The Back Yourself Show with Tom Fairey

My guest this week is Rob Brockington, the CEO of https://www.linkedin.com/company/71912451/admin/# (Claro) money.

In this episode, you will hear how Rob was brought on as the CEO of https://www.linkedin.com/company/71912451/admin/# (Claro Money). Even before he had his foot in the door he knew he wanted to pivot the business. He shares why he wanted to pivot, how he validated the new idea and how to pitch it back to investors. He did all of this just as covid hit but still succeed.

If you’re looking to learn more about validating new ideas, how to ask customers actionable questions and how to pitch to pivot and idea to investors, you're in the right place.

0:00 Introduction

0:45 How Rob came to the decision to pivot the company

2:30 How to validate pivoting an idea

5:00 How to speak to customers without persuading their answers

7:20 How to ask customers action based questions

11:00 66% of the population who are not in debt but they can’t afford a financial advisor

15:00 What to put in a pitch deck to pitch pivoting an idea

17:00 How money affects people's mental health

20:10 Startup Hack - Hiring your friends

21:15 Startup SinBin

If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] #startup #businesstips #founder

If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!

This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.

Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we spoke to Fryderyk Szydlowski, founder of Embargo.

In this episode, you will hear the rollercoaster journey that is Fryderyk’s startup story; from losing investment due to Brexit to the pandemic destroying his customer base.

Fryderyk shares tips and tricks on overcoming uncontrollable obstacles and how a founder can pick themselves up when everything is falling apart.

Additionally, he shares how being a former Pro Basketball player taught him about resilience and coping with failure. If you’re looking for tips on keeping a positive mindset when everything is going wrong, you’re in the right place!

Structure:

0:00 Introduction

1:00 Fryderyk's athletic background

7:30 How the athlete lifestyle is similar to a founder

9:15 You're Idols became your rivals

14:30 Where founders should be spending their time

17:30 How you have survived threw 2 economic downsides

25:00 How founders can help their employees when things are going bad

29:00 What is your startup hack

33:00 Startup Sinbin

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] #startup #businesstips #founder If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!

This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that. Website - http://backyourself.show/ (http://backyourself.show/)

My guest this week is Will Koning founder of SaaSLead.io.

In this episode, you will hear the rollercoaster journey that is will's startup story, from dropping out of university to losing all of his clients overnight to being trapped in Barcelona in lockdown. Threw out the obstacles put in Wills's way he still came out on top and in the last 18 months has bootstrapped his business from 0 to 2.3 million.

If you’re looking to learn more about how to bootstrap a business, how to build a product being a non-technical founder and how to recruit new graduate talent, you're in the right place.

Structure:

0:00 Introduction

1:00 Wills Crazy entrepreneurial journey

5:00 The Big Problem

12:00 How to convince Graduates to work for you?

16:00 How did you make revenue?

16:45 The value of Linkedin

19:55 How to optimise to be lucky

21:45 What are the best lessons you learnt around culture

26:45 How to build a product when you're not a tech founder

29:00 How to bootstrap your business from 0 to 2.8 million

30:00 Advice for university dropouts

32:00 Startup Hack

33:45 Startup Sin Bin

Books mentioned: What you do is who you are by Ben Horowitz

Follow us on all of our socials here for more content!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/back.yourself.show/ (https://www.instagram.com/back.yourself.show/ )

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@back.yourself.show (https://www.tiktok.com/@back.yourself.show)

Linkedin - https://www.tiktok.com/@back.yourself.show (https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-back-yourself-show/)

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected]

#startup #businesstips #founder

If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website! This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.

Website - http://backyourself.show/ (http://backyourself.show/)

My guests this week we speak to Eric Fulwiler the founder and CEO of Rival.

In this episode, he shares his amazing wisdom on all things marketing, digging into what you should look for in a Head of Marketing, how to create content that speaks to your customer, and how to create disruptive campaigns. Additionally, he shares key lessons he learned from being one of the first-15 employees and MD of EMEA for VaynerMedia.

If you’re looking to learn more about everything to do with marketing, you’re in the right place.

Structure:

0:00 Introduction

0:50 Why is marketing important?

3:00 How to measure the impact of a brand?

5:00 What should you look for when hiring a Head of Marketing?

10:30 How do you test what is good marketing talent?

12:15 How to bring the voice of the customer into the business?

15:49 All growth comes from unlocking new or differentiated value in a market

16:40 You don't buy a product you buy the solution the product brings you

18:15 How important is a personal brand?

21:20 What is a disruptive marketing campaign?

24:10 Big companies waste money

24:45 The pufferfish challenger

28:30 Startup SinBin

31:20 Entrepreneurship is a spectrum

33:31 How Tom raised £1M in 4 hours

34:45 How to create a personal CRM

Links

Competing Against Luck By Clayton M. Christensen - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062565230/ref=asc_df_0062565230/?tag=googshopuk-21andlinkCode=df0andhvadid=311040647414andhvpos=andhvnetw=gandhvrand=5285619064828713714andhvpone=andhvptwo=andhvqmt=andhvdev=candhvdvcmdl=andhvlocint=andhvlocphy=1006495andhvtargid=pla-454317071719andpsc=1andth=1andpsc=1

Duolingo’s TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingo?lang=en

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] #startup #businesstips #founder

If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website! This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.

Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Johnathan Sun, founder of Horizan VC.

In this episode, he’ll break down the first stages that every founder should not only do to get their business off the ground but validate it properly.

He explains how founders can use prototyping to validate their idea quickly and cheaply; how to calculate the right time to raise money and the biggest mistake when it comes to traction.

If you’re looking to learn more about validating your idea, when to raise money and how to avoid the biggest startup killer, you’re in the right place.

Structure:

0:40 Introduction

0:55 How can you validate your idea?

1:44 How Pretotyping can validate your business idea quickly

3:30 Example of how Johnathan used Pretotyping to validate an idea

5:15 How to find customers

6:00 Why you shouldn’t use Facebook Ads

8:00 In an early-stage startup what counts as a good level of traction

9:33 Mistakes Founders can avoid

15:57 What too early to get money

19:00 Startup Sin Bin

23:40 Startup Hack

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] #startup #businesstips #founder

If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!

This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.

Website - http://backyourself.show/ (http://backyourself.show/)

My guests this week are Thomas Rogers and Llewellyn Kinch, founders of Switchd/ MakeMyHouseGreen.

In this episode, they share how speaking to customers changed their business for the better, diving into who they spoke to and what type of questions they asked to get honest feedback. This not only improved their business but gained more customers as well.

Additionally, they share how they have built a company culture of feedback and how they have invested in the growth of their employees.

And lastly, they share how they have used operational automation to improve the day to day running of their business, cutting out wasteful tasks that more time for important projects.

If you’re looking to learn more about speaking to customers, using their feedback, building a feedback-driven company culture and using operational automation to grow your company faster, you’re in the right place.

Structure:

0:50 How they started with

2:30 How listening to customers changed their business for the better.

3:41 When speaking to customers, who to talk to and what to ask

6:00 How to use experiential questions when talking to customers

8:10 Investing in your team

9:20 How to build a feedback-driven company culture

12:45 How not giving feedback can affect your business

14:00 What is operational automation and how it can help your business

15:50 How to use operations in your business

21:00 How being more efficient can help you grow faster

21:50 How do you win customers

23:00 Knowing what your customers want

23:30 Sin Bin - Glossed over

25:30 How to be successful with SBC

26:00 Startup Sin Bin - People lying about how quickly they have created a successful startup

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] #startup #businesstips #founder

If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!

This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.

Website - http://backyourself.show/ (http://backyourself.show/)

My guest this week is Tessa Clarke, CEO of Olio.

In this episode, Tessa tells the story of how she grew an unassuming WhatsApp group into a community of over five million people. She also delves into how growing a volunteer base of 50,000 has both helped to grow her business, as well as improve her users’ experience. And, she gives tips on how her fellow female founders can level the playing field and stand out when looking for investment!

If you’re looking to learn more about growing a community, how to use and implement customer feedback on your product and tips for winning over investors, you’re in the right place.

Structure:

1:00 Introduction

1:30 How did Tessa go from 0 to a community of 5 million people.

2:30 How they used a survey to validate their idea

6:00 How they tested their idea through a Whatsapp group

7:30 Feedback from their WhatsApp group experiment

8:45 How they had a budget of £10 to reach people

9:45 How they used their customer feedback to build Olio

12:00 Startup book recommendations

12:44 How Tessa built her community from 0 to 5 million

14:30 How they built a community of volunteers

18:23 How they expanded their volunteering community to 50 thousand

19:35 Understanding that you might have to fire a volunteer

21:00 Tessa practical advice for female founders

26:00 Sin Bin

Books mentioned:

The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Link to Dana Kanze - https://www.ted.com/talks/dana_kanze_the_real_reason_female_entrepreneurs_get_less_funding?language=en (https://www.ted.com/talks/dana_kanze_the_real_reason_female_entrepreneurs_get_less_funding?language=en)

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] #startup #businesstips #founder

If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!

This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.

Website - http://backyourself.show/ (http://backyourself.show/)

My guest this week is Anthony Collias, CEO of Treepoints.

In this episode, he shares his tips and tricks on sales automation and hidden HR costs that could be costing your business thousands. Additionally, Anthony and Tom will be debating about if unlimited holiday makes employees take less.

If you’re looking to learn more about sales automation, hidden HR costs, and company culture, you’re in the right place.

Structure:

0:45 Introduction

0:48 What is sales automation?

4:00 How to optimize your sales Automation?

7:35 How Tom raised 1 million dollars through GMass

8:50 How to make sure your sales automation doesn’t get reported as spam

10:00 What copy should you put in your Sales emails?

13:00 3 key things that should be in every email

14:45 How to get sales through LinkedIn

17:47 Key tools you need to analyse your sales data and success

19:25 The hidden cost of HR that could be costing your business thousands of dollars

25:00 How you should apply an Athletes mindset to your business

27:00 Importance of sleep on your productivity

28:00 Anthony and Toms debate about unlimited holiday

32:00 Startup Sin Bin.

If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at [email protected] https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startup ( #startup)https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/businesstips ( #businesstips)https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/founder ( #founder)

My guest this week is Paulina Tenner, Founder of Grant Tree.

She’ll be sharing her mission to inspire other business owners with her radical and fresh perspectives on transforming the workplace. Partially why founders should implement transparent financials. Plus, we’ll dig into what Paulina learnt about business while she was a burlesque dancer.

If you’re looking for practical tips to help create a more open company culture, you’re in the right place.

In this episode, you will hear:

0:00 Introduction

2:30 How do you cultivate the environment

4:30 Can you trust people to work when they want

7:00 Key things to give people empowerment

9:20 Why Paulina introduced Transparent Financials

17:30 How to invest in your employees

20:00 How much uncertainty should the founder feel

22:00 Why she wanted to write her book

26:30 Being self-aware as a founder

Links:

Ricardo Semler - https://www.ted.com/talks/ricardo_semler_how_to_run_a_company_with_almost_no_rules?language=en (https://www.ted.com/talks/ricardo_semler_how_to_run_a_company_with_almost_no_rules?language=en)

Paulina’s Ted Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8T1Z-iF65w (Entrepreneurship and BDSM by Paulina )

Paulina’s Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laid-Bare-Business-Leader-Stripper/dp/1789045797/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1andkeywords=Laid%20Bare%3A%20What%20the%20Business%20Leader%20Learnt%20From%20the%20Stripperandqid=1632322090andqsid=257-4816063-6008819ands=booksandsr=1-1andsres=1789045797andsrpt=ABIS_BOOK (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laid-Bare-Business-Leader-Stripper/dp/1789045797/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1andkeywords=Laid%20Bare%3A%20What%20the%20Business%20Leader%20Learnt%20From%20the%20Stripperandqid=1632322090andqsid=257-4816063-6008819ands=booksandsr=1-1andsres=1789045797andsrpt=ABIS_BOOK)