Entrepreneurs Exposed

Alex Packham is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of ContentCal that was acquired by Adobe, in late 2021.During his ContentCal journey, he raised over £10m for the company, built the business to 3,000+ customers globally, and grew top line 150% year over year. In this episode, we discuss Alex's experience raising capital from angels vs. VC's; what he's learned about creating the right pitch deck; the sale to Adobe; the importance of mindset and energy, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian Owens is the CEO & founder of Paddle, a payments infrastructure for SaaS business. Prior to Paddle, Christian created his first software business from his bedroom at the age of 14. Having grown the business to $1m in revenue he decided to quit school at 16 to focus on building startups full time. In 2016, Christian was named one of Forbes’ “30 under 30” and a Thiel Fellow by the Thiel Foundation. In early 2022, Paddle raised a Series D which turned the company into one of a very few UK-based unicorns. In this EP, we talk all about Christian's decision to drop out of school; how a looming recession could impact Paddle and SAAS more broadly; the origins of Paddle, and a great war story that came with registering the URL, and much more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Fiedler is the co-founder and former CEO of record-of-the-month club Vinyl Me, Please (VMP). Since launching VMP in 2013, Matt successfully took the business from a passion project to a globally recognized brand in more than 40 countries around the world. During his tenure as CEO, VMP was named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list, and was twice listed to the Inc. 5000. While he remains Chairman of VMP, Matt also serves as an advisor to several early stage companies. In this EP, we talk about the early days of VMP, its impressive growth trajectory, leadership lessons learned through COVID, the process of letting go as CEO, Matt's favourite records he can't live without, and more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy Ryan Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast, and the CEO of Command Your Brand Media.Jeremy's show was named a top podcast to listen to by INC Magazine in 2019 and has been downloaded more than 3 million times.In this EP, Jeremy and I discuss his success in podcasting; his personal challenges and using adversity as "ambition fuel"; macro trends related to both podcasting and brand building; his upcoming book, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Allen Lau is the CEO and co-founder of Wattpad, the world's social storytelling platform. Wattpad has over 90 million readers; thousands of Wattpad stories have been adapted for major platforms and gone on to become blockbuster movies, Netflix hits, and bestselling books around the world. The company completed its sale to Naver in 2021 in a deal worth over $600 Million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave Selinger has founded and built some hugely successful companies - among them, Redfin, the well known real estate brokerage firm; and RichRelevance, which revolutionized shopping experiences for a number of retailers. On top of his colourful career as a founder, Dave was also an early at Amazon, working directly under Jeff Bezos.In this EP, we discuss Dave's past experiences at Redfin, Rich Relevance, and Amazon; why his experience at Stanford helped shape company culture in start-ups he's founded; why Maslow's hierarchy of needs may be a good foundation in which to build a start up; his latest venture, Deep Sentinel, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zeke Bronfman is the Co-founder and CEO of XED Beverages, a CPG brand builder and incubator with a growing portfolio of both owned brands and joint ventures. Zeke is a fourth-generation entrepreneur in the beverage alcohol industry, and comes to XED backed by a notable advisory board including Strauss Zelnick (former chairman of CBS), Edgar Bronfman Jr. (former CEO of Seagram), among others.In this EP, we dive into the alternative market for better tasting AND better for you alcoholic beverages; the competitive landscape, including how XED's brands stack up against the likes of White Claw, Truly Hard Seltzer, and High Noon..... Challenges around creating an exceptional tasting product, and more.5:40EP Resources: https://www.matthewball.vc/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shahar Erez is the Co-founder & CEO of Stoke, an on-demand talent platform empowering companies to adopt and scale a hybrid workforce model. In 2021, Stoke was acquired by Fiverr for $110M just 15 months after coming out of stealth mode. In this EP, we dive into the early days of Stoke; trends related to freelance and remote work; the sale to Fiverr; the differences between startup culture in Israel and Silicon Valley and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martin Basiri is the co-founder and CEO of Apply Board, a company he and his 2 brothers launched in 2015. Since then, Apply Board has raised nearly $500 Million dollars from some of the most influential VC's in North America. In this EP, Martin and I discuss the idea of "knowing very little" when starting a business; raising hundreds of millions of dollars, and the difference between raising a seed, vs. series A, B, C and beyond; the 5 pillars of disruption in the education space; why immigration and talent are key factors for powering a nation's economic growth; and more.EP Sponsor: https://memberful.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Park is an entrepreneur and the CEO of Clutch, an online platform for car buying and ownership. Before joining Clutch, Dan was responsible for building and scaling Uber Eats across Canada and was instrumental in driving the country’s exceptional growth. In this EP, we dive into the rapid success of Clutch and its business model; the market for cars, and the rise in demand amidst supply chain disruptions; the company's $100 Million raised; Dan's experience working at Uber and what he thinks about the company's culture, and more.EP Sponsor: https://memberful.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices