40 Minute Mentor

“The thing I love a lot about startups, it’s like a personal self-development course at a rapid rate.”

For our final episode in our Replay series, we’re joined by Sharmadean Reid MBE, Founder of The Stack World, a platform for the women’s creator economy to buy and sell from each other. 

In this candid episode, we chat about Sharmadean’s Founder journey from a nail salon to a global mecca for aspiring entrepreneurs, and ultimately starting The Stack World. 

We discuss the lessons she learned, the mistakes she’s made and her vision for the future, including: 

➡️ How her childhood and education influenced her career [03:52]

➡️ The start of her Founder journey, opening her first nail salon [06:27]

➡️ First time challenges of a startup Founder [10:14]

➡️ The problem with saying yes to everything [11:01]

➡️ Reflections on her time at WAH London [12:14]

➡️ The beauty of failing fast [14:26]

➡️ Business trauma: the realities of starting a second venture [15:48]

➡️ A closer look at VC backed startups [17:54]

➡️ Leadership evolution: being a magpie of information [19:20]

➡️ The core reason for friction in the workplace [20:20]

➡️ Navigating a new business amidst the COVID pandemic [22:42]

➡️ How the pandemic affected women in the workplace [26:36]

➡️ The Stack World: Creating a network of mission-driven women [28:18]

➡️ Gender equality and representation across industries [30:57]

➡️ Finding the balance in mentorship [32:59]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Sharmadean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharmadeanreid/

➡️ Find out more about The Stack World: https://www.thestack.world/ 

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“The importance of the team around you, having focus and discipline and the awareness of facing setbacks… it’s been great to bring the things I’ve learned from sport into the business world.”

From the 2012 Olympic poster girl to Founder of FemTech brand, Jennis… today’s 40 Minute Mentor Replay episode is with none other than Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill.

In this episode we talked about the ins and outs of Jess’s phenomenal sporting career and her pivot into the business world with Jennis - a women’s hormonal health platform, with the goal to help women understand what’s happening hormonally. 

Tune in to the full episode to explore: 

➡️ The realistic road to success [04:32]

➡️ Jess’ introduction to sport and falling into athletics [05:52]

➡️ Dealing with pressure and making sacrifices [07:52]

➡️ How to support children without being a pushy parent [09:39]

➡️ Reliving the ups and downs of Super Saturday [13:03]

➡️ Focusing on one event at a time and taking home Gold [15:04]

➡️ Exploring the other side of success [16:40]

➡️ Motherhood and Jess’s motivation to get back out there [17:23]

➡️ Coping with retirement and starting again [23:05]

➡️ From athlete to FemTech Founder, how Jennis began [26:56]

➡️ The Jennis mission - putting women first [29:11]

➡️ Closing the gender data gap in women’s health [30:55]

➡️ Transitioning from sport to Startup life [32:18]

➡️ Aligning personal values with company culture [34:09]

➡️ The emotional rollercoaster of fundraising [36:37]

➡️ Providing mentorship for the England Rugby team [39:13]

➡️ The humble insights into being a role model [43:20]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Jess: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dame-jessica-ennis-hill-a84b5420b/

➡️ Find out more about Jennis: https://www.jennis.com/ 

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“I was most unhappy at work when I was making the most money and the biggest amount of success.” 

From a successful career at Google, to the journey of making 1 billion people happy.

That is the story of Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer of Google X, author of Solve for Happy and Founder of One Billion Happy. 

It’s an episode full of wisdom, honesty and candid reflections. 

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor Replay, Mo shares his incredible story, including spending 25 years in tech and the devastating experience of losing his son in 2014 which set him on a completely new path. 

Today’s episode topics: 

➡️  Heartbreak and loss, finding a new purpose in pain [04:31]

➡️  The beginning of his happiness journey [06:34]

➡️  Going viral with 1 Billion Happy [07:44]

➡️  Committed acceptance in the face of grief [09:29]

➡️  Anger lessons from Gandhi’s grandson [13:26]

➡️  Mo’s work as a happiness engineer [15:27]

➡️  The three ingredients for success [20:14]

➡️  Finding your purpose by knowing what doesn’t resonate [23:12]

➡️  The infinite game called life [25:08]

➡️  Finding micro-purposes in the everyday [27:40]

➡️  The power of making happiness a choice [33:05]

➡️  Definition of happiness is and the golden age of compassion [34:32]

➡️  Allowing yourself to be a mentee, using your circle of support [37:31] 

➡️  The problem with being remembered… [39:34]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Mo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mogawdat/
➡️ Find out more about One Billion Happy: http://onebillionhappy.org/
➡️ Listen to Mo’s podcast, Slow Mo: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slo-mo-a-podcast-with-mo-gawdat/id1508914142

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“Globally, a third of all the food we produce each year gets thrown away. Meanwhile, 800 million people go to bed hungry, who could be fed with a quarter of the food we waste in the Western world.” 

Did you know that roughly one third of the world's food is wasted?

Meanwhile, 1 in 9 people on our planet are either starving or malnourished...

This is something today’s 40 Minute Mentor is on a mission to change. 

In today’s replay episode, we’re joined by Tessa Clarke, the Co-Founder and CEO of the popular sharing app Olio. Tessa’s career has taken her down many paths, including consulting and publishing to MD of eCommerce at Dyson. 

We first shared this episode three years ago, and the message is as important as ever, if not more so. 

Tune in to explore:

➡️ Pivoting from consulting to Startup Founder [02:30]

➡️ Creating your path in consulting [05:06]

➡️ Transitioning from consulting to industry [06:40]

➡️ The excitement of feeling the fear in new roles [08:15]

➡️ Taking Dyson on a digital journey [09:14]

➡️ Leadership lessons from James Dyson [12:53]

➡️ The importance of surrounding yourself with people who will challenge you [14:06]

➡️ Building a mission-driven career plan, Tessa’s journey to entrepreneurship [15:20]

➡️ The lightbulb moment that started Olio’s journey [17:08]

➡️ Tackling the food waste pandemic [18:19]

➡️ Ambassadors helping you scale your mission-driven business [19:45]

➡️ We are ‘theoretically more connected’ but more lonely - a focus on community [23:21]

➡️ Championing diversity and prioritising at the board level [24:34]

➡️ Advice for diverse Founders tackling biassed questions in fundraising [27:28]

➡️ Recruiting from your community to tackle the hiring challenge [30:05]

➡️ Top tips: How we can all contribute to combat the global food waste problem [32:54]

➡️ Finding mentorship organically and learning from your peers [35:55]
 

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Tessa Clarke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tecook/
➡️ Find out more about Olio: https://olioapp.com/en/

➡️ Check out Tessa’s ‘Where Are They Now’ episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/tessa-clarke-scaling-olio/

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“People often say to me, sport is different from business, it's not. Business is about delivering results through people.” 
 

In our first episode of our 40 Minute Mentor Replay series, we’re re-visiting our episode with the brilliant Sir Clive Woodward, World Cup winning England Rugby coach and former Director of Sport for the London 2012 Olympics. 

After spending his childhood with big dreams of becoming a professional footballer, it was playing rugby at his local club as a kid that started Sir Clive down the path to becoming the first England Coach to lift the Rugby World Cup in 2003.

In today’s episode, you’ll discover: 

➡️ Sir Clive’s first ever job at Xerox [02:20]

➡️ The power of failures and setbacks [04:13]

➡️ The realities of being the first full time professional Rugby coach [05:34]

➡️ Delivering results through people, in business and in sport [07:03]

➡️ The moment that trumped England's World Cup win, at a pub in New Zealand [11:23]

➡️ Great teams are made of great individuals - the magic formula [14:29]

➡️ Managing a range of personalities when building team culture [16:51]

➡️ Ensuring people in your team feel safe to speak their mind [20:23]

➡️ CTUP - the framework needed for winning and handling pressure [22:29]

➡️ How Clive uses 3D learning to build high performing teams [26:29]

➡️ The simple but powerful habits to build a healthy lifestyle [29:32]

➡️ Staying hungry for learning and following what you love [33:15]

➡️ A leadership lesson: The best ideas come from the team [36:34]

➡️ The importance of creative abrasion [38:13]

➡️ Bringing successful people into a team, shining a light on mentorship [40:03]

➡️ Sir Clive’s legacy: Making it to the top, and being inclusive [43:16]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Sir Clive: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirclivewoodward/
➡️ Find out more about his Apex2100 Ski Academy: https://www.apex2100.org/

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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That's a wrap on Series 10! And what a 12 weeks it has been. 

We have been joined by some incredible Founders and leaders, who have been refreshingly vulnerable, sharing the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journeys, with lots of wisdom and mentorship shared along the way. 

From building the Uber of volunteering, to changing the world with ethical AI, we have covered SO much in our tenth series and hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have. 

Thank you so much for all your support along the way - today your host, James Mitra, reflects on this latest series and what we have coming up next... 

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“Every business that I’ve founded has been on the brink of disaster, and one of the big lessons is that the business you started is never the business you end up with.”

And just like that, we have made it to the final episode of Series 10 of 40 Minute Mentor.

For our series finale, we’re joined by multi-exit Founder, Investor, board advisor and author - the brilliant Debbie Wosskow OBE. 

We cover a range of topics with Debbie, including her whirlwind journey as an entrepreneur - building and exiting incredible businesses, including PR and marketing consultancy Mantra (sold in 2007), Love Home Swap (sold in 2017) and AllBright (exit in 2022). 

All the way to today and her latest ventures - WJV LLP, a boutique investment and strategic innovation firm, championing diversity, wellness and economic empowerment, and The Better Menopause, empowering women’s performance at midlife through science-backed products. 

Debbie shares some truly candid insights from her journey as a Founder, including: 

➡️ Growing up in an entrepreneurial family [04:20]

➡️ Early beginnings selling scrunchies [06:30] 

➡️ The power of being a “simple” entrepreneur and controlling margins [07:07]

➡️ Bringing business & entrepreneurship into schools [08:33]

➡️ A brief stint in management consulting & building her first business at 25 [11:36]

➡️ How a Christmas film inspired the start of Love Home Swap [13:37]

➡️ Serendipity and combining purpose with profit [15:35]

➡️ Reflections on having fun, making money and not working with ar$eholes [17:17]

➡️ Finding the resilience to keep getting back into the Founder seat [19:55]

➡️ Making the shift from operational CEO to board advisor [21:34]

➡️ Self-doubt, exhaustion, relationship strains: Founder realities [22:55]

➡️ Finding comfort in a routine when things are falling apart [26:39]

➡️ Building a network for women, by women - the early days and growth of AllBright [29:00]

➡️ Building WJV LLP and going beyond angel investing [33:20]

➡️ Putting women’s health top of the agenda & building The Better Menopause [36:54]

➡️ Driving awareness at pace and supporting women through the menopause [40:22]

➡️ Realities of building a business to exit & the conflicting emotions you’re left with as a Founder  [41:45]

➡️ Audience question: Being remembered for the future of female entrepreneurs [46:45]
 

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Debbie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiewosskowobe/
➡️ Find out more about WJV LLP: https://www.wjv-llp.com/about-us
➡️ Find out more about The Better Menopause: https://thebettermenopause.com/

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“Paying people well and giving them lunches when they come to the office can be really good… but the best people are motivated by their growth and development.”

For the final Monday episode of Series 10, we're joined by Steve Coulson, Founder and CEO of Kitt - the business that creates and manages custom HQs for the world’s most vibrant brands. 

Before Kitt, Steve built B2B parking platform and B2C app, JustPark, to 50,000+ locations and 5m+ drivers. 

Today, we discuss Steve’s entrepreneurial journey and the lessons learned along the way, including: 

➡️  From investment banking to Startup life [1:12]

➡️  Entrepreneurial environment & his upside down career [04:35]

➡️  Leaving JustPark and Kitt’s origin story [07:50]

➡️  The deafening silence of entrepreneurship [11:12]

➡️  From serving startups to the biggest brands in the world [13:49] 

➡️  Building momentum & early lessons learned [14:55] 

➡️  Navigating the pandemic and finding silver linings [18:44]

➡️  The post-pandemic rush and revisiting fundraising [22:52]

➡️  Unpacking the future of the office [25:30]

➡️  Creating an amazing space for your team & culture [28:52] 

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-coulson-1521a743/

➡️ Find out more about Kitt: https://www.kittoffices.com/en/

➡️ Hear more from Kitt’s Co-Founder & COO, Lucy: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/coo-secrets/coo-secrets-with-lucy-minton-co-founder-coo-at-kitt/

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“We live on an ocean planet, and we have this strange relationship where we assume it’s all been discovered, but it actually hasn’t…” 

For the penultimate week of this Series of 40 Minute Mentor, we’re joined by Steve Etherton, President EMEA of DEEP - an international research and development organisation who aim to become the NASA of the ocean. 

Having placed Steve Etherton with DEEP, when they were still in stealth mode, we’re so excited to finally be able to welcome him to the podcast and find out about DEEP’s mission to radically advance how humankind access, explore and inhabit underwater environments. 

Before joining DEEP, Steve spent 12 years in the British Army and a decade growing one of Africa’s fastest growing FinTechs. 

Tune in to discover:

➡️  Finding the balance between entrepreneurship and the rest of life [03:35] 

➡️  Starting his career in the Military & leadership lessons [06:51] 

➡️  Transitioning out of the Army [08:02] 

➡️  How Africa’s rocketship FinTech began and went on to raise $90 million [09:25] 

➡️  Figuring out what type of COO you want to be [10:59] 

➡️  DEEP’s mission to make humans aquatic [13:24] 

➡️  Coming out of stealth mode & learnings from early build [18:04] 

➡️  Tackling the climate crisis [21:10] 

➡️  Developing underwater habitats [24:46] 

➡️  Being driven, fearless and curious: an insight into DEEP’s culture & hiring practices [26:49] 

➡️  Evolution of leadership styles [30:24] 

➡️  Audience question: Understanding the oceans, a note for underwater living sceptics [32:48] 

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-etherton-91190a24/

➡️ Find out more about DEEP: https://www.deep.com/

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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“I want to create my own space. I don't want to have to fit into someone else's whitewashed marketing… I want to create fashion that shows people like me.” 

In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor takeover, Samuel Tholley. Founder of Hidden Pages, is joined by Rosette Ale, Founder of Revival - a sustainable fashion label redesigning discarded clothes into contemporary designs for a cleaner and cooler planet. 

Samuel and Rosette know each other from university and have a really insightful and refreshing conversation in today’s episode, covering the following topics: 

➡️ The start of Revival and the mind of a young entrepreneur  [01:31]

➡️ Challenges of entering the fashion world [04:49]

➡️ Mentorship, crowdfunding and being bold [07:34]

➡️ Fostering a good mentor mentee relationship [12:06]

➡️ The importance of representation and breaking down barriers [15:02]

➡️ Diversifying the fashion industry [17:59]

➡️ Shifting diversity from a tick box exercise [19:52]

➡️ Accessibility to sustainability & mentality shifts [21:42]

➡️ Doing your part towards living more sustainably and saving the planet [25:46]

➡️ Where to follow Revival & Rosette’s journey [31:38]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-tholley-758135105/ 
➡️ Connect with Rosette: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosette-ale/

➡️ Find out more about Hidden Pages: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hidden-pages/ and 

https://www.instagram.com/_hiddenpages/?hl=en

➡️ Find out more about Revival: https://www.revivalldn.com/

PLUS! If you want to hear more from Samuel and Hidden Pages, listen to his episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️

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