Startup Blueprint

Petra joins Suraj on this episode. Petra started her journey at leading

Petra talks to us about the importance of niching down your value

She also speaks about how regionality can also not only effect product

Knowing how your customers feel and what motivate them as people - not as a company - is critical. She stresses the importance of empathy in

All these and much, much more are laid out by Petra. Listen in for more! 🎧

Connect with Petra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petra-wagner-0b45254

Find Petra’s website: https://petrasalesbooster.com/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155

Listen to more of our podcasts here: www.thestartupblueprint.com

Umesh Sharma joins Suraj this episode. Umesh has a history in sales starting in some of India’s startups in the early 2000s working himself up to a wealth of experience in sales and moving to enterprise sales. He has led sales teams all over India. 🇮🇳

Umesh drops his knowledge on what it takes to run a startup sales team and target customers with varying perspectives such as aiming an early stage product at prospect profiles with a willingness to experiment. 🧪

He later talks about the various perspectives that decision makers within an organisation will have from an enterprise sales angle. 📐

The conversation moves onto how to structure a sales process with all the mayhem and chaos going on. The key being in identifying high urgency vs high importance task and properly planning ones day, quarter, and year within the businesses goals. 🥅

Connect with Umesh here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/us0

Connect with Suraj here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4...

Listen to more of our episodes: https://www.thestartupblueprint.com

How to automate the world? You need Robotics 🤖

Abe Murray, General Partner at AlleyCorp Robotics, invests in early-stage companies that are making all our lives easier and propelling humanity forward 🌍

We lift the lid on robotics, covering: Abe's background working on a fishing boat, his time at Google, his approach to life, his purpose & passions, his lesson from Paul Graham, his love for practical building, how we can automate warehouses, the robot hype cycle (and where we are on it), whether robots of the future will be specialised or all-purpose, the real-world uses of robots today including medical devices and agriculture, whether he's bullish on robot butlers, and his conversation with Brett Adcock.

We then delve into: Whether robots should be given human characteristics, humanisation of robots, full stack robotics, the commoditisation of AI models, the AI hype cycle, how anyone can get started in robotics, and advice for founders. 💪

Abe's Investments: https://alleycorp.com/verticals/robotics/

Connect with Abe here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abrahammurray/

What is the Future of Clean Energy? 🌱

Marcus Clover is a venture capitalist and hydrogen engineer, co-founder of Energy Revolution Ventures (ERV). He and his team invest in green technology startups powering the energy revolution, centred around electrochemistry - including hydrogen, energy storage, carbon capture, and advanced materials. These DeepTech solutions will drive breakthroughs in clean energy, wean the world off fossil fuels, and help us avoid a climate disaster.

We discuss: Marcus' diverse experience, his passion for DeepTech, how he's going back to the roots of venture capital, his venture fund Energy Revolution Ventures (ERV), his venture builder Prosemino, why now is the time for green hydrogen, what electrochemistry is and how it will change the energy sector, green hydrogen infrastructure, green hydrogen use cases, green hydrogen storage & distribution, electrolysis & electrolysers, the role of nuclear power, providing energy solutions to impoverished nations, the most promising new electrochemistry technology, green energy startups, and advice for first-time DeepTech founders.

Learn about Energy Revolution Ventures' mission: https://er-v.io/

Connect with Marcus here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-clover-47b463a7/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/ 

Ever wondered how to become better at finding and qualifying leads? What the key metrics you should be measuring and analysing when assessing your sales performance? And generally how to boost your revenue by building a more robust sales pipeline? Look no further!

This Sales Series episode is a run-through of the life and work of a

Ryan has deep experience at the 'top of the funnel' where he is

The latter half of the interview centered around a fascinating

Connect with Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlundberg/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

Startup Blueprint: https://thestartupblueprint.com/podcast

Green Hydrogen = hydrogen made from renewable resources ♻️

Why isn't green hydrogen everywhere? Because making green hydrogen is still expensive 💰 

Koji Muto is CEO of Ki Hydrogen, who are slashing the cost of making green hydrogen dramatically by reducing the energy needed by up to 75%. Listen in to hear how exactly they achieve this remarkable and innovative feat 👉

Koji & James discuss: how Ki Hydrogen is making green hydrogen, how to reduce the energy required when making green hydrogen, why licensing out your technology can be a good idea as a deep tech founder, the future of hydrogen including infrastructure and storage, and why making green hydrogen is such a pressing issue.

We also cover: Koji's background in oil & gas, working with nuclear power and small modular reactors (SMRs), the carbon capture and direct air capture (DAC) opportunity, Koji's experience at startup accelerators, and why it's useful for technical founders to do an MBA.

More on Ki Hydrogen: https://ki-hydrogen.com/

Connect with Koji here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kojimuto/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Sandeep Shekhar is a sales coach at Sprinto with over 18 years of experience in sales. His passion and understanding of structuring conversations help his students all throughout the pipeline.

Sandeep talks to Suraj about various nuanced conversational techniques to structure questions and handle objections. A discussion around positioning during various parts of the sales pipeline from setting the tone when cold calling all the way to handling objections and closing.

Connect with Sandeep: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeep-shekhar-3737b24/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

Startup Blueprint: https://thestartupblueprint.com/podcast

Denis is Founder of Space Ambition and a DeepTech investor at I2BF Global Ventures, focussing on startups digitally transforming boring and unsexy industries. 🤖 

Denis also does a huge amount of work around the wider startup consultancy arena, looking to inspire the next generation of DeepTech founders and VCs 🚀 

His space origin story: while working in banking, he was approached to invest in an asteroid mining company, rekindling his childhood wonder for spaceflight, sci-fi and the cosmos - and he hasn't looked back since! 🛰 

Denis and James discuss: Denis' love for space, how to invest in the space sector, exciting moonshot SpaceTech on the horizon, SpaceTech low-hanging fruit, hardware investing, how most software is becoming commoditised, how to ride the AI wave, and a call-to-action for aspiring DeepTech entrepreneurs 💪 

His inspirational piece of advice: don't forget your dreams, follow your childhood passions! 🙌 

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Explore Denis' Projects here: SpaceTech Advisory: spaceambition.org

SpaceTech Blog: https://spaceambition.substack.com/

Ask VC: askvc.org

Connect with Denis here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-kalyshkin-b634592a/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

LaSean Smith has worked at Amazon, Microsoft, is currently a private investor & operator, and loves to produce movies - in his own words, he likes to taste the "buffet of life".

LaSean breaks down: the lesson we can learn from comedians, how to get constant startup ideas, how to validate these ideas, the 3 ways to approach being a founder, the indicators of entrepreneurial success, the future of AI, how AI will change education, how to incorporate automation into your startup, the value of the creator economy, why you need to grow an audience online, and the skills you'll need for the future of work. 

LaSean's investments: https://cagr.com/

Connect with LaSean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laseansmith/

Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

How can we change the world for the better? 🌍 Dr. Micol Chiesa Churchill and Dr. Chris de Koning recently launched Planet Positive Lab - a climate accelerator building world-leading climate startups in the Oxford ecosystem!

James sits down with the two heads of Planet Positive Lab, discussing: what skills the two guests each bring to the accelerator, what a good climate accelerator looks like, the state of the accelerator landscape, how accelerators can add value, where most accelerators lack, the Oxford University ecosystem, and the need for a specialised climate startup accelerator.

In the second half we cover the profile of a successful founder, what makes a good climate tech investment, the top climate trends, the hardware vs software debate, geographical considerations in climate, how to boost the Global South, the dangers of greenwashing, how to stop corporates from greenwashing, and why being a founder is harder than you think - plus a call to action for any current or wannabe climate entrepreneurs!

Change the Planet Here 🌍: https://www.planetpositivelab.com/

Connect with Micol: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-micol-chiesa-churchill-b7390035/

Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiaan-de-koning-phd-8171835b/

Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/