREAT start - we’re joined by AI advocate Cien Solon, who is on a mission to make “AI for All” with her latest startups Launch Lemonade and Scale that Thing! Cien is a Product-Led Growth expert, a start-up consultant and a ...
Jun 17, 2024•46 min
As well as being “Business Barbie” to her followers on instagram, Rachel Harris, is an award-winning content creator, author, speaker, business owner, and most importantly, an accountant extraordinaire. Named as one to watch on the 35 under 35 list and recently crowned as the First Intuition Apprenticeship Mentor of the Year for 2023, Rachel is a true breakout star in the accounting world. Rachel's passion for empowering accountants and small business owners shines through in her remarkable jour...
Jun 04, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Ever wonder what it takes to transform from a passionate leader into a successful startup founder? In this episode, we'll uncover the secrets to building an innovative, AI-powered solution that's revolutionising the way managers drive team performance. Joining us today is Sarah Touzani, the brilliant mind behind Waggle, an AI co-pilot empowering managers with the tools and insights to excel. Building on Sarah’s 15+ years experience in finance and tech, Waggle has already caught the attention of ...
May 20, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Joining us in this episode is Charlie Rosier, a seasoned entrepreneur and fourth-time founder. Her latest venture, Babbu, disrupts the early childhood education space with an innovative online platform tailored for children aged 0-5. Driven by personal experience and insights gained during lockdown conversations with fellow parents, Charlie recognized the overwhelming pressure parents face—spending 37 hours weekly on childcare concerns alone. Determined to alleviate this stress, she birthed Babb...
May 13, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 47
This episode we are joined by Simi Lindgren Founder of Yuty. Some of you may recognise Simi from our special episode on fundraising as an underrepresented founder, where she was joined by two other incredible guests. But we wanted to take the time to dive deeper into Simi’s story and insights building an AI startup. Simi initially went to med school thinking that she would become a doctor. However, she soon realised that she wasn’t there for the right reasons. This led her to dropping out of her...
May 06, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 46
This episode we are joined by Kate Berski, Co-Founder of Curlsmith, a high performance, inclusive haircare brand which she started with her husband in 2018. It soon became one of the fastest growing textured hair brands and would go on to retail at Ulta Beauty, Target, Boots and many more. The idea for Curlsmith was formed out of a family struggle to find suitable haircare products for Kate’s nieces’ curly hair. Kate and her husband Michal soon realised that there was a gap in the market with lo...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 45
This episode, we are joined by Tess Cosad, the CEO and Co-Founder of Béa Fertility. As someone who takes much of her inspiration from injustice, Tess saw the pain and difficulties that many people were going through in their attempts to build a family, with access and affordability making the journey even more stressful and heartbreaking for many. In comes Béa Fertility, a company that provides clinical-grade fertility treatment that can be shipped straight to your door, and costs 1/20th of what...
Apr 22, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 45
This episode, we are joined by Andy Ayim MBE, a serial founder and Angel Investor who is known for his human centered approach to business. Over a decade ago, Andy cofounded Mixtape Madness, a proudly bootstrapped 7 figure business. When he left day to day operations there, he dove into Product Management with high growth startups such as WorldFirst, acquired for $700m by Ant Financial; and Series C startup Zilch where he was Head of Product Management. In 2018 he took his next leap, to become M...
Apr 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 44
This episode we are joined by Nicola Ward, Co-Founder of CakeDrop. Having both worked in the City, Nicola and her sister Anna had a conversation about how awkward office birthdays can be. Often forgetting to buy a cake and having to resort to a cheap last minute one from the shop around the corner. They felt that something needed to be done to improve the employee experience in the office and uplevel celebrations at work. This gave way to the idea for CakeDrop. CakeDrop began by delivering artis...
Apr 08, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 43
This episode we are joined by Felicity Halstead, founder of the company GoodWork. GoodWork is a not-for-profit that works with employers to create employment opportunities for young people from marginalised communities. Having had experience in youth programmes, as well as working with social mobility organisations and supporting entry-level recruitment in her job, Felicity saw first hand that a young person’s results on paper are not an accurate representation of how that person would apply the...
Apr 02, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 42
This episode, we are joined by Robert Hayward, founder of GoodFX, an international payments B Corp that turns currency conversion into social good, using the profits they make every time their customers trade FX, to support charities and create meaningful job opportunities for refugees. For anyone who doesn’t know, The foreign exchange market, commonly referred to as the Forex or FX, is the global marketplace for trading currencies. Having spent 10 years in the city working in banking, Rob had s...
Mar 26, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 41
This episode, we are joined by the founders of Future Kind Collective, Alicia Grimes and Natalie Pierce. Having initially met when Natalie interviewed Alicia for a job, the two found themselves working in the same company on strategy and service design projects focused on culture change. What started as a working relationship soon blossomed into a friendship and the two bonded on a shared feeling that something wasn't quite right about traditional culture consulting and that a change was needed....
Jan 31, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 40
In this episode we’re joined by James Roycroft-Davis. James is a Serial Founder, Angel Investor and Host of the UK’s #1 Founder and Investor Mental Health Podcast - Vulnerable. He’s previously started businesses around weightless and dog training, but hadn’t yet found his purpose and the business he wanted to build for the next 10 years, until in March 2023 he was diagnosed with Type 2 Bipolar Affective Disorder. When he started sharing about his diagnosis on his social media he was flooded with...
Jan 16, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 39
This episode, we're joined by Tim Deeson, serial founder and angel investor with over 20 years of experience building companies. He started his first company Deeson, which grew to be a multi-million pound digital agency, at age just 20. Tim successfully exited Deeson to co-found GreenShoot Labs, an innovative conversational AI consulting and product development studio. After exiting that, Tim became an Angel Investor and took up a role at LSE as an entrepreneur in residence, giving advice to stu...
Jan 09, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 38
In this episode we’re joined by Amardeep Parmar, Co-founder of The Bae HQ which is the number one community for British Asian Entrepreneurs; curator of the Tedx Chigwell programme, and host of the Entrepreneurs Handbook. As if that wasn't enough, having written and edited hundreds of Articles around the subject of entrepreneurship, Amar is also an Angel Investor. Before lockdown, Amar was a technology consultant, having graduated with an economics degree. However, when covid hit, Amar decided to...
Dec 21, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Today I’m joined by Alberta Asafo-Asamoah, a social entrepreneur and educationalist, and co-founder of Liquify, an invoice marketplace that enables SMEs in emerging markets to get quick access to affordable cash. Having started her career building deep expertise in the financial world, Alberta left banking in 2018 to pursue a career in impact investing because she wanted to combine her knowledge and experience in financing, with her passion for social issues and social change. This led Alberta t...
Dec 14, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 36
This episode is a little bit special. We're doing our second fundraising compilation, taking different tips and hard won lessons from our founders we've interviewed before. In this episode, we're going to focus on five founders: 1. Jay Richards: At the time of interview, Jay's company Imagen had 25, 000 community members across 111 countries, having raised just 400k. Incredible growth. Here Jay talks about how some founders have a grit that means they can just go further with less. Curious about...
Nov 28, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Today I’m joined by Jasmin Thomas, Serial Founder & Angel Investor. After a successful career building the first teams of unicorns like Deliveroo, Algemy, Improbable and Dark Trace, Jasmin turned her hand to her own business. Having been diagnosed with MS, Jasmin had experienced the benefits of CBD oil first hand, from relieving period cramps to flare ups she was having. From this, she was inspired to start her own efficacious skincare company, Ohana Health. However, as she soon found out, h...
Sep 18, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Today I’m joined by Jacqui Patton, Founder of Ink Blot Creative. After training as an actress, Jacqui’s life took some twists and turns, including an eye-watering stint as the lady behind the number dishing out hair removal emergency advice at Veet, before finding her way into the world of marketing. A truly natural and masterful communicator, it’s no surprise that a simple (yet radically candid) conversation with the new CEO accidentally landed her the role of Head of Comms at RBS International...
Sep 04, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 33
