NAKED by The Future Farm

Vladi and Nektarios are back together for the first Naked episode of a new year. They discuss a topic that they have touched upon previously: the power of speaking up and feeling empowered to call out someone’s bad behaviour, something that is often difficult to do in a business situation. Vladi shares a recent story of when she felt empowered to speak up on behalf of her business and her colleagues. She also talks about managing the conflict in the aftermath and how they dealt with it as a team. They talked about how it impacted individuals and the bigger topics that arise from an experience like this: what do you go through as an entrepreneur, what is okay and not okay, and what is the role of investors?

As we come to the end of another year, Vladi and Nektarios pause and look back on the past 12 months. They talk about how things have changed, particularly in relation to how their respective fintech businesses now occupy most of their time, but that it’s important to remember to take time off and remember that your personal wellbeing matters. We hope you enjoy reflecting on a number of the topics that we’ve covered on the Naked podcast this year, including: imposter syndrome; co-founder conflict; investors and the role they play; neurodiversity; self-awareness; identity, and many more.

Show notes

Share your questions with Vladi and Nektarios at [email protected]

How can you support the podcast?

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If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince future guests to share their stories!

For show notes and past guests, visit https://www.thefuturefarm.co/naked-podcast

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“My escape was to try and be good at things, for no other reasons than for people to like me… I was seeking validation.” Our next podcast guest is Chris Howard, a reluctant founder and somebody who prefers the term ‘creator’. Chris joins us to talk about how he started building a business to fix things in his life and to seek validation from others. As his marriage fell apart, he started to behave in ways that he now finds troubling, and was ultimately asked to leave the company by his co-founder and board.

Chris talks about the signals he ignored; the difference between self-esteem and confidence; and where to look for help to start looking for the more deeply rooted causes that affect our self-esteem. He talks about how he has become academically obsessed with understanding trauma.

We discuss the following:

Show notes

Connect with Chris: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Web

Resources

How can you support the podcast?

Tell your friends and share online.

Subscribe & review: Please make sure to review, share comments and subscribe to the show on the various platforms (YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Google Podcasts)

Spread the word: Help grow our reach by sharing your enthusiasm for the podcast and/or your favourite episodes by posting it on social media.

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince future guests to share their stories!

For show notes and past guests, visit https://www.thefuturefarm.co/naked-podcast

Follow The Future Farm on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube

Vladi and Nektarios are back with a new episode, covering a number of themes we’ve heard on Naked before. They catch up and talk about being triggered, the power of visualisation in times when you’re feeling overwhelmed and having a choice. They spend much of the episode discussing the chat with Nemo D’Qrill; the impact it had on them, and some of the topics in that conversation, including identity, compromise and choice - including choosing when to speak up and when to stay silent (if you haven’t listened to the episode already, you can catch up here).

“Entrepreneurship has definitely been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, forget about the army.” Imagine you show up to a meeting and you can sense that people don’t know what to do with you. Imagine you go for a job interview and you hear “you’re not what we are looking for”.

These experiences open up a lot of questions and our podcast guest, Nemo D’Qrill, has started a business to address them from their own experience. The conversation revolves around the subject of authenticity and the compromises we have to make when one is different, where one doesn’t meet the expectations of their audience. For Nemo, it’s all about looking at their options and recommitting to the cause. Or not, if it no longer feels right.

We discuss the following questions:

Vladi and Nektarios reconnect and share what’s been happening in their working and personal lives over the past few weeks. Nektarios talks about bumping into several former colleagues at an industry conference, hearing from people that appreciate what you do, and feeling overwhelmed by some of the corporate world. They then switch conversation to discuss some of the recent global news and the impact it has on them. Vladi shares more about where her space in the conversation is, how she shows up for herself, and using her voice. They talk about ‘otherness’, identity and belonging, as well as the support systems that people have in place where they can authentically talk about a shared experience.

In our first LinkedIn Live episode of NAKED, Vladi and Nektarios discuss the dynamic between entrepreneurs and investors, and the impact that relationship can have on an entrepreneur's mental health. Continuing the investor conversation they started a few weeks ago, they start by sharing their own personal experiences; as they are both currently in the middle of fundraising for their respective fintech ventures.  

They talk about the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey. Impostor syndrome, loneliness, co-founder conflict and questions around identity all come into play during the fundraising process. How does this process really impact the individual? How difficult is it to find investors that care and understand about the entrepreneurial pains?

Over the last couple of years, we've seen investors starting to question and redefine their own weaknesses and recognise that healthier founders increase the chances of the success for the business they've invested in. Vladi and Nektarios discuss:

We started the NAKED podcast because we wanted to draw attention to the subject of mental wellbeing for entrepreneurs and to share authentic, real stories of founders who ‘have been there’. At the same time, we must acknowledge that the reasons why entrepreneurs experience mental health challenges are still largely unaddressed.

Continuing our conversations with investors, in this episode we are talking to Lisa Mikkelsen, Head of Global Human Capital at Flourish Ventures. Lisa shares how the Fund’s partners lead by example: honesty and vulnerability are key. They start early by trying to understand the leadership team of a business they invest in. Building a relationship of trust is paramount.

We discuss the following questions:

This week’s episode is a special one as Vladi and Nektarios talk about the role of investors on entrepreneurial mental health and the fundraising experience. They talk about the personal - and sometimes painful - experiences that they’re currently going through in their own fundraising journeys; how it is having an impact on their teams; and whether investors should see entrepreneurs like humans (listen to our previous conversations with Dr. Michael Freeman for more on this topic). They also share some of their stressors, the ambiguity of the whole experience, and how to deal with the elements that are out of their control. This all leads to the introduction of something we have been working on for some time, The Future Farm’s masterclass on ‘how to become a compassionate investor’, where we are inviting investors to discover actionable tools, resources, and best practices to support founders’ mental health across their investment practices.

For more information on the Masterclass and to sign-up to attend, visit: https://www.thefuturefarm.co/masterclass-compassionate-investor

This week Vladi and Nektarios discuss a topic we’ve talked about a few times on NAKED - co-founder conflict. They talk about the constant work that is required and their relationships with their co-founders. How do you manage yourself after a conflict - whether you’re directly involved or a mediator? How do you find the energy to continue with everyday business activities amid the conflict? And they discuss the importance of reflecting on the triggers - and what their own triggers are - that led to the conflict, in order to move on.