According to Rory Sutherland, (a well-known behavioral science expert at Ogilvy in the U.K), human beings don't buy things for purely logical or practical reasons. Instead, their decisions are driven by subconscious desires, emotional triggers, and perceived meaning.

In this episode, we’ll be unpacking the real reason VS the practical reason behind consumer behaviour, exploring what truly influences people to say “yes.” More importantly, we’ll dive into how founders can tap into emotion and market to the feeling in a way that genuinely connects and converts.

Partner Spotlight;

We’re honoured to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 2 partner on Founder Diaries. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com

Sponsor highlight;

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquare.co and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

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Imagine having a phone that doesn`t force you to be on your screens all day but you still get your notifications on time. In this episode, we talk about an entrepreneur called Kat Goetze who invented a bluetooth landline phone that is able to connect to your smartphone, which means if your phone rings, the landline rings. The phone was designed to help users reduce screen time by allowing them to take calls on a familiar handset without picking up their smartphones, how cool.

Partner Spotlight;

We’re honoured to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 2 partner on Founder Diaries. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com

When you think DigiTax think tax and e-TIMS simplified. Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403DigiTax — your tax assistant in your pocket

Sponsor highlight;

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquare.co and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Follow Founder Diaries on socials:

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/founderdiar...

Tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@founder.diari...

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVjLHAuO96jyYCLo4S?si=SJOyRSTQS_GXgTOFzZc0Zg

Follow our host on socials:

Instagram⁠

https://www.instagram.com/yvonnekanyi?igsh=Y3NiczB1YWR1eW1w

TikTok⁠

https://www.tiktok.com/@entrepreneurmamake?_r=1&_t=ZS-95NMkTDQ6wD

Imagine being able to access real data to understand your business operations, reduce stock-outs and who your consumers are. In this episode, Michelle Watiki, Co-founder of Duck Analytics takes us through the importance of data and client segmentation in business building to make better decisions that boost revenue.

Duck Analytics helps retailers optimise their pricing and location strategies using an AI-powered platform empowering you with real-time data for smarter decisions.

Partner Spotlight;

We’re honoured to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 2 partner on Founder Diaries. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration.

Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com

Now, you`ve heard me talk about DigiTax for a while now and I'm here to plug you again. When you think Digitax think tax and e-tims simplified.

Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403

Digitax — your tax assistant in your pocket

Sponsor highlight;

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquare.com and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Follow Founder Diaries on socials: Instagram⁠\TikTok - @founderdariespodcast

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1CBpdVjLHAuO96jyYCLo4S?si=SJOyRSTQS_GXgTOFzZc0Zg

Find our host on socials:Instagram⁠:

https://www.instagram.com/yvonnekanyi?igsh=Y3NiczB1YWR1eW1w

TikTok⁠:

https://www.tiktok.com/@entrepreneurmamake?_r=1&_t=ZS-95NMkTDQ6wD

Welcome to Season 2 of Founder Diaries! 🎙️

In this first minisode, I take you back to where it all began—my story, my journey into business, and how we got here.

From selling noodles in high school to building two thriving beauty and skincare brands, this is a raw and honest look at the process behind the progress.

One thing I’ve learned? Skincare is like math—there’s a formula for everything.

If you’ve ever wondered what it really takes to start, grow, and stay consistent in business, this one is for you.

Partner Spotlight;

We’re honored to have Sarova Hotels as our Season 2 partner on Founder Diaries. From creating beautiful spaces to curating unforgettable experiences, Sarova is the best fit for your staycation, business meeting or that special celebration. Visit their website to check out their facilities and services at www.sarovahotels.com

Sponsor highlight;

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquare.co and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Follow Founder Diaries on socials:

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/founderdiariespodcast?igsh=MTI2NzNndTgyZGUydg==

Tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@founder.diaries.po?_r=1&_t=ZS-95LDUI5VlHY

Listen to the story of how Cellulant was built, the businesses Ken Njoroge built prior to getting investors into the business. He built with a larger market in mind and today that is a reality.

Today's hustle is Komini which is a business built to create community for small business owners and helping them "arrive alive."

Then hear the perspective of Kui Njoroge who built alongside him and continues to do so in Komini.

Asking: "How big the business shall be vs how big it can be."

Find Komini on socials: Instagram

Find our host on socials:Instagram⁠ -   / yvonnekanyi  TikTok⁠ -   / entrepreneurmamake  Follow Founder Diaries on socials: ⁠Instagram⁠\TikTok - @founderdariespodcast Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403This podcast has been proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Hear my thoughts on how I would market my business if social media was no longer available. Social media is becoming saturated and more people sensitive to promotional content thus affecting it's effectiveness. We need to start thinking about offline ways to engage and attract new customers.

What are your ideas? Engage us in the comment section.

Find our host on socials:

Instagram⁠

TikTok⁠

Follow Founder Diaries on socials: ⁠

Instagram⁠

TikTok - @founderdariespod

Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠HERE⁠ | ⁠+254795279403

This podcast has been proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke, and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co, and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Catch up on Waithera Mugo's story and how she went from a law student to owning her own firm and building a niche business with Ithera Africa, a tax & wealth advisory firm. I learned from here there are so many ways to legally reduce your tax liability as a business and to think through your corporate structure and the implications that has on your tax points. The true point of a business is to make money for the business owner - hear more on how to maximize this.

Find Waithera: https://ithera.africa/, on Instagram: @waithera_mugo

Find our host on socials:

Instagram⁠ - https://www.instagram.com/yvonnekanyi

TikTok⁠ - https://www.tiktok.com/@entrepreneurmamake

Follow Founder Diaries on socials:

⁠Instagram⁠\TikTok - @founderdariespodcast

Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403

This podcast has been proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke, and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Find our host on socials:

Instagram⁠

TikTok⁠

Follow Founder Diaries on socials: ⁠Instagram⁠

TikTok - @founderdariespodcast  

Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: HERE⁠ | ⁠+254795279403

This podcast has been proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke, and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co, and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

You know… running a product business will teach you math you didn’t even know you needed.
Not the cute math… the painful math.
The “why is my cash gone yet my shelves are full?” math.

Today we’re talking about inventory mistakes, the true cost of dead stock, and why inventory turnover and run rate are non-negotiable if you want a healthy business.

Inventory is a beast to master and has to be mastered to really optimize your business - most importantly cash flow!

Learn why dead stock is detrimental to your business and get specific and practical tips on how to better manage inventory.

"Inventory doesn’t care how passionate you are.
It doesn’t care how good your brand is.
It doesn’t care how many followers you have.

Inventory rewards:

• Systems
• Discipline
• Cash flow awareness
• Negotiation skills
• And the willingness to say “no” to suppliers

If you master your turnover, your run rate, and your inventory planning, you stop running your business like a kiosk…"

Find our host on socials:

Instagram⁠

TikTok⁠

Follow Founder Diaries on socials: ⁠Instagram⁠\TikTok - @founderdariespodcast  

Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403

This podcast has been proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke, and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co, and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.

Pricing might seem straightforward — but over time, I’ve learned that most of us underestimate how many things quietly eat into our margins.We price for the product.But we forget to price for the business. Your pricing should factor in:

Your salary and compensation as a founder/directorGovernment compliance (taxes, licenses, statutory requirements)

Rent and operational overheads

Staffing and labor

Software, tools, and systems that keep everything running.

If these aren’t built into your pricing structure, your profit is an illusion. And here’s the part we don’t talk about enough: pricing is emotional. For many founders, pricing feels deeply tied to self-worth. If you struggle with valuing yourself, charging higher prices can feel like you’re building a wall to push customers away. But that’s not what strong pricing does. Strong pricing creates sustainability.It allows you to serve well.It gives your business room to breathe.

Here are signs your pricing likely needs adjusting:

High revenue… but just as much money going out.

Constantly tight cash flow.

You can’t scale without feeling financially stretched.

You’re overworked and underpaid.

Revenue is vanity.

Margin is sanity.Cash flow is survival.

If your business is growing but you constantly feel pressure, the issue may not be effort — it may be"Profit is not extra - it's how the business stays alive."

Find our host on socials:

Instagram⁠ - https://www.instagram.com/yvonnekanyiTikTok⁠ - https://www.tiktok.com/@entrepreneurmamake

Follow Founder Diaries on socials: ⁠Instagram⁠\TikTok - @founderdariespodcast

Reach out to DigiTax to make your eTIMS compliance much easier: ⁠https://digitax.tech/⁠ | ⁠+254795279403

This podcast has been proudly sponsored by Beauty Square Ke, and Sage Sknn. Visit and patronize at beautysquareke.co and use the code FOUNDER10 for some coins off.