40 Minute Mentor

“You need to recognise that your mental health is a muscle and it’s not a case of doing a 30 day cleanse and mediations and you’re all good. That’s not how it works.” What started off as a new way to eliminate the daily stresses of life in the city, turned into the UK’s favourite soft drinks brand. This week’s 40 Minute Mentor is Olivia Ferdi, the Co-Founder of popular CBD brand, TRIP. Coming from a law background, there were plenty of early stage challenges Olivia and her Co-Founder and husband, Dan, faced together and we loved learning more about their journey in today’s episode. Olivia shares with us: ➡️ The glamorisation of startup life [03:37] ➡️ Resilience and building a Founder mindset [05:23] ➡️ Her law career and transitioning to a startup [08:54] ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [16:30] ➡️ The inspiration behind TRIP [17:27] ➡️ Her stand-out milestones from her journey with TRIP [26:07] ➡️ How her law background has helped and sometimes hindered along the way [29:25] ➡️ Building a wellbeing routine that lasts [36:30] ➡️ TRIP’s exciting plans for the year ahead [40:40] ➡️ Why a “no” is never a “no” [43:37] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Olivia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-ferdi/ ➡️ Check out TRIP: https://drink-trip.com/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Public speaking - an instrumental skill to perfect for any Founder and executive. It’s also one of the most dreaded aspects of being a business leader. To help make your next presentation a less stressful experience, we’re joined by Alex Merry, former COO, turned public speaking coach. Alex doesn’t only help leaders deliver high-stakes presentations at work and globally recognised conferences, through his coaching and online speaking club, MicDrop, but he’s also published his advice in his book, ‘Make It Count’. In this bite-sized episode, we’re looking at: ➡️ What makes a good public speaker ➡️ How to manage your nerves ➡️ The one thing you should never finish your presentation on ➡️ How to handle difficult questions ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Connect with Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mralexmerry/ ➡️ Join MicDrop: https://alexmerry.com/micdrop-web/ ➡️ Get your copy of ‘Make it count’: https://alexmerry.com/get-the-book/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I don’t want Gaia to be seen as a women’s health business. 50% of the cases that we see are male factor infertility. This is a family building problem that affects men and women equally.” 1 in 6 couples are affected by fertility issues, but with aspiring parents spending over £14k on average on their treatment, only 1 in 7 people in the UK who require IVF, end up accessing it. One Founder on a mission to change that and make fertility treatment more accessible is today’s 40 Minute Mentor, Nader AlSalim, the Founder and CEO of the world’s first IVF insurance, Gaia. In today’s episode we find out: ➡️ How Nader’s exceptional work ethic gave him control over this career [06:09] ➡️ His own fertility journey and the beginnings of Gaia [10:43] ➡️ Why this is his first and last startup [12:18] ➡️ The evolution of his leadership style [15:15] ➡️ More about Gaia’s offering [18:41] ➡️ Making the topic of fertility less taboo [19:37] ➡️ More about our sponsor’s Alchemist [22:08] ➡️ His personal legacy [23:02] ➡️ Fundraising advice [25:07] ➡️ The evolution of Gaia’s team and the culture [29:34] ➡️ Keeping your team to high standards [33:52] ➡️ Changes needed in the fertility industry & Gaia’s plans for 2023 [37:01] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Nader: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nader-alsalim-45146674/ ➡️ Check out Gaia: https://gaiafamily.com/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the biggest trends we’ve seen in hiring over the last year has been the rise of fractional careers. It doesn’t just give talent more flexibility and freedom, but also gives Founders the opportunity to hire highly experienced operators at a fraction of the cost, and even try before they buy. To discuss how you actually build a fractional career, the benefits to both talent and employers, plus the downfalls you might want to consider before pursuing a portfolio career, we’ve invited JBM board advisor and Fractional Managing Director, Ben Sanders to share his own experience with us. ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Connect with Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sanders-b280716/ ➡️ More about JBM SOS: https://jbmc.co.uk/sos-candidates/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If I’m doing exactly the same things this year, in exactly the same ways that I did last year, then I’m failing.” It’s been a turbulent year for the energy sector and many of us have seen the aftermath in our energy bills. To get first-hand insights into the energy crisis and the movement towards greener and more sustainable energy sources, we’re joined by Zoisa North-Bond, the CEO of Octopus Energy Generation and Octopus Energy for Business. In today’s episode, Zoisa shares with us: ➡️ Her alternative route to CEO [07:29] ➡️ Why she joined Octopus Energy [10:18] ➡️ The challenges of being in a dual CEO role [12:55] ➡️ The number one skill any successful CEO needs [15:33] ➡️ More about our sponsor, Alchemist [17:20] ➡️ Octopus’s focus on community [18:29] ➡️ The push to greener and more sustainable energy [25:48] ➡️ Navigating the energy crisis on the other side of the fence [28:03] ➡️ The number one thing you can do to reduce your energy bills [30:17] ➡️ The future of the energy sector [30:55] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Connect with Zoisa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoisa-north-bond-33143a4/ ➡️ More about Octopus Energy: https://octopus.energy/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this week’s bit-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Amir Nooriala, the Managing Partner of Aurias. Amir has previously joined us on the podcast, sharing his experience as COO of Callsign and OakNorth Bank. This time, he’s telling us more about his new venture, Aurias, offering business owners a retirement pathway that ensures the legacy of their company and employees. In today’s episode, you’ll find out: ➡️ Amir’s career journey to COO and angel investor ➡️ How this experience sparked the idea for Aurias ➡️ The benefits of entrepreneurship by acquisition and what that looks like for Founders ➡️ Why there are so many impressive bootstrapped Tech businesses that deserve more attention ➡️ Advice for anyone looking to get into entrepreneurship ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Amir: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirnooriala/ ➡️ Check out Aurias: https://www.aurias.co.uk/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Plastic has its use cases. In the medical industry, it saves lives every day. But for takeaway uses, where it’s used for a short amount of time, that’s where it’s a real issue.” For today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Pierre Paslier, the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Notpla, a sustainable packaging startup. To this day, Notpla have partnered with the likes of Lucozade, to replace single use plastic cups and bottles at the London Marathon, and JustEat, to launch a food container coated with seaweed - a revolutionary move for the takeaway industry. Following this huge progress in the industry, to help ease the damage made to the environment, the Notpla team have recently been awarded with Prince William’s prestigious, 1 million pound Earthshot prize. Today, Pierre shares tons of insights with us, including: ➡️ How he became a Founder, following years at L’Oreal [03:57] ➡️ The experiences at L’Oreal that led to the creation of Notpla [05:23] ➡️ Notpla’s mission and how their packaging works [07:33] ➡️ Seeing Notpla’s packaging being used at the Women’s Euros [11:16] ➡️ Winning the Earthshot Prize [13:16] ➡️ Meeting Prince William at the Earthshot retreat [15:53] ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [18:11] ➡️ Dealing with increasing media attention and keeping an eye on your mission [19:28] ➡️ Building the Notpla team [22:03] ➡️ Advice for moving into sustainability [28:28] ➡️ The part we can all play in reducing plastic packaging [31:03] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Pierre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierrepaslier/ ➡️ Check out Notpla: https://www.notpla.com/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following on from our pledge last year to continue shining a light on History’s influential black voices, beyond Black History Month, we welcome back Samuel Tholley, the Founder of Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. Today, and in continuation of celebrating International Women’s Day, beyond March 8th, Samuel shares two stories of female trailblazers with us, who have significantly shaped the world we live in today. First we’ll be learning more about Baroness Doreen Lawrence and her battle to reform the police service, following the murder of her son, Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Then, Samuel will catapult as further back in history and share the incredible story of Mary Jane Seacole, the British-Jamaican nurse and business woman who set up the “British Hotel” behind the lines during the Crimean War. 🤝 To learn more about Hidden Pages and the importance of normalising black history, check out our previous 40 Minute Mentor episode with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The only way that the world will see women and diversity differently, is when we create something that is so big and transformational that people will never underestimate women again.” In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, and to mark this year’s International Women’s Day, we’re joined by Sue Fennessy, the Founder & CEO of WeAre8. WeAre8 is a hate-free community that is built upon the idea that collective change and daily actions can make the world a better place. The team have been on an incredible journey and you may have seen their ads on TV or across London’s billboards. In today’s episode, we don’t just get a front row seat to WeAre8’s evolution, but also get an insight into Sue’s incredible career. Plus, she, of course, shares tons of great mentorship with us. You can expect to hear more about: ➡️ A podcast recommendation from us [00:19] ➡️ The dark side of social media [03:32] ➡️ Why VCs have become predictable and how that’s holding diverse Founders back [06:29] ➡️ What drives her mission to make the world a better place [08:49] ➡️ The benefits of starting to see your work as a hobby [12:14] ➡️ How entrepreneurship chose her and more about her early career [15:22] ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [21:40] ➡️ The importance of storytelling [22:44] ➡️ More about WeAre8 and why it’s so different compared to other social media platforms [28:46] ➡️ Rio Ferdinand’s involvement in WeAre8 [37:44] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Sue: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-fennessy/ ➡️ Check out WeAre8: https://www.weare8.com/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recruitment and Tech are both not industries with the best reputation when it comes to Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity. That’s why JBM and 40 Minute Mentor are on a mission to change that. With our podcast specifically, we’re always looking to feature unique and inspiring stories, especially giving underrepresented voices a platform to share theirs. We’re very much still a work in progress and are always looking to improve series on series and year on year. With that in mind, we have had the great pleasure of welcoming industry trailblazers and leading voices and DE&I over the years. In today’s bite-sized episode, we’re looking back on some of our favourite moments, featuring DE&I advice from: ➡️ Claire Valoti, VP for EMEA at Snap Inc ➡️ Check Warner, Partner at ADA Ventures ➡️ Sharmadean Reid, Founder of The Stack World ➡️ Marta Krupinska, former Head of Google for Startups UK and Co-Founder of CUR8 ➡️ Grace Beverley, Founder and CEO of TALA and SHREDDY ➡️ Baroness Oona King, VP of DE&I at Snap Inc ➡️ Alice Bentinck, Co-Founder of Entrepreneur First 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The best way of treating people is not as if they're a resource, but by working with them to create something amazing.” In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Anouk Agussol, the Founder and CEO of Unleashed. Unleashed are on a mission to gear up early stage and scaling companies for speedy and sustainable success, through people and culture. They help create thriving businesses and great places to work, through leadership programmes, coaching, bespoke people projects and embedded partnerships. JBM have loved collaborating with Anouk and the wider Unleashed team over the years and we loved finding out more about Anouk’s journey and her advice for any Founders and leaders, in today’s episode. We chat about: ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [00:16] ➡️ Overcoming imposter syndrome [3:19] ➡️ The juggling act of being a parent and a Founder [04:37] ➡️ Anouk’s career journey and why she chose the People function [09:08] ➡️ Why the People function is becoming increasingly more popular [11:13] ➡️ Her transition from Chief People Officer to starting her own business [14:17] ➡️ More about Unleashed [18:28] ➡️ Why HR is dead [21:55] ➡️ A podcast recommendation from us [23:16] ➡️ What a difference Unleashed has made to teams over the years [24:31] ➡️ Why your culture won’t evolve organically [28:00] ➡️ When is the right time to hire a People person for your startup [32:01] ➡️ The key steps to evolving your culture [34:51] ➡️ How to attract and retain great talent [39:04] ➡️ The evolution of the People function in 2023 and beyond [42:05] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Anouk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anoukagussol/ ➡️ Check out Unleashed: https://www.unleashed.company/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re taking a look back on some of our most popular 40 Minute Mentor author episodes. Just in time for World Book Day, later this week, we’re going to hear about the journeys our 40 Minute Mentor authors have been on and how they’ve taken their best-selling books from ideation to launch, and all the ups and downs in between. Whether you’re thinking about writing your own book yourself, or you’re simply looking for some new books packed with mentorship, to add to you ‘to be read’ list, you won’t want to miss this episode. 📚 All books mentioned in this episode: ➡️ The Green Startup by Juliet Davenport ➡️ How to be a Founder by Alice Bentinck ➡️ World Class by Will Greenwood ➡️ How to Win by Sir Clive Woodward ➡️ Squiggly Careers by Helen Tupper & Sarah Ellis ➡️ Slay In Your Lane by Elizabeth Uviebinene ➡️ She’s In CTRL by Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon ➡️ Solve For Happy by Mo Gawdat ➡️ Solo: How to work alone by Rebecca Seal 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I was finally getting all of these jobs that I always wanted, but I was always more passionate about my own business and would keep working on it outside of my normal hours.” Landing a role at Google as a graduate will make most people put thoughts about their next moves on hold. Not for today’s 40 Minute Mentor. We’re joined by the brilliant Simmy Dhillon, Founder of Simmer, the meal subscription service on a mission to nourish and delight through food by making eating well everyday easy and delicious. What started out with cooking jerk chicken in his university dorm room, turned into one of the fastest-growing meal subscription services in the UK. In today’s episode, we get a front row seat to their incredible journey and hear about: ➡️ What celebrating diversity should actually look like [05:40] ➡️ Simmy’s upbringing and where his entrepreneurial spirit comes from [07:47] ➡️ Where the idea for Simmer came from and the humble beginnings of the business [10:24] ➡️ How Rice & Spice evolved into Simmer [13:31] ➡️ Why he couldn’t stop thinking about his side hustle, even after joining Google [16:20] ➡️ The compromises you have to make when going all in on your side hustle [19:35] ➡️ The difficulties of hiring in a bootstrapped business [21:57] ➡️ Bootstrapping vs raising investment [22:54] ➡️ The power of podcasts for early stage Founders [25:58] ➡️ Working with celebrities [31:58] ➡️ Why you should try Simmer and a special Birthday offer for you [34:48] ➡️ Building a business with your family [38:35] ➡️ Why you need to stay authentic when building your personal brand [40:39] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Simmy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simmydhillon/ ➡️ Check out Simmer: https://simmereats.com/ ➡️ Redeem your offer to get 50% off your first order, plus 25% off your first month following this link https://simmereats.com/?code=jbm50 or by using “JBM50” during check out 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re looking at a role which has gained increasing popularity within the Startup and Scaleup world over the last 12 months - the Chief of Staff role. To help us explore more of the day to day and the skills any aspiring CoS needs, we’re joined by: 📌 Emily Good, Chief of Staff at Lantum. 📌 Libby Dangoor, Chief of Staff at Multiverse. 📌 Simon Rodrigues, former Chief of Staff at Curio, now Founder & CEO at Saber Works. They share tons of advice in this episode, including: ➡️ How Libby, Emily and Simon became a Chief of Staff [01:25] ➡️ How varied the day to day as a CoS is [07:02] ➡️ The skills any aspiring Chief of Staff should work on [12:48] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Check out our Chief of Staff Secrets series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9Z5v0dwtFJAVcQRHc3mW2I5db-g84xxc ➡️ Download the Chief of Staff Guide: https://mailchi.mp/jbmc/the-chief-of-staff-role-uncovered ➡️ More about Emily Good: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-good1/ ➡️ More about Libby Dangoor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/libby-dangoor-73b042a/ ➡️ More about Simon Rodrigues: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simondejesusrodrigues/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s sad when you go into something with the idea of building a legacy and then that gets cut off. You have to realise, this is happening because you take risks, and that’s a good thing.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Abadesi Osunsade, DE&I leader and Founder & CEO of Hustle Crew, a inclusion education provider on a mission to create a world in which businesses are centred on inclusion, belonging and redistributing power. Before building Hustle Crew, Abadesi followed a hugely successful career path in Tech - from roles at Product Hunt, Elpha, Amazon, HotelTonight and Groupon, where she was promoted after her first 8 months and helped scale her department 5X leading up to their record breaking IPO. Amongst all the success, Abadesi was also laid off twice in her career and is refreshingly honest about her experience, in today’s episode. We chat about: ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [00:23] ➡️ The obsession with raising funding and capital [05:05] ➡️ Abadesi’s hugely successful career in Tech [07:45] ➡️ Being the only black employee at HotelTonight and how that led to Hustle Crew [11:45] ➡️ Getting stuck in the DE&I Founder echo chamber [13:00] ➡️ Her experience of being made redundant, twice [16:22] ➡️ How to bounce back from layoffs and figure out what’s next [26:54] ➡️ A podcast recommendation from us [30:30] ➡️ Navigating layoffs as a Founder [31:44] ➡️ The evolution of Hustle Crew [34:58] ➡️ Why community building isn’t about size and not everyone needs to have one [40:12] ➡️ Advice on getting into Tech [45:31] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Abadesi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abadesi/ ➡️ Check out Hustle Crew: https://www.hustlecrew.co/ ➡️ Get your copy of ‘Dream Big, Hustle Hard: https://www.hustlecrew.co/dream-big-hustle-hard ➡️ Read ‘Do Things That Don’t Scale’ by Paul Graham: http://paulgraham.com/ds.html 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we’re looking back on two 40 Minute Mentor episodes with two absolute trailblazers - Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon and Amali de Alwis. Anne-Marie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise working to inspire and support girls, young women and non-binary people in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths careers. You may also know Anne-Marie from the popular Channel 4 show Countdown, or have come across her new book, ‘She’s In CTRL’. Amali is the CEO of Subak, the world’s first not-for-profit accelerator that scales climate impact through data policy and behaviour change. Prior to joining Subak, she was CEO of Code First: Girls - the largest provider of free coding courses for women in the UK. Anne-Marie and Amali shared so much great mentorship in their 40 Minute Mentor episodes. In today’s STEM career feature, we’ll focus on: ➡️ Why a societal change is needed to make Tech more inclusive [01:54] ➡️ How the industry itself is a barrier [04:21] ➡️ The importance of just getting started and finding a community [08:01] ➡️ Advice for more inclusive hiring practices [10:30] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Anne-Marie’s full 40 Minute Mentor episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/changing-the-face-of-stem-with-dr-anne-marie-imafidon-mbe/ ➡️ Amali’s full 40 Minute Mentor episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-amali-de-alwis-subak/ ➡️ More about ‘She’s In CTRL’: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/444767/shes-in-ctrl-by-imafidon-anne-marie/9781787635029 ➡️ More about Stemettes: https://stemettes.org/ ➡️ More about Subak: https://subak.org/ ➡️ More about Code First: Girls: https://codefirstgirls.com/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A lot of people expected me and Joe to go off the rails. We almost had permission because of our childhood. Because of that, there was always a part of me that wanted to prove people wrong.” In this inaugural episode of 40 Minute Mentor’s 9th Series, we’re joined by Nikki Wicks, the CEO of the legendary global fitness brand, The Body Coach. There won’t be a lot of you who haven’t heard of Joe Wicks and The Body Coach, but today, we get a real inside scoop into how the brand grew to what it is today and the often unspoken challenges they faced along the way. We find out: ➡️ Why Nikki doesn’t consider himself to be entrepreneurial [05:09] ➡️ The difficult balancing act of running a business and raising children [06:33] ➡️ Joe and Nikki’s turbulent childhood and upbringing [09:06] ➡️ How their upbringing has shaped Joe and Nikki’s relationship with each other [10:56] ➡️ Nikki’s publishing career and why he became CEO [17:00] ➡️ The realities of being a first-time CEO [22:15] ➡️ More about our sponsor’s Alchemist [23:51] ➡️ How The Body Coach went from 15 second Instagram videos to a book deal and a global brand [25:49] ➡️ Building and scaling a team and why TBC had to restructure earlier this year [32:03] ➡️ Keeping the purpose at the core of the brand [39:17] ➡️ How Nikki and Joe work with each other [43:04] ➡️ How to stick to your new year’s resolutions and form healthy habits [45:43] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Nikki Wicks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-wicks-15065661/ ➡️ Check out The Body Coach: https://www.thebodycoach.com/ ➡️ Listen back to our Sifted Summit episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/live-at-sifted-summit-purpose-v-profit-with-nikki-wicks-the-body-coach-emma-steele-ascension-amali-de-alwis-subak/ 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To commemorate this year’s World Cancer Day, we’re looking back on one of our all-time favourite episodes, featuring the late Catherine Wines. Catherine was the Co-Founder of WorldRemit, one of the fastest growing FinTechs in the UK, allowing people to send money to friends and family living abroad. Catherine was one of the most high-profile female leaders in FinTech and it came as a real shock to the industry when she lost her battle to stage 3 pancreatic cancer in 2020. We have benefited first-hand from Catherine’s ongoing mentorship and support, and couldn’t think of a better way to raise awareness of and commemorate World Cancer Day, by re-sharing some of our favourite moments from our conversation with her. In today’s episode, you’ll hear: ➡️ How WorldRemit was born [01:44] ➡️ Her advice for anyone wanting to break into the industry [04:25] ➡️ How she dealt with her cancer diagnosis and how employers can support [06:08] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Catherine’s full-length 40 Minute Mentor episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/living-life-to-the-fullest-without-regret-with-catherine-wines/ ➡️ More about WorldRemit: https://www.worldremit.com/ ➡️ More about World Cancer Day and how you can get involved: https://www.worldcancerday.org/ 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your pocket-sized career mentor is back with a brand new Series. 40 Minute Mentor was created to make business mentorship more accessible and raise aspirations. We do this, by interviewing the most brilliant leaders who are building exceptional, category-defining businesses. Our guests have ranged from Tech CEO’s to Sustainability Entrepreneurs and from Investors to Olympic Gold Medallists. And this Series will be no different. For a little preview of what’s to come, check out our brand new Series 9 trailer. 💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🏆 Want to partner with us? Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on [email protected] 🤝 Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Why is there a need to prove ourselves? Why are we in a situation where we’re not being treated equally as smart as any other ethnicity, especially when we’ve done all this great stuff throughout history?” In today’s 40 Minute Mentor feature episode, we’re joined by Samuel Tholley, a History Teacher and Founder of Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. In today’s episode, we find out: ➡️ Why Samuel set up Hidden Pages [00:54] ➡️ How his upbringing shaped Hidden Pages and his perception of Black History [03:57] ➡️ Why these untold stories are so important [07:31] ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [10:41] ➡️ 5 brilliant historic figures we can all learn from [22:08] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Samuel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-tholley-758135105/ ➡️ More about Hidden Pages: https://www.instagram.com/_hiddenpages/?hl=en 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The key is to be niche on an audience, but fairly liberal in what’s the best way for you to interact with them. And particularly with how to monetise that audience.” In this week’s ‘Where Are They Now’ feature episode, we’re joined by James McClure - experienced C-level Tech Exec, Angel Investor, Advisor and Executive Coach. James has grown big names, like Airbnb and Google, internationally and scaled up VC-backed businesses, like SeatGeek and Adzuna, running the commercial operations in regional and global roles. Since the last time he’s come on 40 Minute Mentor, James has made the move down under, officially turned his coaching, investing and advisory side hustle into a business and launched x2 online courses for busy tech execs. In today’s episode, we find out: ➡️ Why James decided to move to Australia [02:03] ➡️ The importance of being active on social media, especially as a Solopreneur [05:22] ➡️ Defining where you get your energy from and finding your audience [08:03] ➡️ More about our sponsors, Alchemist [10:59] ➡️ What to expect from James’s online courses [12:06] ➡️ The biggest lessons he’s learned as an angel investor [15:52] ➡️ How Founders benefit from angel investors [19:02] ➡️ More about his plans for 2023 [21:23] ➡️ How you can partner with JBM/40 Minute Mentor [22:42] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmcclure/ ➡️ Sign up to “How To Angel Invest For Busy Tech Execs”: https://maven.com/reload-ventures/how-to-angel-invest ➡️ Sign up to “Scale Your Impact Beyond Your Authority”: https://coleap.cc/s4m 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This idea of a lone genius that has all the answers does not solve anything, it only makes things worse.” We’re back with a fresh episode of our ‘Where Are They Now’ feature Series, where we invite some of our most popular 40 Minute Mentors back on the podcast to discuss their latest news and insights. This time, we’re joined by Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, Co-Founder and CEO of Stemettes, Author, Podcast Host and Arithmetician on the popular Channel 4 show, Countdown. In this episode, we find out: ➡️ The story behind Anne-Marie’s new book, ‘She’s In CTRL’ [01:53] ➡️ What becoming an author was like for her and her advice for any aspiring writers [03:24] ➡️ An insight into some of the fantastic stories featured in her book [06:50] ➡️ More about our Sponsors, Alchemist [09:35] ➡️ The main message to take away from ‘She’s In CTRL’ [10:40] ➡️ How she found this experience compared to writing a children’s book [12:06] ➡️ What it’s really like to be on Countdown and the response she’s seen from it [13:40] ➡️ Big plans for 2023 and what we can all look forward to seeing more of [16:05] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Anne-Marie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimafidon/ ➡️ Get your copy of ‘She’s In CTRL’: https://aimafidon.com/books/ ➡️ Check out Stemettes: https://stemettes.org/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The recession period felt awful, but actually during that time, even as a small business, we got to be the UK market leader, and all that with only five people working for us, at the time.” To kick off 2023, we’re looking back on the latest Series of 40 Minute Mentor and hand pick some of the great advice our mentors shared with us, this time focused on the economic downturn and fundraising. There’s still a lot of uncertainty and instability in the world and it’s hard to predict what 2023 will look like for most Tech Founders. However, this isn’t the first recession for many Startup Founders out there, so we thought we’d share some of the brilliant advice from our latest Series, including: ➡️ How Photobox became the UK market leader during a recession [01:55] ➡️ Why you can still fundraise in this climate [03:41] ➡️ The metrics to focus on when fundraising as a mission-driven Startup [04:37] ➡️ Why cold emails work in fundraising [06:12] ➡️ How money alone won’t help you through the recession [07:09] ➡️ Fundraising do’s and don’ts in this climate [07:28] ➡️ Who to listen to when it comes to advice [09:56] For the full 40 Minute Mentor episodes mentioned in this episode, head over to: 🎧 Graham Hobson: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-graham-hobson-photobox/ 🎧 Sho Sugihara: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-sho-sugihara-pave/ 🎧 Amali de Alwis: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-amali-de-alwis-subak/ 🎧 Ian Hogarth: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-ian-hogarth-plural-platform/ 🎧 James Lo: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-james-lo-mana/ 🎧 Molly Johnson-Jones: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-molly-johnson-jones-flexa/ 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As 2022 is coming to an end, we take the chance to look back and reflect on the last 12 months of 40 Minute Mentor. We did this, by asking some of the JBM team, our series sponsors and 40 Minute Mentor ambassadors for their favourite episodes of the year. To listen back to the episodes mentioned in today’s episode, click through the list below: 🎧 Amali de Alwis: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-amali-de-alwis-subak/ 🎧 Dan Garrett: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/destigmatising-death-with-farewills-dan-garrett/ 🎧 Molly Johnson-Jones: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-molly-johnson-jones-flexa/ 🎧 Rachael Twumasi-Corson: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/feature-series-rachael-twumasi-corson-afrocenchix/ 🎧 James Lo: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-james-lo-mana/ 🎧 Sifted Summit Live Recording: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/live-at-sifted-summit-purpose-v-profit-with-nikki-wicks-the-body-coach-emma-steele-ascension-amali-de-alwis-subak/ 🎧 Job van der Voort: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-job-van-der-voort-remote/ 🎧 Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/series-8-baroness-tanni-grey-thompson/ 🎧 Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/from-olympic-gold-to-femtech-founder-with-dame-jessica-ennis-hill/ Thank you so much for all your support over this year and we can’t wait to see you again in the new year! 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Where it does become an issue for you, the people around you, your team and your family, is when you are burning out, getting stressed and ill, because you’re not finding any balance at all.” In this second part of our new 40 Minute Mentor mini-series, we learn more about the lessons our Founder, CEO and host of this podcast, James Mitra, learned over the last 10 years of building and scaling JBM. If you haven’t caught up with the first part of the series, yet, make sure you check it out here: https://40-minute-mentor.simplecast.com/episodes/part-1-10-lessons-from-10-years-of-scaling-jbm-with-james-mitra-founder-ceo-of-jb-VKWGjvCD Today, we learn about: ➡️ The importance of long-term partnerships [01:08] ➡️ The impossible task of finding balance as a Founder [05:16] ➡️ Why you need to listen to your gut more [10:18] ➡️ Learn more about our Series Sponsors, Alchemist [14:52] ➡️ Why hiring is incredibly difficult, even when recruitment is your day job [15:34] ➡️ The importance of letting your hires leave on good terms, when it doesn’t work out [19:23] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about James Mitra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmitra-jbm/ ➡️ More about JBM: https://jbmc.co.uk/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I’m ashamed to say I was a bit embarrassed at times when I went to dinner parties and told people what I did for a living. There was always this reputation of sharky, dishonest recruiters.” This week, we’re launching the first of a special two-part Series on 40 Minute Mentor. JBM turned 10 years old this year and we’re officially turning the microphone and sharing our own Startup story. In today’s episode, our Founder, CEO and Host of this podcast, James Mitra, will share how JBM was started and the ups and downs along the way, including: ➡️ The importance of building relationships [2:08] ➡️ JBM’s mission and how this drives us as a team [04:00] ➡️ The mistakes James made along the way and how he overcame them [06:12] ➡️ Learn more about our Series sponsors, Alchemist [11:26] ➡️ The power of mentorship and why that’s always been the foundation of JBM [12:08] ➡️ How personal branding has made all the difference over the years [14:07] For more startup lessons, tune back in next week for part 2 of this mini-series. ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about James Mitra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmitra-jbm/ ➡️ More about JBM: https://jbmc.co.uk/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I realised that for the first time in my career, I reported to a board and investors, but the decisions were on me. It was all on me.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Stuart Packham, CEO of our Series Sponsor’s Alchemist, JBM board advisor and longtime mentor and friend of team JBM. Our host, James Mitra, and Stu have known each other for years, dating back to their days at Michael Page, so it was extra special to have Alchemist as our Series sponsor and Stu joining us on the podcast today. We chat about: ➡️ Stu’s journey through recruitment and into learning and development [02:05] ➡️ Why recruitment is such a great foundation to your career [04:36] ➡️ His transition from recruitment to learning and development [07:58] ➡️ Why becoming a CEO was a much bigger shift than expected [10:47] ➡️ How he puts being people-centric first [14:00] ➡️ The imposter syndrome that comes with being CEO [15:42] ➡️ Realities of merging two businesses into one [18:43] ➡️ How Alchemist approaches L&D differently [22:51] ➡️ Transitioning from 98% face to face L&D sessions to digital and virtual sessions [25:56] ➡️ The benefits of bringing on external partners to help with hiring [29:42] ➡️ Why now is the time to put together a risk plan and not ignore the downturn [33:47] ➡️ What the future holds for Alchemist [35:59] ➡️ The advantages of being a board advisor [38:02] ➡️ Why Alchemist partnered with JBM and the results they’ve seen so far [40:06] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Stu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartpackham/ ➡️ More about Alchemist: https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Series 8 of 40 Minute Mentor has officially come to a close. It’s been 12 weeks of brilliant mentorship from some of the best in the industry, including: ➡️ Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain's greatest Paralympian and Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords ➡️ Graham Hobson, Founder of Photobox ➡️ Molly Johnson-Jones, Co-Founder and CEO of Flexa ➡️ Sho Sugihara, Founder and CEO of Pave ➡️ Amali de Alwis, CEO of Subak ➡️ Ian Hogarth, Co-Founder of Plural Platform ➡️ Emma Steele, Partner at Ascension ➡️ Nikki Wicks, CEO of The Body Coach ➡️ Job van der Voort, Co-Founder and CEO of Remote ➡️ Simone Maini, CEO of Elliptic ➡️ James Lo, Co-Founder and CEO of Mana ➡️ Elizabeth Uviebinené, Award-winning author and Founder of Storia ➡️ Joe Robinson, CEO of Improbable Defence ➡️ Eleanor Kaye, Executive Director at Newton Venture Program ➡️ Ellie Mckay, property entrepreneur and host of the 'On a Mission' Podcast Thanks so much to all of you for your support throughout this Series. If you’re not all caught up yet, make sure you have a look through the archives and stay tuned for some special feature episodes dropping soon. And if you have any recommendations or feedback for Series 9 launching next year, please feel free to contact our producer Hannah at [email protected] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When people say that money doesn't make you happy, they've often not experienced both extremes." For our final 40 Minute Mentor episode of this Series, we’re joined by Ellie McKay, property entrepreneur and host of the popular ‘On A Mission’ Podcast. Not long ago, Ellie’s life was barely recognisable - raising three children under the age of five, battling postnatal depression and facing redundancy. Fast forward to today, Ellie is a serial entrepreneur, building a multi-million-pound property portfolio. How she got here and the main lessons learned throughout her journey, she shares with us in today’s episode. We talk about: ➡️ Watching her parent’s business and marriage dissolve [05:56] ➡️ How those childhood experiences shaped her [08:50] ➡️ The failure of her first property investment [11:50] ➡️ Becoming a career advisors in prisons [13:00] ➡️ Advice for those looking for work after having been to prison [16:47] ➡️ Facing redundancy with three children under the age of five [20:31] ➡️ The moment when she knew she had to turn her life around [23:04] ➡️ Advice for anyone facing redundancy [25:35] ➡️ James’ podcast recommendation [28:34] ➡️ Getting back into the property business [29:57] ➡️ Advice for other wanting to get into property [32:53] ➡️ Building a business with her husband and navigating conflict [35:15] ➡️ More about her ‘On A Mission’ Podcast [40:16] ➡️ Her most memorable interviews [43:08] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Ellie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-mckay/ ➡️ Listen to On A Mission: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/on-a-mission-podcast/id1547571458 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Don't think because you perhaps don't have a typical background for VC, that you're not welcomed. That's actually far from the truth.” In our penultimate episode of this 40 Minute Mentor series, we’re joined by Eleanor Kaye, Executive Director at Newton Venture Program. Newton is a joint venture between London Business School and Local Globe VC, on a mission to ensure the next generation of VCs represents the world we all live in, by running programmes for people from overlooked or under-estimated backgrounds who want to break into VC or accelerate their career in the sector. As social mobility and diversity are topics very close to our heart at JBM, we’re huge fans of the work Eleanor and the Newton Venture team are doing. In today’s episode, we find out: ➡️ The difficulties of returning to work after being on parental leave [05:22] ➡️ Her unconventional path into VC [06:43] ➡️ How she overcame her initial imposter syndrome [11:01] ➡️ The day to day of an Executive Director at Newton [12:44] ➡️ Advantages of an operational background [14:44] ➡️ A note from our sponsors, Alchemist [20:45] ➡️ The joint venture between London Business School and Local Globe VC [21:38] ➡️ How to apply to Newton Venture Program [27:26] ➡️ Leveling the playing field in VC [30:31] ➡️ Retaining diverse talent [32:08] ➡️ Advice for diverse Founders fundraising [35:15] ➡️ Europe’s VC landscape and why you should consider a career in VC [36:30] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Eleanor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanorkaye/ ➡️ More about Newton Ventures Program: https://newtonprogram.vc/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s okay not to know. It’s not okay not to learn.” The Metaverse often makes headlines, but what does it really mean? In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Joe Robinson, the CEO of Improbable Defence. Improbable is a British Metaverse technology Scaleup and Unicorn, that partners with video game developers, entertainment companies and defence institutions to help them bring to life rich, powerful, virtual worlds of unprecedented size, scale, ambition and usefulness. We’ve had the huge pleasure of working with Joe and the Improbable team, and we’re so excited to share a bit more about their incredible journey and Joe’s impressive career journey to date. In today’s episode, we chat about: ➡️ Why leadership doesn’t have to have all the answers [04:38] ➡️ The importance of mental resilience and resetting priorities [05:44] ➡️ Joe’s 10 years at the Ministry of Defence [07:06] ➡️ What the military has taught him about team dynamic [08:34] ➡️ How you build resilience and why empathy is the key to it [11:43] ➡️ What Improbable does and how it works in Defence [15:27] ➡️ Why the CEO role is the worst defined job of all [20:12] ➡️ Lack of sleep, accountability and making decisions as CEO [23:20] ➡️ Joe’s definition of the Metaverse [25:37] ➡️ How you put company values into day to day practice [30:59] ➡️ Making your values part of your company’s DNA [35:28] ➡️ Why you can’t lose track of the ultimate value you’re building [39:42] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-robinson-20b2664b/ ➡️ More about Improbable: https://www.improbable.io/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 🤝Explore Hidden Pages: For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience. We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We don’t just recruit for mission alignment, but for mission obsession. You can spot a mission obsessed person from a mile away - they almost can’t contain it within them.” In this week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we talk about all things hiring - the importance of getting hiring right and how hiring for values can help with that. In almost every conversation we have with Founders, hiring is referenced as a real pain point and something that’s difficult to get right but can be detrimental for a Startup when you get it wrong. Throughout today’s episode we’ll hear the best hiring advice from some of our previous 40 Minute Mentors, including: ➡️ Wing Chan, Co-Founder & CEO of Sourceful ➡️ Tessa Clarke, Co-Founder & CEO of OLIO ➡️ Margot de Broglie, Co-Founder of Your Juno ➡️ Rachael Twumasi-Corson, the Founder & CEO of Afrocenchix ➡️ Dan Garrett, Co-Founder & CEO of Farewill ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Write what you know. Two black girls from South London wrote a book that resonates with 1000s of people around the world.” In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Elizabeth Uviebinené, the multi-award-winning author, columnist at The Financial Times, and Founder of Storia. After starting her career in marketing, Elizabeth went on to publish five books, including her debut Bestseller ‘Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible’ which won many awards and was critically acclaimed. Now, Elizabeth has stepped into the Founder world, with her new exciting Startup, Storia - the first app dedicated to guided mindful writing to help you develop new perspectives, gain clarity and understand yourself better. In today’s episode, we chat about: ➡️ Why sometimes it’s not your job to convince other people of your work [04:26] ➡️ How growing up without her mum shaped her [08:01] ➡️ Why she started out in a corporate marketing job [09:57] ➡️ The ways in which she was treated differently at work and how that turned into ‘Slay In Your Lane’ [12:21] ➡️ Becoming an author and what she’s most proud of [16:37] ➡️ Why inclusion & equality needs to be championed by leadership teams [21:03] ➡️ The inspiration behind ‘The Reset’ and easy steps to look after your wellbeing [23:56] ➡️ Why aspiring authors should focus on writing what they know [34:31] ➡️ Why she’s building Storia and what her experience as a first-time Founder has taught her so far [38:21] ➡️ What to expect from Storia [42:46] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Elizabeth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-uviebinene/ ➡️ Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38202269-slay-in-your-lane ➡️ The Reset: Ideas To Change How We Work: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57094682-the-reset?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=JZzmmgH23r&rank=1 ➡️ More about Storia: https://storia-app.webflow.io/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The beauty of a portfolio career is that it gives you lots of flexibility and variety. And that’s been the number one reason a lot of people are choosing this path.” In this bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we discuss a topic which has increasingly become more popular amongst our candidates - portfolio careers. You’ll find out: ➡️ Why this has become such an interesting option for high-performing talent and an attractive solution for clients alike ➡️ The factors to keep in mind before you start building your portfolio career ➡️ Why it might not be the right career for you ➡️ How JBM SOS is connecting fractional talent with more flexible opportunities Plus, we talk about our exciting new partnership with Career Paths, a mentorship platform, on a mission to make mentorship more accessible and provide an easy way for industry leaders to pay it forward. Find out more about Career Paths here: https://careerpaths.io/ ⭐ Enjoyed this episode? ⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I’ve been rejected by every ideal university I imagined I wanted to go to, at least 50 jobs I interviewed for and by 130 VC funds in fundraising so far.” In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by James Lo, Co-Founder and CEO of Mana - the app designed to help everyone make a living by sharing their passion. James started his entrepreneurial journey early, founding an educational social enterprise at the age of 16, before following a more traditional Founder path of consulting at McKinsey and time at the VC SoftBank Vision Fund. His latest venture, Mana, have been on an incredible journey, including an impressive £1.5 million pre-seed funding round, led by Flash Ventures and Global Founders Capital. Today, we find out more about James’s journey with Mana and beyond, including: ➡️ His upbringing in Hong Kong and the inspiration for his first social enterprise [05:09] ➡️ The importance of a sustainable business model [09:07] ➡️ Why he turned down his university offers and went protesting instead [12:49] ➡️ The crucial skills he learned at McKinsey [17:46] ➡️ His window into WeWork through his time at SoftBank Vision Found [21:44] ➡️ The story behind Mana [25:17] ➡️ Why the initial concept of Mana failed and what he learned from it [30:33] ➡️ The key components for getting a pivot right [35:42] ➡️ How to responsibly let people go [40:20] ➡️ Mana’s culture and what James looks for when hiring [44:53] ➡️ His funding experience [48:44] ➡️ Why VC is in need of some fundamental changes [51:38] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yfjameslo/ ➡️ More about Mana: https://mana.live/qr?shortlink=1asclcd4&is_retargeting=true&pid=QR_code 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Within 24 hours, we said goodbye to all our corporate partners and set off on a new path.” In this week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we chat more about the pivot that turned JBM into the search firm it is today. James Mitra, Founder of JBM and Host of 40 Minute Mentor, talks us through why he decided to pivot the business, the drastic decision he had to make and why transparency, empathy and mentorship were so crucial to the success of the pivot. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Even CEOs have those moments of doubt and vulnerability. I continually have to work on making sure that I'm balancing the journey with enjoying the journey.” This week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode features Simone Maini, CEO of Elliptic, a FinTech helping businesses make the crypto economy a safe place to transact and invest by managing financial crime in crypto. Having had the pleasure of working with Elliptic and Simone on some key senior hires into their growing team, we’ve seen firsthand what a great culture they’re building. Today, we’ll find out: ➡️ The doubt and vulnerability that comes with being a CEO [03:25] ➡️ Her squiggly path to becoming CEO [05:05] ➡️ The skills needed to transition from COO to CEO [08:21] ➡️ Why Elliptic’s mission was so compelling and how she adapted to the complex nature of the industry [12:53] ➡️ How she managed to overcome her imposter syndrome after not having had any industry experience before joining Elliptic [16:28] ➡️ What makes Elliptic’s culture so special [19:28] ➡️ Simone’s candid advice for any aspiring and first time CEOs [24:18] ➡️ Why it doesn’t have to be lonely at the top [28:13] ➡️ Her highlights from Elliptic’s hypergrowth journey and what their next chapter looks like [36:50] ➡️ What needs to happen to level the playing field in the industry and the steps Elliptic are taking to attract more diverse talent [42:00] ➡️ What the future of crypto looks like [44:52] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Simone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-maini/ ➡️ More about Elliptic: https://www.elliptic.co/ ➡️ More advice for COOs: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9Z5v0dwtFJBgzci-62Z40woc6yp1-7A6 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There is nothing wrong with doubting yourself. Having a bit of self doubt is good, because it means you’re constantly trying to improve, grow and evolve.” In this week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we tackle a topic that is often discussed amongst Founders and leaders - imposter syndrome. Having experienced imposter syndrome on many occasions over the last 10 years of leading JBM, our host James Mitra shares some of the advice that has helped him to push through self doubt. Plus, we hear again from two previous 40 Minute Mentors - Michelle You of Supercritical and Amelia Sordell of Klowt, and their own experience with imposter syndrome. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Michelle You’s 40 Minute Mentor episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/from-exiting-songkick-to-tackling-the-climate-crisis-with-supercriticals-michelle-you/ ➡️ Amelia Sordell’s 40 Minute Mentor episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/the-power-of-personal-branding-with-amelia-sordell-founder-of-klowt/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you're not in a situation where you can safely take a year or two to start your own business, you probably shouldn't do it.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Job van der Voort, Co-Founder and CEO of Remote, the FinTech empowering companies of all sizes to pay and manage workers in 50+ countries all over the world. Having always had a desire to start his own business, Job joined GitLab early on in their journey and spent 5 years with them growing the business, before setting up Remote. And what an incredible journey Job and his Co-Founder, Marcelo Lebre have been on - having scaled from 2 to 800 employees in just 3 years, all of course, entirely remotely. Job gave us a real insight into his journey as a Founder, with all the ups and downs that came with it, in today’s episode. We chat about: ➡️ What it was like to scale GitLab, before remote working was considered as a viable option in many industries [04:50] ➡️ The challenges of being up against a much bigger and better funded competitor [07:13] ➡️ Where the inspiration for Remote came from [09:47] ➡️ Job’s advice for anyone thinking about starting their own business and how you can easily test your business idea, even today [13:07] ➡️ How Remote evolved over the years and what some of the biggest challenges were along the way [17:08] ➡️ Remote’s fundraising experience and Job’s advice for any Founders looking to raise investment [20:09] ➡️ The lessons from scaling the team from 2 to 800 and why everyone in the room needs to understand how to interview effectively [24:57] ➡️ How to build an effective and inclusive onboarding process [31:03] ➡️ Why kindness sits at the core of Remote’s team culture [34:29] ➡️ How remote work is really about the freedom to choose an alternative and what the future of work may look like [37:47] ➡️ Why Job avoids meetings as much as he can [41:41] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Job: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobvo/ ➡️ More about Remote: https://remote.com/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When your values are so set and embedded in what you do, then anything that doesn’t line up with them, is a ‘No’.” This 40 Minute Mentor episode, is the live recording we were honoured to host at this year’s Sifted Summit in London. Our panel discussion was all about putting purpose over profit and accelerating impact - a topic that has gained a lot of traction over the last years. Gone are the days in which top talent are looking to go into Banking, Consulting or Investing. Now the best of the best are on a mission to find companies and Founders with a strong purpose, to really make a difference in the world. And there are so many truly purpose driven Founders out there, many of which we’ve had the great pleasure of featuring on 40 Minute Mentor, including today’s panel, for which we were joined by: ➡️ Emma Steele, Partner at Ascension, an early-stage VC built by exited entrepreneurs to back the next generation of tech and impact Founders. ➡️ Amali de Alwis, CEO of Subak, the world’s first not-for-profit accelerator that scales climate impact through data, policy and behaviour change. ➡️ Nikki Wicks, CEO of The Body Coach, the popular fitness brand behind Joe Wicks, on a mission to get people moving and live a healthier life. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There's a very long list of these iconic companies that actually weren't started by first time Founders.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Ian Hogarth, a hugely accomplished Entrepreneur, Angel Investor and Co-Founder of Plural Platform, an exciting new early-stage platform dedicated to investing in Europe’s next generation of tech companies with global ambitions. If you’ve been listening to 40 Minute Mentor for a while, you may recognise Ian’s name from a previous episode, in which we were joined by one of his former Songkick Co-Founders, Michelle You. Ian served as Songkick’s CEO for 8 years, scaling the business to $100m in sales and 120 employees, before eventually exiting to Warner Music Group. It was such a privilege to have Ian join us on the podcast and share so much great mentorship, including: ➡️ How he found his passion for creating something new [05:09] ➡️ How this passion led him to create Songkick [08:16] ➡️ The many lessons he learned as a first time CEO and why external mentorship was such a crucial part of his journey [11:09] ➡️ Why you shouldn’t hire people who can’t be replaced and why some hires can completely change your business [14:29] ➡️ How his experience with loss influenced his decision to step away from Songkick and the important lessons this has taught him [19:13] ➡️ Why he jumped back in the Founder seat and the mission behind Plural [24:42] ➡️ Why Plural isn’t following a VC model and what changes it’ll drive in Europe [28:16] ➡️ What it really takes to be an incredible Founder [32:52] ➡️ The types of businesses he’s personally looking to invest in [36:44] ➡️ His advice for any diverse Founders looking for investment and the importance of mapping out the investors you’re going to approach [38:48] ➡️ Plural’s north star and the plan to get there [40:58] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Ian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhogarth/ ➡️ More about Plural Platform: https://pluralplatform.com/ ➡️ Songkick Co-Founder, Michelle You’s episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/from-exiting-songkick-to-tackling-the-climate-crisis-with-supercriticals-michelle-you/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The more we talk about mental health, the more we normalise it and hopefully help save lives.” This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is ‘making mental health and wellbeing a global priority for all’ - something we’ve spoken about a lot on 40 Minute Mentor over the years. Whether it’s our mental health panel discussions, the day to day lived experience of mental health of the Founders we chat to, or purpose-driven Founders like James Routlegde, who is empowering people to connect with themselves and the world around them through coaching and community with Sanctus - making mental health a topic that is more openly talked about, has always been a core driver for our podcast. Today’s bite-sized episode gets a bit more personal. Our host and JBM Founder, James Mitra talks more about his own journey with his mental health as a Founder and shares some of the valuable advice he’s received over the years. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] For more mental health resources: ➡️ Mental Health Foundation – https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk ➡️ The Samaritans can be reached on 116 123 ➡️ And for local help and support, call the Mind Infoline at 0300 123 3393 or text 86463 ➡️ Our 40 Minute Mentor Mental Health Roundtable conversation: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/encouraging-conversations-about-mental-health/ ➡️ 40 Minute Mentor James Routledge from Sanctus: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/putting-the-first-mental-health-gym-on-the-high-street-with-james-routledge/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If we’re trying to say that the only way to find answers and the only way to fund climate issues is through equity based investment, it’s just not going to work. It doesn’t suit every type of business.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Amali de Alwis, CEO of Subak, the world’s first not-for-profit accelerator that scales climate impact through data, policy and behaviour change. Prior to joining the team at Subak, Amali was Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups UK and CEO of Code First: Girls. Amali is a woman of many talents who wears many hats, including being a Board member at Ada National College for Digital Skills and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It was a great honour to have Amali join us on the podcast and she shares some really insightful mentorship, including: ➡️ What her nonlinear career has taught her and why changing careers frequently can have positive effects on your trajectory [05:46] ➡️ How she landed her first CEO role [12:39] ➡️ Amali’s journey with Code First: Girls and the milestones she’s most proud of [16:22] ➡️ What the tech industry needs to do to level the playing field and make it more accessible for women and especially women from underrepresented backgrounds [20:41] ➡️ Why you just need to get started if you’re looking to get into tech [26:06] ➡️ Subak’s incredible mission and why Amali got involved [28:19] ➡️ What Founders can expect from the accelerator [32:16] ➡️ Why equity based investment can simply not be the only solution to tackle climate challenges [34:42] ➡️ Why we all need to start understanding the data behind climate change [36:32] ➡️ The importance of having a strong board of advisors [39:17] ➡️ How Amali juggles her many responsibilities and why being a board advisor makes her a better CEO [41:51] 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 📅 Join us at the Sifted Summit! We’ll be recording a 40 Minute Mentor panel discussion at this year’s Sifted Summit in London, on Thursday, October 6th. To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREE for your Startup ticket on www.summit.sifted.eu ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Sometimes you can use difficult times to come up with incredible new ideas. It’s a great opportunity to get your team to think creatively and empower them to come to you with suggestions and try new things. It's probably going to be pretty scrappy, but you never know, it might just be the making of your business.” In this week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we talk about navigating challenging times, as a Founder and business leader. James reflects on the pandemic and shares some of the best advice he’s received over the years and some insights into how he’s applied the advice during difficult times for JBM, including: ➡️ Increasing your transparency and communication with the team [1:43] ➡️ Leila Zegna’s advice on reminding yourself of what you can and can’t control [3:20] ➡️ The importance of having a great board of advisors and mentors [5:18] ➡️ And why this could be a great time for you to innovate and come up with new ideas for your business [6:27] 📅 Join us at The Sifted Summit! We’ll be recording a 40 Minute Mentor panel discussion at this year’s Sifted Summit in London, on Thursday, October 6th. To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREE for your General Admissions ticket on https://sifted-summit-2022.reg.buzz/splash 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It's really demotivating in the early days to keep building, keep building but nothing seems to happen. You need tenacity and planning skills to get you through that.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Sho Sugihara, Founder and CEO of Pave, the FinTech-for-good helping customers improve their credit score and history with bill monitoring and credit building. Sho started his career working with NGOs around the world, driven by the desire to build a world free of financial inequality which led him to start Pave, out of Entrepreneur First in 2017. In this episode, we learn more about his brilliant journey with Pave alongside his candid advice and mentorship for any aspiring Founders, including: ➡️ How his education has shaped him into the leader he is today [04:50] ➡️ Where Sho got his entrepreneurial spirit from and why he went into consulting before starting Pave [07:05] ➡️ The most difficult part of switching from a consulting mindset to a Founder mindset [13:48] ➡️ How becoming a Deliveroo driver shaped the early days of Pave [16:05] ➡️ How the business has evolved since and why it’s so important to evolve your product with the market climate [19:58] ➡️ How Pave have shifted from a pure B2C product to a B2B offering [25:27] ➡️ The importance of getting the hiring of your leadership team right [28:09] ➡️ Why tenacity and conviction will set you apart as a Founder in tougher economic times [30:44] ➡️ Small but meaningful things we can all do to improve our financial health [32:25] ➡️ Why Founders need to think about their bigger purpose before starting a business [34:32] ➡️ How Sho’s own leadership style has evolved over the years and his own battles with imposter syndrome [38:09] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Sho: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoalexander/ ➡️ More about Pave: https://www.paveapp.com/ ➡️More about the Unrest Accelerator: https://www.unrest.world/ 📅 Join us at the Sifted Summit! We’ll be recording a 40 Minute Mentor panel discussion at this year’s Sifted Summit in London, on Thursday, October 6th. To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREE for your General Administration ticket on https://sifted-summit-2022.reg.buzz/splash 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

40 Minute Mentor LIVE and in person! We’re attending Sifted Summit on Thursday, October 6th, to record a live panel discussion with some of the most inspiring purpose-driven Founders and Investors. If you haven’t heard of Sifted Summit before, it’s the Startup event of the year, bringing startup Europe under one roof with new perspectives, new opportunities and new chances to collaborate. Our 40 Minute Mentor session at 2pm on the Thursday will be all about ‘Purpose Over Profit’ and will feature an amazing panel, including: ➡️ Amali de Alwis, CEO of Subak ➡️ Dr. Anna Hushlak, Co-founder and CSO of Ferly ➡️ Emma Steele, Partner at Ascension ➡️ Nikki Wicks, CEO of The Body Coach Listen to today’s episode to learn a bit more about why this is such a relevant topic, who has already championed purpose-driven businesses on the podcast and why more and more candidates are looking to join purpose-driven businesses. 📅 Secure your free ticket! To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREE for a General Attendee ticket on https://sifted-summit-2022.reg.buzz/splash 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The biggest shift in the candidate market is that people care just as much about how they work as what they do.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Molly Johnson-Jones, Co-Founder and CEO of Flexa. Flexa is a global directory of verified flexible companies that lists companies by vacancies and flexibility percentage scores, benchmarked against thousands of data points. We’re proud partners of Flexa and were ‘flexified’ earlier in 2022. That’s why we were so excited to catch up with Molly on the podcast, share her story and the incredible journey Flexa have been on. Molly shares some truly candid insights into her own journey and the future of flexible working, including: ➡️Her unfair dismissal from investment banking and how she bounced back after [06:43] ➡️Why she started Flexa and how it works for candidates and employers [14:36] ➡️ The hardest parts of being a first-time Founder [18:33] ➡️ Why investing in your mental health is so important [20:00] ➡️ Her advice for any aspiring Founders [22:23] ➡️ What it’s like to found a business with your partner and why it held them back when raising funding [24:31] ➡️ Why flexibility means choice and how employers can embrace flexible working [31:33] ➡️ The cases in which stripping back flexibility can be beneficial [33:48] ➡️ How employers can attract more talent in a very competitive market [36:31] ➡️ What do the next 5 to 10 years of flexible working look like [40:53] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Molly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-johnson-jones/ ➡️ More about Flexa: https://flexa.careers/ ➡️ JBM on Flexa: https://flexa.careers/companies/jbm 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 📅 Join us at the Sifted Summit! We’ll be recording a 40 Minute Mentor panel discussion at this year’s Sifted Summit in London, on Thursday, October 6th. To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREE for a Startup ticket on on www.summit.sifted.eu ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We’ve really found that added flexibility has been an amazing way to attract talent, retain talent, and give everybody a chance to work in a way they want to work.” In this week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, we talk about all things flexible working and the way in which we’ve implemented more flexible ways of working here at JBM. We touch on the various benefits we introduced to the JBM team over the past 12 months, what’s been working the best and the lessons we learned along the way. Whether you’d like to find out more about how you can benefit as an employer or you’d just like some candid insights into what is working and what isn’t when it comes to flexible working at JBM - there’s something for everyone in this bite-sized episode. 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Entrepreneurship is a process of natural selection. You can't ever guarantee that the playbook you're going to follow is going to guarantee success.” In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Graham Hobson, the Founder of Photobox, a photo printing company that acquired Moonpig and was later sold for a reported £400 million. Today, Graham is an angel investor, mentor and advisor, working to support climate change initiatives, fairer tax and social impact. In this episode, Graham shares candid insights into the brilliant journey he’s taken Photobox on and the chapter that followed, including: ➡️ How Graham’s upbringing and natural inclination to not follow a traditional path has brought him to entrepreneurship [07:54] ➡️ Why social mobility played a huge part into the leader he is today [09:37] ➡️ How Photobox was created on Graham’s commute to and from work and what the early years were like [11:58] ➡️ How Graham and his Co-Founder Mark navigated the bumpy growth journey Photobox was on [18:38] ➡️ Graham’s candid advice for anyone looking to merge businesses [23:37] ➡️ How he transitioned from CEO to CTO and the challenges that came with that [26:56] ➡️ Why Photobox acquired Moonpig and what exiting the business was like for him [30:11] ➡️ Why it didn’t take a long time for Graham to get back into work after exiting Photobox and his advice for any Founders preparing for their exit [34:12] ➡️ Graham’s involvement in driving for higher taxes for the Wealthy and why this is a topic so close to his heart [40:58] ➡️ What Founders should keep in mind as they navigate the economic downturn and impending recession [47:52] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Graham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamhobson ➡️ More about Photobox: https://www.photobox.co.uk/ 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. Pacaso - a co-ownership platform for luxury homes. Picasso curates stunning holiday homes in top vacation destinations around the world. Find out more over on https://www.pacaso.com/ 📅 Join us at the Sifted Summit! We’ll be recording a 40 Minute Mentor panel discussion at this year’s Sifted Summit in London, on Thursday, October 6th. To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREEE on on www.summit.sifted.eu ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There are so many opportunities out there for Founders. If you decide to step away, I can promise you there will be lots of people that will want to hire you.” This week’s bite-sized 40 Minute Mentor episode, is all about knowing when to stay as a Founder and when to exit - something we talk a lot about with Founders, including in our upcoming episode with Graham Hobson. Over the next 4 minutes, James shares his insights on what Founders need to think about when deciding whether to transition to CEO or stepping away to pastures new and the many opportunities that lie ahead for exited Founders. 💙A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more. 📅Join us at the Sifted Summit! We’ll be recording a 40 Minute Mentor panel discussion at this year’s Sifted Summit in London, on Thursday, October 6th. To join us at the event and a chance to ask your questions during our live recording, claim one of our 40 FREE tickets, by redeeming the code: 40MMFREEE on on www.summit.sifted.eu ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Plus, if you have any questions you’d like us to answer in our bite-sized Monday episodes, please get in touch with Hannah at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices