Startup Microdose

Hamish Grierson is the CEO and Founder of personalised healthcare platform, Thriva. Hamish cut his teeth as an entrepreneur through a varied early career in advertising, hospitality and a mentoring period at Travelex thanks to the New Entrepreneurs Foundation.

A serendipitous beer with Co-Founder-to-be Eliot Brooks (who has a cholesterol condition requiring regular blood tests) led to the birth of Thriva – the world’s first preventative health service.

Easy-to-use blood test kits are posted to you for testing. Once submitted, your results are published to you on the platform’s beautiful interface with GP explanations and recommendations based on your results. The data built up over time will allow predictive analytics to suggest powerful, data-driven solutions to people’s health problems.

The conversation digs into the Thriva solution and their plans to introduce products relating to the Microbiome and the Endocrine system. We also move into general topics including: functional medicine, genomics, the diabetes epidemic and the power of predictive data. Self-administered stool transplants and robot leeches even come up!

Hamish impressed us not only with the sophistication of his knowledge regarding the healthcare space, but also his genuine concern for improving the system and empowering people to live better lives.

When the UK tech scene started to come online in the late noughties, Oxford-grad Alex left traditional careers in corporate law and management consultancy to join Anthony Eskinazi’s startup, Parkatmyhouse, which soon became JustPark.

As CEO of JustPark from 2012-5 Alex oversaw several high-profile funding rounds including the largest equity crowdfunding round for a startup in history. In 3 years, he grew revenues 10-fold and set the company on a path towards its current user base of 1.5million drivers. He is also a published author with his book on the sharing economy “The Business of Sharing” and is an active mentor for TechStars.

His latest project, Beam, is a social impact startup backed by the Mayor of London. The company leverages the crowdfunding model to empower people out of homelessness. The focus is on giving each member “person-centred” support in the form of finance, training and social ties while empowering the public to lend their help in the most effective and beneficial way possible.

We talk in depth about Beam and the homelessness crisis in the UK. We discuss the triggers that cause homelessness and the isolation and diminishing sense of self-worth which makes escaping the downward spiral so hard. We discuss appropriate ways for people to help and how technology like Beam is empowering people and institutions to provide the personalised “scaffolding” required to beat homelessness.

Despite his 23 years, Tim Armoo’s reputation for ingenuity and audacious business plays precedes him, most recently as the founder and CEO of influencer marketing platform, FanBytes. A company described by the BBC as “…[owning] the mind of Generation Z”.

We discuss his Tedx talk in which he describes the different manifestations of his identity from his early failures as a swimmer turned magician to his first company at 14 and his second which was acquired when he was 17.

We dive into the exciting space of influencer marketing from both a brand and influencer perspective. Tim evaluates the inexorable development of SnapChat as the heir apparent of on-demand TV for the new generation. He recounts his phone blowing up with angry fan engagement after one slightly off-key campaign. And in light of this, we examine the rise, fall and possible resurgence of infamous YouTube super-influencer, Logan Paul.

We then get onto Tim’s interesting approach to the entrepreneurial existence including the Eisenhower productivity matrix, Alexa-powered mornings and intermittent fasting.

There’s even a recruitment plug for a cool role at FanBytes at the end…

Tim has an easy manner which made for a very conversational interview. We’ve really enjoyed listening to it back!