the talktank

Introducing our new, limited, mini-series founded by alumni talktank member Ksenia Kutuzova...

Founder Friday - Samuel Poirier

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova

The guest is Sam Poirier, Forbes 30 Under 30, serial entrepreneur (founding his first business at 14!) and founder of Mercantile, a credit card startup that offers rewards to small medical practitioners. 💳

Mercantile recently raised Series A funding at a $75 million valuation.

He was the recipient of the Peter Thiel’s scholarship which is a scholarship granted to people to build a startup instead of going to university.

https://www.forbes.com/profile/samuel-f-poirier/

Timestamps:

0:50 - Who is Samuel Poirier?

2:10 - Sam Poirier in his own words

2:41 - Courage built vs naturally-born

3:45 - Being taken seriously as a young entrepreneur

5:06 - The death of crypto?

6:30 - Sam’s innovation framework

7:59 - Strategic fit: the key to successful entrepreneurship

9:40 - The 70% margin rule

10:33 - Trend-following vs relevancy

11:03 - All about pricing power

12:09 - How does Mercantile help small businesses?

15:00 - The major perks of co-branding

16:51 - How does Mercantile make money?

17:50 - From funeral homes and medical to beyond…

19:28 - Sam’s cold email and coffee chat quota

21:04 - Startup tunnel vision

22:36 - Where to find business ideas

23:00 - If Sam could change one thing about society, what would it be?

24:33 - Sam’s book recommendations for entrepreneurs

26:47 - Napoleon: an underrated thinker

28:41 - “The best entrepreneurs are not by choice”

Credit to Ksenia for self-producing this episode! 👏

The Bits & Bytes Series - Michael Muthukrishna

Hosted by Danilo Dukanovic

Today, we get up close with someone who not only teaches us here at LSE but also shapes the way we think about culture, innovation, and the power of shared knowledge. We talk to Professor Michael Muthukrishna, a thought leader who's got his finger on the pulse of cultural evolution. 🫀

Michael is no ordinary academic; he's the founder of Culturalytic, a toolkit for companies that's sparking a new era of cultural and behavioral change. He's also the author of ‘A Theory of Everyone’, a book that's as bold as it is enlightening. 🤔

In our chat with Professor Muthukrishna, we dug into how behavioral and psychological science, along with cultural factors and evolutionary theory, play pivotal roles in the level of innovation a society can achieve. It’s fascinating stuff that really gets you thinking about the bigger picture. 💭🖼️

For all you budding entrepreneurs and start-up dynamos out there, we went a step further. We discussed practical ways you could apply these insights to make a real impact. Think of it as blending deep knowledge with action, aiming to not just start a business but to also spark a positive wave in society. It’s about smart innovation, where your company isn't just a business—it’s a force for good, driving us all forward. 🚀

Check out Michael Muthukrishna:

https://www.michael.muthukrishna.com/ (Website)

https://x.com/mmuthukrishna?lang=en (X, formerly Twitter)

Give ‘A Theory of Everyone’ a read:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theory-Everyone-Here-Where-Going/dp/1399810634

Timestamps:

0:38 - Intro to Michael Muthukrishna

2:40 - Key concepts from his book ‘A Theory of Everyone’

4:10 - The Four Laws of Life

8:22 - Cooperation necessity in building startups

10:10 - The Paradox of ‘Geniuses’

12:28 - Cheap ideas: how easily copiable are they?

16:10 - Cultural differences and entrepreneurship

19:24 - Silicon valley: a graveyard of failure, but landmark of success

21:04 - How the ‘resource curse’ affects cooperation and growth

23:40 - Psychological traps: zero-sum competition games

24:42 - Cooperating at LSE to benefit everyone

26:15 - How governments can shift zero-sum psychology to positive-sum

27:16 - The transformative power of new, startup cities

27:53 - Hong Kong: from fishing village to development hub

29:05 - Fail locally, learn globally

29:55 - Programmable politics, network states, and blockchain

32:33 - Mechanisms of cooperation

33:00 - Reputation: do we trust the Uber driver or Uber? Airbnb host or Airbnb?

34:38 - Where are we? What stage are we at?

35:47 ChatGPT: an overnight, game-changer

37:50 - Climate change’s lead into the Syrian migration crisis

40:07 - Listening to the silent middle over the far left/right

40:50 - Diminishing returns of fossil fuels and the far right

Credits to Jessica Ge for producing this episode. 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Tunde Adekeye

Hosted by Danilo Dukanovic

Starting with a background in law, Tunde took a leap into the world of investment banking at Credit Suisse, where he navigated the intricacies of Telecom media mergers and acquisitions on the media and tech side. 💼📡

But here's where it gets interesting – Tunde then ventured into the startup realm, cold emailing his way into an agriculture tech startup in Berlin during its Series A phase. Fast forward to Series B, and the startup turned into a unicorn, marking Tunde's initiation into the world of unicorns and disruptive innovation. 🦄

Equipped with startup experience, he made a pivot to the world of venture capital, working with two seed funds – Local Globe VC and Icebreaker VC. The latter, a pre-seed fund, made early investments in the likes of Spotify and Tunde supported 13 startups in their pre-seed stages during his time there. 🏃🚀

Currently, Tunde is now in the space of advising founders on nailing their pitches and developing his own startup that does this with an AI model called Pitch Doctor:

https://thepitchdoctor.tv/

I, myself, have been fundraising for my startup for the last couple of months and some time ago, I hit up Tunde for a mock pitch. His feedback improved my pitch but also dished out some real insights on what VCs truly value. I believe this helped me achieve positive results. 👨‍⚕️

Hear all about Tunde’s journey, the green and red flags of pitches, and how to execute a short pitch minute-by-minute. Whether you’re pitching yourself for a job or your startup for investors, you don’t wanna miss out on this one!

Major thanks to Myra Stok for editing this (her first) episode! 🕺

The Artistpreneurs Series - Marion Carré 🖼

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova 🎙

Today we speak to the extraordinary Marion Carré - AI entrepreneur, teacher, speaker, author, and artist!

Marion co-founded Ask Mona, a company that uses AI to develop experiences for more than 80 cultural institutions across the world. 🏛️🗿

Why don't you Ask Mona?

https://www.askmona.fr/en/home/

Marion also works as an expert evaluator for the European Commission and teaches courses at Sorbonne, Sciences Po, and other universities where she explores the intersection of art and artificial intelligence. Her insights come alive in her book, "Talk about art and artificial intelligence. Artist in the making?". 🤖🎨

Forbes honored her achievements by naming her to their "30 Under 30" list.

Check out Marion Carré:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marion-carre-ask-mona/

Thanks to Jessica Ge for producing this episode. 🥂

The Bits & Bytes Series - Ahana Banerjee

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova

Today we are speaking to the extraordinary Ahana Banerjee - the founder of the Clear skin social app, which assists you with your skincare routine. Clear was featured under Best Apps in App Store. 📈🌟

Join the skincare social scene!

Check out Clear

At just 21, Ahana embarked on her entrepreneurial journey while studying at Imperial College London. Ahana's remarkable achievements include being accepted into Y Combinator and being named in Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2023. 😉

Produced by Jessica Ge 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Sam Marchant

Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova ❤️

Today we are speaking to Sam Marchant. From founder to investor, Sam thrives as an Investment Associate at the global investment firm, Hambro Perks where he helps companies build products that matter. 👷‍♂️💰

Before his journey as an investor, Sam graduated with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science and became the Youngest National League hockey coach. 🏒

Now he's not only a successful investor but also a LinkedIn sensation, sharing invaluable insights. Today, we will dive deep into his mind, asking him all the most intriguing questions, from industry trends to the anatomy of successful founders, don’t miss out! 🌟😉

Check out Sam Marchant:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-marchant/

Shoutout to Jessica Ge for producing this episode! 🎧

The Beyond Profit Series

Hosted by Udbela Escanero

In this episode, we speak to Johannes Weber. Johannes is a passionate entrepreneur, pioneering impact investor and a father of three children. After a successful IPO in his mid-twenties, Johannes followed his dream to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges by harnessing the power of entrepreneurship. Johannes co-founded Ananda Impact Ventures in 2009 and was recognized as a ‘Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum’. The company has since become one of the largest impact venture capital firms in Europe. 🚀🌍

Check out Johannes' Ananda Impact Ventures:

https://ananda.vc/

We discuss start-ups, sustainability, responsible investing, impact, and accountability and more about the European VC sphere. You don’t want to miss out on this one! Tune in now on all our platforms! 🙇🏻‍♀️

Special thanks to the talented Udbela Escanero for self-producing this episode! 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Simona Xu

Hosted by Sia Sha

The Oh Collective is a sexual wellness startup launched in 2021. It has been featured in several media outlets, including the Economist and Elle magazine. Simona Xu, one of four co-founders, has previously worked for companies such as Zalando and Nike across cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, and Shanghai. Tune in now to hear all about it!

Check it out:

https://www.theohcollective.com

Timestamps:

1:05-What is Oh Collective?

1:57- Discussion of sexual wellness

4:00-Why is sexual wellness important?

11:20-Discussion of Simona's mom's opinion on sexual wellness.

16:10-Discussion of what it is like to operate Oh Collective in an environment like China compared to the West.

25:00-PWC studies on sexual wellness, and the biggest market in Asia.

32:58-discussion of stigma surrounding sex toys.

49:15-What makes Oh Collective different and unique?

54:48-Discussion of raising money for Oh Collective and how it progressed in the sexual wellness industry.

1 hour 10 minutes-What is the worst and best advice Simmons has ever received?

1 hour 15 minutes: Outro

The Artistpreneurs Series - Mirijam Trunk

Hosted by Udbela Escanero

Today, we are speaking to Mirijam Trunk: after working as a journalist for Bayerischer Rundfunk and reporter for ARD, Mirijam decided to make her journey from the writer’s room to top-level business management.

In 2019, she became CEO of the Bertelsmann Audio Alliance and built the company's podcast business. She has grown the production company Audio Alliance into the largest private-sector provider of podcasts, launching around 150 formats that reach over 7 million unique users per month.

She has been part of the first management level of RTL Deutschland since 2022 and, as Chief Crossmedia Officer, is responsible for brand, content and talent development. She also heads the Sustainability and DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) departments.

Mirijam is a passionate supporter of equality and diversity initiatives and works as an author and speaker to raise awareness of structural inequality in Germany. Don’t miss out on this exciting episode!

Mirijam Trunk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirijam-trunk/

Timestamps:

1:28 Introducing Mirijam

2:42 Overview of Bertelsmann

3:00 Miriam’s trajectory - classical singing to journalism to business management?

4:24 Structural issues noticed within journalism

6:57 The current media and business landscape and its fast changes

7:27 About Bertelsmann’s podcast company (Audio Alliance) 

10:33 Power of storytelling - podcasting as as medium?

11:57 People as the amazing experience or component of her career

17:05 Networking - gender differences!

21:11 Sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion challenges

25:20 How did Mirijam end up at RTL Germany?

27:58 How much did Miriam’s journalism education help her get into creative management?

30:52 Tips on starting out - learning to understand yourself! “Who are you?”

35:35 If you could change one thing about society, what would it be?

36:29 Chaos as Miriam’s unconventional truth to success

38:13 If you could invite anyone in the world for a podcast interview, who would you invite?

The Bits & Bytes Series - Joe Cross

Hosted by Olivia Coletti

Today we have the pleasure of talking with the insightful Joe Cross. Joe is now an angel investor who invests and advises in early-big stage ideas. As previous VP of brand marketing and communication and member of the senior leadership team at Wise money services, he has lots of experience and expertise on marketing and startups. Joe is a Digital masters award winner who is interested in growth marketing, go to market moves, communication and workplace culture. His market segment and philanthropic interests reflect that. 📈🤩

Angel Investor: Advising and investing in early-stage big ideas.

Award Winning: 2020 Digital Masters Winner - Excellence in Marketing.

Interests: Growth. Marketing. Go-to-market. Comms. Culture.

History:

Joined TransferWise (WISE) as employee #12 in 2012. Stepped off the rocketship 8 years later, waving g'bye to an awesome team of 2,300 people. Member of senior leadership team throughout, as Head of Marketing (Start-up stage) >> US General Manager >> Head of (VP) Brand Marketing & Comms (Scale-up stage).

2008 Masters in media and comm. at LSE.

Check Joe Cross out:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemcross/

Timestamps:

1:40 What does the company do and why do you find it inspiring?

5:25 Are there any specific sectors that you are interested in?

10:10 How do you assess founders?

15:45 What does sustainable investing mean to you?

20:30 What are your thoughts on the ESG industry?

27:15 What are you involved in in your free time?

Shout out to Humzah Rahman for producing this episode! 👏