Founders For Good

Emilia Molimpakis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Thymia. 

Emilia has spent over a decade studying Neuroscience with a specific focus on using language as a marker to assess and monitor mental health.

The current method for assessing mental health is very basic and subjective and hasn’t changed in over ten years. So when her best friend suffered depression and tried to take her own life, Emilia created Thymia combining her passion for linguistics, gaming and mental health. 

Thymia use video games to track micro expressions to assess someone’s mental health state more accurately and objectively. Which means clinicians can use their limited time on what matters, diagnosing and treating their patients. 

This is just the start, as Emilia explains how Thymia can become the global gold standard for mental health assessment. 

 Highlights:

03.43: What is the current state of mental health? Is it getting better or worse? 

05.56: How mental health is currently being assessed and why it is so broken

11.03: What is Thymia? 

15.00: Emilia combining her passions for language, gaming and mental health to create Thymia

25.44:  Building a frictionless and engaging user journey for the patients

29.48: How have the patients reacted to this new method of assessment? 

33.46: Emilia’s biggest learnings so far: having a co-founder, routes to funding and VC bias 

40.16: Alignment on your purpose and clear core values are key to balancing profit and purpose 

43.08: How does a mental health startup founder manage their own mental health? 

48.06: The channels Emilia has found most successful for hiring

50.16: Respect as the core value underpinning everything they do

 
Our Host:
 

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 
 
 

Our Guest:
 

Emilia Molimpakis, PhD, Founder and CEO of Thymia.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilia-molimpakis-phd-860325a4/ / https://thymia.ai/

Our Sponsor:
 

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Our Content and Marketing:
 
Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Daniel George is the Founder and CEO of StepEx. 

From his own experiences, Daniel was shocked by the barriers to education for those from lower income backgrounds. Imagine wanting to do an MBA or software development course, but not being able to afford the course fee with your only other option being hit with 30-40% interest on a loan. 

Daniel created StepEx to provide a better and fairer system for those wanting to finance their further education. Their FCA approved “Future Earnings Agreement” product removes the traditional financial barriers and bases the lending decision on future earning potential.

This creates a real social impact for those people, giving them a better chance at earn more. It also helps the education bodies to recruit more diverse students and raise the academic standards by actually having the top performers there, not just those who can afford it. 

Highlights:

03.02: What is the current state of student finance? 

07.16: The knock-on effect of barriers to education on students, education providers and society 

10.02: The StepEx model and how it works

17.31: How are “future earnings agreements” structured and by who? 

25.27: Using safeguards to ensure students are protected

29.07: The future of student finance is flexibility and paying back on the student’s terms

33.16: Balancing purpose and profit when making business decisions

40.50: The key to scaling a social impact business is tying making money to doing good

 
Our Host:

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected]

Our Guest:
 

Daniel George, Founder and CEO of StepEx.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmacriwaller/ / www.hellobenefex.com 

Our Sponsor:
 

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi

Our Content and Marketing:
 
Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Khyati Sundaram is the CEO of Applied.

Traditional CV based hiring processes are flawed, with companies missing out on up to 60% of people. Typically, those 60% are from minority groups. 

Khyati experienced this herself when looking for a job after her first startup, facing rejection from hundreds of applications until she interviewed with Applied, where they assessed based on her skills rather than her CV. She joined as Chief Product Officer and within 12 months took on the CEO role. 

Applied is a tech platform that enables employers to build bespoke debiased hiring processes, so companies get access to a larger and more diverse pool of talent. Khyati explains what bias is and how it impacts hiring decisions, why this is bad for employers, and shares some simple steps to stop hiring bias. 

 
Highlights:

04.09: What is bias and where does it come from? 

08.22: What are the benefits of debiased recruitment? And why are we still stuck using hiring metrics from the 1950’s?

13.12: Humans cannot change, why we can’t train out bias. 

18.35: From government funded research project to commercial startup

26.34: What forms of candidate assessment are best to avoid bias?

32.26: Khyati’s top tips for Founders to start tackling bias in their hiring processes

40.34: The important of centring the team around your mission statement

43.26: How debiased recruitment processes are a differentiator to job-seekers

 
Our Host:

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 

Our Guest:

Khyati Sundaram,  CEO of Applied.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/khyatisundaram/ / https://www.beapplied.com/

Our Sponsor:

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi

Our Content and Marketing:
 
Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Alex Price is CTO and Co-Founder of Ecologi.

Alex saw a unique opportunity when he co-founded Ecologi, to combine his passion for climate activism with technology. 

Ecologi makes positive climate action, simple and affordable for individuals and businesses all over the world. They calculate their carbon footprint and use their money to fund reforestation and carbon reduction projects around the planet providing them with real time updates on their impact. So for as little as £5 per month a person can offset their carbon footprint.

In this episode Alex chats with us about the current state of climate change, how we all play a part in solving it, making climate action affordable to everyone, scaling an impact business and much more. 

Highlights:

04.56: Does scalable climate action need to happen on an individual, business or governmental level?

07.24: Reforestation and carbon reduction projects, two affordable, scalable ways to fight climate change

11.50: Building Ecologi from three founders to where it is today  

17.17: Why brand has been critical to Ecologi’s mission and success

18.55: Building a mission-driven, for profit business. The best way to scale impact. 

23.11: How does Ecologi ensure they avoid being seen as greenwashing?

31.14: Alex’s proudest Ecologi moment

35.00: Having a clear mission from day one is key to scaling a “for good” business

37.44: Why did Ecologi go down the B Corp route?

Our Host:

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 
 

Our Guest:

Alex Price, Founder and CTO of Ecologi.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/remotealex/ / https://ecologi.com/ 
 

Our Sponsor:
 

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0
 

Our Producer:
 

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 
 

Our Content and Marketing:

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Jack Scott, is the Co-Founder of Dash Water.

Dash Water is tackling the problem of food waste within farming, where surplus or “wonky” produce is often overlooked. Dash only use “wonky” fruit and veg to create their premium brand of soft drinks.

What I like about Dash Water, is that they are part of the modern consumer brand movement. Where they focus on being a responsible and sustainable business, whilst building a unique and memorable brand that their customers love. 

I chat to Jack about the problem of food waste in farming, building a strong brand identity, carving out a space for a premium drinks brand in a crowded market, their recent “wonky fruit” PR campaign, and becoming a B Corp.  

Highlights:

03.26: Why does up to 40% of the fruit and veg in the UK go to waste?
07.04: Validating their idea of using wonky fruit to make simple, healthy soft drinks 
13.23: Focusing on independent stores to build brand equity and solidify their position as a premium brand 
18.10: What has been a game changer for Dash? 
21.52: How an aubergine that was too provocative for TFL went viral
28.08: Alex’s proudest achievement? The team and culture they are building. 
32.04: How and why they became a B Corp. 
36.21: Why values were critical to building the Dash culture and team
 

Our Host:
 

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected]

Our Guest:

Jack Scott, Founder of Dash Water.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-scott-91365757/ /  https://dash-water.com/
 

Our Sponsor:

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0
 

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Our Content and Marketing:

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Tessa Clarke is the Founder and CEO of OLIO. 

OLIO is an app that connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses, so surplus food and household items can be shared, not thrown away. 

Tessa shares her eureka moment for building OLIO, the shocking impact of food waste, scaling OLIO to 6 million users, the pains of raising investment as a female founder and how to build a business that is both for profit and for purpose. 

Highlights:

2.00: How one moment of failure triggered the need to build a solution to food waste

03.20: If food waste was a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter 

06.23: Why are people so ignorant about the global impact of food waste?

09.23: Fighting food waste through community sharing with OLIO 

15.21: Growing a community from scratch to 6 million global users

19.54: Building a for purpose and for profit business, the OLIO revenue model 

25.06: The challenges raising money as a female founding team and Tessa’s advice to other Founders 

30.25: How do OLIO compete for top talent in a competitive market? 

Our Host:

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 
 

Our Guest:

Tessa Clarke, Co-Founder and CEO of OLIO.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tecook/ / https://olioex.com/

Our Sponsor:
 

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi

Our Content and Marketing:

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Molly Johnson-Jones is the Co-Founder and CEO of Flexa. Flexa certifies and scores companies based on how flexible they, then showcases why these companies are great to work for to talent all over the world.

Molly’s first experience with flexible working, was the lack of. When she was diagnosed with auto-immune disease and told by her doctor she was disabled and needed to work from home once a week, her then employer fired her. This spurred Molly on to found Flexa with her partner Maurice O’Brien so that people could see upfront what kind of working environment companies can offer them. 

Molly shares her definition of flexible working, pivoting from job board to focus on certification, raising over half of their Seed funding from female investors, VC’s views on investing in a couple and how Flexa have used their own platform to make all of their own hires to date. 

Episode notes:

3.34: Having a disability and getting fired after needing one day a week working from home

04.59: Molly’s definition of “flexible working”

08.17: The barriers to people finding flexible work 

13.57: Building the global directory of verified flexible companies 

26.02: Why the topic of “flexible working” has helped Flexa build an engaged community of followers

28.12: Molly’s mixed experiences with investors and raising over half of their Seed round from female investors

36.41: Co-founding Flexa with her partner Maurice and how investors viewed investing in a couple 

44.15: Why flexibility is key to building a diverse team 

Our Host:
 

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 
 

Our Guest:

Molly Johnson-Jones, Co-Founder and CEO of Flexa.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-johnson-jones/ / https://flexa.careers/

Our Sponsor:

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 
 
 

Our Content and Marketing:
 

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Amelia Gammon is the inspirational CEO and Founder of bide, a responsible consumer brand producing eco-products that have social impact. 

34% of the global workforce is made up of people that are unable to do conventional work. They may be single parents, carers, homeless, offenders or refugees. bide addresses rocketing unemployment by removing the barriers for these people to get work. Rather than making their eco-products in a factory, they bring the factories into people's homes. bide train these people, provide them with the raw materials and pay them a fair living wage for the products they create. 

The products are made to the highest ethical standards. They’re 100% plastic and toxin free, using five simple plant-based ingredients that are sourced locally, packaged using sustainable materials. 

bide really are setting the new standard for what it means to be a responsible, eco-friendly brand. 

 Highlights:

3.31: 34% of the global workforce is made up of people that are not able to do “conventional work”

6.33: Greenwashing and building a brand consumers can trust 

9.38: How bide are creating a truly eco-friendly and responsible consumer product. 

15.36: How bide are oversubscribed with people wanting to join their “Home Manufacturing Network”

25.40: Growing internationally, expanding from D2C to B2B and creating new product verticals

27.22: The challenge of speaking to investors about an impact business model 

31.51: Amelia’s tips for living a more responsible, eco-friendly life 

36.51: Why one of bide’s first hires was a Chief People Officer

 
Our Host:

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected]

Our Guest:

Amelia Gammon, Founder and CEO of bide planet. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaylobo/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliagammon/ / https://bideplanet.com/ 

Our Sponsor:

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi

Our Content and Marketing:

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Joel Tasche, is the CEO and Co-Founder of CleanHub. Seeing the impact of plastic waste first-hand whilst travelling Joel wanted to create a scalable solution that would stop non-recyclable plastic entering the environment. 

After extensive research Joel co-founded CleanHub to tackle this issue. CleanHub work with plastic-using brands that want to be part of the solution. These brands finance the collection of non-recyclable plastic from regions of the world that lack proper waste management systems. CleanHub then work with verified partners that collect and process the plastic in the most responsible way before it enters into our rivers and oceans. Everything is underpinned by a tech platform that authenticates the work done, giving consumers the confidence they can buy from responsible brands. 

Highlights:

4.06: Startup lessons - revenue is the best validation point and hire an experienced team early

6.03: The global problems with plastic waste

12.05: How CleanHub is building an effective and scalable waste management system 

17.41: The most responsible way to process non-recyclable plastic

24.07: Enabling companies to engage with consumers and take responsibility for their plastic use

31.19: Joel’s advice to people trying to reduce their plastic footprint 

42.36: Why transparency is critical to attracting top talent

Our Host:
 

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 
 

Our Guest:
 

Joel Tasche, Founder and CEO of CleanHub.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeltasche/ / www.cleanhub.com 

Our Sponsor:

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi

Our Content and Marketing:

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected] 

Matt has dedicated his career to exploring the complex relationship between employer and employee, trying to understand how companies can best support and nurture the people who work for them.  

Brought up by two entrepreneurial parents, it is no surprise that Matt went on to found, invest in and advise over 25 businesses. 

In 2010, Matt founded Benefex with the belief that no one comes to work to do a bad job or be disengaged, and it’s the role of the employer to look after their people and give them the best possible experience whilst at work.

Matt shares how he’s went from identifying a gap in the HR tech market to building Benefex into the international business it is today. 

Highlights:

1.43: Growing up with two entrepreneurial parents, where bankruptcy was standard dinner talk

7.21: The state of HR and people technology back in 2010

12.22: Matt roping his retired father into Benefex sales pitches 

20.27: Hiring 100 people a year and the hard lessons learnt

25.38: How and why Benefex made two acquisitions during the pandemic 

30.55: Matt’s thoughts on the future of employee wellbeing

36.17: What are the best benefits startups can offer to support their team?

44.54: People being bought into the mission is key to growth and success

Our Host:

Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] 

Our Guest:

Matt Macri-Waller, Founder and CEO of Benefex.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmacriwaller/ / www.hellobenefex.com  

Our Sponsor:

Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.
www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0

Our Producer:

Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionada, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.
https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Our Content and Marketing:

Rachel Loosley, Content and Marketing Manager at Confido Talent.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelloosley/ / [email protected]