At 40, a finance guy walking away from the London Stock Exchange so he could learn to cook pasta.

Sounds wild? It’s only the beginning.

Meet Chris Rensell — former financier turned co-founder of Pasta Evangelists. He built a pasta brand from a kitchen in East London, scaled it into a £30-plus million business, hit Harrods, Ocado and 50+ delivery kitchens, and then got acquired by Barilla.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• Why quitting your “safe” job at 40 might be the smartest move you make
• How to turn a hobby into a startup empire
• The insane pivot during Covid that made the brand explode
• How the Barilla acquisition went down behind the scenes
• Real talk on burnout, scaling, and building with real people

If you’re building something, thinking of starting something, or just love a wild founder story — you’re in the right place.

Show Notes:

(00:00) Quitting finance & taking the leap

(09:45) The birth of Pasta Evangelists

(16:10) First kitchen in East London

(30:40) Covid pivot & delivery boom

(36:00) 50+ kitchens and national scaling

(52:00) Barilla acquisition story

(1:16:00) Dragons’ Den chaos & PR wins

(1:20:10) Advice for every founder out there

About Chris:

Chris Rensell is the co-founder of Pasta Evangelists, built the brand from scratch after leaving finance, and turned pasta into a national startup success story.

Pasta Evangelists:

Website: https://pastaevangelists.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pastaevangelists/

Connect with us:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simac.konkader/

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/simac-konkader

Lena was coding neural networks before AI was cool. In this episode, she shares how she went from space research to co-founding The Good Face Project — helping beauty giants like L’Oréal and Estée Lauder build safer, faster products with AI.

We talk about:

• Building AI before ChatGPT
• The rise of “World Models”
• Startups, burnout & resilience
• The future of AI in business

If you’re into founders, innovation, or the next wave of AI, this episode will open your mind — and maybe push you to start building.

🗒️ Show Notes

Guest:

👩‍💻 Lena, Co-founder of The Good Face Project — an AI-powered platform that helps beauty brands design safe, effective, and compliant products using real-time data and machine learning.

Key Topics:

00:00 Intro: “Just start. Don’t wait.”

02:15 Building neural networks before ChatGPT existed

05:40 From space research to beauty-tech innovation

09:20 How AI helps brands like L’Oréal develop faster

13:05 What are “World Models” and why they matter

17:45 Burnout, balance, and the mental side of entrepreneurship

21:30 The future of AI beyond language models

24:00 Lena’s advice to founders starting today

Connect with Lena:

🌐 Website: goodfaceproject.com

💼 LinkedIn: Lena’s Profile

Connect with the Host:

🎧 Follow Brilliance Talks for more founder stories and AI deep dives.

📸 Instagram | 💼 LinkedIn

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, we sit down with Daniel Bulteel, co-founder of Ting — an AI platform that turns the messy back-and-forth of scheduling into real, meaningful meetings.Before founding Ting, Daniel helped scale TikTok, Live, Shopping, and CapCut globally at ByteDance, and led adidas’ social and creator strategy across 50+ markets. Now, he’s using AI to bring back what tech often takes away — human connection.We dive into:→ How AI can make meetings more meaningful (not just efficient)→ Lessons from building global social products like TikTok→ Why timing, context, and energy define every great relationship→ The new future of work — where your calendar actually talks back👉 Watch till the end for Daniel’s advice to founders building AI-driven consumer products.

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, Simac Konkader sits down with Tatyana Mamut, CEO and co-founder of Wayfound.ai, to uncover the truth about innovation, leadership, and the human flaws shaping the future of AI.

Tatyana’s journey began as a refugee fleeing conflict in Ukraine — and led her to build and lead at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies. Her story is a powerful reminder that technology doesn’t fail because of code… it fails because of people.

In this conversation:

• Why the biggest problems in AI are human problems
• How empathy drives innovation and leadership
• Lessons from building products that actually make a difference
• Why great tech leaders think like social scientists

If you’re building, leading, or learning in the AI era — this episode will change how you think about innovation forever.

hat happens when you finally make money… but don’t know how to protect it?

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, Simac Konkader sits down with Taras Rebak — Partner at Fusion, a £1.8B wealth management group helping founders, entrepreneurs, and private investors structure, grow, and protect their wealth without giving up control.

Taras shares 20+ years of hard-won lessons across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East — from managing capital to building financial systems that actually last.

In this conversation:

• How founders can transition from operators to investors
• Why most people fail to protect their wealth after success
• The systems behind true financial independence
• Building a private investment office that works for you
• The mindset shift needed for wealth longevity

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, Simac Konkader sits down with Natalie Ruiz, CEO of AnswerConnect, to talk about what it really takes to grow into leadership from the inside out.

Natalie’s story isn’t about luck or titles, it’s about resilience, vision, and building a company where people actually thrive.

In this conversation:

→ How to grow from employee to CEO

→ The mindset shift every leader needs

→ Building a people-first culture that actually scales

→ What leaders get wrong about growth and teams

If you’re a founder, CEO, or future leader, this episode will challenge how you think about success.

Most leaders talk about what’s possible. Kat Patterson makes it happen.

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, Simac Konkader sits down with Kat Patterson, Managing Director at Art of the Possible Agency, to uncover why creativity is the most underused weapon in business—and how leaders can harness it to drive growth.

🔥 What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why creativity is a leadership advantage (not a luxury)
• How to lead teams that thrive in uncertain times
• The real risk every CEO takes when they play it safe
• Kat’s lessons from building an agency that turns bold ideas into reality

This conversation isn’t about theory. It’s about the mindset every CEO and founder needs to scale in 2025 and beyond.

Most entrepreneurs build products.

Few build revolutions.

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, host Simac Konkader sits down with Dr. Lara Zibners — board-certified pediatric emergency physician, educator, entrepreneur, and author of If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay.

After enduring seven rounds of IVF, Lara experienced firsthand the emotional and physical toll of standard fertility treatments. That journey sparked her mission to transform women’s healthcare.

Today, she is the co-founder of Calla Lily Clinical Care, pioneering leak-free, dosage-confident drug delivery solutions for fertility and miscarriage care. Her innovations have been recognized globally — from being named one of TIME’s Inventions of the Year with Callaly, to winning top startup honors at MedFemTech in Paris.

She has also been featured on The Rachael Ray Show, in Working Mother, Parenting, Men’s Health, and more.

In this conversation, we cover:

- Lara’s journey from medicine to entrepreneurship

- The untold challenges of IVF and fertility care

- Why women’s health innovation is decades behind — and what she’s doing to fix it

- Lessons every entrepreneur can learn from resilience and reinvention

What does it take to lead real digital transformation—not just talk about it?

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, host Simac Konkader sits down with Scarlett Sieber, one of the most influential women in fintech, blockchain, and digital strategy.

Scarlett’s career spans startups to global enterprises. She co-founded Infomous, a data visualization tech used by the Olympics, NFL, The Economist, The Guardian, USA TODAY, and more. She’s been named to countless Top 50 / Top 100 lists across finance, blockchain, and innovation — proving she’s not just following trends, she’s setting them.

In this episode, we cover:

→ The real challenges of digital transformation in finance

→ Why most fintech companies misunderstand blockchain

→ The future of ecosystems in financial services

→ How leaders can build influence and credibility in fast-changing industries

If you’re a CEO, innovator, or business leader, this conversation will reshape how you think about digital strategy and change.

In this episode of Brilliance Talks, host Simac Konkader sits down with Charlie Goodchild — Founder of Better, host of the Better Never Ends podcast, and a leader in physiotherapy, sports medicine, and healthcare innovation.

With years of experience leading large clinical teams, working in elite sports, and helping people recover from complex injuries, Charlie shares how he transitioned from physiotherapist to entrepreneur — and why health, growth, and leadership are never-ending journeys.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• How to turn clinical expertise into a successful business
• Why leadership in healthcare requires both empathy and resilience
• The importance of redefining recovery as a journey, not a destination
• Lessons from sports medicine and applying them to business & life