In this episode of The Launch Podcast, we dive into the world of indie horror and genre cinema with Rachel and Simeon Halligan, co-founders of GrimmFest and creators of the upcoming psychological thriller Past Life.

From producing their first horror feature to launching one of the UK’s leading genre film festivals, Rachel and Simeon share their journey through the highs and horrors of independent filmmaking. You'll hear how they pivoted into running a festival, built a global audience, attracted A-list talent like Jeremy Piven and Pixie Lott, and stayed fiercely committed to original storytelling.

🎥 What We Talk About:

How they started GrimmFest & pivoted from indie film to full festival

The making of Past Life: a thriller about past life regression, murder, and mystery

Behind the scenes with Jeremy Piven, Pixie Lott & Tim McInnerny

Building a production company + audience from scratch

Lessons from over a decade in horror filmmaking

Why story always comes first

📅 Past Life is expected to release in late 2025—don’t miss the inside scoop before it hits screens!

Follow for more founder journeys, filmmaking insights, and creative inspiration.

In this inspiring episode of The Launch, we sit down with Joe and Tom—two ex-rugby players from West Yorkshire—who left behind their sports careers to tackle the world of property development.

With nothing but grit, hustle, and a shared vision, they went from living off maternity pay and using a broken-down Hyundai as a work van… to sourcing and managing over 50 properties in just one year. No trust funds. No safety nets. Just relentless work ethic and a belief that “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

🎙 Hear how they:

Survived 10 months with no income

Bootstrapped their first projects with pure graft

Built a reputation around honesty, resilience, and relationship-first business

Learned that mindset is everything in both sport and entrepreneurship

🔥 If you’ve ever thought about quitting your job, starting your own business, or overcoming the fear of failure—this one’s for you.

•⁠ ⁠A racing driver from Barnsley breaking into motorsport with zero connections

•⁠ ⁠Track days that are more than just a few laps on an airfield

•⁠ ⁠And a business quietly rewriting the rulebook on how to drive productivity.

James Merrills has built Raidillon Racing & Race Competitions, both startups; one turning high-performance track days into a serious customer engagement tool, the other a high-end exclusive ‘day in the life of a racing driver’ experience with the ultimate concierge experience.

Think UHNWI-level racing experiences, VIP guests arriving by helicopter, and 1:1 coaching in actual race cars. Not Lambos in car parks.

We talk:

•⁠ ⁠Why first-time founders obsess over product — and why second-time founders don’t

•⁠ ⁠What it’s really like to race with Jenson Button (and fail at golf)

•⁠ ⁠How pricing too low made him look like a scam

•⁠ ⁠And what happens when you go from 0 to revenue in just 6 weeks

This episode’s for anyone building a niche business, raising investment, or just trying to do something different, properly.

If you’ve ever dreamed of being a racing driver, or you’re bored of the same old steak and golf invites… give it a listen.

Raising investment, replacing frustrating phone systems and being on hold with AI - Inside Neural Voice’s AI Revolution with Jeremy Smith and Harry Finch

In this episode, we chat with Jeremy Smith (CEO) and Harry Finch (Lead Engineer) from Neural Voice, a UK startup building AI that replaces traditional phone systems with smart, human-like conversations.

They’re on a mission to scrap the rubbish call centre scripts and press one for this two for that. They have reimagined how businesses talk to customers, making things faster, smarter, and way less painful.

We get into:

•⁠ ⁠Why phone systems are still stuck in the '90s

•⁠ ⁠How you can call up and speak to an AI agent who actually knows what it's doing

•⁠ ⁠What it takes to build a deep-tech startup from the ground up

•⁠ ⁠Lessons from hiring, scaling, and solving a problem everyone hates

•⁠ ⁠⁠How they started their business

•⁠ ⁠⁠About their investment raise

If you’ve ever waited on hold for 40 minutes plus, this one’s for you.