ZANDA TALKS

In our latest episode we were joined by Jamie Beaumont, Partner at LEGO Ventures, to discuss the “Two Sides of Fundraising”

 

Jamie spent 10 years as a CFO across a variety of industries and ownership structures, prior to joining LEGO Ventures. Jamie’s last CFO role was at the hyper growth EdTech business Kano Computing where he led a number of their fundraising rounds and was instrumental in the scaling up of the business. 

 

Jamie discusses his transition to the other side of the pitching table and how time as a CFO has massively helped him as an investor & advisor. He also highlights some helpful tips to navigate the challenges of scaling up and how start-ups can steer their efforts, to hook the interest of VC’s.

 

LEGO Ventures may only be a year old but it already boasts an impressive portfolio of start-ups and it is great to hear how committed they are to the future of creativity, learning, and play.

In this episode, we're joined by speech and communication expert James Bryce who shares his knowledge on speech intelligence and how he believes it's the next big thing in human productivity. James, a former Royal Marines Commando, speaks several languages and has been in the speech and communication field for over 20 years now. It was James’ fascination with this aspect of human behaviour that inspired him to develop AI tool, Gweek; winner of the Innovation in AI Award at CogX, London for 2 years running.

 

Gweek’s unique technology and application advises speakers in real-time through the privacy and convenience of their own phone. Assisting its user's to master speech patterns and thoughts through bite-sized personalised learning. Gweek is agile and adaptive across all-matter of subject, allowing the user to engage authentically and articulately in situations and conversations where they might have otherwise struggled to find the appropriate words.

 

Articulating professionally and communicating effectively are common problems for young people in the workforce. James believes these vital and often lacking skills can be taught and developed. His functional technology is giving user's the opportunity to take the development of their language and vocablary into their own hands, resulting in confident communicators ready to eloquently engage in interviews, persuasively handle sales pitches and effectively give presentations.

Recently been named on BusinessCloud’s Top 101 HealthTech Innovators of 2019 list, Top 100 disruptive companies 2019 by DisruptionHub and was awarded the 2019 Horizon Prize for Improved Mobility by the EU Research and Innovation Program.

Lise founded Walk With Path in 2014, based on her developments during Innovation Design Engineering, and her personal experience with Parkinson’s suffered by her father. The company launched it's first product in 2017; Path Finder, a visual cueing shoe attachment to help those with Parkinson's. The second product, a haptic feedback insole to improve balance; Path Feel, is in development.

We caught up with Lise Pape, who provided a fascinating insight into a “founders life” and how the challenges she overcame shaped an idea and business that has always kept the user at the forefront of their mind. 

Great discussion with Philip Fortuna talking candidly about the mindset of a Founder.

Philip has an incredible story; Once a professional athlete, he went on to coach Olympians & World Champion Boxers. Fast forward to the present day, his skills and experience see him mentoring high growth startups.

Philip has a wealth of knowledge from working closely with Founders and VC's on strategy, creative cognition and high pressure decision making. During this episode we discuss some of the personal and business issues facing Start-up / Scale-up Founders. 

We look forward to sharing insights and some quick wins on topics such as isolation, sleep, delegation, and building effective teams. We hope that this session can help along the amazing journey of being a Founder!!