Mike Southon shares why likeability matters, how to start conversations naturally and why trust is built long before business talk begins.

🎧 Catch the full episode on Winning Friends.

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Networking advice usually focuses on what to say or offer. But long before that, something quieter decides how the conversation will unfold.

In this clip, Mike Southon reflects on what actually shapes first impressions, why some interactions feel natural while others feel forced, and how trust begins long before anyone talks business.

🎧 Catch the full episode on Winning Friends.

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Mike Southon has met and worked with some of the most recognisable entrepreneurs in the world. And he keeps noticing the same pattern: behind every visible success, there’s almost always someone else.

Drawing on decades of experience and interviews with well-known founders, he talks about gumption, drive, and determination – but also something far less talked about: the “foil.”

🎧 Catch the full episode on Winning Friends.

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Most founders don’t have a product problem. They have a clarity problem. If you can’t explain what you do fast – you can’t sell it, fund it, or scale it.

Mike Southon is the kind of guest who refuses a neat label. He’s a serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, mentor to 1,000+ founders, an e-resident of Estonia, and the Chief Editor of Startup Mafia. He’s co-written The Beermat Entrepreneur and Sales on a Beermat, built around one obsession: if your idea can’t fit in 30 seconds, it’s not ready yet.

In this episode, Mike shares:

📝 how to pressure-test an idea with “beermat” simplicity

🤝 how to build a network without feeling salesy

🎯 why every founder needs a “foil” (the partner who completes the picture)

💬 how to lead with curiosity, not pitch

🧠 why honesty drives repeat business

Listen and share with your friends today!

Winning Friends is powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where founders around the world launch, run, and scale companies 100% digitally.

Some concepts come quickly. Others take years of listening, prototyping, and refining. Veerle Donders shares how Zoku grew from a single shower thought into a human-centred “upside-down hotel” shaped by 150 interviews and a shift in how people live and work internationally.

🎧 Catch the full episode to hear the full story behind the “upside-down hotel.”

Winning Friends is powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where entrepreneurs build and grow borderless businesses from anywhere in the world.

Veerle Donders reveals why loneliness drives failed assignments, how the rise of short-term placements changed everything, and why community is becoming a business essential.

🎧 Catch the full episode to learn how connection shapes global work.

Winning Friends is powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where entrepreneurs build and grow borderless businesses from anywhere in the world.

Veerle Donders shares how Zoku looks beyond skills and hires people you’d proudly introduce to your friends: curious, warm, community-minded people who elevate the entire environment. It’s a simple shift, but one that turns teams into real communities.
🎧 Catch the full episode on Winning Friends.
Powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where entrepreneurs build and grow borderless businesses from anywhere in the world.

Most companies track budgets and KPIs, but they rarely track loneliness. Yet it’s one of the biggest reasons international work assignments fail.

Veerle Donders, Director of Concept & Brand at Zoku, has spent nearly a decade trying to fix that. Together with the Zoku team, she helped build the “upside-down hotel”: a home-office hybrid designed to make business travel human again. Based on 150 interviews, seven prototypes, and countless small design decisions, Zoku flips the traditional hotel model by putting community front and centre.

In this episode, Veerle shares:

💸 how loneliness became a billion-dollar problem hiding in plain sight

🏠 why Zoku redesigned the hotel around human connection

🧠 what 150 interviews taught them about what people truly need

🪜 how design cues and rituals make belonging feel effortless

🌍 why community is becoming a competitive advantage in global business

Listen and share with your friends today!

Winning Friends is powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where founders around the world launch, run, and scale companies 100% digitally.

After losing everything, FuN co-founder Pepe Villatoro realised that true success isn’t about money or titles but about living the life you’d choose every day.

🎧 Catch the full episode to hear how Pepe redefined success through purpose, balance, and saying no to what doesn’t matter.

Winning Friends is powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where entrepreneurs build and grow borderless businesses from anywhere in the world.

For FuN co-founder Pepe Villatoro, failure isn’t the end of the story. It’s where the real work begins. In this clip, he shares how self-awareness, values, and honesty help founders rebuild stronger and protect what matters most.

🎧 Catch the full episode to hear how to turn difficult moments into lasting growth.

Winning Friends is powered by e-Residency of Estonia, where entrepreneurs build and grow borderless businesses from anywhere in the world.