Jimmy's Jobs of the Future

One of the most valuable assets to an entrepreneurial ecosystem is veteran entrepreneurs lending a hand to first-timers.I first met Digby as part of the ICE (International Conclave of Entrepreneurs) community on a James Bond themed weekend- whilst swapping tips and tricks to navigate the business world isn’t quite 007 material, it’s because of these communities that the UK startup scene is flourishing.Digby’s first jobs were working behind bars at weddings and writing his own music blog. Enticed to the former by the large tips from slightly too-merry guests, the latter allowed him to go to festivals for free.It was these experiences in the live events space that eventually lead to him founding Feast It in 2017, an ecommerce company aiming to revolutionise hospitality with the simple goal of building an operating system that could power events globally.Feast It matches people wanting to host events with boutique events businesses, who in Digby’s eyes are the backbone of the industry. This match-making gives organisers a superior experience and allows artisans to have a digital revenue stream without any complicated infrastructure.The last 12 months have been interesting to say the least for the events industry, with Feast It themselves experiencing a 99% drop in sales in 2020. However, the resilience of the sector and the human desire for experience means Digby is optimistic about what the future holds for the event economy.In this episode, Digby talks about empowering artisanal businesses, why young people are valuing experiences over possessions and the importance of business communities like ICE when business times get tough.Even Coldplay gets a mention!Jimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For this episode I’m joined by Bejay Mulenga, Founder of Supa Network.I first met Bejay at the 2014 Conservative Party conference. He was about to speak in front of 3,000 people just before George Osbourne took the stage- no mean feat at 19 years old.He told his story about his first foray into entrepreneurship- setting up a tuck shop for his school, making £15,000 in his first term and how he transformed this business into a franchise of tuck shops. By 16 years of age, he was operating a £200,000 business with plans to train 5,000 young entrepreneurs.He received a full standing ovation.Fast-forward to today and Bejay’s Supa Network has supported over 10,000 young people at 81 locations across the country, doing everything from improving their digital literacy to working with Apple in developing their stores into learning centres. Talking about the changing the landscape of the education sector in response to the pandemic, Bejay cites the amazing work of Jack Butcher as a prime example of the creator economy.We also discuss the fascinating emerging career of a Learning Designer- the educational equivalent of a UX designer for a dev team- and how a focus on learning design can affect a business or product.Ever since that first speech in 2014, Bejay has always been someone to offer me adifferent perspective and it’s always refreshing to speak to him.Jimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we’re looking back and exploring some choice highlights from our pilot series with the help of this week’s guest: Hannah Russell. Hannah is the co-founder of Mags Creative, one of the UK’s most successful independent podcast producers responsible for some the most exciting shows in the UK with over 350,000 people tuning into their shows each week. We discuss how Hannah went from setting up Mags Creative with her sister a few years ago to running a fluid team of full-time staff and freelancers who even have their own Monthly podcast club. Through Hannah’s entrepreneurial expertise we re-visit some of the most interesting points from our pilot series: Pip Jamieson, founder of @The Dots, on the emergence of skill swapping and the importance of creativity- both as a skill set and something to foster in the workplace Hayden Wood, founder of @Bulb, on renting talent and hiring experience- and why the creative industry is so good at this Sarah Wood, co-founder of @Unruly, on how founding a business actually improved her work/life balance  Pete Flint, founder of @Trulia and @lastminute.com, on the importance of changing mindset Christian May, former editor of @City AM, and his fantastic insight on how you make your own luck through hard work Our pilot season marked our first foray into the world of podcasts, speaking to some of the most brilliant minds in the UK about the future of work.It’s only fitting that this reflection on the first series, as we near the end of our second season, is explored and dissected by a podcast mastermind and one of the most interesting guests I’ve had on this show. Hannah reflects that word of mouth is still king when it comes to growing podcasts, so if you enjoyed this week’s episode, please do follow us on social and share your thoughts:Jimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During my time in Government, I was involved in a number of meetings where we would try to create memorable lines which could sum up Govt policy, you can probably think of a few famous ones yourself.  Tough on Crime, tough on the causes of crime.  Long term economic plan Vote Leave, Take Back Control  Brexit means Brexit  There are also some less memorable ones, which I enjoy thinking about from time to time, like Nick Clegg’s Alarm Clock Heros, anyone who woke up to an alarm clock should be called a hero. Two of the most important phrases that you’ll hear for the coming years are ‘levelling up and building back better’. Neither of these are going to be able to be achieved without a serious focus on the reskilling agenda, which was at the Heart of the Queen’s Speech last week. And that is why I am delighted today to be joined by Elizabeth Tweedale who is a thought leader in the space of how children learn new skills such as coding. She founded a company called Cypher Coders, which specialises in teaching kids from the age of six to code, and is expanding into many other areas as we discuss. As this podcast is all about the skills of the future, it seemed important to look at what kids need to be learning. If you listen to this podcast shortly after release, Elizabeth and Cypher Coders are crowdfunding on Seedrs, so you might be interested in checking them out, but of course if you do invest your capital is at risk. Jimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here.Welcome to Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future, presented by me, Jimmy McLoughlin, a former Downing Street Adviser on business and entrepreneurship. Today, we welcome one of my favourite entrepreneurs, Alexandra Depledge who runs the architectural company, RESI, which is looking to revolutionise the way we improve our homes and doing so via extensions. As Alex talks about you only go through this process perhaps once or twice in your life, so inevitably the consumer has a hard time navigating all of the different options and knowing how and when to ask the 'right' questions. I first met Alex in 2014, when she was running the cleaning company Hassle. I had just started work at the Institute of Directors, and I had been tasked with modernising the look and feel of the grand institution who had a rather traditional headquarters based on Pall Mall. For our American friends, that is the same street which Clarence House is on where Prince Charles lives on …It is a grand building, and about as far away from a stereotypical East London start up hub stacked with ping pong tables that you could get. Simon Walker, the Director General of the IoD at the time, himself a man who had been Press Secretary to the Queen, could see a new wave of entrepreneurs coming through and we were working on lots of different approaches to attract them to engage with and become members of the IoD, after all it had originally been founded in 1906. So I was tasked with reaching out to that younger wave of entrepreneurs making their way … disrupting old traditional sectors. I was writing a report on the sharing economy, which was trying to persuade the Treasury to increase tax allowances. This brought me in touch with many great entrepreneurs, like Debbie Wosskow, Greg Marsh and today’s guest Alex Depledge.I had clearly made quite an impression on Alex, as she asked me to apply for the CEO role of the think tank and lobby group that she was Chairing at the time called the Coalition for a Digital Economy … All I will say about that interview is that fingers crossed today goes better … Suffice to say, I didn’t get that particular role, although another impressive female would call me in the following weeks and an altogether different role. Alex Depledge is what the UK needs more of … an entrepreneur who has sold one multi million pound business, who then decides not to sit on a beach or even angel invest, but is determined to try and repeat the success. She’ll talk us through how she wants to disrupt the housing industry and by making process for extensions much more streamlined and better for the customer … If you have ever been through any building work … you’ll probably be nodding your head in agreement at that statement. She also tells us how she is hopSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here. Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future is presented by me, Jimmy McLoughlin, a former Downing Street adviser on business.Our last episode was with Dom McGregor, we talked about his story and how it was perhaps the stereotype of how we characterise the entrepreneurship journey … Uni drop out who sent a tweet that became worth hundred of millions .. Well Anne Boden from Starling Bank is different, very different.As she describes herself in this interview  she was in her 50s  She’s from Wales She’s a woman in finance and technology She’s only five foot tall Since we recorded this interview ten days ago it was announced that Starling have taken £50 million in funding from Goldman Sachs, taking the total valuation of Starling to £1.1 billion and therefore the proverbial unicorn status. Her story of founding a bank in 2014 to growing it the size it is today demonstrates that entrepreneurs can come in all shapes and sizes. Starling now employs over 1,000 people across the UK, including setting up large hubs in Southampton and Cardiff. Anne talks us through why those places stood out as talent hubs. She talks about how you don’t need an Financial Services background to work at Starling, they are hiring software engineers, Data analysts and graphic designers. A big part of what drives this show is wanting to tell the brilliant entrepreneurial stories that are happening all across the UK, each episode is full of entrepreneurs creating jobs, they don’t make headlines about creating hundreds or thousands, because so often it is about the incremental steps along the way. And of course that is a reminder, that this podcast is making its own first foray as we are taking on our first employees to help power our next stage of growth, so if you are curious about the way our economy is growing, want to work on researching guests and helping us get it into more ears, please check out the show notes for more details We have surpassed 100 reviews on iTunes, a big thank you to Eben Owen, a student at Cardiff University who left a six word review - that is all it takes for me to think this show is worthwhile. If you could leave a rating that would make a big difference and don’t forget to tell a friend or six about the show as that is the best way we can grow it. Thanks to Octopus Group for their support in this second series. A reminder that they are looking for new charity partners and are welcoming applications over the next month - the support offered includes £45,000 of unrestricted funding. A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most imSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dom and Steven Bartlett founded a social media consultancy called social chain  in their early 20s in Manchester. It is in some ways, it is perhaps the stereotypical entrepreneurship journey we characterise, university dropouts to building a company worth hundreds of millions in just a few years. They were incredibly successful, hiring phenomenal youngsters and telling some of the worlds biggest brands how to engage with audiences on social media. Dom recounts us with how it was 2014 and some of the world's biggest fashion brands weren't on Instagram, a reminder how quickly the world we live in can change. They went onto IPO the company, It is a remarkable story for two young men in their 20s and of course like all of the stories on this show, it was not simple and it was not without failures and mis-steps along the way. However, this interview with Dom goes much deeper than we have been with many entrepreneurs before, with the success came celebrations and parties, but behind the social media snaps and updates, there was an individual struggling with addiction, Dom takes us on a journey to becoming an alcoholic …. But first, we start at York train station … A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedIn.This podcast has partnered with Octopus Group for this second series, they invest in the people, idea’s and companies that will change the world. They are now searching for new charity partners to create a lasting impact in communities and on the environment. if you know a charity that Octopus could really help as we come out of the pandemic please encourage them to apply. See the show notes for a link and check out the third episode of this series with Chris Hulatt, the founder of Octopus. Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Carrell is the founder of Koru Kids. Rachel has raised £14.1 million, making her the most backed female founderShe talks about how she founded Koru Kids to improve the accessibility to childcare, a system which has not been updated in decades that frankly doesn’t work well for the parents, the child carers themselves and of course the most important people in the equation, the children themselves. Having started a family myself in the last couple of years, it is a subject which is very close to my heart, particularly as at the start of the pandemic my wife returned to work in the NHS and I became a stay at home, Dad to our daughter. It was brilliant to have Rachel on to talk about all of her ambitions for childcare, how she wants to shake up the career development for childcare workers, and how the best ones can earn £50-£60k.We also discuss how they are hiring for product, engineering and markeeter roles and how they are trying to re create those ‘word of mouth’ moments in an online world. Rachel is a tremendous thinker on hiring processes, so we delve deep into the system that they have developed for that at Koru Kids. And finally we touch on how the pandemic will alter the global landscape for talent and how the ‘tyranny of distance’ may not affect New Zealand quite so much in this brave new world. We start down under with a young Rachel Carrell selling posies and operating an aluminium smelter. Jimmy has an infrequent email newsletter that you can sign up to here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedIn.Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michele Romanow became the youngest Dragon in the world, aged just 28. In this episode we hear how Michele went from a coffee and caviar entrepreneur at University to setting up Clearbanc which is looking to shake up how funding is provided for companies who are looking to make it into the e-commerce space. Clearbanc recently launched in the UK.  The UK has always been a home to some of the most entrepreneurial e commerce companies in the world, pre the pandemic we led the world in having the most retail transactions done via online and this has come from some of the most innovative companies like, GymShark, The Hut Group, ASOS, AO.com,  and Ocado. In this episode, we'll hear how Michele is revolutionising the VC space and democratising AI based on data points that have already been generated from e commerce players. Jimmy has an infrequent email newsletter that you can sign up to here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedIn.Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris is the co-founder of Octopus Group, they employ 750 people and have over £9 billion pounds under management. You can sign up to the email newsletter Jimmy mentioned hereOctopus was started in his bedroom in the year 2000, he’d left a solid and stable job with Mercury to set up his own fund management company in his mid 20s. We learn in this episode that perhaps unsurprisingly it took a couple of twenty somethings quite a while to raise their first million pounds to invest in Britains entrepreneurial companies.But by year 2010 they had achieved a solid scale of fund management and began to think more about the other problems that they could tackle.This came from the entrepreneurial team that they had created, Matt Cooper one of their fund managers, pitched them an idea about solar panels and now he now heads up the renewables division employing 80 people and having invested £3 billion into renewable energy.This is where they developed their consumer facing energy supplier Octopus Energy, which is probably what the company is known for most now, having amassed 2 million customers in just five years, and we will be interviewing the CEO, Greg Jackson later in the series. Chris talks about the different routes they have taken on the journey from being a start up to the major institution that Octopus now is and the more they can and want to do to disrupt other industries such as healthcare. They started with just yellow pages, their girlfriends paying the rent and a one pager with some ideas scrawled on it. We talk about how some of the best ideas can come from the most unexpected of places and how they encourage their employees to pitch ideas through their Springboard programme ‘and how the Government can expand their springboard programme to build an army of entrepreneurs’. But first we start the story by Chris working in a gory lab at the height of the BSE crisis. We are proud to have partnered with Octopus on this series of Jimmy's Jobs of the future.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedIn.Jimmy also has a email newsletter that you can sign up to here. Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices