Startup Microdose

In this episode, we go back to where we started nearly 3 years ago with the brilliant Anthony Rose, founder of Seedlegals.

In Anthony's signature style, we romp through the company's extraordinary progress over the last 3 years and explore the future of startup fundraising.

Gabi is the Programme Director for the ATI Boeing Accelerator launched earlier in the year for aerospace startups and now in its second cohort.

As an ex-founder and veteran of several accelerator programmes (including Ignite and Techstars), she has been tasked with designing the best programme for companies building the future of UK aerospace.

Robert has walked many paths and worn many guises in his extraordinary career. Known for portraying Kryten in Red Dwarf, as the presenter of Scrapheap Challenge, but now best known for the FullyCharged Show - a YouTube channel which he launched 10 years ago to advocate electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.

The channel now has over 600,000 subscribers, gets 2M hits a week and stages packed-out live shows in the UK and US.

For avid followers of Fullycharged, this conversation will add further colour to the background of an extremely colourful character. We discuss his first ‘engineering’ experiences on a hippy commune in Wales, how shoemaking led him to performing at the Edinburgh fringe and from there into TV, and what a conversation between him and Jeremy Clarkson might look like.

On a personal note (or as my notes say, ‘insert shameless plug’), I’ve recently launched elmodrive.com - a platform allowing users to drive an electric car on a flexible subscription with the option to include everything from insurance to ‘fuel’ in the monthly payment. As part of this, I have worked with the Fullycharged team in promoting elmo’s Electric Car Suitability Tool (have a look at www.elmodrive.com/questionnaire), so this was a conversation I couldn’t wait to have and it didn’t disappoint…

Renée grew up a country girl in Mississippi, but fell in love with an Englishman on a night bus and moved to the UK. She brought with her not only an unshakeable self-belief and a drive to find meaning and purpose in life, but also a concern for food provenance after being horrified by meat farming back in the US.

This led her to found Planet Organic in 1994 and open the UK’s first all-organic supermarket in Nottinghill the following year. This is the story of that journey and ultimately, how her conscious awareness for her own life and those close to her, led her to step away from the company in 2013 and embark on a new challenge with Beluga Bean - a mentoring and personal development programme for both business and life skills.

Ari is the founder of Bubble, an on-demand childcare platform, helping thousands of parents quickly and conveniently arrange trusted childcare.

We discuss the marketplace problem, the stigma around how you should look after your children and the value of patient capital.

With investors including the founders of BetFair, Boohoo.com and Photobox and several hundred thousand active users to date, Ari and Bubble are on an exciting trajectory.

Steve is the founder and CEO of Black Swan, one of the most exciting and fastest-growing tech companies in Europe.

Black Swan uses AI to predict the next big trend. By analysing the incessant stream of social media conversations, the product is able to predict what customers will want in 12-18 months time.

Steve, who studied cognitive science and describes himself as the ‘accidental CEO’, was previously a house DJ, lost his dad’s pension on a music business and came up with the idea for Black Swan while 4 pints to the good on a trip to Canada.

Mark’s life ‘itch’ during over 30 years as a clinical psychologist and leadership consultant has been understanding people and understanding character.

Now, as CEO and founder of CharacterScope, he is digitising all of his and his team’s experience to build advanced psychological tools which help companies to develop teams with optimal cultures and team members with strong leadership qualities.

Defining those terms is something discussed at length throughout the conversation.

Against the advice of family and friends, Lord Bilimoria started Cobra Beer in 1989 from a thirst for a truly exceptional beer to go with Indian food. Cobra now has a market share of 98% of all licensed Indian restaurants in the UK.

But the journey was no easy ride, with the business a hair’s breadth from failure on no less than three occasions over the years. This is the fascinating story of passion, ingenuity and determination to realise the dream of building one of the world’s best beer brands.

Stephen is the founder and CEO of the Business Growth Fund. Under his management the BGF has invested over £2bn into growth businesses in the UK and Ireland, making it the largest fund of its kind, in the world.

Stephen talks us through the founding story which involved raising £2bn from some of the biggest banks in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

He also provides an insightful and optimistic take on the UK’s business outlook for the future, whatever happens in whatever Brexit takes place. It’s a fascinating and articulate account of the state of the industry!

Rod is the MD of the UK Business Angels Association. The UKBAA is the national trade association representing the interests of business angels and the early-stage investment space. The mission is to connect the angel investment eco-system into a coherent landscape for financing high-potential entrepreneurs.

Rod talks through his experiences as an investor, how that lead to his current role and why the work they are doing at the UKBAA is so important for the future of our industry and our country.