40 Minute Mentor

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

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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] 

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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

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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/ 

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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

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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?⭐️

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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?⭐️

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🎧 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

Enjoyed this episode?

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Welcome back to Season 14 of 40 Minute Mentor! 

We’re so excited to kick off the season this Wednesday, and with that, the launch of episode 300! 

Before we get into this new season, here is a short preview of the brilliant conversations we’ve got lined up for the coming 10 weeks. 

If you’re new to 40 Minute Mentor, don’t forget to hit subscribe so you’re the first to hear about new episodes. 

And don’t forget to dive into our archives of nearly 300 episodes of pocket-sized mentorship. 

Enjoyed this episode?

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In this 40 Minute Mentor bonus episode, you'll hear directly from your Host, James Mitra, as he recaps another brilliant 10 weeks of mentorship.

James shares some of his own highlights from this season and shares more about our upcoming plans.

If you haven't caught up on this season yet, make sure you scroll back through Season 13...and our 250+ episodes in the archives.

📣 Don't forget to check out our season sponsors:

✨ Capsule -  the neo-broker powered by cutting-edge API technology, redefining insurance for high-growth scaling businesses. 

Capsule streamlines the insurance process, removing manual hassle and delivering tailored solutions that evolve with your business. 

If you’re a venture-backed startup looking to outsource the buying and management of your insurance, head over to www.capsulecover.com to find out more. 

✨Foundation Partners - an Amplified People Group business, reinventing how ambitious, early-stage companies access People & Talent support.

They offer a fully flexible, fractional People & Talent team with specialist skillsets and hands-on delivery that starts driving impact in just 2 weeks.

As a 40 Minute Mentor listener, you can book a FREE 1-hour advisory call with a Managing Partner. Just head to www.foundationpartners.co.uk/contact and reference 40 Minute Mentor.

⭐ Enjoyed this season? ⭐️

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 

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In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Adriana Restrepo, Co-Founder of crypto FinTech, Deblock. 

Before building Deblock, Adriana spent 3 years at Revolut, overseeing People Operations and holding the COO role. 

While she never expected to step into a Founder role, today, Adriana is building the world’s safest account for seamless management and exchange of crypto and cash, ensuring users truly own their money. 

In this episode, you’ll hear more about the significant lessons she learned during her time at Revolut, the secret sauce that’s helping her build and scale Deblock, their impressive funding to date and what the future holds for Deblock and the Web3 space. 

Episode Chapters: 

➡️ From Corporate life to fast-paced Revolut [04:30] 

➡️ Fundamental lessons from Revolut [11:30] 

➡️ Taking the leap into entrepreneurship [14:00] 

➡️ Building Deblock [17:00] 

➡️ More about today’s sponsor [20:00] 

➡️ Co-Founder dynamics & building a team [22:00] 

➡️ Celebrating wins [23:30] 

➡️ Fundraising & growing a diverse team [26:20] 

➡️ The impact of a great COO [35:00] 

➡️ The future of Deblock & Crypto [40:30] 

🔍 Find out more: 

✨ Connect with Adriana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianarestrepo 

✨ More about Deblock: https://deblock.com/en-FR 

📣Learn more about today’s sponsor: 

Today’s episode is sponsored by Foundation Partners, an Amplified People Group company. 

Foundation Partners is reinventing how ambitious, early-stage companies access People & Talent support. They offer a fully flexible, fractional People & Talent team with specialist skillsets and hands-on delivery that starts driving impact in just 2 weeks. 

As a 40 Minute Mentor listener, you can book a FREE 1-hour advisory call with a Managing Partner. Just head to www.foundationpartners.co.uk/contact and reference 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 at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm 

🎧 You may also enjoy: 

Zeynep Yavuz: Investing In Fintech, Crypto & Emerging Markets with General Catalyst

Simone Maini: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome & The Future Of Crypto with Elliptic

Scaling Teams & Building a High Performing Culture – A Roundtable Discussion with Amplified Group’s Dr Andy Meikle, Anouk Agussol & Andrew Richardson

Enjoyed this episode?

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In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the leadership team of Amplified People Group - Dr Andy Meikle, Anouk Agussol and Andrew Richardson. 

Together, they answer some of the burning questions leaders ask them: from navigating the messy world of people, talent and culture to early-stage blind spots, the UK’s employment landscape and practical tips on embedding AI in your teams. 

📚 Episode Chapters:

➡️ Common oversights when building culture [05:00] 

➡️ The importance of values and expectations [11:00] 

➡️ Building a transparent culture [12:30] 

➡️ Authenticity in leadership [16:40] 

➡️ More about today’s sponsors [18:00] 

➡️ Navigating employment law challenges [19:20]  

➡️ The difficulties of letting people go [22:00] 

➡️ Building high-performing cultures [29:00] 

➡️ Embedding AI [30:00] 

🔍 Find out more: 

✨ More about Amplified Group:  https://www.amplifiedgroup.com/ 

📣Learn more about today’s sponsor: 

Today’s episode is sponsored by Foundation Partners, an Amplified People Group company. 

Foundation Partners is reinventing how ambitious, early-stage companies access People & Talent support. They offer a fully flexible, fractional People & Talent team with specialist skillsets and hands-on delivery that starts driving impact in just 2 weeks. 

As a 40 Minute Mentor listener, you can book a FREE 1-hour advisory call with a Managing Partner. Just head to www.foundationpartners.co.uk/contact and reference 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 at https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm 

🎧 You may also enjoy: 

Andrew Richardson: Building high-performing businesses & leadership teams with Amplified Group

Anouk Agussol: Why HR is dead 

Tamara Lohan MBE: From idea to exit – the scaling story of the iconic Mr & Mrs Smith travel brand

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 most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review.