The Founders Lounge

Nick Telson is a London-based serial entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, startup mentor, and public speaker. He’s currently a co-founder of a new B2B sales tool, trumpet, host of the Pitch Deck podcast, and a co-founder of an angel investing venture arm, Horseplay Ventures. He previously co-founded DesignMyNight and managed to grow that to 100+ employees, 15,000 SaaS customers, and 8m monthly uniques on the website before they exited for $30-40M.

 

In this episode, we talk about:

How a drunk night out led to a new business idea

Pivoting from a media business to a tech business

Negotiating a deal to sell the company for tens of millions

Nick’s ideation process when starting his second business

What Nick is doing differently with his second startup

How Trumpet got 2500+ signups for their private beta

Time management for busy people

Managing our ever-shortening attention spans

Building a personal brand (even if you don’t have much experience)

Validating early-stage ideas the right way

How mentors can change the trajectory of your business

What separates ok founders from great founders

 

Brought to you by Judge.me - the ultimate e-commerce product reviews solution. If you’re looking for a job in an inspiring, profitable, and fast-growing UK-based startup, check out https://careers.judge.me.

 

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicktelson/

Trumpet: https://www.sendtrumpet.com/

Pitch Deck podcast: https://anchor.fm/pitch-deck

 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/9YennIfncR8

 

---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Jordan Schlipf is a serial tech entrepreneur and early-stage investor. Today, he’s the founder & CEO of the Rainmaking Venture Studio, the world's first investment-only Corporate Venture Builder. They raised tens of millions of Pounds to de-risk the process of building new businesses by building them in partnership with large corporations.

 

In this episode, we talk about:

Jordan’s story

Jordan’s first successful business

London’s startup scene through the years

What is a venture studio

How Rainmaking is different from other venture studios

Jordan’s 2 strategies for identifying business opportunities

First steps when starting a new business

Recruiting founders/CEOs

What makes a great founder

 

Brought to you by Judge.me - the ultimate e-commerce product reviews solution. If you’re looking for a job in an inspiring, profitable, and fast-growing UK-based startup, check out https://careers.judge.me.

 

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Jordan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-schlipf-0b855174/ 

Rainmaking Venture Studio: https://rainmaking.io/venture-building/

 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/_O6g7OYZwdk

 

---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Primoz Bozic is the co-founder and CEO of WeCreateCourses - an agency producing educational digital products in collaboration with experts. In two years they took the company from 0 to 1 million EUR revenue with very healthy profits and serving tens of thousands of customers.

 

Brought to you by Judge.me - the ultimate e-commerce product reviews solution. If you’re looking for a job in an inspiring, profitable, and fast-growing UK-based startup, check out https://careers.judge.me.

 

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Primoz on LinkedIn: https://si.linkedin.com/in/primoz-bozic-5229836a 

WeCreateCourses: https://wecreatecourses.com/

 

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFoundersLounge 

 

---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Alex Banks is the founder of the Through the Noise newsletter and Tribescaler SaaS business. After studying finance & accounting at one of the world's most reputable universities, he didn’t find a comfortable job like most of his classmates. Instead, he mastered social media, content writing, and storytelling. In only 10 months he grew his Twitter account to 100k followers and his newsletter to over 13k subscribers - with zero advertising spend!

 

In this episode, we talk about:

Why start a business instead of getting a comfortable job in finance / consulting

The journey from content consumer to content creator

Building a Twitter audience of 100k followers in 10 months

Growing a newsletter to 13k subscribers

Productizing yourself - how to be the best at what you do

Thoughts on Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter

Building a SaaS product

Two books that changed Alex’s life

What separates ok founders from great founders

Alex’s strategy for constantly improving himself

 

Brought to you by Judge.me - the ultimate e-commerce product reviews solution. If you’re looking for a job in an inspiring, profitable, and fast-growing UK-based startup, check out https://careers.judge.me.

 

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thealexbanks

Through the Noise: https://noise.beehiiv.com/

Tribescaler: https://tribescaler.com/

Avatar AI: www.avatarAI.me

 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/mld-RSQY9So

 

---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Nick Mason is the founder and CEO of Turtl. He always had an interest in psychology, which led him to take some of the psychology research insights and build them into a B2B SaaS business. Turtl was started in 2015 and had been successfully growing since then. They’ve recently raised a £10M series A investment round. Their clients include Bloomberg, Cisco, Allianz, Capita, Baker McKenzie, and many others.

 

In this episode, we talk about:

Building an MVP for a technical product

Getting the first clients for a B2B SaaS business

Raising funding from angel investors vs institutional investors

Discovering what you're naturally good at

Psychology in content marketing

And much more

 

Brought to you by Judge.me - the ultimate e-commerce product reviews solution. If you’re looking for a job in an inspiring, profitable, and fast-growing UK-based startup, check out https://careers.judge.me.

 

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmasonsays/ 

Nick’s company - Turtl: https://turtl.co/ 

 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/DlAYfqXhSa8

 

---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Charlie is a seasoned entrepreneur, mainly focused on mobile app opportunities. He started his first business straight out of university. One of his next businesses, Kite, was acquired for 10s of millions of Pounds by Canon. Now, he’s building Joy, the most trusted parenting platform that provides essential information, memories, and services for young families.

 

In this episode, we talk about the following:

 - Charlie’s first business - jumping on the mobile internet trend

 - Advice for networking and reaching out to mentors

 - How to be a good mentor

 - Incubating mobile apps

 - Getting acquired for 10s of millions

 - How Charlie’s current company acquires other businesses

 - Charlie’s recommended leadership books & resources

 - What separates ok founders from great founders

 - Charle’s wife’s side hustles (making high 6 figures)

 

Brought to you by Judge.me - the ultimate e-commerce product reviews solution. If you’re looking for a job in an inspiring, profitable, and fast-growing UK-based startup, check out https://careers.judge.me.

 

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliecarpenter/

https://uk.joy.co/

https://www.bounty.com/ 

https://www.jasper.ai/

https://otter.ai/

https://anyword.com/

 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/CUjjk-GNl3I

 

---

 

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Timothy Armoo was the founding CEO of the innovative influencer marketing agency Fanbytes which he started when he was 21 and sold for tens of millions of pounds when he was 27.

 

Timo started his first company at 14 and his second at 17 which he sold 11 months later to Horizon Media. He was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for his achievements in media and marketing. He’s been featured by BBC, Forbes, Adweek, Business Insider, and TEDx, and won awards, including the Huffington Post Entrepreneur of the Year and most “Influential person in advertising” from the Evening Standard.

 

In this episode, we talk about:

Selling his first business at 17 for six figures

The blueprint for building a business for acquisition

180% year-on-year revenue growth with an agency biz

Timo’s mindset hack that made his business successful

Picking a market in which you can win

Why you only need to be better than average

Talent vs obsessive skills acquisition

How Timo starts his side hustles

Business opportunities that Timo and I see at the moment

How to surround yourself with interesting people

3 books that had the biggest impact on Timo’s life

What is wealth

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Timo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyarmoo

Timo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/timarmoo

Timo on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@timarmoo

Timo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timarmoo/

FanBytes: https://fanbytes.co.uk/

 

---

 

RECORDED: 29.9.2022

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/9PKYHTtMhoc

Oliver Anwar helps entrepreneurs and high performers get to the best shape of their life with his coaching programs. 

 

If you’re interested in fitness & lifestyle for peak performance, running a coaching business, personal brand, and audience building, then you’ll love this episode.

 

In this episode, we talk about:

Oliver’s story from a regular fitness trainer to an online coach for high performers

Why do I constantly screenshot Oliver’s tweets

Growing a Twitter audience to 60k+ followers

How Oliver got to meet Andrew Tate

Who is the Liver King

Why do you need to have haters on social media

The 4 pillars for peak performance

Best things to do if you’re sitting 12h+/day

The importance of sleep for personal performance

The best ways to prevent burnout

How would Oliver start a business if he was 20 years old again

The #1 book that had the most significant impact on Oliver’s life

Oliver’s strategy for constantly improving himself

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES - Oliver on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theoliveranwar  - Oliver on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OliverAnwarHealth 

---

RECORDED: 20.9.2022

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/i93gmO_I3c8---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Kosta Kolev is the Co-Founder of Calliper, a data analytics platform making data accessible and actionable for every team.  Kosta has built and launched new businesses and products across London, Hong Kong, and Berlin. He also works as an advisor helping startups and corporates overcome product, strategy, and growth challenges. 

 

If you’re interested to learn about product management, building high-performing teams, and business frameworks then I think you’ll love this episode.

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

---

RESOURCES

Kosta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kostadinkolev/

Calliper: https://www.getcalliper.com/

---

RECORDED: 6.9.2022

 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/ij1yQL7SSsk

---

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)

Conor Svensson is the founder and CEO of Web3 Labs where they work with organizations to define and execute their Web3 strategy. Their clients include Microsoft, J.P. Morgan, and Vodafone. He’s also the author of the best-selling book, the Blockchain Innovator’s Handbook, and host of the Web3 Innovators podcast.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about web3 and the opportunities that blockchain technology brings, you must listen to this episode.

 

In this episode, we talk about:

How Conor discovered Blockchain

How Web3 Labs helps organizations to define and execute their web3 strategy

What’s the real-world use case for tokens and NFTs

Different practical use cases of web3

Web3 opportunities for entrepreneurs

How to learn and get involved in web3

---

➤ Please subscribe & share if you liked the episode ❤

➤ Follow for business ideas & stories: https://twitter.com/MaticJ

➤ Matic’s UK product founders community: http://joinpmf.com

➤ Looking for funding? Get a VC intro: http://vc.foundrs.vip

 

---

 

RESOURCES

Conor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConorSvensson 

Web3 Labs: https://www.web3labs.com/ 

Conor’s book - The Blockchain Innovator's Handbook: https://amzn.to/3pTI245 

Conor’s newsletter: https://writing.conorsvensson.com/ 

---

 

RECORDED: 5.9.2022

 

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFoundersLounge 

 

---

 

Marketing and postproduction: Tom Zorman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-zorman/)