Darren Tenkorang is the founder and CEO of Trim-IT, one of the first app-powered mobile Barber Shops in the UK. The idea for the business came to Darren whilst he was still at University. He entered his business plan into a competition and much to his surprise he won. The subsequent £10,000 award ended up forming the base to launch the business that we see today. The South London native sat down with Riding Unicorns to discuss how his dyslexia diagnosis fuelled his desire to become an entreprene...
Sep 22, 2021•26 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Jeremy King is the CEO and founder of one of the leading consumer research platforms in the world, Attest. Jeremy graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA, which led him to secure several prestigious interning positions. In 2005 Jeremy began working at McKinsey as an Engagement Manager. After ten years with the consultancy firm Jeremy had decided that he was ready to go out on his own. He created Attest with the goal of simplifying consumer data. The company now services over 110 milli...
Sep 15, 2021•42 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast James and Hector review August's episodes, discuss the future of VC, AgriTech, Sustainability and Robotics. The guys also finally announce their dinner party guests.
Sep 13, 2021•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Georgia Stewart is the co-founder and CEO at Tumelo, a start-up which provides investment platforms and pension providers increased transparency on the companies they own. Georgia grew up in Edinburgh and was originally keen on pursuing a career as a vet. Whilst studying at Cambridge University Georgia became exposed to just how little transparency there was in the investment sector and made a mental note to circle back to this when the time was right. After a number of years working in asset ma...
Sep 08, 2021•29 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast Alice Bentinck MBE is one of the co-founders of Entrepreneur First, one of the world's leading talent investors that helps people develop their startup ideas. Away from EF Alice is also one of the founders of Code First: Girls, an organisation which offers free web programming courses for women in university. In 2015 Alice was named one of the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in European Tech by Inspiring Fifty. James and Hector sat down with the former McKinsey Management Consultant to discuss w...
Sep 03, 2021•33 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Amy Lewin is the Deputy Editor at Sifted. Backed by the Financial Times, Sifted is a new media publication that provides In-depth reporting, news and analysis on European startups and their founders, investors and partners. Before joining Sifted Amy served as a writer and editorial assistant for IKEA Family Magazine at August Media before moving to Courier magazine to work as a features editor. Amy was kind enough to sit down to discuss a range of fascinating topics including the growth of the h...
Aug 25, 2021•29 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Sitar Teli is a founder and Managing Partner at Connect Ventures, a thesis-led, pan-European, seed stage VC. With over 14 years experience in early-stage investments in both consumer and B2B companies, Sitar has become an expert on growth, culture, building high performance teams and finance strategy. Most notably Sitar led the Series A round for SoundCloud when working for Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. The product and design specialist sat down with Riding Unicorns to discuss how she tran...
Aug 18, 2021•42 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Simon Franks is a partner at Venture Capital and Private Equity firm, Redbus. Simon however is perhaps best known for co-founding LoveFILM, which during its time was one of the biggest names in film rental. After the company had reached two million subscribers it was sold to Amazon In 2011 for £200m. Simon has spent much of the proceeding years focusing on philanthropy. Through his work at the Franks Family Foundation he is able to provide mentorship to charitable organisations to help them addr...
Aug 11, 2021•46 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast The second of our monthly round up episodes. We discuss our favourite episodes in July as well as the World becoming a more competitive, the Square acquisition of Australian FinTech Afterpay and what's going on in the B2B space... hint "Data Is The New Oil".
Aug 06, 2021•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast David Semmens is the Chief Investment Officer at leading UK digital wealth management service, Wealthify. David has experience working across a number of industries covering banking, insurance and asset management and has worked for world renowned financial institutions such HSBC Asset Management, Euler Hermes and Standard Chartered Bank. David has gained a reputation as the go-to person for anyone looking to improve their financial literacy and become an investor. The multi-asset investment str...
Aug 04, 2021•31 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast James Hind is the Founder and CEO of Carwow, one of the most popular platforms for buying new and used cars in the UK. James studied Finance, which led him into the corporate world, however it was not long before he realised that the only was he was going to be fulfilled professionally was if he went it alone. After working as a ski guide for a few months James went ahead and launched carwow in 2011 with the mission of helping people choose and buy the best car. Since then carwow has grown to be...
Jul 28, 2021•33 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Eamonn Carey is the Managing Director at Techstars, a global platform that connects entrepreneurs, investors and corporations. Away from Techstars Eamonn also operates as an Angel Investor, which has seen him invest in over 50 companies. His expertise and knowledge has seen him invited to speak at conferences all around the world including Web Summit, Collision, SXSW and Mobile World Congress as well as many more. James and Hector sat down with the former journalist to discuss his transition fro...
Jul 21, 2021•43 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Harry Franks is the co-Founder of Zego, a tech enabled insurance intermediary, servicing commercial customers in the modern world. The company was launched in 2016 and now employs over 60 people spread across both London and Madrid. Much of Zego’s growth is due in part to Harrys high-level understanding of how to build partnerships with leading companies in the on-demand space and within the insurance sector. In this episode the guys discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship, what it is like to...
Jul 15, 2021•32 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast This is the first of our new monthly series where Hector and James discuss what's going on in the world of venture and startups, take a look back at the last month's episodes and talk through what's going on at their firms.
Jul 13, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jean Nehme is the founder & CEO of Touch Surgery, a health tech company shaping the future of surgery through the convergence of surgical expertise and technology. Jean, a trained surgeon, founded Touch Surgery in 2010, in a bid to offer patients educational surgical simulations for more than 200 procedures in 17 specialties. The company was acquired by Medtronic in 2020 but Jean’s continues to be at the centre of the healthtech boom and was even recently involved in a new SPAC. Jean sat dow...
Jul 07, 2021•19 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Matthew Ford is a Partner at Global FinTech Investment Firm, Mouro Capital. Matthew and his team manage over $400M assets that targets early to growth fintech investment opportunities across Europe, North America and Latin America. Prior to Mouro Capital Matthew worked as the Chief Product Officer at Tandem Bank. Matthew joined James and Hector to discuss his transition from working in operations to becoming a VC, the empathy he has for prospective founders and the trends that Matthew expects to...
Jun 30, 2021•40 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Laurence Krieger is the CEO of Tide, the leading provider of UK SME business accounts and one of the fastest-growing FinTechs in the UK. With over 12 years of experience working in senior roles at fast-growing fintech start-ups Laurence has played a huge role in shaping the industry that we see today. Prior to Tide Laurence launched one of the first prepaid cards into the UK with Moneysupermarket and before joining working at Revolut as its COO. In this episode we hear about Lawrence's care...
Jun 23, 2021•38 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Louis is an Investor at Venture Capital and Private Equity firm, AIV Capital. Having worked for a wide range of companies, including Angel Investment Network, BrickTribe, SeedTribe Sam has a good idea of the inner workings of the whole entire funding ecosystem and as such has developed a deep understanding over what makes a good founder. Riding Unicorns invited Sam on the show to mull over the topics of what impact investing means to him, how he is able to source great deal flow and the type...
Jun 16, 2021•21 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Juliette Souliman is a VC Investor at MMC Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in early stage, high-growth UK companies. Juliette is well regarded for her expertise in fintech, insurtech and the blockchain. Away from MMC Julliette is also the co-founder of Ground Floor Ventures, a European and US business angel network focusing on pre-seed venture deals. Juliette, Hector and James sat down and discussed the two sides of investing and operating, what characteristics she looks out for in fou...
Jun 09, 2021•26 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel Carrell is the Founder and CEO of private childcare provider, Koru Kids, Originally from New Zealand Rachel moved to London and soon realised after having a baby just how difficult it was to arrange good quality childcare in the capital. She therefore decided to launch Koru Kids to help parents find the right childcare to suit their needs. Prior to Koru Kids Rachel worked at McKinsey. In this season 2 opener, James is not only joined by Rachel but also our new co-host, Hector Mason, Inves...
Jun 02, 2021•37 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome back to Riding Unicorns as we usher in Season 2 with more guests and more insight into the world of startups and VC. We are also delighted to welcome Hector Mason, Partner @ Episode 1 Ventures as our new co-host.
May 19, 2021•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hector McNeil is Founder and Co-CEO at ETF business, HANetf. The company is Europe’s first independent white label ETF platform and has over $2bn assets under its management. Hector is considered a veteran of the EFT space after having played a huge role in establishing Susquehanna’s ETF desk in Europe as head of business development. His work has been recognised several times, most recently by being included in the ETF Stream ‘30 Index’. In this, the last final episode of season 2, Hector discu...
Feb 23, 2021•27 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Chad West is Director of Global Marketing & Communications at British unicorn, Revolut. The Fintech startup has acquired over 3.5 million customers in three years and was recently valued at over $1.7B making it one of the most revered British companies in recent years. Prior to Revolut Chad worked in Marketing and Communications at VC, Rocket Internet. During the episode Chad discusses his time working for Rocket Internet, becoming one of the first employees at Revolut and how the company ha...
Feb 17, 2021•31 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Carlos Eduardo Espinal is the Managing Partner at Seedcamp, a European seed fund investing in early stage startups. To date Seedcamp has backed over 400 companies, 6 of whom went on to become unicorns. Carlos is one of the most experienced investors in Europe having worked at numerous high profile companies before joining Seedcamp in 2010. Carlos dropped by to talk about how Seedcamp started, how and why they invested in Hopin before lockdown and what gives Europe the edge when it comes to FinTe...
Feb 10, 2021•27 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Roisin Levine is the Head of Banks at one of the UK’s leading fintech companies, Flux. The online banking app provides fully itemised digital receipts into banking apps for the likes of Barclays, Monzo and Starling and many more. Roisin has experienced a meteoric ascension in the space which has seen her crowned winner of the Rising Star in Women in Fintech Award an incredible three times. In this episode Roisin stops by Riding Unicorns to tell her story, explain what it's like working for ...
Feb 03, 2021•20 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast David Wascha is the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Zoopla and also a Product Adviser at Kindred Capital. David is, as he describes on his official website, “a product guy at heart.” In fact David has dedicated his entire career to becoming an expert in this field and his tremendous knowledge in the space has seen him work at numerous successful tech companies including Microsoft, Moo.com and Photobox. In this Riding Unicorn episode David discusses his career, what he is most excited abo...
Jan 26, 2021•26 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast Jasper Martens is the Chief Marketing Officer at leading online pension provider, PensionBee. Jasper is an award winning marketing professional with over 15 years of client side experience. Prior to joining PensionBee, Jasper worked at Simply Business, bringing business insurance to SMEs online. James and Jasper came together to discuss his rise as a marketer, how he helped grow PensionBee from a team of 5 to being on the verge of an IPO and what his plans are for the future of the company. Make...
Jan 20, 2021•22 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast Harry Hugo is the co-founder of award winning global influencer agency, The Goat Agency. Operating across international offices and with over 200 employees, The Goat Agency is the world’s fastest growing influencer marketing agency. Since its launch seven years ago the company has achieved great acclaim having worked on huge campaigns for the likes of Lidl, British Airways, New Look and Chelsea FC. Currently working as Chief Campaign Officer Harry oversees campaign success, ensuring that KPIs ar...
Jan 13, 2021•39 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Rikke Rosenlund is the Founder and CEO of online platform Borrow My Doggy. Much of Rikke’s career was spent working in financial services and entrepreneurship. It was only in 2012, following her own experience of dog sitting for a friend, that she decided to launch the company to help connect dog owners with trusted local dog walkers and carers. 10 years on the brand has established a reputation as the premier dog sitting service in the UK. Rikke popped by to discuss how she went from studying a...
Jan 06, 2021•22 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Natasha Thomas is the co-founder of premium blended cocktail company, Lockdown Liquor. Launched at the beginning of the pandemic by Natasha and her husband Jack Durling the brand has already been able to shift more than 10,000 units since April 2020. Natasha works on the brand alongside her other venture she founded, Total Management, a leading global event, travel and experiences group. In this episode Natasha tells us the story behind how she and her husband started Lockdown Liquor and how the...
Dec 22, 2020•28 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast 
