40 Minute Mentor

What does the hiring landscape really look like for 2026, and how can founders attract and retain exceptional talent in a market that’s evolving faster than ever? Continuing on from Wednesday’s episode on People Predictions for 2026, James Mitra is joined by more Amplified People Group team members, Sophie Graci and Zach Rose from JBM, James Adams and Lisa Crane from Foundation Partners, to unpack the biggest shifts shaping the talent market heading into 2026. From the rise of player-coach leaders, to the renewed importance of human connection in an AI-enabled world, the team share their front-line insights on how founders can scale smarter, avoid costly hiring mistakes, and stand out to top candidates. They also dive deep into the growing role of fractional talent, why alignment and clarity are still the most underrated parts of hiring, and how candidates can differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. If you're hiring in 2026, or gearing up for your next role, this conversation is full of practical and actionable advice. 📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ The biggest shifts in hiring throughout 2025 [03:20] ➡️ The most common hiring mistakes [07:30] ➡️ Employer brand & attracting the best talent [12:30] ➡️ Fractional hiring - and when it doesn’t work  [17:20] ➡️ Scaling in 2026: Advice for founders preparing to grow  [34:00] ➡️ How candidates can stand out in a competitive market [37:00] 🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Find out more about Foundation Partners ✨ Find out more about JBM ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  🎧 You may also like: People Predictions for 2026: The Future of Leadership and High-Performing Teams with Amplified Group’s Sophie Matthews, Nat Falconer, Mikael Nilsson and Logan Black Alan Cairns on hiring in hyper-growth & a guide to culture and performance Neda Sahebelm & Carla Hoppe: How to make fractional hiring & careers work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the year ahead really hold for leaders, founders and people teams? In this special 40 Minute Mentor roundtable, James Mitra is joined by Amplified Group’s people experts, Sophie Matthews, Nat Falconer and Mikael Nilsson from Foundation Partners, and Logan Black from Unleashed, to explore the biggest people and talent trends shaping 2026. From leaner organisations and the rise of fractional talent, to more focus on high-performing cultures, the team unpack what high performance will actually look like next year, and why middle managers may become the most influential layer in your organisation. If you’re looking to scale your team, embed new technology or simply want no-BS guidance on hiring and retaining top talent, then this episode is for you.  📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ The rise of leaner and more efficient teams [05:10] ➡️ AI hype vs reality [12:00]  ➡️ Defining high performance [25:45]  ➡️ The biggest people challenges heading into 2026 [31:00]  ➡️ What top candidates are really looking for [35:00]  ➡️ Bold people predictions for the year ahead [40:00]  🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Find out more about Foundation Partners ✨ Find out more about Unleashed ⭐Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  🎧 You may also like: Murvah Iqbal on scaling one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups and disruption a billion dollar industry with Hived Tamara Lohan MBE on scaling the iconic Mr & Mrs Smith travel brand from idea to exit  Andrew Richardson on building high-performing businesses & leadership teams with Amplified Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take to build one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups in a legacy industry?  Find out from today’s 40 Minute Mentor, Murvah Iqbal, Co-Founder and CEO of Hived, the UK’s first customer-centric, all-electric, tech-enabled parcel delivery company designed for modern e-commerce. Long before raising a $42 million Series B and rolling out an 100% electric fleet across eight UK cities, Murvah was captaining Manchester City’s women’s youth team, running marketing for her family’s fast-food chain, and hustling entrepreneurial ideas.  Today, she leads a team transforming parcel delivery through world-class technology, operational excellence and a relentless belief that there had to be a better way. This episode is a masterclass in leadership grit, co-founder dynamics, building high-performing teams, and scaling a moonshot idea from two founders on bikes to millions of parcels delivered for some of the UK’s biggest brands. 📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ Transferrable skills from football to entrepreneurship [06:05]  ➡️ The Silicon Valley spark that led to building Hived [08:00]  ➡️ Co-Founder dynamics & complementary strengths [13:00]  ➡️ From bikes to millions of parcels delivered [15:00]  ➡️ Fundraising realities [24:00]  ➡️ Scaling hiring and culture [30:00]  🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Murvah ✨ Find out more about Hived ⭐Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it really take to build an inclusive, high-performance culture in a fast-growing scaleup? Today’s 40 Minute Minute Mentor is Alan Cairns, serial Chief People Officer and most recently CPO at GoCardless, the FinTech helping over 100,000 businesses get paid on time through bank payments and open banking.  With 30+ years across operations, people and talent, Alan has led some of the UK’s most recognisable brands through intense growth and change, from Chapter 11 restructuring and mass redundancies to category creation and hyper-growth. In today’s episode, he shares candid lessons from his journey from mechanical engineering to CPO and COO, and unpacks what high performance actually looks like in practice.  📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ From mechanical engineering to People & Talent [01:20]  ➡️ The power of delegating and letting go [05:00]  ➡️ What great Founders have in common [10:40]  ➡️ CPO skills & building trust in the C-Suite [14:00]  ➡️ Moving from CPO to COO [20:00]  ➡️ What high performance really means [32:00]  ➡️ What makes or breaks culture in hypergrowth [39:00]  🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Alan ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  🎧 You may also like: Shimona Mehta on scaling Shopify Plus to $1B & transitioning into the CEO role at F11 Jevan Soo Lenox on building AI-first cultures & high-performing teams at fast-growth Unicorn WRITER  Dinika Mahtani on going from Operator at Uber to backing early-stage startups at Cherry Ventures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Shimona Mehta, CEO at F11 - the one-stop platform for digital advertising. Prior to joining F11, Shimona spent 6 years at Shopify, working across the Revenue function and becoming Managing Director of EMEA, where she built the rocketship commercial offering Shopify Plus from 0 to $1 billion.  It doesn’t take a lot of digging through Shimona’s CV or many conversations with her to see that the underlying drive to the great career she’s built is her passion for building high-performing teams.  In this candid live recording, we discuss the powerful lessons Shimona learned on scaling sustainably, and why humility, clarity and trust are the true accelerators of growth.  📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ Scaling Shopify Plus to $1B  [04:10]  ➡️ The biggest challenges of hyper-scale growth [07:00]  ➡️ How Shimona progressed so quickly at Shopify [13:20]  ➡️ Why choosing the right people opens every door [14:00]  ➡️ Why F11 and the art of taking over as CEO [19:10]  ➡️ A playbook for high-performing teams [32:00]  ➡️ Why diverse leadership teams win [37:30] 🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Shimona ✨ More about F11 ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Duncan Clark, Head of EMEA at Canva, the world-leading visual-communication platform on a mission to empower the world to design.  Before joining Canva, Duncan co-founded Flourish, the data-storytelling platform used by newsrooms and organisations worldwide to bring data to life.  Duncan’s journey from data journalist at The Guardian to first-time founder, selling to Canva, and now leading EMEA, is packed with lessons on building sustainably, scaling with trust, and staying true to your mission.  📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ Duncan’s path into journalism [01:35]  ➡️ First-time Founder lessons [10:00]  ➡️ Scaling lean & staying profitable [17:10]  ➡️ Selling to Canva & building Canva EMEA from scratch [18:45]  ➡️ Culture & Leadership at scale [29:30]  ➡️ Hiring for impact [35:00]  ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Asi Sharabi, Co-Founder and CEO of Wonderbly, the world’s leading personalised publishing company.  Founded in 2012, Wonderbly is on a mission to inspire boundless self-belief in children through clever and sophisticated personalisation.  Over the last decade, Asi and the team have gone from strength to strength, raising money from some of the biggest investors in the industry, winning multiple awards, growing the team and shipping over 10 million books.  In this episode, Asi opens up about the reality behind this fast-growth journey, from raising capital to taking back ownership and scaling the team while keeping a strong culture at the core.  📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ The moment it all started [02:00]  ➡️ Hypergrowth & fundraising lessons [10:00]  ➡️ Building a high-performing culture without burning people out [13:30]  ➡️ Why proximity still matters in a remote world [23:20]  ➡️ Selling to Penguin Random House [26:30]  ➡️ The hard side of being a Founder [32:20]  🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Asi ✨ More about Wonderbly ✨ Asi’s book recommendation ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Thomas Plantenga, the CEO of Vinted - Europe’s largest secondhand marketplace and Lithuania’s first-ever unicorn.  What started as a small Lithuanian startup in 2008 has evolved into a fast-growth business with millions of users, 2,000+ employees and a €5 billion valuation.  In today’s conversation, Thomas shares the ins and outs of his journey with Vinted, how it became such a global success, the biggest leadership lessons he learnt along the way and what’s next for the business with the launch of Vinted Ventures.  If you’re a founder or operator navigating scaleup challenges, this episode is a masterclass in turnaround strategy, culture building and leading with humility.  📚Episode Chapters: ➡️ Early years & the call that changed everything  [07:30] ➡️ Realising Vinted was in trouble [16:00]  ➡️ Spotting the first signs of growth [20:00]  ➡️ The hardest leadership lessons [23:00]  ➡️ The art of hiring at scale & psychological safety [27:00]  ➡️ Launching Vinted Ventures [36:40]  🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Thomas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-p-19651414/?originalSubdomain=lt  ✨ More about Vinted: https://www.vinted.co.uk/  ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Jevan Soo Lenox, the Chief People Officer at WRITER, a leader in agentic AI for the enterprise.    Founded in 2020, WRITER helps businesses launch products faster, run deeper financial research and clinical trials. The high-growth startup is backed by some of the best investors, including Balderton, Radical Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures, and many more.   Before joining WRITER, Jevan already held multiple CPO roles in hyper-growth businesses, including Blue Bottle Coffee, Stitch Fix and inistro. In today’s conversation, Jevan shares a masterclass on the modern people function - from building AI-first cultures and scaling people teams globally, to hiring with self-awareness and building high-performing cultures.  If you’re a Founder, Operator or People leader building a hypergrowth culture or looking for ways to embed more AI into your teams, this episode is packed with valuable insights for you.  📚Episode Chapters:  ➡️ From McKinsey to AI -  Jevan’s career path [03:00] ➡️ Finding a calling in People & Culture leadership [04:00] ➡️ What makes a truly great Chief People Officer [09:30] ➡️ How technology and AI are transforming the People function [16:45] ➡️ Inside WRITER: culture, values and what “AI-first” really means [18:40] ➡️ When to hire your first CPO [23:00] ➡️ How to hire exceptional leaders [34:40] 🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Jevan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jevansoolenox  ✨ More about WRITER: https://writer.com/  ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Season 14 of 40 Minute Mentor!  In today’s episode, we’re joined by Claire Davenport, a seasoned tech operator whose career spans investment banking at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, Chief of Staff at Skype, CEO roles at VoucherCodes, HelloFresh UK and Not On The High Street, as well as board and angel investing.  Today, Claire is a prominent figure in the Tech world as a NED, COO at Multiverse and Angel Investor. She is also a staunch advocate for women leaders, having founded WITSEND, a fast-growing network for C-Suite women in tech.  In this conversation, Claire shares candid lessons on leading in a crisis, making the leap to CEO, landing your first non-exec role, retaining top talent, and the real state of gender balance in executive leadership.  📚Episode Chapters:  ➡️ From banking to ops - Claire’s pivots & biggest lessons [08:12]  ➡️ The hardest chapter [13:00]  ➡️ Becoming a CEO [16:00]  ➡️ How headhunters can help your career advancement [18:00]  ➡️ What great C-level leadership looks like [22:00]  ➡️ How to land your first board seat [24:13]  ➡️ Attracting & retaining top talent [29:30]  ➡️ The power of peer mentorship & community [33:00]  ➡️ Women in leadership roles - the progress & gaps [35:30]  🔍 Find out more:  ✨ Connect with Claire: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/claire-davenport-online/en  ✨ More about Multiverse: https://www.multiverse.io/en-GB  ✨More about WITSEND: https://www.witsend.online/  ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  🎧 You may also like: Where Are They Now: Sophie Adelman On Building A Community For The Curious Levelling The Playing Field: A Social Mobility Special From TopGun to Boardroom with Chris Severson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices