WeWork's Cofounder, Miguel McKelvey, shares the most vulnerable, insightful and rounded account of WeWork in his first interview since the startup's dramatic collapse 5 years ago.

📖 Chapters - In this interview we cover...

00:00 - The Guilt Of WeWork & How To Let Go

15:40 - What Does Changing The World Actually Mean?

22:03 - Business And Community Tensions

27:36 - What Does Community Actually Mean?

32:21 - Community Ideologies vs Geographies

38:20 - Wisdom & Naval Ravikant

44:38 - When Does A Startup Become A Cult? "

57:26 - "How do you scale culture? "

01:04:03 - What culture practices to invest in as a smaller startup

01:11:21- Leaning Into Conflict

01:13:07 - Team Adam vs Team Miguel

01:21:24 - Power Tensions

01:26:27 - Rebekah Neumann's Role in WeWork

01:32:23 - S-1 IPO Filing

01:37:34 - The Public's Reaction To Adam

01:47:19 - Miguel's Awareness Of WeWork's Finances

01:54:02 - How Much To Trust Others In The Leadership Team?

01:57:18 - Noticing Scrappy Scaling

02:00:31 - Why It Made Sense For WeWork To Buy An Artificial Wave Startup

02:02:41 - Adam & Miguel's Reality Distortion

02:10:45 - What Really Destroyed WeWork

02:12:40 - How To Step Outside Of Ourselves & Reflect

02:18:08 - Miguel's Advice For Entrepreneurs

02:27:40 - What Can We Support Miguel With

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When GoHenry's founder hit rock bottom, she was drowning...

She realised that the single point of failure was her. At 6am every morning, that familiar sick thump of dread would hit.

Here's how she built her company from the ground up, faced rejection from her own board, and emerged stronger than ever.

💡 What you'll learn in this episode:

▪️ How to identify and eliminate dangerous "single points of failure" in your business before they drown you

▪️ Why operationalising your values through your entire team is the secret to retaining talent for over a decade

▪️ How to navigate brutal board dynamics and still drive toward what's right for your company

▪️ The 6-month evolution framework that prevents you from running into walls as you scale

▪️ The counterintuitive approach to M&A that led to a successful £125M+ exit to Acorns

📖 Chapters

00:00 - What Keeps You Up At Night?

01:21 - When you are the Single Point of Failure

05:19 - Fixing the system when you're drowning

07:36 - The little Red Handbook!

13:59 - Fixing the Points of failure in practice

15:39 - Realising you might not be needed in a company you built

19:14 - Do they just want a yes man?

23:09 - Control as a leader: When to hold on and when to let go!

27:32 - Developing Finance Function... When and how to do it

30:21 - The board chose someone else to be CEO

35:30 - 2 Points: Identify Your Dragons and Learn The Art of Pre-Present

37:41 - Working with Dragons on your board

39:52 - Three biggest Board meetings, the biggest decisions

43:02 - Fundraising Learning Curves: Raised £125M, Acquiring Pixpay and Being acquired by Acorns

48:01 - How we Acquired Pixpay, finding a similar culture in your acquisition

48:03 - Biggest learnings from 6 rounds of fundraising

52:14 - Generosity within the company culture. A solidifying moment

56:08 - The ROI of paying for a holiday for all the staff

01:00:29 - What in the culture leads to people staying on for so long?

01:03:31 - Going from CEO to Executive Chair of the Board

01:07:44 - Make your passion your mission

01:12:08 - How to choose and win your battles

01:15:38 - What action we need to take

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🔗 Guest Links https://www.gohenry.com/

LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/louise-hill-5197614

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Most founders think they can figure it out alone - until they crash.

Sam Knight was "very, very resistant" to coaching, convinced it was just "talking about feelings." Then his friend forced him to try it...

This is the story of how losing his father at 15 shaped his leadership blind spots, and why facing them transformed both his company and his life.

🧠 What You'll Learn

▪️ The performance management framework that separates high-growth teams from collections of individuals

▪️ Why "I am because we are" (Ubuntu philosophy) transforms competitive founders into collaborative leaders

▪️ The five pillars every leader must master (and why most CEOs score poorly on at least two)

▪️ How childhood trauma creates invisible leadership blind spots that sabotage teams

▪️ How to spot what you know is true now but will only admit in six months' time

▪️ Why feeling words at work unlock deeper team connection and performance

📖 Chapters

00:00 - From Resistant CEO to Coaching Convert

06:11 - The Yoko Ono Exhibition That Changed Everything

11:24 - Pollinate: Building and Selling a B2B Platform

13:52 - "I Really Just Wasn't Enjoying My Job"

17:38 - The Five Pillars of Leadership Framework

25:47 - Goal Setting vs Accountability: What's the Difference?

32:43 - Why Most Teams Avoid Performance Management

42:43 - The Question That Reveals Hidden Truths

49:02 - Ubuntu: "I Am Because We Are"

1:02:18 - Losing Your Father and Leading Others

1:13:06 - Preparing for Fatherhood After Loss

1:16:56 - The Ubuntu Philosophy That Transforms Teams

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🔗 Guest link

Sam Knight - LinkedIn

🔗 Affiliate Link

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Most founders don't realise the biggest barrier to scaling isn't capital or talent — it's learning when to let go.

Carolyn Dawson built a 10,000-person founder community by understanding this one truth:

The best leaders know exactly when to stop being indispensable.In this interview you’ll discover what is needed to choose between entering the US vs Europe startup sector.

🧠 What You'll Learn:

▪️ Why European founders' "humanity" in hiring decisions might actually be holding back the ecosystem

▪️ How celebrating failure accelerated growth at Supercell (and why most founders get this backwards)

▪️ The curation secrets behind building the UK's most exclusive founder community

▪️ Why "founder mode" becomes dangerous after Series B and when to transition

▪️ The internal vs external balance that separates unicorn founders from the rest

📖 Chapters

00:00 - UK vs US: The Narrative Problem

06:27 - When Founders Should Actually Exit Their Companies

11:43 - Building a People-Driven Business at Scale

22:46 - The Stories Behind Closed Funding Rounds

24:15 - What Separates the Top 1% of Founders

31:03 - The Quality vs Speed Trade-off in Company Building

33:22 - Building Loyalty: The Team That Follows You Everywhere

39:13 - From Control Freak to Strategic Leader

42:05 - The External vs Internal Balance Every Founder Must Master

45:21 - What Information to Share vs Keep Private

47:37 - European vs US Firing Culture: The Speed vs Humanity Debate

57:28 - Going Global: Boots on Ground vs Remote

59:09 - The Inner Voice That Builds Resilience

62:06 - Taking Yourself Too Seriously: The Success Trap

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https://youtu.be/XcBwsq-KzmI?si=-WhZcPjyXXLWZYMq

👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul

📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter:

https://the-aj-connection.kit.com/e2d35e66c4

🔗 Affiliate Link

HEIGHTS Brain + Gut Supplements - 15% OFF https://www.heights.com/scalewithsoul

Most founders think they can figure it out alone - until they crash.

Sam Knight was "very, very resistant" to coaching, convinced it was just "talking about feelings." Then his friend forced him to try it...

This is the story of how losing his father at 15 shaped his leadership blind spots, and why facing them transformed both his company and his life.

🧠 What You'll Learn

▪️ The performance management framework that separates high-growth teams from collections of individuals

▪️ Why "I am because we are" (Ubuntu philosophy) transforms competitive founders into collaborative leaders

▪️ The five pillars every leader must master (and why most CEOs score poorly on at least two)

▪️ How childhood trauma creates invisible leadership blind spots that sabotage teams

▪️ How to spot what you know is true now but will only admit in six months' time

▪️ Why feeling words at work unlock deeper team connection and performance

📖 Chapters

00:00 - From Resistant CEO to Coaching Convert

06:11 - The Yoko Ono Exhibition That Changed Everything

11:24 - Pollinate: Building and Selling a B2B Platform

13:52 - "I Really Just Wasn't Enjoying My Job"

17:38 - The Five Pillars of Leadership Framework

25:47 - Goal Setting vs Accountability: What's the Difference?

32:43 - Why Most Teams Avoid Performance Management

42:43 - The Question That Reveals Hidden Truths

49:02 - Ubuntu: "I Am Because We Are"

1:02:18 - Losing Your Father and Leading Others

1:13:06 - Preparing for Fatherhood After Loss

1:16:56 - The Ubuntu Philosophy That Transforms Teams

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👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul

📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter

🔗 Guest link

Sam Knight - LinkedIn

🔗 Affiliate Link

HEIGHTS Brain + Gut Supplements - 15% OFF

Most founders don't realise the biggest barrier to scaling isn't capital or talent - it's learning when to let go. Carolyn Dawson runs a 10,000-person founder community, Founders Forum, by understanding this one truth:

The best leaders know exactly when to stop being indispensable.

In this interview you’ll discover what is needed to choose between entering the US vs Europe startup sector.

💡 What you'll learn:

▪️ Why European founders' "humanity" in hiring decisions might actually be holding back the ecosystem

▪️ How celebrating failure accelerated growth at Supercell (and why most founders get this backwards)

▪️ The curation secrets behind building the UK's most exclusive founder community

▪️ Why "founder mode" becomes dangerous after Series B and when to transition

▪️ The internal vs external balance that separates unicorn founders from the rest

📖 Chapters

00:00 - UK vs US: The Narrative Problem

06:27 - When Founders Should Actually Exit Their Companies

11:43 - Building a People-Driven Business at Scale

22:46 - The Stories Behind Closed Funding Rounds

24:15 - What Separates the Top 1% of Founders

31:03 - The Quality vs Speed Trade-off in Company Building

33:22 - Building Loyalty: The Team That Follows You Everywhere

39:13 - From Control Freak to Strategic Leader

42:05 - The External vs Internal Balance Every Founder Must Master

45:21 - What Information to Share vs Keep Private

47:37 - European vs US Firing Culture: The Speed vs Humanity Debate

57:28 - Going Global: Boots on Ground vs Remote

59:09 - The Inner Voice That Builds Resilience

62:06 - Taking Yourself Too Seriously: The Success Trap

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Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul 📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter: https://the-aj-connection.kit.com/e2d35e66c4

🔗 Affiliate Link HEIGHTS Brain + Gut Supplements - 15% OFF https://www.heights.com/scalewithsoul

He built a company to millions, hired someone better to run it, and walked away.

Why stepping down as CEO can be your greatest act of leadership.

Most founders cling to their CEO titles long after they've outgrown the role.

Evgeny Shadchnev did the opposite. He recognised the misalignment, planned his exit over 14 months, and handed the keys to someone who could scale what he'd built. What he soon learnt transformed both his life and the business.

🧠 What You'll Learn:

▪️ How to recognise when you've outgrown your own company (before burnout forces the decision)

▪️ The difference between founder skills and CEO skills — and why confusing them kills companies

▪️ A framework for making confident leadership transitions without destroying what you've built

▪️ The breathwork techniques that shift your nervous system from reactive to strategic

▪️ Why starting a company for belonging can lead to profound misalignment later

📖 Chapters

00:00 - What A Founder Coach Does

00:41 - What Founders Don't Talk About

05:02 - "Predicting the Future of the Company"

08:10 - The Founder's Job: Make Sure It Survives

11:15 - The Skills Needed at Pre-Product Market Fit

14:17 - Moving to Product Market Fit - "This Is a Very Specific Skillset"

15:15 - "The Skills You Never Stop Needing - Fred Wilson's Advice"

17:48 - The First Alarm Bells

20:24 - CEO Transitions Take Time

22:16 - Feeling Misaligned: Childhood Experiences

27:59 - The One Thing That Helped Me Make the Tough Decision

35:23 - Ego Wanting vs Heart Longing

37:40 - Success 10 Years Ago vs Success Now

40:07 - The Startup Is Not There to Make You Happy

45:09 - Running Away or Braving the Wind

49:26 - Working Long Hours Sustainably

58:22 - Decision Making

01:05:31 - What Makes You Tick?

01:08:20 - Revelation on Simplification of Life

01:13:12 - What Your Fiancée Said About You

01:15:25 - Read Evgeny's Book!

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🔗 Guest Links:

Find Evgeny's Book Here

Founder and Ex CEO at Makers

Mentioned Resources:

"Let Your Life Speak" by Parker Palmer Other Sheep breathwork app

Fred Wilson's blog on CEO framework (Union Square Ventures)

🔗 Affiliate Link

Visit Monk Ice Baths for £100 discount

If you want to help Freddie's research on founders please fill this out: https://forms.gle/jLiW7TJBniXQfDRK8

Most founders obsess over their company metrics while completely ignoring their own performance metrics.

What if the secret to scaling your startup isn't just building better systems, but becoming a better human?

Finder coach Freddie Birley has spent years studying what separates venture-backed rockstars from the rest ... and it's not what you think.

🧠 What You'll Learn

Critical Founder Insights:

▪️ Avoid the spiritual poverty trap that follows most successful exits

▪️ Master the balance between masculine drive and feminine intuition in leadership

▪️ Discover the 3 core traits that define outlier performers in venture-backed startups

▪️ Understand why 50%+ of founders report wellbeing as their biggest personal challenge

▪️ Learn why alignment beats intelligence when it comes to sustainable high performance

▪️ Data Vs Debate: What founders at different stages (0-10, 10-20, 20-50, 50-150 team size) struggle with most

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro - Headhunting Taught Me to Coach

02:50 - What Actually Makes a Venture Rockstar

05:47 - The Three Pillars: Authenticity, Value Creation & Leadership

11:35 - Founder Challenges by Company Stage (Research Insights)

14:55 - Why First-Time vs Serial Founders Face Different Identity Crises

19:50 - The Performance Paradox: Preparation vs Play

25:47 - When Success Becomes a Spiritual Prison

29:09 - Internal vs External Motivation: Signs of an Emotionally Rich Founder

32:39 - Building High-Performance Culture Without Cracking the Whip

37:33 - Founder Circles: What Makes Them Thrive vs Die

43:44 - Breathwork for Founders: The Wild Modality Explained

50:29 - Connecting with Yourself as the Ceiling for Leading Others

52:31 - What the Startup Ecosystem Gets Wrong About Human Nature

54:57 - Balancing Masculine Structure with Feminine Intuition

1:05:40 - The Fundamental Principles of Being a Better Human

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🔗 Guest Links & Resources Connect with Freddie Birley

Her Website

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Most founders won't talk about this…

But the line between grandiose confidence and dangerous delusion is thinner than you think.

James Roycroft-Davis stood on Putney Bridge, hearing voices telling him to jump, before discovering his bipolar diagnosis would become his greatest teacher.

This is the unfiltered story of how ego, untreated mental health, and founder identity nearly destroyed everything - and how radical self-awareness rebuilt it all.

💡 What you'll learn in this episode:

▪️ How to spot the early warning signs of ego-driven decision making that destroy startups

▪️ Why bipolar disorder can be both a founder's greatest asset and deadliest trap

▪️ Why most founder therapy misses the mark - and what actually works

▪️ How becoming a father rewired his entire relationship with success and identity

▪️ A framework for making decisions based on who you want to be, not who you think others expect

▪️ The difference between £100M ego goals and £500K happiness goals (and why one nearly killed him)

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro

01:19 - The Bridge Call That Changed Everything

07:28 - 20 Years of Trauma Exploding at Once

09:07 - The Guilt of Surviving

11:12 - Nature vs Nurture in Mental Health

12:19 - When Granddad's Death Flipped the Switch

15:31 - The Israeli Psychologist Who Gets Startups

18:10 - "Most Founders Do Have Grandiose Sense"

25:49 - Type 1 vs Type 2: Why It Matters

28:58 - The £500/Hour Diagnosis Story

34:13 - Ego Work: From Validation to Creation

38:20 - Why "Founder" Identity Makes You Unemployable

42:21 - Two Job Offers, One Ego Check

44:51 - Old James vs New James

46:58 - The Exit Community Vulnerability

49:02 - Alex McDonald's Life-Changing Advice

50:48 - Happy and Comfortable vs £100M Dreams

58:32 - The CBT Technique That Rewires Your Brain

01:02:15 - Dual Purposes: Father and Founder

01:06:26 - Final Asks: Jobs, Dad Groups, and Baseline

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🔗 Guest Links & Resources

James Roycroft-Davis : LinkedIn

🔗 Affiliate Link

Visit Monk Ice Baths - for £100 discount

What does it really takes to SCALE (not just grow...)?

Neda Sahebelm was an early joiner at Multiverse, achieving 98% retention and 50% diversity in her teams, whilst delivering multiple £20M quarters.

Growth is doing more with more.

Scale is doing more with less.

In this episode she reveals the system that transforms chaos into high-performing teams.

🧠 What You'll Learn

▪️ Growth vs Scale: The difference between success and chaos

▪️ "Operation Thrive": How to flip a toxic team culture in 6 months

▪️ The hiring system that achieved 98% retention and radical diversity

▪️ The 3-pillar framework: Org Design, Recruitment, and Retention done right

▪️ How to fire people gracefully (and why most leaders get this catastrophically wrong)

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro

06:14 - Growth vs Scale: Why Most Founders Get This Wrong

10:11 - The "Operational Efficiency" Myth.

16:32 - The SVB Crash Aftermath: Market Shifts and Human Costs

24:35 - Start with Product (Not People or Process)

30:34 - The Org Design Crisis: Why Founders Hire Wrong

38:14 - Building Scalable Hiring Systems: The 55-Person Quarter

46:04 - The Diversity Masterclass: 98% Retention Secrets

58:11 - "Operation Thrive": Turning -5 NPS Into +68

1:08:00 - The "Train Analogy": Managing Exits with Grace

1:16:23 - "Don't Bring Your Whole Self to Work" - The Leadership Reality

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👉 Subscribe for weekly interviews and deeply practical videos on how to scale with soul

📧 Get exclusive insights, timeless frameworks & founder tools in my newsletter

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For a £100 Discount discovermonk.co.uk/SCALEWITHSOUL