Host Chris McGowan reflects on the key takeaways from  just some of our incredible guests across season 1 & 2 , including Michael Brennan, Jessica Jackson, Mo Aldalou, Lydia Jones, Heather & Tom Staff, Chloe Barrett, Dom Raban, Anna Sutton, Andy Still & Ashley Lockwood.

This episode will cover key areas within the Start-Up journey including culture, funding & investment, mental health, some of our guests biggest challenges & advice for future founders.

Thank you all for your support, comments, shares and reviews over the past year. We couldn't do it without you!

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For most start-up businesses, the pandemic has been a difficult wave to ride, with many unfortunately not making through to the other side. But what if your business idea fit perfectly into the ‘new normal’? With the introduction of working from home and the ban on hospitality during lockdowns, Ashley Lockwood had not one, but two businesses that prospered in the post-COVID era. Desk Mate, a standing desk business, and Oya, an organisation that connects unused or under-utilised commercial space for short term use, have both grown exponentially under the new conditions we now find ourselves in. 

In this final episode of the series, Ashely sat down with Chris and talked us through how he has managed to balance two successful start-ups through periods of exponential growth, including discussion around outsourcing, investment, hiring and delegation. He also chatted about the challenges around gaining fundraising and knowing when the right time is to move on from one project to another. You’ll also discover what a ‘dark kitchen’ is and how it might be paving the way for the future of the catering industry.

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Netacea is one of the leading bot management solutions on the market. But for this Manchester-born start-up, securing a spot amongst industry leaders was no small challenge, as they entered a mature market dominated by the U.S. In this episode, Andy Still, CTO of Netacea, sat down with us to discuss their journey from spinning out of Intechnica, to the challenges around becoming a serious voice in the U.S market. He also talks us through the challenges around gaining long-term buy-in from customers as a new product and building and maintaining a collaborative workplace culture. 

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Making good friends at university has often been put down to how you fare in the social ‘lottery’ that is first year halls of residence. But with 40% of all university dropouts in the UK being due to loneliness, it’s in the best interest of the universities as well as their students to improve social experiences in the first instance. Enter Umii, an app that facilitates the first introduction between university students who share interests and personality traits.

 A recent graduate herself, Georgia Wheadon stepped in as Founder & CEO after falling in love with the concept of Umii during her student placement year. In this episode, Georgia talked us through how her own student experience and insight allowed her to be the perfect person to take over a Start-Up at such a young age, as well as how she has adapted to the demanding responsibilities of founding a product and dealing with imposter syndrome. We also discuss her mindset shift from selling to challenging clients and the balancing act of building both a client and user base for a product.

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With most services now available to us at the touch of a button, it’s surprising that the hairdressing & beauty industry had not ventured into on-demand tech solutions to reach their customers sooner. However, Sam Lowe, Founder of Barba & Beautey saw the gap in the market and is in the process of building a product that does just that. Aiming to bring these industries into the twenty-first century, Barba & Beautey function for both professionals and customers, allowing mobile services to be booked through an app, taking the waiting game out of the equation. In this episode, Sam talks us through the idea behind Barba & Beautey and the testing process for a product with two user bases. We also discuss the tricky business of valuing a company that hasn’t launched, gaining buy-in during the early stages of a start-up and navigating delegation as a founder.  

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Leeds-based data consultancy business, The Data Shed, prides itself on being a value-driven organisation, so much so that their values underpin the very essence of what they do and who they hire. But how do you determine the values that set the tone of your entire organisation, and how do you find likeminded people that will truly live and breathe them too? 

In this week’s episode, CEO & Co-Founder Anna Sutton talks us though her decision to put personal values at the heart of her business and how this translates into The Data Shed’s working practises. She discusses what it means to be a ‘Shedder’ and how to spot the right attributes in potential candidates. 

We also talk through the challenge of making somebody feel part of a team whilst remote onboarding, balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood as well as the growing Tech eco-system that Leeds has to offer. 

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Dom Raban, Co-Founder and CEO of Xploro set out on a mission-driven tech project to build a product that could bridge the gap in communication between paediatric patients and their consultants around what they can expect from their hospital experience. 

Xploro is a mobile application that uses augmented reality, gameplay and artificial intelligence to communicate healthcare information to children, reducing their stress and anxiety associated with hospitalisation. 

In this episode, Dom discusses the challenges that come with working on a mission-based project and pitching them to investors, as well as how to determine who the right investor is when it comes to a tech-for-good product. We also delve into Xploro’s unique board of advisors, the benefits of spinning out from an agency and the challenges surrounding adapting a product for the global market.

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Starting a £4 million NET turnover business from your living room sounds too good to be true… but Hanna Putjato made it her reality when she spotted a gap in the eyelash extension distribution market. Originally moving to the UK unable to speak any English, Hanna trained as a lash technician with the ambition of learning the language, never dreaming that she would walk away as the Founder & Managing Director of London Lash Pro. 

In this episode, we were joined by Paul Waite, Director of Rowan Executive Search as a special guest co-host alongside Chris. Hanna talked us through her incredible journey from factory worker to multi-million pound businesses owner and her self-taught approach to entrepreneurship. She discusses her unique attitude to problem solving as a founder and how she built a killer marketing strategy off the back of a Google search! 

As we take a step back from the technical, this episode dives into developing business strategies as an industry novice, as well as the effects of Brexit and COVID-19 on international supply chains and the power of having the right idea at the right time.

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The Modern Milkman was created with a clear vision - to revitalise the traditional milkround on a mission to reduce plastic waste, after being inspired and disheartened by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet. Having secured Series A funding at the start of the year, the tech for good business are gearing up for national expansion and are in the process of rebuilding their tech platform to support aggressive scaling plans. 

We sat down with the man in charge of the project, CTO James Renshaw. We spoke to James about the drive towards candidates ‘tech for good’ and what he looks for in the ‘DNA’ of potential hires, how the team are taking a data-driven approach to improve their customer experience and an insight into the due-diligence process when preparing for funding.

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Pitching can be daunting on a good day, but pitching to the United Nations was just a part of the process for EdTech company Near Life, an immersive and creative learning platform that was initially created as a humanitarian project. Five years later, Near Life is preparing to launch Near Life Creative, a VR product in partnership with the World Health Organisation that is so versatile it can be used by any sector, anywhere in the world – hence why it’s being released globally! In this episode, Founder and CEO Mike Todd discussed the challenges that come with financing a launch on a world-wide scale, as well as the pros and cons of project-based investment. Mike also touches on the caveats to seeking investment early, the advancement of the North’s VC Angel scene and why surrounding yourself with advisors is so crucial in the early stages of development.

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