40 Minute Mentor

By JBM, James MitraBusiness Careers

40 Minute Mentor episodes

April 27, 2022How To Build A $2 Billion Unicorn In Under 3 Years with Ankorstore’s Nicolas d'Audiffret
“Before you scale, you need to make sure you are solving big pains with a great value proposition.”
It’s not every day you get to speak to someone who turned their Startup into a Double-Unicorn with over 500 employees in just 3 years.
Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Nicolas d'Audiffret, one of the Co-Founders of Ankorstore - the marketplace taking on e-Commerce giants like Amazon. Ankorstore was founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and is a partner to more than 200,000 retailers, florists, coffee shops and other concept-stores across 23 countries in Europe.
Ankorstore have been on an incredible journey and reached their $2 billion valuation after just two years of launching their wholesale marketplace, and are backed by world-class VCs like Bond, Tiger Global and Index Ventures, to name a few.
JBM have had a front row seat to their incredible Scaleup journey over the last years and we’re so excited to have Nicolas on the podcast to share some candid Founder insights and mentorship, including:
How Nicolas pivoted from being a consultant to an entrepreneur [06:15]
The story behind his first Startup, A Little Market, and how he ended up selling it to Etsy [10:08]
Why, even though the sale to Etsy looked like a huge success, Nicolas didn’t only see it as such [11:45]
How Ankorstore was born and more about their brilliant mission [13:23]
What the dynamic between the four Co-Founders looks like and Nicolas’s advice for any fellow Co-Founders listening [17:10]
Why the pandemic was such a great opportunity of growth for Ankorstore and how they got to their $2 Billion evaluation in such a short amount of time [18:38]
The crucial attributes Ankorstore look for when interviewing talent [22:40]
His advice on building a truly authentic community [26:05]
What the future of retail will look like and Nicolas’s advice for anyone looking to break into the industry [28:32]

💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.

⛳️ Helpful links:
➡ ️To find out more about Ankorstore, head to: https://www.ankorstore.com/
➡ ️To learn more about Nicolas, check out his LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasdaudiffret/
➡ ️Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
42 min
April 20, 2022From Exiting Songkick To Tackling The Climate Crisis with Supercritical’s Michelle You
“Even if we electrify everything and switch to renewables and decarbonise - we still need to remove billions of tonnes of carbon from the sky because we have polluted so much.”
Ahead of World Earth Day this week, we’re really excited to welcome Michelle You, Co-Founder of Songkick and Co-Founder and CEO of Supercritical, to 40 Minute Mentor.
You might have heard of the popular concert ticket app Songkick before, which Michelle and her Co-Founders built to one of the most popular apps on the market. After a turbulent time navigating a lawsuit including winning an antitrust settlement from Ticketmaster, Michelle exited to Warner Music and reassessed her purpose and identity outside of Songkick.
This journey led her to starting Supercritical - a software enabling businesses to measure, reduce and offset their climate impact in weeks, without the need for a sustainability team.
We absolutely loved having Michelle on the podcast and can’t wait for you to listen to the incredible mentorship she shares in today’s episode, including:
How she transitioned from studying Humanities to working in Tech [05:40]
Why she started Songkick and how working in the industry has affected her relationship with music [07:56]
The key lessons she learned from growing Songkick and the challenges she faced throughout [12:17]
How she dealt with the grief and emotional exit from Songkick and how she found her passion to go again with Supercritical [15:17]
The mission behind Supercritical and how Michelle and her team work with businesses to tackle the climate crisis [20:06]
Michelle’s advice on what we can all do to offset our climate impact [31:28]
What Supercritical are looking for when hiring talent [33:42]
How Michelle managed to build a 50/50 cap table and her advice for anyone looking for more diverse investors [35:07]

💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.

⛳️ Helpful links:
➡ ️To find out more about Supercritical, head to: https://gosupercritical.com/
➡ ️To learn more about Michelle, check out her LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleyou/
➡ ️Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
45 min
April 13, 2022Building Purpose-Led Brands With Natalie Graeme (Uncommon) & Orr Vinegold (Unrest)
“There’s a general recognition that doing good is good for business - and that applies at all levels of business.”
This week we have the pleasure of welcoming not one, but two amazing mentors to 40 Minute Mentor - Natalie Graeme, Co-Founder of Uncommon Creative and Orr Vinegold, Co-Founder of Unrest.
Uncommon Creative is an award-winning creative studio building brands that matter, make a difference and brands that people in the real world actually wish existed. And Unrest is an accelerator programme fuelling the fire of entrepreneurs challenging the status quo.
With decades of marketing and brand building experience, Orr and Natalie share some great advice and mentorship in this episode, including:
The key lessons they learned when starting out in their career, including working with both big corporates and Startups [12:07]
Why Natalie decided to leave big agency names to start Uncommon with her Co-Founders [16:06]
Why Orr and his Co-Founder, Pan, started Unrest and how it’s different to other Startup accelerators out there [21:46]
How Unrest and Uncommon are working together to build purpose-led brands of the future [27:18]
How brands have evolved over the last years [31:13]
What fundamentals you need to embed early on to help you build a purpose-led brand [35:53]
What we can all learn from industry leaders, like Patagonia [39:37]
How you can embed purpose in your culture from day one [45:31]
And why it’s so important that you, as a Founder, prioritise your mental health and Orr and Natalie’s top advice for doing so [50:50]
💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.
⛳️ Helpful links:
➡ ️To find out more about Uncommon Creative, head to: https://uncommon.london/
➡ ️To find out more about Unrest, head to: https://www.unrest.world
➡ ️To learn more about Natalie, check out her LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-graeme-93608b4/
➡ ️To learn more about Orr, check out his LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orr-vinegold/
➡ ️Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
1 hr 2 min
April 06, 2022Destigmatising Death with Farewill’s Dan Garrett
“I thought burnout was just the equivalent of meaning you hadn’t got it - you couldn’t keep going. Then one day at work, I came out of a meeting and collapsed in the streets.”
In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by industry-disrupter Dan Garrett, Co-Founder and CEO of Farewill - the multi-award-winning wills, probate and funerals company on a mission to change the way the world deals with death.
In today’s episode, Dan shares thought-provoking mentorship, including:
His candid take on burnout and how collapsing after a meeting has changed his outlook and the way he deals with stress [07:53]
How his upbringing and engineering and design background have turned him into the entrepreneur he is today [11:22]
What inspired him to take on the biggest untouched consumer industry with Farewill [14:15]
How him and the Farewill team are changing the attitudes towards death [19:53]
The mistakes he made while building Farewill to a team of over 90 and raising their 30 million Series B funding [22:43]
Exclusive outtakes from some of the most heart-warming messages people have left in their will [32:10]
How Farewill have embedded their customer-centric approach in everything they do - from hiring to day to day customer care [36:07]
And Farewill’s brilliant approach to hiring and why they’re looking for ‘BLOBs’ [41:37]

💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.

⛳️ Helpful links:
➡ ️To find out more about Farewill, head over to: https://farewill.com/
➡ ️To learn more about Dan, check out his LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangarrett-ceo-farewill/
➡ ️Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi -
https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
54 min
March 30, 2022The Power Of Personal Branding with Amelia Sordell, Founder of Klowt
“When people say that you can’t do something, it’s really because they can’t do it. Don’t stop doing what you want to do because someone told you you can’t, because you can.”
To ring in the halfway point of Series 7, we had the pleasure of interviewing an absolute icon in personal branding: Amelia Sordell, the Founder of Klowt.
Klowt is THE personal branding agency on a mission to build entirely authentic personal brands that drive real results - something we’ve had the pleasure of experiencing first-hand here at JBM.
In today’s episode, Amelia shares some brilliant mentorship, including:
The lessons she learned from her first business failing [08:40]
How she dealt with the heartbreak and feelings of grief after her first business and how she decided the time was right to start another business [17:30]
Her mission with Klowt and what inspired Amelia to start Klowt in the first place [21:36]
Why personal branding is such a critical aspect of any successful business [28:10]
Amelia’s step by step advice on how you can get started with your own personal branding [34:30]
Her advice on how to deal with negative comments - online as well as offline [40:45]
How you can tackle imposter syndrome and why it’s okay to doubt yourself [46:00]

💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.

⛳️ Helpful links:
➡ ️To find out more about Klowt, head over to: https://klowt.io
➡ ️To learn more about Amelia, check out her LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliasordell/
➡ ️Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
57 min
March 23, 2022 Closing The Financial Literacy Gap With Your Juno Founders Margot & Alexia de Broglie
In this episode we’re joined by sisters, Margot and Alexia de Broglie, Co-Founders of Your Juno - an app widely referred to as ‘the Duolingo of Finance’ and on a mission to empower women and non-binary people through financial education.
The de Broglie sisters give us an exclusive insight into Your Juno’s amazing journey from conception to over 10k downloads and raising £1.6 million.
💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team has been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.
⛳️ Helpful links:
➡️ To find out more about Margot, head to https://www.linkedin.com/in/margot-de-broglie/
➡️ To find out more about Alexia, head to https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexia-de-broglie/
➡️ To learn more about Your Juno, check out https://www.yourjuno.co/
➡️ Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
43 min
March 16, 2022 Making Business More Sustainable And Developing Talent With Wing Chan, Co-Founder & CEO of Sourceful
In this episode, we had the pleasure of welcoming Wing Chan, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sourceful - the Index Ventures backed all-in-one platform bringing together tools, data and products companies need to make their supply chains more sustainable.
In today’s episode, Wing recounts his experiences of quickly climbing the ranks at The Hut Group to become CMO at 25 and CTO at 28, what has led him to start Sourceful and he shares some excellent mentorship on the importance of seeing the potential in emerging talent and how executives need to lead by example.
💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team has been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.
⛳️ Helpful links:
➡️ To find out more about Wing, head to https://www.linkedin.com/in/wingyungchan/

➡️ To learn more about Sourceful, check out https://www.sourceful.com/
➡️ Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham/id1459665761?i=1000536950880
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.
40 min
March 09, 2022 From Olympic Gold To FemTech Founder with Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill
In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we speak to one of Britain’s most decorated Olympians and Founder of FemTech Startup, Jennis, the incredible Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill.
Jess shares the ups and downs of her athletics career, including how setbacks early on in her sporting career turned her into the successful athlete she became and how she dealt with the pressures of Super Saturday. We also hear more about her FemTech business, Jennis, which is on a mission to change women’s lives by helping them gain a better understanding of their bodies.
💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.
⛳️ Helpful links:
➡️ To find out more about Jess’s incredible career, head to https://www.jessicaennis.net/
➡️ To learn more about Jennis and download the app, head over to https://www.jennis.com/
➡️ Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
56 min
March 02, 2022 Scaling Lessons with Google For Startups UK’s Marta Krupinska
In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we chat to the inspiring Marta Krupinska, serial entrepreneur and Head of Google for Startups UK - a programme run to support thriving, diverse and inclusive Startup communities around the world.
Marta shares some brilliant mentorship in this episode, including the lessons learned from her first Startup, her candid take on the progress made in DE&I in the Tech sector and the crucial skills Founders should really be focusing on.

💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.

⛳️ Helpful links:
➡️ To find out more about Google for Startups, head to:
https://startup.google.com/
➡️ Tune into Marta’s ‘Scale ups & downs’ podcast here:
https://www.scaleupsanddowns.com/
➡️ And to find out more about Marta, check out her LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/martakrupinska
➡️ Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
➡️ And for charitable organisations to get involved with to help Ukraine, take a look at: The Ukrainian Red Cross, United Help Ukraine, Doctors Without Borders, Nova Ukraine
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.
49 min
February 23, 2022 Securing Series A Funding with AudioMob’s Christian Facey
To kick off Series 7, we had the pleasure of welcoming a real rising star in the UK Tech scene, Christian Facey, the Co-Founder and CEO of AudioMob.
AudioMob allows brands to connect with gamers without interrupting their gaming experience, using in-game audio ads. In today’s episode, Christian gives us an exclusive insight into AudioMob’s fascinating journey to date and shares some great mentorship for any fellow Founders and aspiring entrepreneurs - including his advice following their impressive $14 million Series A funding round.
💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.
⛳️ Helpful links:
➡️ To find out more about AudioMob, head over to: https://audiomob.com/
➡️ To learn more about Christian, check out his LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-facey/
➡️And for our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi, head to: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/
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.
35 min

About 40 Minute Mentor

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40 Minute Mentor is on a mission to raise aspirations and inspire the next generation of category-defining Founders, through powerful career stories and inspirational mentorship. From purpose-led…