Ventures

🎯 On the Docket:

00:00:00 – Intro and News Segment

00:05:02 – Tech News Roundup: Lovable's $200M Series A, OpenAI UK Expansion & AI Infrastructure

00:29:36 – Georgia Gibson, co-founder of Youni, is building technology to get people offline through their campus app that filters events by social connections. An Oxford graduate who avoided social media during her teens, she's pivoting Youni beyond campuses into an AI-powered social event platform. In the conversation, she reveals how event attendance is driven by social proof rather than event quality, explaining her philosophy that while AI tools save time, her platform helps people "spend that time better" by facilitating real-world connections.

00:56:50 – Harrison Hide, co-founder of Long Lane, has raised £4.5M to build a wellness-centric member club on 55 acres outside London, positioning it as "Soho Farmhouse but with wellness at the genesis." A former Wall Street professional who left after recognizing unsustainable lifestyle sacrifices, he's creating a space where all wellness aspects flourish. In the conversation, he details meticulous wellness integration—from organic farms to non-toxic materials—while explaining his vision to reimagine country clubs for health-focused consumers.

01:23:38 – Ben Kaluza, co-founder of NineSixteen Studios, has mastered tech content creation over six years, becoming one of the UK's leading AI/tech educators. Operating under "I make videos that look like ads, so brands pay me to make videos that don't look like ads," he's built an extremely brand-friendly page. In the conversation, he reveals how NineSixteen Studios targets AI startups by productizing his content style, while sharing insights from AI company Discord communities about feature-level marketing strategies.

01:59:00 – Marius Manolachi and Amir Isaac, founders of projectOS from Entrepreneur First's Castle program, are revolutionizing education by connecting project-based learning to job market demands. Marius taught 100,000+ students while Amir built three startups since age 16, identifying that traditional education fails by focusing on accessibility rather than motivation. In the conversation, they explain their AI-powered platform providing personality analyses and proof-of-work portfolios that match learning projects to job requirements.

02:30:19 – Wail Ghazaleh, co-director of Kickstart Global, operates the UK's largest student-led incubator founded by George Robson (Sequoia's youngest partner at 25), filtering 2,000+ applications to 44 founders under 24 whose alumni companies are worth £500M+ collectively. He emphasizes UK talent is underserved compared to the US market. In the conversation, he reveals success patterns including engineers starting young and natural sales ability, announcing applications open in August for October cohort.

02:54:22 – Episode Recap and Closing Thoughts

We had Leon Sandner (Founder at publyc) on Ventures to break down building AI agents from Taiwan while rejecting Silicon Valley's playbook."The building part is not the moat anymore. The distribution part is the moat.""In San Francisco, no matter where you are, you hear people talking about term sheets and AI models in every corner - you can't escape it." "I'm not a fan of Grok. It's too shady for me - I don't trust Elon, I don't trust XAI, I don't like how lightheartedly they take the safety aspect." "Everyone can spin up their own B2B SaaS in a weekend - that's not what people want. People want to connect with the product." You can watch the full conversation with Leon on today's show.

We had Issy Chambury (Founder at BE CONTENT) on Ventures to break down how her year-old agency is beating industry giants at their own game. "We achieved the highest organic reach for a campaign L'Oreal had ever achieved to date - and we're competing against agencies much larger than us." "Everyone is so different, but it is just having an eye for content and understanding what their audience is looking for." "What everyone wants to talk about is just her [AI influencer Mia Zello] - she didn't even attend but is stealing the show.""We're not necessarily looking to top chefs anymore. We're looking for very niche creators that are experts in what they're posting." You can watch the full conversation with Issy on today's show.

We had Andrew Radley and Kieron McCann (Partners at A Few Good People) on Ventures to expose the hidden crisis destroying agency profitability. "What came back from the research was they were buying 'not getting fired' - the downside risk was large enough that important people would get fired." "We increased margins from 62-65% to about 82% by doing exactly the same work but changing how customers perceived it." "How can you be Creative Agency of the Year but also be performing so poorly on the stock market? There's a big disconnect." "We consistently help clients discover 15-25 value points when they initially believed they only had 5."You can watch the full conversation with Andrew and Kieron on today's show.

We had Tom Charman (Co-founder at blok) on Ventures to reveal how they're predicting human behaviour better than humans predict themselves. "Nine in ten experiments fail, and we can simulate customer behaviour in hours instead of 4-6 weeks." "We identified a vulnerability in code that immediately increased conversion by 15% - worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a month." "My version of Uber and your version of Uber would be differentiated based on your intent, your motivation, how you've used the product in the past." "If we execute this right, this is a billion-dollar company, no question" - "Everyone in the valley is moving 15 times faster than anywhere else in the world." You can watch the full conversation with Tom on today's show.

Social media is dead. The future belongs to community-first platforms that actually solve real problems.While Instagram and TikTok optimise for addiction and endless scrolling, a new breed of social apps is building authentic connections that translate into real-world meetups and sustainable businesses. Nicola and Jason, the co-founders of Cliq, have cracked the code on viral growth without spending a single penny on advertising and they're proving that community monetisation is the next brand opportunity.These aren't just another couple building an app. They're former beauty tech entrepreneurs who sold their previous startup and discovered a glaring gap in how people connect over shared interests. What they built next is reshaping how we think about social networking, community building, and the creator economy.🎯 On the Docket:• 00:00 - Why traditional social media platforms are failing authentic connection• 05:30 - The London problem that sparked a social media revolution• 10:15 - How run club leaders are making £3,000+ monthly through Click• 15:45 - The zero-advertising strategy that drove viral growth• 22:00 - Brand partnerships that actually work: hyper-targeted community marketing• 28:30 - Building safety-first: why user control beats algorithmic moderation• 35:20 - The couple advantage: complementary skills that create a business "super team"• 42:10 - Managing relationship dynamics while scaling a startup• 48:00 - Real-world connections vs. digital-only engagement: the future of social• 53:30 - Why community monetisation will eclipse influencer marketingMy 5 Key Takeaways 👇1. Community Leaders Are Building Micro-Businesses Worth Thousands Monthly"Community leaders are making thousands of pounds monthly by doing what they love." Book clubs, run clubs, and hobby groups aren't just social gatherings—they're profitable businesses. CLIQ has turned passion into sustainable income streams that dwarf traditional influencer earnings.2. Zero-Spend Viral Growth Proves Authentic Beats Paid"We've never spent a penny on advertising, and we've still gone viral multiple times." While competitors burn millions on user acquisition, CLIQ's organic growth demonstrates that solving real problems creates word-of-mouth marketing that money can't buy.3. Safety-First Design Prevents the Harassment Epidemic"Safety isn't an afterthought—it's built into every feature we design." User-controlled messaging and granular privacy settings aren't just nice-to-haves—they're the foundation that lets communities thrive without the toxicity plaguing other platforms.4. The Couple Advantage Creates 24/7 Business Operations"Being a couple in business means one of us is always working, which is actually our superpower." Complementary skills and shared vision eliminate the communication gaps that destroy partnerships. When one sleeps, the other builds—creating unstoppable momentum.5. Real-World Meetups Beat Digital-Only Engagement"It's not about endless scrolling—it's about real connections that lead to real meetups." The attention economy is a race to the bottom. CLIQ's success proves that facilitating offline connections creates deeper engagement than any algorithm-driven feed.

Raffi Salama, CEO and co-founder of Passionfruit, is building the AI operating system for marketing departments while launching their second product focused on combating marketer information overload. A believer in the compound company model inspired by Rippling, he discusses how distribution now equals 50% of business success versus the previous 10%, arguing that taste—knowing what "the blob" of boring content looks like and pushing against it—has become critical as AI democratizes product creation. In the conversation, he reveals why AirPods matter more than VR glasses as the future interface, breaks down his team's viral content strategy across LinkedIn and social platforms, and explains how Passionfruit's marketing freelancer platform serves Fortune 500 companies while preparing to launch their AI-powered marketing sidekick.

Dan Bolland, (CCO of Nudj), reveals why traditional loyalty programs are dying and how AI will automate purchase decisions, forcing brands to compete for attention in micro-moments. A 25-year financial services veteran turned startup advisor, he explains Nudj's "material between the tentpoles" philosophy—filling engagement gaps with 30-90 second hyper-casual interactions that create habit formation without transactions. Bolland argues that gamification isn't just for young people, citing Duolingo's twice-as-many year-long streaks from over-60s than under-30s, while outlining how brands can engage potential customers years before they can afford products, from car manufacturers teaching driving to teens to beauty brands maintaining share-of-mind between purchase cycles.

Yunsu (鄧潤雪) Tang, CEO of Synchro, is building a stakeholder intelligence platform that synchronizes data from policy announcements, news, and social media to generate actionable insights. A two-time founder and TEDx speaker who moved from Hong Kong's growth-obsessed startup culture to London's detail-oriented product focus, she discusses how her background in financial communications at FGS Global (acquired by KKR) informs her AI-powered approach to stakeholder mapping. Tang emphasises the importance of an integrated communications strategy, arguing that business development, sales, marketing, and PR cannot be separated in today's market, while leveraging both Western and Chinese platforms to maintain her competitive advantage in cross-cultural market research.

Ivan Suhinin, CTO of wcard & malagastartups, has assembled the largest English-speaking tech community in Andalusia with 1,400+ members while organising 110+ events annually. Originally from Belarus with 20 years in IT, he's working with co-founder Dan Marquez to transform Spain's Costa del Sol into a startup hub by connecting Malaga's talent pool with Marbella's capital and government support. In the conversation, he outlines his ambitious plan to create a founders factory through quarterly 3-month bootcamps, targeting aerospace and agritech as regional strengths while building bridges between traditionally risk-averse Spanish culture and entrepreneurial ambition, with expectations of billion-dollar companies emerging within the decade.