Alexandra Naomi Perez is Chief of Staff at Thrad AI, a startup building the infrastructure for advertising inside LLMs like ChatGPT. She went from studying politics and security at UCL to becoming one of the youngest operators in AI and in this episode, she breaks down exactly how she did it.

We talk about why Gen Z hates bad ads (not ads themselves), why Silicon Valley feels nothing like the UK startup scene, and how the next generation of founders can become "technical" without learning to code from scratch.

Alexandra also shares why startups should sacrifice hours, not relationships, why capable women in tech still battle imposter syndrome, and why your environment matters more than your talent. Plus: how AI tools, automations, and agentic workflows are reshaping startup operations, why founders should ditch the work-life balance debate and chase efficiency instead, and what it actually takes to be a great Chief of Staff at an early-stage company.

Also in this episode: moving from Geneva to London to San Francisco, cold-starting a career in AI without a traditional background, building startup systems with Claude and N8N, what founders get wrong about ambition and why building a company is still the coolest, funnest thing you can do.

In this episode, we cover:-

• Why Gen Z doesn't hate ads, they hate bad ads, and what Thrad AI is building to fix that
• What advertising inside LLMs like ChatGPT actually looks like and why it's the next frontier
• Her path from studying politics and security at UCL to becoming one of the youngest operators in AI
• How to cold-start a career in AI without a traditional technical background
• Why Silicon Valley feels completely different from the UK startup scene, and what moving from Geneva to London to San Francisco taught her
• How founders can become "technical" without learning to code from scratch
• Why startups should sacrifice hours, not relationships
• Why women in tech struggle with imposter syndrome even when they're more than capable
• Why your environment matters more than your talent
• How AI tools, automations, and agentic workflows (Claude, N8N) are changing how startups operate
• Why founders should stop obsessing over work-life balance and focus on efficiency instead
• What it actually means to be a great Chief of Staff at an early-stage company
• What founders get wrong about ambition, and why building a company is still the coolest and funnest thing you can do

#AI #Startups #WomenInTech #ChiefOfStaff #TechPodcast

Maverick is not your typical founder. Laid off two days after moving to London. No clients, no money, no safety net. Told by a close friend that he didn’t know how to build a company. Twelve months later he’d raised investment, built an AI start-up from scratch, and landed his first paying customers.This is the unfiltered story of what it actually costs to build something from zero.

In this episode, we cover:

How a third-generation gambling family shaped Maverick’s obsession with betting only on what he can control

The rocket ship start-up that collapsed and what he learnt from the wreckage

How cold LinkedIn DMs and relentless outreach landed him his first clients in weeks

How a single LinkedIn video caught the attention of a three-time YC founder and changed everything

What working at $100 million Model ML company taught him about standards, sales, and speed

Why he moved to San Francisco, lasted six weeks, and left on his own terms

How he booked a one-way ticket to Vietnam with barely any money and kept building anyway

What Maverick Intelligence actually does and how it turns anonymous website visitors into paying customers

Why he’s focused on the US market and what GDPR means for founders building in this space

His honest take on AI agents and how Maverick Intelligence identifies thousands of people every single day, around the clock

The exact sales tools he uses including Clay, Orange Slice, Instantly, and Condo

Why A/B testing before 10,000 users is a complete waste of time

How to upskill technically without a computer science background

Why graduate schemes might actually be holding young people back

The one piece of advice for anyone sitting on an idea they still haven’t started. 

This is a revenge arc, a masterclass in sales, and one of the most honest founder conversations we’ve had on the show.

▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@novaandbobastartups?si=4dWzLsx55iudE70w

#FounderStory #AIStartup #MaverickIntelligence #SalesStrategy #ColdOutreach #LinkedInGrowth #YCombinator #ModelML #AIAgents #WebsiteVisitorTracking #B2BMarketing #LeadGeneration #GenZFounders #StartupAdvice #BootstrappedFounder #SalesTools #StartupLife #Entrepreneurship2025 #BuildInPublic #FutureOfWork

Sedinam Simpson is the co-founder and strategy lead at The Tech Bros but her journey to get there is anything but ordinary.

A Google DeepMind Scholar and MPhil graduate in Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence from the University of Cambridge, Sedinam has spent her career sitting at the intersection of cutting-edge AI research, entrepreneurship, and building pathways for the next generation of founders.

She joins us for an honest conversation about what it really takes to break into tech, why she co-founded The Tech Bros, and what the industry still gets wrong about women in entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we cover:

The problem that drove Sedinam to co-found The Tech Bros and why it needed to exist

What getting into Cambridge actually looked like and what it taught her

Where to begin if you want to learn to code practical advice for complete beginners

What running an accelerator programme has taught her about early-stage founders

The biggest barriers holding women back in tech and entrepreneurship and what needs to change

The most impressive founders she’s worked with and what sets them apart

How she founded Chara, a sustainable fashion brand, as an undergraduate Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Fellow

Her path from Data Scientist to strategy lead and what she learnt along the way

Whether you’re a woman navigating your way into tech, an aspiring founder looking for your first step, or simply curious about what it takes to build at the frontier of AI this episode is for you.

#WomenInTech #AIResearch #MachineLearning #GoogleDeepMind #Cambridge #TechBros #Accelerator #BlackWomenInTech #SustainableFashion #LearnToCode #FounderStories #DiversityInTech #AIStartups #Entrepreneurship2025 #FemaleFounders #DataScience #StartupAdvice #AfricanFounders #AllanGray #TechCommunity

Samuel is building something that has been overlooked for decades. A natural, vegan, plant-based contraceptive gel that works with the body rather than against it. And he is doing it from a lab he built in his shed.

C Silk is a femtech start-up at the frontier of reproductive health, and this conversation covers everything from the science behind it to the brutal reality of building a MedTech company from scratch with no institutional backing and no rich family behind you.

In this episode, we cover:

Why Samuel, a biochemical engineer and former biopharma professional, became a male founder in women’s health

The personal experiences that revealed just how broken the reproductive healthcare system really is

Why prescriptions for the contraceptive pill have halved in the last decade and what that means for the market

The rise of fertility awareness methods and why women are increasingly giving up on hormonal contraception altogether

Why women were excluded from clinical trials until the late 1990s and the enormous gap that has left in female healthcare

The science behind C Silk and how the female body naturally creates an inhospitable environment for sperm

How Samuel studied a US FDA-approved competitor, identified its flaws, and built a better product

What spermicides from the 1970s got catastrophically wrong and why nothing significant changed for fifty years

The moment under a microscope that proved the product actually works

How to bootstrap a MedTech prototype with a few hundred pounds and a shed

Navigating UK, EU, and US regulatory frameworks as a post-Brexit medical device start-up

Why smart money matters more than any money in MedTech

The NHS grant rejection letter Samuel framed on his wall as motivation

What building a team in deep tech actually looks like when resources are limited

Practical advice for anyone who wants to build a start-up from zero

This is one of the most important problems being worked on right now, and one of the most honest conversations we have had on the show.

▶️ Watch on YouTube: [link]

💙🧋

#FemTech #WomensHealth #ReproductiveHealth #NaturalContraception #MedTech #HealthcareInnovation #StartupAdvice #BiochemicalEngineering #Biopharma #CSilk #FemaleHealth #BootstrappedFounder #MedicalDevice #HealthStartup #HormoneHealth #ContraceptionAlternatives #StartupLife #Entrepreneurship2025 #FounderStory #UCL

Natalie is not the best coder in the room. She will be the first to tell you that but she keeps winning hackathons, going viral on LinkedIn, and building things that nobody else sees coming.

In this episode, Natalie breaks down the exact process behind winning hackathons, navigating male-dominated AI spaces as a young woman, and why the tools available right now mean that almost anyone can build something extraordinary.

In this episode, we cover:

The step by step process Natalie uses to win hackathons, and why being the best coder is not the point

How to find out what judges actually want before you build anything

Why solo hackathon entries are becoming more viable than team ones in the current era of AI tools

How she won the Perplexity Hackathon solo and walked away with five thousand pounds in cash

What Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex actually look like in a real workflow

How to use AI sub-agents as employees and delegate tasks the way you would to a team

Why the fastest way to get good at AI tools is to fail with as many of them as possible

The moment a stranger at a hackathon told her she could never be a founder, and what she did next

What it is really like being a woman in AI-dominated spaces and how she keeps showing up anyway

Why code security is being ignored in the race for speed, and what the real dangers are

How to write LinkedIn posts that catch the algorithm in the first hour

What building a winning hackathon project actually looks like.

Why she is going all in on 3D and spatial AI after she graduates

Whether you are a student, an aspiring founder, or someone who has ever felt like they do not belong in a room, this episode will change how you think about what is possible right now.

▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@novaandbobastartups?si=4dWzLsx55iudE70w

#Hackathon #WomenInTech #AITools #ClaudeCode #VibeCoders #SoloFounder #GenZFounders #LinkedInGrowth #AIAgents #Perplexity #Cursor #Codex #BuildInPublic #StudentFounder #SpatialAI #TechCommunity #AIStartups #LearnToCode #Entrepreneurship2025 #FutureOfWork

Sedinam Simpson is the co-founder and strategy lead at The Tech Bros but her journey to get there is anything but ordinary.

A Google DeepMind Scholar and MPhil graduate in Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence from the University of Cambridge, Sedinam has spent her career sitting at the intersection of cutting-edge AI research, entrepreneurship, and building pathways for the next generation of founders.

She joins us for an honest conversation about what it really takes to break into tech, why she co-founded The Tech Bros, and what the industry still gets wrong about women in entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we cover:

The problem that drove Sedinam to co-found The Tech Bros and why it needed to exist

What getting into Cambridge actually looked like and what it taught her

Where to begin if you want to learn to code practical advice for complete beginners

What running an accelerator programme has taught her about early-stage founders

The biggest barriers holding women back in tech and entrepreneurship and what needs to change

The most impressive founders she’s worked with and what sets them apart

How she founded Chara, a sustainable fashion brand, as an undergraduate Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Fellow

Her path from Data Scientist to strategy lead and what she learnt along the way

Whether you’re a woman navigating your way into tech, an aspiring founder looking for your first step, or simply curious about what it takes to build at the frontier of AI this episode is for you.

#WomenInTech #AIResearch #MachineLearning #GoogleDeepMind #Cambridge #TechBros #Accelerator #BlackWomenInTech #SustainableFashion #LearnToCode #FounderStories #DiversityInTech #AIStartups #Entrepreneurship2025 #FemaleFounders #DataScience #StartupAdvice #AfricanFounders #AllanGray #TechCommunity

Nico first came on Nova & Boba in November 2023, still at university, still building. Since then he’s been featured in Forbes, raised $4.1 million, and built an AI start-up from scratch.

But behind the headlines is a story most people never see. A cult. Moving countries multiple times. A co-founder split. Legal issues. Health issues. A start-up that failed before one that didn’t.

Today we pull back the curtain on what it actually costs to build something at this age.

In this episode, we cover:

What Nico is building now and why it matters in a market projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2030.

The real lessons from Fuego, the ones he didn’t see coming

How to build a defensible AI start-up when there are over 70,000 competitors globally

AI agents genuine paradigm shift or overhyped distraction?

Whether AI employees working autonomously are the future of early-stage start-ups and where the human still wins

Why Bessemer argues that context and memory are the new moats and where most founders get it wrong

Co-founder breakups and what his experience was and what he wishes he’d known

Why he chose to finish his degree when most of his peers were dropping out

What EWOR gave him that he couldn’t have got anywhere else

The leadership principles he actually lives by not the ones that sound good

How to delegate ownership without losing control

His hardest mental health moments as a founder and what got him through

How he stayed grounded through relocations, health struggles, and everything in between

What’s really driving 54% of Gen Z towards entrepreneurship and whether it matches reality

The most underrated opportunities for young people right now

How to start from zero, no network, no money, no experience

How to learn to sell when nobody knows who you are yet

Whether you’re an early-stage founder, a student with an idea, or someone figuring out their next move this is the unfiltered version of what building something real actually looks like.

#YoungFounders #AIStartup #GenZEntrepreneurs #StartupLife #FounderMindset #RaisingCapital #AIAgents #VentureCapital #StartupFailure #CoFounderSplit #EWOR #Forbes30Under30 #Entrepreneurship2025 #BuildingInPublic #AITools #FutureOfWork #MentalHealthFounders #StartupAdvice #TechStartup #Fuego

Rebecca Fayad is a 21 year old founder who has already built and exited two start-ups, launched a UN-affiliated NGO, spoken at TED-Ed and the World Economic Forum. The shocking part is that she’s doing all of it whilst studying Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London.

She joins us for one of the most compelling conversations we’ve had on the show.

In this episode, we get into the details that most founders never talk about. What an exit actually looks like from the inside, the quiet mistakes that kill early-stage companies before they ever get to market, and how Rebecca manages to lead two major university societies simultaneously without burning out.

We also go deep on:

1. How to build and exit a start-up whilst still in full-time education

2. What LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report reveals about the most in-demand skill of our generation and how Rebecca actually applies it

3. The mindset behind launching a UN-affiliated NGO as a young founder

4. Public speaking at WEF & TED-Ed and how she prepares and why most people get it wrong

5. Why she deleted TikTok & Instagram and what she does instead

6. Practical advice for building an authentic and influential presence on LinkedIn

7. What 54% of Gen Z getting into entrepreneurship actually means for the generation redefining work

8. The most overlooked business opportunities for young people right now

9. Faith, focus, and the personal systems that keep her grounded

10. The harsh truth young founders need to hear but probably won’t like

11. Her honest experience of mental health as a founder and  what the research actually says

Whether you’re a young founder, a student with ambition, or someone who’s ever felt behind, this episode will challenge how you think about time, drive, and what’s actually possible.

For further enquiries, send a message to:

[email protected]

Connect with Guest

LinkedIn –   https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-fayad

Follow Sumner Makin on the following:

LinkedIn –   https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumnermakin

▶️Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/6XdwHQaP9zc?si=YhgYn9f-S69fUn5e

#YoungFounders #GenZEntrepreneurs #StartupExit #ImperialCollege #WomenInTech #FemaleFounders #StudentEntrepreneur #PersonalBrand #LinkedInTips #TedTalk #WEF #PublicSpeaking #FounderMindset #ChemicalEngineering #NGO #UNAffiliated #StartupAdvice #Entrepreneurship2025 #FutureOfWork #BuildAndExit

Amelia Miller, co-founder of AI platform ivee, joins us to talk about the psychology of fundraising, building in the age of AI, and why desperate energy is silently killing your chances with investors.

Backed by Steven Bartlett, a University of Cambridge graduate, and former Goldman Sachs banker, Amelia has led ivee to over 100,000 users and $1M+ ARR alongside her co-founder and sister, Lydia Miller.

In this episode, we cover:

• The mindset shift every founder needs before approaching VCs

• Why raising is a psychological game and how to play it

• How desperation cripples founders at the seed stage (and how to fix it)

• What Goldman Sachs taught her and what it didn’t

• How a girls’ school and competitive sports shaped her success

• AI tools to build an authentic personal brand on LinkedIn without feeling cringe.

Whether you’re a founder, operator, or ambitious professional navigating the AI era, this one’s for you.

Amelia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelia--miller

Aivee: https://ivee.jobs/

▶️ Watch on YouTube:

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/jnar0hw0n2b

#StartupFounder #VentureCapital #AItools #Fundraising #WomenInTech #ivee #StevenBartlett #LinkedInTips #FounderMindset #BuildingAStartup

▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qUK1zeAFQ1g?si=hA2f0JCvXlh5J1j6

#StartupFounder #VentureCapital #AItools #Fundraising #WomenInTech #ivee #StevenBartlett #LinkedInTips #FounderMindset #BuildingAStartup

In this video, our guest Tomasz Kantor the founder of Lemio, gives us an insight into how he turned a personal mission to improve mental health into a fast-growing mindful productivity app designed to reduce screen time, break compulsive scrolling habits and help people reclaim their focus.

He explains:

1. What first sparked the idea for Lemio and how witnessing mental health struggles in someone close to him shaped the entire mission.

2. The psychology behind phone addiction, internal triggers, dopamine cycles, and why younger generations are the most vulnerable.

3. How Lemio’s unique features go beyond blocking apps by addressing the root cause of distraction through breathing, planning, emotional awareness and behavioural design.

4. Why boredom, silence, and stillness are essential for creativity, self-trust, and long-term wellbeing.

5. The challenges of building a consumer app, finding product–market fit, and growing organically without heavy marketing spend.

6. What the future of digital wellness looks like and how society must rethink its relationship with social media.

Connect with Guest

LinkedIn – http://linkedin.com/in/tomaszkantor

Download Lemmio here:

https://www.lemioapp.com