This week's interviewee, Emily Cummin, is carving out a new industry- not quite Death Tech, but Grief Tech instead. Her platform, Untangle was founded to help people dealing with big loss, whether bereavement or divorce, to cope with the emotional and practical fall out. Untangle are still pre-revenue, but are just about to turn on a series of income streams, having already built a more than 40k strong instagram community, and a user base of 12.5k people, with strong retention, engagement and referrals.In this episode Emily shares her entrepreneurship journey so far, including lessons learned around: The surprising gratitude that can come from doing research with customers who need a space to ventHow they used WhatsApp to create their first prototype without coding The power of continuing to facilitate meet-ups with community members as a founderSome of the harder moments, including fundraising and scrapping 3 months of codeAnd her advice on when to trust your gut, and build sooner\Linkshttps://untanglegrief.com/

How do you unlock the opinions of a generation? And what does it change when you can tap into qualitative research at scale? The person to ask is Jay Richards, co-founder of Imagen Insights, which helps big brands like Amazon Prime, Sky, Puma, the NFL, Pepsico and many more, to access thousands of Gen Z opinions, within 48 hours. Not coming from a traditional marketing or research agency background, Jay hasn't felt he has to do things the traditional way. From creating a SaaS business model, instead of an agency bodyshop; to setting totally different working hours for his team; to how they're building a community of Gen Z consultants.Today, Imagen has a community of more than 25,000 Gen Z, across 111 countries. They’ve grown 3x ever year since they were founded in 2019, and are on track for 10x growth this year. In this episode we unpack all this, plus: - The community Jay built before Imagen, and how that led to the NFL asking for his help-  How they tested their methodology with google sheets and docs, with Ebay and Gymshark as customers- Jay's top sales tips and meeting structures- Common misconceptions of Gen Z- And much much moreLinkshttps://imageninsights.com/

Venture Capital claims a lot of Techcrunch headlines, covers our Linkedin timelines, and eats months of our lives and runway, as founders fundraising. But, it can be hard to separate the celebrations of fundraises, from whether Venture Capital is really right for you as a founder, what it will cost you personally, and what is going to increase your chances of success if you do choose that path.Who better to help us debunk some of the myths around venture capital, alongside offering incredibly practical advice, than a former founder who has sat on both sides of the table. Zoe Peden was the founder of a VC backed startup, MyChoicePad, and is now a VC, with Ananda Impact Ventures. In this episode we cover:How VC really works- and why more founders need to understand that before raising capitalHow to work out if Venture Capital is the right path for youWhen to start speaking to VCs (hint, it’s potentially a stage earlier than you think)What to ask a VC at interview stage, and what you can expect from them after they write the chequePlus much more… Linkshttps://ananda.vc/ or info@ananda.vchttps://www.100yearlife.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-are-one-tech/https://www.founderland.org/

What do you need to know as a founder raising early stage, pre-seed or seed funding? Who are angels? What do they care about? How do they make investment decisions?  What should you be asking of them? And what can you do to increase your chances of a successful raise? In this episode we meet founder of entrepreneurial community Dffrnt, Ash Phillips, who became an Angel investor with Ada Ventures to invest in more diverse, typically underrepresented and overlooked founders. Together, we dive into: What Ash looks for in founders he invests inHow to use your pitch narrative to inject passion even when you’re not the best at backing yourselfPractical tips like a handy hack to stand out on the market sizing slideHow to hustle for great adviceAnd much moreLinks: https://dffrnt.so/https://www.adaventures.com/https://help.seedlegals.com/en/articles/4345960-dilution-how-it-workshttps://atomico.com/insights/the-atomico-angel-programmes-fourth-yearhttps://checkwarner.medium.com/adas-investment-in-flexa-3a164985cf90

Many founders dream of the moment their company is acquired. But no-one imagines that post acquisition they may be forced to fire the employees who helped build the startup over 10 years,  watch the company they built lose millions in value, and ultimately, have to buy it back to save their legacy. That was Sach Kukadia's journey in Secret Sales. Luckily, he was able to build back some of the value, for a second sale that was, as he describes "a gentle dismount". But, the process still left him and his co-founder/brother Nish, completely burned out. Luckily, he's  now recharged, without losing his entrepreneurial spirit, and recently launched a new investment jewellery brand, 7879. Within months of launching, it was the best seller in Selfridges latest concept event, and is on track for a 1.5 million run rate in 2022. In this episode, Sach shares: Lessons learned from his first company, secret sales, including how not to lose your voice as a young founderWhat happens when you end up with Ebay on your board too early, and it puts off every other investorThe emotional rollercoaster of selling the business, only to have to buy it back, but without the people who originally drove it to successHow he tested his latest venture 7879 pre-launchAnd how you do data led design for a jewellery collectionLinkshttps://7879.co/

Ideas often come from experiencing frustration first hand. That's exactly what happened to Ellie. While giving up alcohol for a month, she got fed up with the lack of options available in lieu of her traditional G&T. That, coupled with career frustration, that she couldn't get a job building a consumer facing brand, led her to create her own. She launched Caleño- a non-alcoholic drinks brand,  to bring more joy to those choosing to go alcohol free. Today, Caleño has both d2c and traditional retail channels: including Sainsburys, Waitrose and M&S and restaurant chainsIn this episode she shares: How she ended up being in the right mindset for entrepreneurshipA pivotal trip to Columbia and how it shaped the brandThe surprise opportunity to launch in their first supermarketLessons learned as a solo founderAnd the time you really don’t want to hear your product is “on fire”Links: https://calenodrinks.com/

Episode #1: Meet Devin HuntDevin is a serial founder, investor and startup mentor. His first startup was accepted onto Y Combinator, on a cohort with Dropbox, Songkick and Disqus, but ultimately failed. His second startup Lyst is still going strong, raising a pre-IPO round of funding at a reported $700m valuation in 2021. But Devin, having burned out and left the company, also went on to found two more startups. The first, Foundercentric, taught founders "how to suck less" by getting fast and continuous feedback from real customers, and his latest venture, Useful books, helps Non-Fiction writers get real feedback from their readers and community as they write.He's also an investor at Seedcamp, a fund which has invested in 7 European unicorns: Hopin, Wise, Revolut, Sorare, wefox, Pleo and UiPath.In this episode he shares: What Paul Graham taught him on Y CombinatorWhy his first idea died, and how he could have killed it a lot fasterHow they tested the core assumptions in LystHis experience of burnout, and how he avoids it todayHow to speak to customers to avoid bad dataThe most common advice he gives startups he invests inAnd when to hold your nose... Links: https://www.usefulbooks.com/https://www.lyst.co.uk/https://seedcamp.com/

Episode #2: Meet Sophie Meislin Baron Sophie is a first time founder, who launched her startup after experiencing the pains of going back to work after having a baby, and finding no good options for easy weaning. She grew an incredibly engaged community by sharing candidly about parenthood, including  her own lack of fulfilment when she had her first child. So far, Mamamade have built a community of more than 40,000 parents, sold 20,000 meals in 2021, and are on track for an annual revenue of £1m in 2020.But having not set out to found a startup, it took Sophie a while to build the confidence to see herself as a real founder. Now, she's intent on rewriting the way we think of entrepreneurs, and what success really means. Having raised a record breaking pre-seed round on crowdfunding platform Seeders, with angels including the founders of Made.com, Allplants and Designmynight, it would be easy for Sophie to focus on her fundraising to showcase her success, but instead, she reinforces the need for us to challenge our relationship with raising capital, as shorthand for a successful business.  In this episode she shares: How she got over her discomfort testing her product on strangersThe importance of community building for D2C brandsWhat it really takes to raise a crowdfund Why she didn't see herself as a founder at firstLinks: https://mamamadefood.com