Part 2: One Year On

A year after losing our jobs to redundancy at the end of 2023, we sit down for a candid and unfiltered conversation about what life has really been like since everything changed. In this penultimate episode of Redundancy: A Blessing in Disguise?, we reflect on the emotions that linger long after the initial shock has passed — the uncertainty, the relief, the grief, and the unexpected moments of clarity.

We also talk openly about the year leading up to this recording: how we coped, what we learned, and the ways redundancy continued to shape our confidence, identity, and outlook. Honest, reflective, and sometimes uncomfortable, this episode captures the reality of rebuilding after a professional upheaval — not with neat conclusions, but with real feelings and hard-won perspective.

This is the second episode in a three-part series, with the final instalment recorded a year later.

Redundancy: Blessing in Disguise? (Part 1 of 3) — Recorded in Dublin

In this first episode of a three-part series, we explore redundancy from a tech job — and whether it might actually be a blessing in disguise.

Recorded in Dublin imi 2023 in the immediate aftermath of being made redundant, I’m joined by Dave Power and Piotr Olszewski for an honest, real-time conversation about what we were thinking and feeling in those first days. We share our initial reactions, the uncertainty that comes with sudden change, and the different ways each of us is trying to make sense of what happens next.

It’s raw, reflective, and grounded in the reality of that moment — not a polished “success story,” but a genuine look at the shock, the perspective shifts, and the possibility that redundancy can become the start of something new.

In this episode, Ben sits down with Kalyan Jampana to unpack his talk from the Nottingham Data Science & AI Meetup, “The AI Solopreneur: How to Bootstrap a Startup Using Generative AI.” Kalyan explains how generative AI is changing what it means to build a product solo — shifting from “hustle” to leverage — and why the modern solopreneur is more like an architect orchestrating AI systems than a lone developer writing every line of code. Using his real-world story of building an app to solve the admin chaos of running a badminton club, he shares a practical workflow (intent → thinking → structure → execution → tight loops), the importance of owning the problem, and why AI performs best when broken into atomic tasks. The conversation explores building without copy-paste prompting, reducing hallucinations with strong specs and artifacts, and how a personal tool can evolve into “accidental SaaS” — with insights relevant to anyone building startups, especially in complex industries like travel tech.

To see the presentation slides go to: https://ai-solopreneur.pages.dev/24

This is a calm and sensible introduction to Dad the Influencers and it explains the vision for the podcast. I am still mostly just playing with my new kit and testing things out.

Introduction, also me going overtop playing with settings. This is awful and I'd apologise for it if I was that type that did stuff. I'll probably have to find a sound editor.

Episode 1 explores the relationship between accessibility and technology through a conversation with Roberta Beattie, Product Manager for the All In access scheme at Arts Council England. We talk about how digital tools are reshaping access to the arts, what meaningful inclusion actually looks like in practice, and where organisations often get it wrong. Roberta shares insights from her work supporting more equitable approaches across the sector, with practical reflections on progress, challenges and why accessibility should never be an afterthought. A thoughtful starting point for anyone interested in making culture work better for everyone.