Tech Startup Stories

In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns reconnects with Mike Adams, founder of IntroStars, to explore how the business has evolved over the past 12 months and what it takes to scale a platform built on human connection.

Mike shares how IntroStars is transforming the way business introductions are made, tracked, and rewarded, creating a structured ecosystem where relationships drive measurable outcomes. From growing a global community of “super connectors” to expanding into key markets such as New York and Silicon Valley, this episode dives into the realities of building a network-driven platform in a digital-first world.

The conversation also explores the challenges of changing user behaviour, the importance of reducing friction in product design, and how consistent experimentation led to the development of IntroStars’ recommendation engine. Alongside this, Mike reflects on the role of serendipity in business growth, including how a chance meeting led to securing investment.

For founders, operators, and anyone interested in community-led growth, referral platforms, and B2B networking strategies, this episode offers practical insight into scaling through trust, partnerships, and meaningful connections.

What does it really take to build a startup in the age of generative AI?

In this episode, Sophie Carr, founder of GAIO Tech, joins Natalie Binns to share her journey from failed startup attempts to building a platform focused on generative AI optimisation.

They talk about:

• Learning to fail (and why it matters)

• Pivoting when the market says no

• Building a product from real-world experiments

• Finding the right co-founder

• And why fewer clients can actually mean better growth

This is a candid conversation about resilience, timing, and what it actually looks like to build something from scratch.

What really changes after you raise funding, and what doesn’t?

In this episode, Natalie Binns is joined again by Tom Rudnai, co-founder of Demand Genius, one year after his first appearance on Tech Startup Stories.

Tom shares what the last 12 months have actually looked like, from raising a pre-seed round to navigating the pressures that come with it. He opens up about the reality of startup experimentation, why most things don’t work at first, and how his team eventually found a way to stand out in a crowded AI search market.

They also discuss hiring in early-stage startups, the shift from experimentation to execution, and what it means to build a business in a space where everything is constantly changing.

If you’re building a startup or scaling a SaaS product, this episode offers a grounded and honest look at what it really takes.

What does it really take to build a biotech startup from scratch?

In this episode, Natalie Binns speaks with Georgia Witchel, founder of Mantis Biotech, about her journey from early programming to launching a company focused on biomedical infrastructure.

Georgia shares how she identified a gap in the biotech space, why she prioritised sales from day one, and how cold outreach helped her secure early customers. She also breaks down the reality of startup execution, why everything takes longer than expected and why growth is rarely linear.

They discuss her experience with Y Combinator, building as a solo founder, and the mindset required to keep moving forward in a demanding and competitive space.

If you’re building a startup or considering it, this episode offers a grounded and practical perspective on what it really takes.

How do you build a successful ad tech company in one of the most fragmented industries in marketing?

In this episode, Natalie Binns sits down with Mike Hauptman, founder of AdLib, to explore how he’s spent over a decade simplifying programmatic advertising for agencies and brands.

From early experimentation and late-night building sessions to surviving a sudden platform collapse, Mike shares the realities of growing a startup without external funding and why those challenges ultimately shaped a stronger, more resilient business.

They also unpack the growing complexity of programmatic marketing, the role of AI in the space, and what it really takes to create technology that delivers meaningful value.

If you’re a founder, marketer, or working in SaaS, this episode offers a grounded perspective on growth, resilience, and building with intention.

A year on from Season 1, Tom Bright returns to Tech Startup Stories to reflect on how Bright Evolve has evolved over the past twelve months.

The conversation explores what happens as a business moves beyond early momentum, where growth starts to depend on structure, clarity, and the ability to step back from day-to-day delivery. It covers the shift from doing everything personally to building a team, the role of ego in sales and client relationships, and the decisions that shape the next phase of growth.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why founder-led delivery can limit long-term growth
• How stepping back changes the way a business operates
• What happens when product development loses momentum
• How to rebuild focus across services and product
• How to create a more scalable commercial model

If you are building a business and balancing delivery with growth, this episode offers a clear and practical perspective.

In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns speaks with Hudson Liao, founder of AI go-to-market platform The Hog. Hudson shares his unique journey from being a student firefighter to working in finance, then biotech, and eventually becoming a startup founder. He explains how these experiences taught him to think in frameworks, adapt quickly, and always ask the right questions, lessons that now guide how he builds companies and approaches growth.

Hudson dives into the challenges of product-led growth, explaining why speed, testing, and real user feedback are essential. He talks about The Hog’s PLG-first strategy, how the team uses social intent to identify and connect with the right customers, and how they differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded AI martech market. He also shares insights on scaling a product while keeping it human, relatable, and easy to use.

In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns is joined by Chloe Scott, founder of Trust Verified, to discuss building a credibility and verification platform in a sector where trust is often assumed rather than proven. Drawing from her experience in the property investment space, Chloe explains how misinformation, weak oversight, and social-media-driven credibility create real financial risk and why she set out to build a system that verifies identity, compliance, and professional references with evidence, not hype.

The discussion explores how Trust Verified was shaped through early validation rather than assumptions, why a lean MVP was prioritised over a fully built product, and how a community of founding members is being used to guide development. Chloe also shares her decision to focus first on unregulated property professionals before expanding into other industries, even when external pressure suggested faster pivots.

Alongside the product journey, the conversation covers funding without chasing investors, saying no to growth tactics that conflict with personal values, managing confidence as a first-time founder, and learning to trust judgement over noisy advice. This episode offers a realistic look at building trust-first infrastructure, making deliberate trade-offs, and growing a tech business without shortcuts or performative scale.

In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Natalie Binns speaks with Rina Galperin, CTO and co-founder of PVML, about turning a real enterprise privacy problem into a venture-backed deep-tech company.

Rina shares her journey from Microsoft to founding PVML, including the early mistakes technical founders make by over-indexing on technology instead of customer pain, and how the team refined their go-to-market by identifying CIOs as the true buyers. She breaks down what it takes to productise complex research like differential privacy and sell into highly regulated industries.

The conversation explores co-founder dynamics, early hiring decisions, long deep-tech build cycles, and the personal cost of startup life, offering an honest look at what it takes to move from research to real-world adoption without losing focus or resilience.

In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Natalie Binns sits down with Sofia Hamilton, co-founder and COO of Souk, to explore how partnerships can become a powerful and scalable go to market channel when they are treated as core infrastructure rather than a side motion.

Sofia shares Souk’s early journey from Antler accelerator to revenue, rapid customer traction, and ISO 27001 certification, alongside honest reflections on co-founding with people she had only recently met and building a product while actively selling it.

The conversation covers partnership led growth, founder dynamics, validating problems before scaling solutions, and the operational realities of building trust, compliance, and payouts into a platform from day one.

This episode offers practical insight for founders thinking about channels, early traction, and building companies that can scale without losing clarity or momentum.