Join the waitlist for Women Build Cool Shit — Theanna’s 12-week January cohort ⁠here⁠!

What if turning your startup idea into a real tech product felt clear, structured, and actually achievable — even if you’re a non-technical female founder?

That’s the mission behind Nomiki Petrolla’s platform, Theanna — an AI-powered startup builder helping women go from idea to MVP to paying customers without needing a technical co-founder, a full engineering team, or early investment.

After 13+ years leading product at high-growth tech companies — often taking male founders’ ideas from zero to one — Nomiki saw a systemic pattern:

Women had fewer networks, fewer resources, and far less access to capital, yet they were coming up with equally (and often more) viable business ideas.

Worse, most startup education and accelerators weren’t built for how women learn, decide, or build.

So she created Theanna: a tool that blends AI, product strategy, community, and traction analytics into one platform — giving women a step-by-step roadmap to validate, build, launch, and grow a revenue-generating tech business without giving up control.

This episode is a deep dive into the bias, the opportunity, and the movement emerging around women building scalable tech on their own terms.

Whether you’re a first-time female founder, a solo builder, or someone dreaming up a tech idea but unsure where to start — this episode is packed with game-changing insight.

In this episode, Georgie Brown and Nomiki explore:

- Why women receive just 1.2% of VC funding — and why the number is getting worse

- The hidden difference between a lifestyle business and a venture-backable startup

- Why many women outperform male founders when they are backed (data included)

- The gaps in traditional accelerators — and why they fail early-stage women

- How Theanna’s AI “Build Mode” works and why founders are obsessed

Key Takeaways:

• Women can build tech without a technical co-founder.

  Modern AI tools + structured product guidance = actual shipping, not spinning.

• Most businesses shouldn’t chase venture capital.

  99.5% of startups are lifestyle or revenue-first. That doesn’t make them “small”; it makes them sustainable.

• Female founders make better long-term operators.

  Studies show women-run companies outperform male-led ones by 63% in value creation.

• Community is a growth multiplier.

  Women take more risks and push further when surrounded by people who build the same way they think.

• Democratising startup education will unlock the next wave of women in tech.

  Theanna makes startup building accessible for professionals outside traditional tech pathways.

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — Introducing Nomiki & Theanna

05:15 — What product management teaches you about building startups

08:20 — Why women still receive just 1.2% of funding

11:10 — Lifestyle business vs venture-scale: the real definitions

13:30 — What’s broken about startup accelerators for women

17:30 — How Theanna works (Build / Connect / Analyse)

20:50 — The AI startup builder changing how women launch tech

23:40 — Why Theanna is women-only (and why it matters)

26:30 — Decision-making differences between male & female founders

32:10 — Gamification, motivation & the psychology of solo founders

34:10 — Inside Women Build Cool Shit (12-week program)

37:40 — Nomiki’s advice for new founders scared to start

40:20 — Startup shoutouts: Home Shark & GoSadi

Links & Resources:

Theanna

• Website https://theanna.io/

• Apply to Women Build Cool Shit (January cohort) https://theanna.io/women-build-cool-shit#apply-now

Connect with Nomiki Petrolla

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nomikipetrolla/
• TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@nomikipetrolla?lang=en-GB
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nomikipetrolla/

Discover Startups

• TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@discoverstartups?lang=en-GB
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DiscoverStartups
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/discoverstartups/
• Newsletter https://www.discoverstartups.org/

For anyone tired of tabs, TikTok rabbit holes, and sketchy Amazon reviews, Hili might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Founded by product and design leader Karli, Hili is a new kind of social discovery platform that puts people back at the centre of product recommendations — not algorithms, ad spend, or fake 5-star reviews.

After 20 years in product, UX, and brand Karli started to see a pattern; search felt broken, platforms were optimised for ads over users, and the best recommendations still lived in messy group chats. So she set out to build something better — a place where you can ask real humans what they actually use and love, and save the answers in a way that’s searchable, shareable, and genuinely helpful.

In this episode, we get into how she’s rethinking discovery online, what’s gone wrong with search and influencer marketing, and why the future of shopping is community-led, not algorithm-led.

We cover:

• The “tabs + TikTok + texts” mess that inspired Hili

• How search, reviews, and influencer marketing lost our trust

• Why the best recommendations still come from friends, not feeds

• Hili’s core loop: asks, recommendations, and saved collections

• How Hili keeps things positive, human, and actually useful (not Reddit 2.0)

• Authenticity vs. growth-at-all-costs — and why Karli is bootstrapping

• The role of AI in discovery (and why speed isn’t the real problem)

• How Hili plans to support tastemakers, curators, and niche communities

Key Takeaways:

• Search is noisy, trust is low: People don’t feel confident that search results, reviews, or influencer content are unbiased — so they default back to texting friends.

• Word of mouth never died — it just got buried: The most trusted recs live in DMs, WhatsApps, and random notes apps. Hili’s goal is to give that behaviour a proper home.

• Hili = “have it, love it, highly recommend it”: The focus is on sharing what works, why you love it, and who it’s good for — not ranty reviews or rage posts.

• You stay in control: You choose who you’re asking (friends, groups, wider community) and how you use it — from travel recs to software, skincare, kids’ stuff and more.

• Community over algorithms: Hili is intentionally built around identity, first names, and real connections — not anonymous pile-ons or opaque ranking systems.

• Bootstrapped on purpose: Karli is funding Hili herself so she can prioritise trust, transparency, and product quality over ad real estate and vanity growth.

• AI won’t fix broken trust: Faster checkout isn’t the real problem — confidence is. Karli believes people will still want human-backed recommendations, even in an AI-first world.

• Small, intentional team; big ambition: With a lean team and smart tooling, Hili’s aim is to scale without sacrificing the values it was built on.

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — Meet Karli & the story behind Hili

03:26 — From Yahoo News & metalsmithing to founder life

05:44 — What’s broken about how we find products online

08:10 — Search, reviews, and the “personalised” algorithm problem

11:03 — The advertising shift: growth vs. genuine usefulness

14:40 — Why now is the moment for a new type of discovery

17:10 — How Hili works: asks, recommendations, and collections

20:26 — Notes apps, group chats, and turning chaos into structure

22:26 — Designing Hili to feel personal, not transactional

24:33 — Tastemakers, niche communities, and early superusers

27:13 — Why Hili isn’t “just another Reddit”

29:36 — Keeping things authentic as the platform scales

33:09 — Bootstrapping, funding, and protecting the mission

37:27 — How to join Hili and share your own recommendations

38:27 — Karli’s startup recommendation: Soal

Links & Resources:

• Hili — Website / Waitlist | Instagram |TikTok

• Discover Startups — TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Newsletter

If you’ve ever tried to shop secondhand online and ended up scrolling through five different apps with nothing to show for it, you’re not alone.

That exact frustration pushed Aseel to build Thrifter Club — a search tool that lets you browse eBay, Vinted, Thrift+ and charity shops all in one place. Think Skyscanner, but for secondhand fashion. Faster searches, better filters, cheaper finds.

In this episode, we talk about why secondhand shopping still feels chaotic, how Thrifter Club solves the biggest barriers for everyday thrifters, and the future of sustainable shopping driven by better tools, AI and accessibility.

Key Takeaways:

• Secondhand shopping is booming, but fragmented and time-consuming.

• Platforms often show too many results — not the right ones.

• Thrifter Club aggregates listings so you can search once, shop everywhere.

• Text search + image search makes finding the “right vibe” easier.

• Better resale tools keep clothes in circulation and out of global landfills.

• As a solo founder, Aseel built Thrifter Club by learning tech and marketing from scratch.

• Her advice: test demand with content before you build anything.

Chapters / Timestamps :

00:00 — Why secondhand shopping feels so overwhelming

01:20 — Meet Aseel & how Thrifter Club began

03:10 — From consulting to solo sustainable tech founder

06:00 — The biggest pain points in thrifting today

09:00 — Scams, sizing & trust: what really holds people back

11:00 — How marketplace search works (and why accuracy suffers)

13:00 — How Thrifter Club aggregates eBay, Vinted & more

16:00 — Text search vs image search

19:00 — Convenience, styling & why people give up on secondhand

21:00 — What happens to “donated” clothes that don’t resell

23:00 — Saving money through cross-platform comparisons

26:00 — New AI features on the roadmap

30:00 — The reality of being a solo female founder

33:00 — Startup shout-out: Grandpa’s Shirts

Links & Resources:

Thrifter Club: Website | TikTok | Instagram | X

Discover Startups: TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Newsletter

What if buying your first home felt clear, organised, and actually… manageable?

For most people, the home-buying journey starts with excitement — scrolling Rightmove, booking viewings, imagining paint colours — and quickly collapses into chaos. Suddenly you’re drowning in spreadsheets, stamp duty calculators, survey reports, confusing estate agent jargon and endless to-do lists scattered across your phone.

That overwhelming experience is exactly what pushed first-time buyer Camilla to build HNTR — the UK’s most user-friendly home-buying companion designed to turn complexity into clarity.

What began as a personal tool to survive her own “monster spreadsheet” has become a beautifully designed app that guides buyers through every step of the journey: viewings, budgeting, comparing properties, understanding surveys, making offers, tracking every moving part — and even supporting the emotional side of it all through Scout, HNTR’s AI-powered support bot.

HNTR isn’t just levelling the playing field… it’s quietly fixing a broken system where estate agents work for the seller — not the buyer.

Key Takeaways:

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — Buying a first home: why is it so confusing?

01:40 — Meet Camilla & the origin of HNTR

04:00 — The crisis of viewings: photos, notes & chaos

06:05 — Leasehold, surveys & the hidden traps buyers miss

09:20 — Stamp duty & the costs no one tells you about

11:10 — The survey red flags that actually matter

12:40 — Why the system is stacked against first-time buyers

15:00 — How HNTR works: viewings, budgeting, offers & more

18:30 — Scout: the emotional support bot

21:10 — Business model: how HNTR stays free

23:00 — Giving back: the Centrepoint partnership

25:30 — New features & the future of HNTR

28:00 — Startup shout-out: Hi Guru

Links & Resources:

• Download the HNTR App: iOS | Android
• Follow HNTR: Website | TikTok
• Follow Discover Startups: TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Newsletter

What if making a healthy breakfast didn’t require ten ingredients, a messy kitchen, or a cupboard full of stale chia seeds?

That’s the headache Ben Da Costa set out to fix when he and a group of fellow creatives launched Oat Cult — overnight oats made simple, delicious, and good for your gut.

Born out of Ben’s own mission to lower his cholesterol (and avoid cupboards overflowing with forgotten flaxseed), Oat Cult takes all the faff out of making overnight oats at home. No more bulk-buying ingredients you use once and abandon. Just a 60g sachet you stir into milk, leave overnight, and wake up to in the morning.

Built by a crew of creatives, operators and product people, Oat Cult is as much about brand and storytelling as it is about breakfast. It’s proof you don’t need an MBA or a background in FMCG to build something people genuinely want to eat—you just need a great product, a strong point of view, and a willingness to get a bit scrappy.

In this episode, Georgie Brown and Ben talk about:

• How a creative director ended up building a breakfast brand

• Why overnight oats is such an underdeveloped (but fast-growing) category

• The reality of product development when you don’t know food manufacturing

• How Oat Cult landed on its three core flavours

• The gut health story behind that billion-strong live culture

• Why the team obsessed over efficacy—not wellness buzzwords

• Building a brand-first food startup as a crew of creatives

• Making weird, thumb-stopping social content on a tiny budget

• What it’s really like to bootstrap, find a factory, and now start fundraising

Whether you’re an overnight oats obsessive, a “breakfast is just coffee” person, or a creative dreaming of launching your own food brand, this episode will give you a very real look at building something from scratch—one sachet at a time.

Key Takeaways:

• Category with space to play: Overnight oats are huge on TikTok and search, but barely exist as a proper category in UK retail—leaving a big gap for smart brands.

• Product first, always: Oat Cult’s team refused to hide behind good branding. They spent months testing recipes with friends, family and market-goers until the product genuinely tasted great.

• Gut health with substance: The “cult” part is real—each sachet includes a carefully chosen, rigorously tested live culture strain that survives packing, storage, chilling and heating.

• Convenience without compromise: Pre-portioned sachets make it easier to eat well daily, without having to bulk-buy half a health food aisle or batch cook oats that lose nutritional value after a couple of days.

• Creative founders ≠ bad at numbers: Ben brought in an FD, an ops pro and a killer designer—leaning into his strengths while plugging the gaps elsewhere.

• Brand is a differentiator, not decoration: In a space where people can DIY, brand, ritual and storytelling are what make someone pick your oats over doing it themselves.

• Bootstrapped and bold: From blagging a factory meeting to posting surreal oat content online, Oat Cult is a lesson in being resourceful when you don’t have big-budget backing (yet).

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 — From cholesterol worries to a breakfast brand

03:45 — Why oats (and not another food idea)?

07:30 — Product development: from “we’ll make it ourselves” to factory reality

14:20 — How they chose the live culture strain (and keep testing it)

16:30 — Convenience vs DIY: who Oat Cult is really for

21:30 — What creative founders bring to food & why brand matters

27:20 — The story behind the name “Oat Cult”

31:30 — Manufacturing, margins and making it work without UK production

32:50 — What’s next: new SKUs, retailers & fundraising

33:35 — Startup shoutout: Stocked and the power of founder community

Links & Resources:

• Oat Cult — Website | Instagram
• Discover Startups — TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Newsletter

What if your wedding dress didn’t have to live in a box forever?

That’s the question designer Dahlia Branch set out to answer when she launched Remnants of Love — a bespoke lingerie label turning wedding dress offcuts into handcrafted, wearable keepsakes.

After years working in bridal fashion and events, Dahlia saw the same story play out time and time again: brides spending thousands on a gown they’d wear once, then hide away. Meanwhile, metres of fine silk and lace were being cut off and quietly discarded during alterations. So she decided to rewrite the ending.

By transforming those discarded remnants into beautiful, custom lingerie, Dahlia gives brides a way to carry the memory of their day forward — something they can wear time and time again.

Every piece is handmade in London, stitched from the same fabrics that once walked down the aisle, turning “the dress you’ll never wear again” into something timeless, personal, and full of meaning.

In this episode, Georgie Brown and Dahlia talk about:

• How a childhood love of wedding dresses turned into a business idea

• The surprising amount of waste created by bridal alterations

• Why lingerie made from your dress fabric feels emotionally powerful

• The craftsmanship (and comfort) behind each Remnants of Love piece

• What it takes to build a luxury, sustainable fashion brand from scratch

• How Dahlia is giving new life to wedding traditions — one stitch at a time

Whether you’re planning a wedding, designing your dream dress, or just love hearing from creative founders finding purpose in overlooked places, this episode will make you see bridal fashion in a whole new way.

Key Takeaways:

• A sentimental twist on sustainability: Remnants of Love reimagines wedding waste as a wearable keepsake.

• Luxury meets purpose: Each piece is custom-made from your own dress offcuts — handcrafted, personal, and designed to last.

• Rewear your memories: Bridal lingerie becomes a tangible reminder of love, made to be worn, not boxed away.

• Beyond the big day: From alterations to anniversaries, Dahlia’s brand gives every gown a second life.

• Built with intention: Every item is handmade in London using couture techniques and high-end materials for lasting quality.

• Ready-to-wear for everyone: Her new Knotted Love Letters collection offers a way for any woman to own a piece of the brand — even if the wedding’s long over.

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — From childhood sketches to bridal design

02:30 — Why wedding dresses end up forgotten

05:10 — The waste no one talks about: bridal offcuts

08:45 — The spark behind Remnants of Love

12:00 — How bespoke lingerie preserves memory

16:00 — The power of emotional sustainability

20:40 — Why repurposing doesn’t mean cutting up your dress

24:30 — The design process: from sketch to stitch

28:00 — Made in London: craftsmanship and care

32:00 — The cost of couture and value of slow fashion

36:00 — The launch of Knotted Love Letters ready-to-wear

40:00 — Client stories that stay with you

44:00 — The community behind the brand

47:00 — Startup shoutout: Let’s Fund Her

Links & Resources:

Remnants of Love — Website | Instagram

Discover Startups — TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Newsletter

Join the waitlist for the November app launch here!

What if choosing wine felt as easy—and as personal—as picking your morning coffee?

That’s exactly what Jess Thevenoz set out to do with Theodora, a new kind of wine-tech startup that helps everyday drinkers cut through the jargon, skip the guesswork, and finally find bottles they’ll love.

After years of standing in the wine aisle hoping the pretty label would deliver, Jess realised the problem wasn’t her palate—it was the system. The wine world speaks a language most people don’t understand, creating a culture that feels elitist, intimidating, and exclusionary.

So she built Theodora to change that: a smart, human-centred recommendation platform that learns your tastes and points you straight to wines that match them—no expertise required.

In this episode, Georgie Brown and Jess talk about:

• Why wine is both the most connecting and excluding product on the shelf

• How Jess went from data analytics to building a personalised wine companion

• The “wall-of-wine” moment that sparked her startup idea

• Why the wine industry’s language problem alienates drinkers

• Cultural shifts in how Gen Z and millennials approach alcohol

• The psychology of wine gifting and social signalling

• Theodora’s vision for making wine shopping feel friendly, confident and fun

Whether you’re a seasoned sipper or a supermarket-shelf struggler, this is an episode that’ll make you rethink the way you buy (and talk about) wine.

Key Takeaways:

• From data to drinks: Jess used her background in startups and analytics to tackle one of retail’s most overwhelming categories.

• Wine isn’t about jargon: Theodora strips out pretentious tasting notes and focuses on what you actually like.

• Design flaw, not user flaw: The intimidating wine aisle is a UX problem, not a knowledge gap.

• Personalisation is power: Your palate is unique—Theodora’s tech learns it so you don’t have to.

• Cultural shift: Younger generations are drinking more intentionally and want experiences that feel approachable and informed.

• Beyond the bottle: Wine gifting, restaurant rituals, and social pressures all play into how we buy—and enjoy—wine.

• The future: App launch in November, expansion to restaurants and the UK, and even a “Spotify Wrapped” for your wine palette.

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — Redefining the wine aisle

01:30 — Meet Jess Teviner & Theodora

03:40 — From data analytics to wine tech

06:15 — The “aha” moment in the supermarket

08:45 — Why the wine aisle feels broken

12:00 — What we get wrong about wine education

15:20 — Good wine vs good wine for you

18:40 — Breaking down jargon and elitism

21:30 — Cultural shifts in drinking habits

25:00 — How Theodora works (and why it’s fun)

31:00 — Personalisation and trust in recommendations

36:00 — How Theodora differs from Vivino and others

41:00 — The restaurant “wine dance”

44:30 — Wine gifting, branding & social signalling

48:00 — What’s next for Theodora

52:00 — Where the name came from

55:00 — Startup shout-out: Sleep or Die

Links & Resources:

• Theodora: Website | Instagram | TikTok

• Join the waitlist for the November app launch ⁠here⁠!

• Discover Startups — ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Newsletter

PROMO: Get free shipping on your first order of Homi Kitchen when you use the code "DISCOVERHOMI" on their ⁠website⁠.

When Megan moved from Singapore to London to start a career as a finance lawyer, she never imagined she’d end up creating one of the UK’s most exciting new food startups. But during lockdown, while craving the flavours of home, she began cooking Singaporean street food for friends — and discovered a gap on UK shelves that would change her life.

Today, she’s the founder of Homi Kitchen — a clean-label pantry brand bringing the authentic, bold, and crazy rich flavours of Singaporean cuisine to home cooks across the UK. From a viral supper club run out of her flat to products now stocked in Selfridges, Megan’s story is one of creativity, courage, and cultural pride.

In this episode, Georgie and Megan talk about:

• How a lockdown birthday dinner sparked a business idea.

• Why Singaporean food has been overlooked in UK supermarkets — and how Homi Kitchen is changing that.

• The misconceptions around “Singapore noodles” and the real story of Singapore’s multicultural cuisine.

• What “clean label” really means and how Homi keeps its sauces free from artificial preservatives.

• How Megan scaled production while keeping the flavours true to home.

• Her vision for a Singapore-first pantry brand and why now is the right time to build it.
  

Whether you’re a food lover, home cook, or aspiring entrepreneur, this episode will make you hungry — and inspired — in equal measure.

Key Takeaways:

• From law to ladles: Megan swapped her legal career for life as a food entrepreneur, driven by a love of authentic flavour.

• A missing category: UK supermarkets have long ignored Singaporean cuisine — Homi Kitchen fills that gap.

• Authenticity first: The brand’s tagline, “Crazy Rich Flavours of Singapore,” celebrates culture with a wink to Crazy Rich Asians.

• Clean label commitment: No preservatives, no artificial additives — just real ingredients cooked with care.

• Scaling up: From rice-cooker curries in student halls to professional production with strict quality control.

• Cultural storytelling: How every sauce represent a popular Singaporean street food dish.

• For everyone: Loved by Singaporean expats and curious UK home cooks alike.

• Next up: New curry-based sauces and retail expansion into major UK supermarkets.

  
  

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — From lawyer to food founder: meet Megan & Homi Kitchen

02:32 — The lockdown moment that changed everything

05:00 — The missing Singaporean flavours in UK supermarkets

07:33 — Debunking “Singapore noodles” and cultural misconceptions

10:01 — What makes Singaporean food unique

15:13 — Why it’s time for a Singapore-first pantry brand

20:16 — The inspiration behind “Crazy Rich Flavours of Singapore”

26:44 — Inside the products: chilli & pepper sauces explained

29:33 — Clean-label ingredients and cooking at scale

36:10 — The ups and downs of manufacturing

38:41 — Who Homi Kitchen is for (and why expats matter)

43:49 — What’s next: new products & retail ambitions

46:56 — Where to find Homi Kitchen

47:00 — Startup shout-outs: Pigtoria Secrets, Saucerer & more

Links & Resources:

• Homi Kitchen — ⁠Website⁠ |⁠ Instagram⁠ | ⁠TikTok⁠ | LinkedIn

• Connect with Megan — ⁠LinkedIn⁠

• Discover Startups — ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Newsletter

Going solo shouldn’t mean going it alone. Investrio (co-founded by Joyce Medeiros and Laura) is building the financial infrastructure for solopreneurs — creators, freelancers, consultants, and company-of-one founders. Think AI-powered bookkeeping, clean, clear reports, invoicing, and access to funding (grants, SBA options, more) — all in one place and designed for how solo businesses actually run.

Joyce shares her journey from Goldman trader → startup operator → financial coach → founder, why legacy tools like Xero/QuickBooks feel built for “finance teams” not one-person businesses, and how Investrio helps you see income, expenses, cash flow, and tax-ready reports without drowning in spreadsheets. We dig into the common money mistakes (ignoring retirement, mixing personal/business, no cash-flow view), why community matters when you’re building solo, and what’s coming next — from smarter automation to broader capital access.

If you’re a solopreneur who wants a clearer handle on bookkeeping, taxes, and funding (so you can get back to the work you love), this one’s for you.

Key Takeaways:

• Built for one: Investrio provides financial infrastructure for solopreneurs — not adapted “enterprise” software.

• All-in-one visibility: Connect accounts, let AI clean and categorise your books (currently ~94% accuracy), then track income, expenses, and cash flow at a glance.

• Get paid, properly: Invoicing with Stripe/PayPal/Venmo support + clean reports for tax time.

• Access to capital: A curated grant finder (with Investrio’s own weekly grant) and pathways to loans; long-term vision to help underwrite solos for mortgages, car loans, and small-biz credit using real business data.

• Designed by insiders: Joyce, Laura, and their engineer Sean all ran solo businesses — the product reflects real-world pain points.

• Community = unfair advantage: Events, WhatsApp groups, and ongoing user feedback shape the roadmap.

• Mindset shift: Treat everything as an experiment — test, learn, iterate.

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — Building financial infrastructure for solopreneurs

00:52 — What Investrio is (and who it’s for)

02:10 — “Tinder for co-founders”: how Joyce & Laura met

03:26 — From trading & a successful exit to financial coaching

05:06 — Why focus on the solopreneur (42M Americans)

06:59 — Leaving a salary: the first financial hurdles

09:45 — Product philosophy: your financial bestie

15:50 — How it works: connect, clean up, see the numbers

17:45 — Funding hub: grants now, broader capital later

18:24 — Automation under the hood (~94% classification accuracy)

22:13 — Demand from bookkeepers & accountants; B2B interest

24:38 — Roadmap: smarter AI, more funding, potential underwriting

26:37 — Community meetups & WhatsApp; why support matters

29:34 — Advice for solos: test like a scientist

31:05 — Where to try Investrio

32:12 — Startup shout-out: Latte (college mentorship)

Links & Resources:

• Investrio — App Store | Website | Instagram | TikTok | Threads

• Connect with Joyce Medeiros — LinkedIn

• Discover Startups — TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Newsletter

For anyone who’s ever woken up battling the dreaded hangover, Reclaim might be the drink you’ve been waiting for. Created by Todd Bruce, a former super-yacht crew member turned entrepreneur, Reclaim is a functional recovery drink designed to help people bounce back using natural, science-backed ingredients — without caffeine or synthetic additives.

After years working in hospitality and seeing how drinking culture fits into busy professional lives, Todd set out to create a product that actually helps you recover, not just mask the symptoms. In this episode, he shares his startup journey — from life at sea to founding a health and wellness brand — and what he’s learned about turning frustration into innovation.

We cover:

• • The gap in the drinks market that inspired Reclaim.
  • How hangovers are Taboo in the workplace.

• Why hangover recovery is about replenishment.

• The power of functional mushrooms, adaptogens, and natural vitamins.

• How to balance taste with nutrition (and why Reclaim is flat, not fizzy).

• The challenges of breaking into the functional beverage industry without experience.

• Todd’s long-term goal to make Reclaim.

Whether you’re into wellness, entrepreneurship, or just want a smarter way to recover after a big night, this episode is packed with honesty, energy, and practical insight into what it takes to build a startup from scratch.

Key Takeaways:

• From super-yachts to startups: Todd left his career at sea to build a drink that solves a problem he knows well.

• The hangover problem: Most recovery routines are scattered — Reclaim offers an all-in-one natural solution.

• Four functions in one: Detoxifying, energising, replenishing, and hydrating ingredients work together to help your body recover.

• Functional mushrooms: Each can contains 3,000 mg of lion’s mane and cordyceps for focus and clean energy.

• No caffeine, no crash: Ginseng and L-theanine provide calm alertness without jitters.

• Transparent dosing: Every ingredient and vitamin dose is listed clearly on the can.

• Taste that delivers: Based on ginger and coconut water, Reclaim balances health with flavour.

• Next-gen wellness: Designed for professionals who work hard, play hard, and want products that actually help them feel better.

Chapters / Timestamps:

00:00 — Introduction to Reclaim & its purpose

03:33 — Todd’s journey from super-yachts to startup life

07:16 — Identifying the hangover problem

09:52 — Functional ingredients & formulation

17:21 — The science of recovery

20:00 — Balancing flavour, health & transparency

26:57 — Building a business around a personal need

27:03 — Future plans: new flavours & hotel expansion

29:15 — Supporting other startups (Gut Buds)

Links & Resources:

• Reclaim — Website | Instagram | TikTok

• Connect with Todd Bruce — LinkedIn

• Discover Startups — ⁠TikTok⁠ | ⁠YouTube⁠ | ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠Newsletter

Disclaimer:

This episode is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It does not provide medical or nutritional advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making health-related decisions.