The Founder Files

We all know the "what" of customer centricity, but not many Founders are well versed in the "how." That's why we're speaking to Marie Whittington, a designer extraordinaire and the Co-Founder of Pepperplane, a design studio that specialises in UI/UX design. In this episode, we chat about how customer experience has evolved in the digital age and why many business leaders still struggle to see things from a user/customer perspective. We discuss what UX and UI mean, and why these capabilities are important. We get some insight into Pepperplane's approach to developing world-class UIs and find out how we can all be a bit more customer-centric. And, of course, we get into Pepperplane's scaling journey to find out about their own entrepreneurial journey and how they're overcoming their own challenges. Tune in, don't forget to subscribe and enjoy!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

In this bonus episode, we chat with our host, Cameron Coutts, about hiring. The reason we chose this topic is that it's come up frequently in recent episodes. Being an Industrial Psychologist, Cameron has expertise in the hiring space and provides some valuable insights to help Founders and leaders make better hires. Tune in to this bonus episode to find out more about this specific topic!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

If you had to choose only one episode of The Founder Files to listen to, then this is the one.Whether it's decisions, prioritisation, time management, habits or approaches, there are certain things that the best Founders do that put them a cut above the rest. This includes everything from hiring and delegation to prioritisation and personal productivity habits. Paul Smith and Ryan Osher are our guests this week providing insights on and to entrepreneurs. They are the Founders of Civitas, a network where Founders and CEOs come together to connect, learn and help each other solve their most complex problems. Paul and Ryan share their most valuable insights from what they've experienced in facilitating peer group sessions with top CEOs, as well as from their own knowledge and experience.Enjoy this goldmine of insights and don't forget to subscribe!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

As a founder, being focused on a clear strategy and direction is hard enough, but when you're the founder of 2 businesses then it becomes critically important to make sure you're using your time well. This is a topic we discuss with Steve Pinto as he explains how clear values, goals, strategies and decision-making frameworks have helped grow 2 businesses side by side. Steve is the Founder and CEO of New Reality and CTRL Robotics. New Reality is a VR company that helps businesses train their employees in ways they have never experienced before. CTRL Robotics is a company that provides a platform and team of robots to help businesses optimise their operations.This is a high-energy episode with an incredibly driven entrepreneur that will surely inspire you to get up and get focused.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

How do you get your employees to be motivated and driven in the right direction? How do you ensure that your sales and marketing efforts are deliberate and build momentum? How do you make sure you're connecting with the customers you want to be connecting with? How do you ensure that what you become known for is what you WANT to be known for?These are all questions that were answered when Tristan Van Moerkerken decided that a rebrand was needed for his business. Even though it was a big investment, he's felt more clarity on the direction of his business than ever before and is seeing the results to prove it. Tristan is the Founder and CEO of Optimized, an e-commerce platform on a mission to give you everything you need to unlock your full potential through products improving health, wellness, and physical and mental performance.In this episode, we get insight into clashes with previous founders, rediscovering a new identity, setting and directing strategy, and how this all gets tied together through the brand.This is the first episode of the new season where there is now a greater focus on topics. Enjoy!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

When you're the sole founder of a business, how do you know that you're doing the right things and moving in the right direction? What do you do if you feel like you don't have all the skills needed to get your business to grow? How can you get someone to help hold you accountable to do the important but not urgent things?These are all questions that Samantha Hogg-Brandjes - the Founder and CEO of GinjaNinja, a PR company for tech and ICT businesses - asked herself before she decided that a business coach is what she needed to take her business forward. And it turns out that she was right. In the 12-18 months after her decision to get a coach, her business grew by 46%. This is especially noteworthy when you consider that interest in PR and Communications has dropped from about 26% of enrollments to 1%.Sam has a passion for PR and demonstrates the importance of this profession in helping businesses in this day and age. Her passion is also what fuels her growth, which is a topic we also get into when discussing how she translates her personal philosophy into that of the business.This is the first episode of the new season where there is now a greater focus on topics. Enjoy!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

After publishing 13 episodes, we realised that we had just done a full quarter of the year in interviews. Just like quarterly strategy reviews, we thought that this was ideal timing to pause and reflect on our learnings from each episode we've done so far. This is a special episode where Cameron and Brett (the Founders of Metavolve) discuss everything they learned from each guest and what stood out to them as unique about their stories. Enjoy this special episode because the format of future episodes is going to be a little different from now on!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

Having clarity on your Mission, Vision and Values is critical to the successful growth of your business because these philosophical elements define the direction you're headed in and provide clarity as to what your stakeholders should expect from you. This lesson is lived, learned and taught by Lauren Dallas (the Co-Founder and CEO of Future Females), who explains that the clarity Future Females has on its own identity is one of the main reasons they have been able to grow into 55 countries in less than 5 years.Future Females is a business network that exists to empower and support female entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses effectively. They do this using 3 main offerings: a business school, a founder's club and monthly speaking and networking events all over the world. What sets Future Females apart from other business or entrepreneurial networks is how they live their values: to be collaborative, inclusive and community-driven, and to give first and take action.In this episode, we talk about how the courage to be authentic can transform your business and your life. Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

Building strong relationships is at the core of Iridium Business Solution's ethos and this holds true in their approach to customer-centricity. This value is so strong that they gave up proportions of up to 100% of their fees to help their clients weather the storm of COVID. This in turn built a reputation of trusting relationships in the market, which was the launchpad of Iridium's growth.Iridium was able to do this proactively because they're a cloud accounting firm. This means that they already had access to the financials of their clients, and due to their advisory unit, they were able to foresee the impact that lockdown would have on their clients and therefore provide them with consultation and reducing their fees. Besides cloud accounting services and financial advisory, they also provide automation support for businesses by utilising platforms like Xero (with whom Iridium was nominated for partner of the year in 2021 and 2022) and Dext.This story of strong client relationships is just one of many that Peter Magner (the Co-Founder and Director of Sales and Marketing) shares in our conversation. Peter's background is accounting and audit through and through, but he started Iridium with his brother shortly after finishing his articles. Since then, he's shown a strong mix of entrepreneurship and altruism by being a member of an SMME investment committee and a director of an NGO. In this episode, we talk about how a business can be truly customer-centric, navigating complex people problems as you scale and reducing customer relationships' dependency on the founders. Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!

The concept of failure is almost spoken about too much in entrepreneurial circles, but our next guest - Kimberley Taylor - brings it home in quite a relatable way by being compassionate with herself when she fails to meet her own high expectations in relation to her mental health goals like waking up at 5am or meditating for 40 days in a row. The same principles apply to initiating change and experimentation in your business because the whole point is to be kind to yourself when you do inevitably fail. Because let's face it, if you don't fail then it wasn't an experiment, it was a prediction.This was an in-depth topic we discussed with Kim in her journey as the Founder and CEO of Loop, a custom-fit delivery app and platform that helps delivery and logistics companies optimise their last-mile deliveries. They've grown rapidly over the past few years and are part of the reason why apps like Checkers Sixty60 are so successful.In this episode, we talk about everything from the "how" of mental health to the need for leaders to receive empathy. Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This podcast is brought to you by Metavolve. We help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for growth. We take the chaos out of scaling businesses by turning entrepreneurial intuition into aligned and committed leadership teams with clear strategic direction. We optimise the execution of strategy by helping people adapt to the inevitable change that strategy creates. Working with us to define or execute your strategy means you get access to experienced experts in business strategy and organisational psychology. You get the benefit of a blend of people-centric and commercial perspectives that can understand your context from every angle. And you get the benefit of not being dependent on us for the long term because we share our knowledge and tools with your people to improve their ability to solve future problems. To get in touch with one of our experts, head over to our website. If you would like to get in touch with our host, Cameron Coutts, then you can connect with him on LinkedIn.This episode is brought to you by Metavolve. Metavolve is a team of focused experts who want scaling entrepreneurs like you to succeed 👉 contact our team Do you have a scaling business and valuable insights about your industry? Be our next guest!