Episode 30 - Karina Brown and Jim Stichbury - GroHappy

Today’s guests are Karina Brown and Jim Stichbury.s Co founders of GroHappy. GroHappy is a B2B software business that helps companies to give their employees the career development that they crave. GroHappy's tools and technologies help employees to get clear on their career aspirations, have better conversations about it and discover recommended steps (from podcasts, to courses, to events) to move towards their goals. I was introduced to Karina in the very early days of GroHappy and I have had the privilege of watching as Karina and Jim take GroHappy from an idea that they worked on in evenings and weekends to a successful, investor backed, tech start up with a growing professional services client base. I had a great time speaking with Karina and Jim and we cover some really interesting topics in this conversation including: How Karina and Jim came up with the idea of GroHappy and how they managed the earlier phase of the business to turn it from a side project in to their full time focus. Karina and Jim’s top tips for prioritisation and productivity when growing a start up. The importance of advisors when growing an early stage start up and how Karina and Jim identified their gaps and then found advisors to fill them. The lessons from their recent funding round and their advice for those looking to do the same. Any much much more! If you are planning on starting your own business, you have an idea that you’d like to give a go but aren’t sure how to do it or you want to learn how to apply successful start-up principles in your own Consulting career then this episode is a must listen! You can find out more about Karina and Jim on their LinkedIn Karina – https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinabrown01 Jim – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesstichbury If you want to find out more about GroHappy you can check out their website -  http://www.grohappy.co.uk Specific things we discuss in the show: Zero to one by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters - http://amzn.eu/d/4aIRRuT Harry Gaskell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-gaskell-ab94271/?originalSubdomain=uk   London and partners growth programme - https://business.london/business-growth-programme   The Design Sprint by Google - http://www.gv.com/sprint/   The Agile Manifesto - http://agilemanifesto.org/   Deep Work by Cal Newport - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0349411905/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_O0JUBbCPADQ23   The Alliance by Reid Hoffman - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1625275773/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_E1JUBb8938SZ6   The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571339794/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_J3JUBbFFGRDQ2   Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784703931/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_-3JUBb3VKXC34    Exponential Organisations by Salim Ismail et al - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1626814236/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_C4JUBb48HC81D    Reinventing Organisations by Frederic Laloux - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/2960133501/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_m5JUBb86N2TZ4    The Lean Start Up by Eric Ries - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0670921602/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_65JUBbT0ND3J1