Oliver Yonchev spent 15 years in entrepreneurship, starting as a musician, and worked closely with Stephen Bartlett before launching Co-Created, an investment office that has incubated 14 businesses.
He breaks down what he actually looks for in founders: domain expertise, resilience, and humility over degrees or credentials, and why a business plan is basically irrelevant at day zero.

He talks about AI shrinking teams, why the UK lacks enough support for small business builders, and what he took from living in New York, namely the audacity and confidence that British entrepreneurs tend to lack. He's conflicted about Gen Z: yes the challenges are real, but the tools available to young people today are unprecedented.

The conversation touches on shiny object syndrome, when to quit, the loneliness epidemic, why real-world community businesses are massively underrated, and why human connection will never be replaced by AI, because nobody wants something "artificial."

He closes on his new company Potential, which helps people protect and monetize what they create with AI, and is heading toward a public listing on London's AIM market.