40 Minute Mentor

“We are not expected to all develop in the same direction. Success isn’t the same for all of us and we can’t plan our way to some kind of predictable future.” 40 Minute Mentor is fast approaching its 12th season. With over 250 episodes published, we know that not every single one of our listeners will have been around from the beginning. To share some of our earlier mentorship with you, we’re running another one of our Replay feature seasons. In today’s Replay episode, we’re revisiting our 40 minutes of pocket-sized mentorship with the brilliant Helen Tupper. Helen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Amazing If, a bestselling Author and Co-Host of the popular Squiggly Careers podcast. In these 40 minutes, you’ll find out… Episode chapters:➡️ Joining for the company, not the job [03:25]  ➡️ Working for big brands [04:30] ➡️ Defining your career values [08:30] ➡️ Taking the plunge into entrepreneurship [10:20] ➡️ Building a business with your friend [15:15] ➡️ Defining a Squiggly Career [20:45] ➡️ Building your confidence [26:45] ➡️ Starting the Squiggly Careers podcast [30:35] ➡️ The secret to community building [35:20] ➡️ Advice on career pivots [35:45] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Helen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helentupper?originalSubdomain=uk ➡️ Find out more about Amazing If: https://www.amazingif.com/ ➡️ Listen to the Squiggly Careers podcast: https://www.amazingif.com/listen/ ⭐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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There’s a competitive drive and edge that you see in sport that is really important in business. And Teamwork. Dealing with individuals, knowing what helps make an individual tick is really important.” For the final episode in this season of our VC feature, we’re joined by Ruari Bell, Founding Partner at The Players Fund, the UK’s first athlete-led firm, founded to empower the athlete community as investors. The Players Fund brings together a collective of renowned athlete investors, including Ben Stokes, former 40 Minute Mentor guest Jessica Ennis-Hill, Jos Butler, Allyson Felix, Serge Gnabry and many more top athletes. Ruari has had a fantastic career in entrepreneurship and investing and we’ll dig into every part of it and his journey with The Players Fund in detail, in today’s episode. In these 40 minutes, you’ll hear about... Episode chapters: ➡️ Increasing diversity and inclusion in VC [03:00] ➡️ Growing up in the Northeast of England [03:50] ➡️ A love for sport [05:45] ➡️ Transitioning out of professional sport [07:55] ➡️ An entrepreneurial journey [10:50] ➡️ Transferable skills from sport to business [17:40] ➡️ The origin story of The Players Fund [20:15] ➡️ What makes Founders stand out to him [28:00] ➡️ Openness to feedback [29:30] ➡️ Vision for the future [35:15] ➡️ Building a business with family [38:00] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Ruari on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruaribell/ ➡️ Find out more about The Players fund: https://www.playersfund.vc/ ⭐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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When a VC gives you a low valuation, it isn’t the fact that your company is worth that much, it might just be because you didn’t pitch it in the right way.” Fundraising can be a lonely process at times. And an endless emotional rollercoaster throughout. In today’s episode, we collated some of the best fundraising advice from Founders who have been in your position and raised some impressive rounds over the years. You’ll hear from: 🌟 Avion Gray, Co-Founder & CEO of Belong🌟 Alice Pelton, Co-Founder & CEO of The Lowdown🌟 Christian Facey, Founder & CEO of Audiomob🌟 Ham Serunjogi, Co-Founder & CEO of Chipper Cash🌟 Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Olympian & Co-Founder of FemTech, Jennis🌟 Molly Johnson-Jones, Co-Founder & CEO of Flexa🌟 Exited Founder Nicolas D’Audiffret of Ankorstore🌟 Simone Maini, CEO at Elliptic🌟 Tim Chong, Co-Founder & CEO of Yonder⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Find all of the full episodes used in today’s roundup in the 40 Minute Mentor archives, or by searching ‘Name + 40 Minute Mentor’ on Google: https://jbmc.co.uk/40-minute-mentor/ ⭐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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This is a long partnership. We’re here to return money to our investors, but we are also here to experience a very unique journey together. So, trust is very important, on both sides.” We’ve been so lucky to have some of the best VCs in the industry, come on 40 Minute Mentor over the years. For today’s episode, we thought we’d collate some of the best VC advice we received on the podcast to date. You’ll hear from: 🌟 Leila Rastegar-Zegna, Founding General Partner of Kindred Capital 🌟 Hannah Seal, Partner at Index Ventures🌟 Pippa Lamb, Partner at Sweet Capital 🌟 Ian Hogarth, Partner at Plural 🌟 Antoine Nussenbaum, Co-Founder of Felix Capital 🌟 Cleo Sham, ex-Partner at Stride.VC 🌟 Check Warner, Co-Founder of Ada Ventures Episode chapters: ➡️ Hardest part of being a VC [01:30] ➡️ Investing at Seed stage [04:09] ➡️ Mission first VCs [04:40] ➡️ Backing exceptional Founders [08:30] ➡️ Being strategic in choosing your fund [16:20] ➡️ DE&I in VC [22:45] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Find all of the full episodes used in today’s roundup in the 40 Minute Mentor archives, or by searching ‘Name + 40 Minute Mentor’ on Google: https://jbmc.co.uk/40-minute-mentor/ ⭐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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Founders deserve Investors that have relevant operating experience, time to help them and can be impartial and objective in the advice they give.” Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Gideon Valkin, former Monzo and ClearScore Commercial Leader, Investor and Entrepreneur. Following 15 years as a Founder, Operator and Investor, Gideon is now combining being a Founder and Investor in the launch of Andrena Ventures - a $12m solo GP fund. Andrena is investing $100k-$400k tickets at pre-seed and seed into teams coming from the UK and European ecosystem, focusing on backing the most talented FinTech alumni.In these 40 minutes, you’ll find out… Episode chapters: ➡️ The Investors Founders deserve [03:00] ➡️ Upbringing & values that shape Gideon today [04:00] ➡️ Learning fundamental lessons from Tennis [10:30]  ➡️ From Founder to Operator [14:15] ➡️ Overcoming the most challenging times [17:45]  ➡️ Working alongside Tom Blomfield and Justin Basini [20:50] ➡️ Raising a solo GP fund [27:30]  ➡️ A solo GP approach to working with Founders [29:00] ➡️ Important qualities in a Founder [32:15] ➡️ A look into the future [39:30]       ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Gideon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gideon-valkin-05a44823?originalSubdomain=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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you eventually want to do investing, become an Operator or Founder, don’t go into banking.” We are back with another season of our popular VC Feature series, where we hear from some of the best Investors in the space. Today, we’re joined by Ash Arora, the youngest Partner at LocalGlobe. Before joining LocalGlobe in 2022, Ash was the Investment Lead for Crypto Unicorn, Polygon’s venture arm, with LPs such as Sequoia, Lightspeed, Softbank, Tiger, etc. In this episode, we discuss Ash’s career journey, her transition from banking to VC and her focus on Blockchain and AI investments.  Episode Chapters: ➡️ Upbringing & early career aspirations [03:10] ➡️ Career foundations in banking [05:00] ➡️ Reflections on her time at Polygon [07:30] ➡️ The value of an Ops background as a VC [10:30] ➡️ Joining LocalGlobe [13:20] ➡️ Why Blockchain & Web3 [16:00] ➡️ What makes Founders stand out to Ash [18:15] ➡️ What to avoid when pitching to VCs [22:25] ➡️ Raising in a challenging climate [26:50] ➡️ Embracing Failure [29:00] ➡️ The importance of mentorship & becoming a mentor [32:20] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Ash on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aashima-arora?originalSubdomain=uk ➡️ Find out more about LocalGlobe: https://localglobe.vc/ ➡️ Read about Ash’s parameters for finding your next role: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aashima-arora_how-do-you-find-your-next-job-half-the-activity-7136378080742318081-E6PV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop ⭐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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Dyslexia is a learning difference. There’s nothing difficult about it. You have challenges, but you’re not a difficult individual.” In our final episode in this specialist advice series, we’re joined by Onyinye Udokporo, one of the UK’s youngest education experts, entrepreneur, dyslexic author, neurodiversity consultant and content creator. Onyinye’s entrepreneurial journey started when she was only 12 years old, when she began tutoring children and young people from her local community in her parent’s living room. Following her own diagnosis with Dyslexia, she became an author of ‘Dyslexia and Me: How to survive and thrive if you’re neurodivergent’ and started her own Neurodiversity Consulting firm in 2022, where she delivers training and workshops as well as consulting services to businesses including Google and the BBC. Today we’ll dive into her entrepreneurial journey, from day one in her parent’s living room to using AI for good, and everything in between. Episode Chapters: ➡️ Learning from setbacks [02:15] ➡️ Upbringing & starting a business at the age of 12 [04:10] ➡️ Quitting big 4 consulting on Day 1 [09:10] ➡️ Early entrepreneurial inspirations [18:30] ➡️ Being diagnosed with dyslexia [21:15] ➡️ Making businesses more neuro inclusive [27:50] ➡️ Advice for neurodivergent Founders [30:40] ➡️ Hiring & retaining neurodiverse talent [36:30] ➡️ Education & AI [41:30] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Onyinye on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/onyinyeudokporo?originalSubdomain=uk ➡️ Find out more about her work: https://www.onyinyeudokporo.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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It very often feels uncomfortable for Founders to put themselves out there in that way. But the more you do it, the easier it will get.” In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re covering a topic critical for every early-stage Founder - the power of Public Relations. To help us discover the do’s and don’ts and share some of the biggest advice for Founders and Communication teams, we’re joined by Rhiannon Evans-Young, Founder & Director of Crest, Isabella Cookson, Director at Milltown Partners and Hannah Urbanek, Fractional Head of Marketing and 40 Minute Mentor Producer. Episode chapters: ➡️ The Do’s & Dont’s of PR [01:10] ➡️ Building your Founder brand [05:00] ➡️ Common PR mistakes [10:30] ➡️ Navigating a communications crisis [15:00] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Rhiannon on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rhiannon-evans-young-0179885b ➡️ Follow Isabella on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/isabella-cookson-03218280 ➡️ Follow Hannah on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/hannahurbanek ⭐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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Make networking a daily occurrence. It’s everyday interactions. It’s making a good impression early doors and really taking the time to build meaningful relationships and connections.” In today’s episode, we’ve put our host, James Mitra, into the interviewee seat. James was recently invited on Alembic Strategy’s Strategy Café, hosted by Founder and MD, Nick Mayhew. If you haven’t heard of Alembic before, they’re a team of facilitators and coaches working at board level with family businesses, founder-led businesses, private equity and with developing leaders, in the UK and internationally. Nick and James discuss the unique journey JBM has been on and the key lessons James has learned over the last 11 years of leading JBM. Episode chapters: ➡️ Introductions [01:08] ➡️ The power of networking [04:45] ➡️ Bringing networking into your day to day [08:20] ➡️ Starting JBM at age 25 [14:20] ➡️ Disrupting traditional recruitment [17:40] ➡️ Dealing with competition [20:15] ➡️ Changing lives through recruitment [24:50] ➡️ The mistakes along the way [28:30] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayhewnick/ ➡️ Follow James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmitra-jbm/?originalSubdomain=uk ➡️ Find out more about Alembic Strategy: https://www.alembicstrategy.com/ ➡️ Find out more about JBM: https://jbmc.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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“[Debating] teaches you to listen, to challenge well, and it teaches you all the skills that you need to be able to be in any room at any time, with anyone.” The world seems more divided than ever before. But is it actually or are we simply shying away from debating and leaning into disagreeing with each other? This is exactly what we’ll explore in today’s episode - the power of debating and the benefits of disagreeing, in business and beyond. To help us unpack this important topic, we’re joined by Scarlett McCabe, Co-Founder and CEO of Debate Mate and Lewis Iwu, debate champion, author of ‘Words that Win’ and Co-Founder and CEO of Purpose Union. Episode chapters: ➡️ 60 second CVs [04:55] ➡️ Finding the right people [13:05] ➡️ Writing your own playbook [16:50] ➡️ Introduction to debating [18:30] ➡️ What debating teaches you [22:25] ➡️ Skills needed to be good at debating [27:50] ➡️ Benefits of debating in business [30:30] ➡️ Getting into debating now [35:00] ➡️ Communicating better [37:50] ➡️ The power of disagreeing [41:30] ⛳ Helpful links:➡️ Follow Scarlett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarlettmccabe/ ➡️ Follow Lewis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-iwu-b3125024/ ➡️ Find out more about Debate Mate: https://debatemate.com/ ➡️ Find out more about Purpose Union: https://www.purposeunion.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 on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices