Entrepreneurship and Leadership

In this podcast, Matthew talks about his late entry into entrepreneurship, taking advantage of opportunities that emerged as Kindle offered a new way to distribute books. In his career as a journalist with well known business publications he enjoyed talking to entrepreneurs, even having his editor turn down his pitch to interview Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Starting a business was something he had always been open to, but journalism came first until quite late in life. He shares how his initial idea of publishing short-form books from well-known authors pivoted into the bigger opportunity of publishing back catalogues. Matthew describes how and why larger publishers missed the boat due to conservative pricing and a feeling that ebooks might just "go away." He discusses the importance of a "problem-solving mindset," persistence, and being ready to hustle. We learn what being a fiction author has in common with being an entrepreneur, and how crucial it is to handle and manage rejection. Matthew also delves into his path to an exit, the loyalty he felt to his authors and staff, and the challenges of management and leadership. He particularly highlights the learning process of dealing with the fact that the founder is often more motivated than the people they hire. Links relevant to the interview. Matthew's books Death Force series Lume Books  Joffe Books - acquired by Lume Books Matthew's Bio Daily Telegraph - columnist - 2013-2024 Money Week - columnist - 2008-2024 Bloomberg - columnist - 1999-2012 The Sunday Times - Reporter and columnist - 1992-2000 Business magazine - reported - 1988-1991 Asiaweek, Hong Kong - 1986-1988 Financial Adviser magazine - 1985-1986 Founder - Lume Books - 2013- 2023 Author Death Force - Hodder Headline - 2010 Fireforce - Hodder Headline - 2011 Shadow Force - Hodder Headline - 2012 Ice Force - Hodder Headline - 2013 Insecurity - Random House - 1997 The Watchmen - Random House - 1999 Education: Balliol College, Oxford. Politics, Philosophy & Economics. Richard Lucas's TEDx talk on Opportunity Readiness and on Why everyone should embrace rejection Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard interviews BBC Journalist Dougal Shaw about his book CEO Secrets based on the BBC Series CEO secrets in which he interviewed 100s of CEOs. When Dougal first began as a business journalist at BBC, he wasn't particularly interested in the topic. Prior to his new career, he was training for doctorate in history. He began creating content for social media, interviewing CEOs who found themselves in the BBC offices. He then shifted to producing miniseries, talking to different CEOs every single week. Dougal has taken years of interviews and analyzed them for patterns in the lives and behaviors of CEOs. The pattern that stood out most was the difference between CEOs who founded their own company, and CEOs who hadn't, what Dougal refers to as “corporate climbers.” The founders were brasher, more prone to extemporaneous speech, and sometimes quite eccentric. Meanwhile, the corporate climbers were highly-prepared and behaved like participants in a job interview. He also noticed certain traits among the younger founders. Many of them, reassuringly, appeared to be wise beyond their years. This early maturity was frequently catalyzed by a traumatic event in their family like divorce or death. Entrepreneurship for some became like a coping strategy. It was something they could throw themselves into at an early age. Dougal also discusses the challenges of interviewing CEOs, especially when they bring along their PR teams to coach them. Getting past the censors is one his goals, especially when his agenda differs from the CEO's. Dougal views himself as somewhat of a psychologist, attempting to coax real and authentic answers out of his interviewees. The best answers for the audience are ones that surprise, not boilerplate jargon.  As well as focussing on ideas in the book they discuss who he would have liked to interview, and what Dougal is going to do next. They were introduced by Peter Cowley, whose extraordinary story was featured on the NBN a few months ago here, or go to to the Public Success Private Grief website here  Listeners can get get a 25% discount if they use the code ‘CEO25' on the Bloomsbury website here Get the latest on the CEO Secrets series by subscribing to the newsletter CEO Secrets is now out as a book! Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode Richard interviews not an entrepreneur but a business journalist with detailed knowledge of the Polish and British business landscape from the perspective of someone who has helped facilitate business between Poland and the United Kingdom in both directions. Listeners will learn of examples of Polish entrepreneurs acquiring British companies post-Brexit, and hear a discussion of whether the next generation of Poles will be as hungry for success as the first generation of post communist entrepreneurs. Michael Dembinski, born in London to Polish émigré parents, studied at Warwick University and The City University London; worked at the CBI, for nine years as editor of monthly magazine CBI News, before moving to Poland with his young family in 1997. In Poland he worked on several publishing projects before setting down with the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, where he's been for over 20 years. Since 2007, Michael has been blogging about Poland and matters metaphysical on his blog, W-wa Jeziorki. Linkedin  British Polish Chamber of Commerce Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard and Kimon speak with Faisal Kanji, co-founder of hungerhub, an innovative catering company. Based in Canada, hungerhub combines the quality of traditional catering with the convenience of a delivery service like UberEats.  With typical business or party catering, companies and planners will order communal trays from a single restaurant. This is often unsanitary and inconvenient, especially for those with dietary restrictions and allergies. With hungerhub, each attendee receives a log-in ahead of time where they can select customized meals from restaurants of their choice. Hungerhub compiles these orders together and handles delivery and logistics.  Founded in 2018, hungerhub has grown considerably, generating over $10 million CAD in revenue this past year with 30 employees. Part of what makes hungerhub different than UberEats or other delivery services, is the ability to plan ahead to minimize the number of drivers required to complete a delivery. Instead of needing 100 drivers for 100 different meals, hungerhub is able to serve 100 meals with just a few drivers.  Currently available only in the English-speaking parts of Canada, hungerhub is looking to expand internationally. Faisal discusses the challenges of international expansion, especially into the United States. He highlights the competitive nature of American market and the significant amount of research required to launch there. Faisal speaks on balancing growth versus stability. He wants hungerhub to grow, but most importantly, he wants it to grow in a way that maintains quality.  Also in the interview, Faisal describes how he met his co-founder, Sari Abdo, on Angel List. Sari already had the idea and was looking for a partner to help implement. Part of the idea arose from seeing the common practice of free lunches offered by tech companies. In Toronto, most tech companies did not offer this perk, so Faisal and Sari saw an opportunity to find an affordable solution.  Faisal also talks about the importance of their first client. This client provided significant and “tough” feedback, which helped them improve their methods and rethink issues quickly. Great clients that are willing to constructively criticize can be essential for businesses as they try to grow and solve issues that might not be obvious. To find their first clients, Faisal and Sari went about cold-calling and showing up in person to pitch their product to companies. Once they started getting clients to agree to trial periods, they ensured that they were generating efficiencies beyond how companies were already going about lunch catering.  Faisal's journey to running hungerhub was years in the making. At an early age, he worked in restaurants. When he turned 18, he got his real estate license and began selling. He then opened and ran a coffee distribution business, which taught him many of the lessons he would need to run hungerhub. Towards the end of the conversation, Faisal talks about his competitive nature and how he stays motivated. He's a true entrepreneur in both spirit and deed. Faisal Kanji is co-founder of hungerhub, a Canadian-based catering solutions business. Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses. Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard and Kimon recently interviewed Gonçalo Consiglieri, the co-founder of Visor.ai, a company specializing in AI and automation solutions for customer service teams. Initially focused on chatbots customized for specific industries, Visor.ai has evolved into a prominent player in the field. Before venturing into entrepreneurship, Gonçalo worked as a consultant, adapting to the corporate structure. However, driven by a desire for a new path, he left Deloitte to establish his first company in Portugal. Facing a less robust entrepreneurial community initially, Gonçalo witnessed its growth over time. Notably, Gonçalo and his co-founders faced the setback of a failed first company. Undeterred, they chose to persevere as business partners, leveraging the lessons learned for a second attempt. Gonçalo attributes part of their success to a shared passion for the same soccer team and the resilience gained from previous defeats. Mostly boot-strapped, Visor.ai also secured small rounds of investment from public sources in the EU and various startup incubators. The company, now with around 30 business clients, serves major entities such as the largest private bank in Portugal and a significant insurance company. Visor.ai specializes in creating automated chat tools, both utilizing existing market tools and developing proprietary ones. While currently focused on the Portuguese market, Visor.ai aims to expand into the Spanish market in the coming year, emphasizing growth and investing in operational expansion. In the interview, Gonçalo shares insights into his childhood, highlighting his entrepreneurial grandfather as a major inspiration. Despite success in consulting, Gonçalo felt the importance of carving his own path. As an executive of a company with approximately 60 employees, Gonçalo emphasizes the challenges of ensuring alignment. Delegating responsibility and offering stock options to high-performing employees are crucial aspects of his management strategy. He discusses the enjoyable and challenging aspects of executive roles. Offering advice on finding investors, Gonçalo suggests avoiding "make or break" funding situations. He values investors who contribute not just financially but also help connect Visor.ai with new customers and experienced business professionals. Knowledgeable investors play a crucial role, especially when expanding into new markets like Brazil. Gonçalo advocates for embracing failure, viewing it as a valuable lesson. He stresses that solving problems is the key to entrepreneurial success, emphasizing the importance of humility in the face of challenges. Gonçalo Consiglieri is the COO and co-founder of Visor.ai, bringing over a decade of expertise to the team. Holding an MBA from Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, he previously worked as a Management Consultant at Deloitte and KPMG, specializing in Banking and Insurance where he also had an active role in launching two new banks in Africa. For the past six years, he has been overseeing the financial and operational aspects of the venture initiated with co-founders Gianluca Pereyra and Bruno Matias. Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses. Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard and Kimon talk to Peter Cowley, angel investor and author of the book, Public Success, Private Grief. Peter started his career as a software engineer, moving to Germany after graduating from college. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1984, where he embarked on a career as an entrepreneur. He's started over a dozen companies, worked closely with 7 different charities, and angel-invested in over 70 companies. Peter also has late-stage cancer, launching Project Cancer to document his experience and increase awareness. Now 68, Peter was recently diagnosed with a type of lung cancer that affects non-smokers and is difficult to detect. Peter does not expect that current treatment will be effective, and is dedicating much of his remaining time to passing on the life lessons he's learned. Peter's bravery in the face of terrible illness is most visible in vulnerability talking about the challenges he's faced in life.  Too often in the world of entrepreneurship and business, people downplay their struggles. Peter is an example of a business person with a holistic worldview, recognizing that there is more to life than mere monetary rewards.  Through Project Cancer, Peter documents his own experience with cancer. He's featured interviews with researchers, and his personal oncologist, and examined the UK's healthcare system, the NHS.  In Public Success, Private Grief, Peter opens up about more than just his ongoing struggle with cancer. He also discusses his family life, including bravely sharing his experience of losing two children. Peter is also a recovering alcoholic, having a family history of addiction.  Along with his wife, Peter wrote Public Success, Private Grief to show how people can process experiences of extreme tragedy and still maintain love and a sense of optimism about the positive aspects of life.  Peter has created a 350-day plan of the things he wants to do while he is still able. Public Success, Private Grief is slated for publication on April 17, 2024. Much of his time will serve in the release and promotion of this deeply personal self-help memoir.  In addition, Peter is planning a trip to Antarctica and has begun arranging short one-on-ones with various close friends. Some of his plans include taking a stand-up comedy course and eating at Michelin-star restaurants.  Peter describes the medical regimes he's undertaken, highlighting how through his treatment, he's remained active. Peter has run and half marathon and gotten married in the Galapagos. While many people suffering from a terminal illness might become less active, Peter credits his entrepreneurial taste for measured risk as an inspiration to keep living life fully.  Truly a one of a kind, Peter is unlike any guest Richard and Kimon have ever had on the Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast. He has managed to turn his adversities into strengths, portraying the messy realities of life to contribute more value to others.  Preorder Public Success, Private Grief About Peter Cowley Invested Investor Invested Investor on the New Books Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Kimon and Richard speak with Philipp Legner, founder of educational software Mathigon. After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Mathematics, Philipp worked as a software engineer and developer at Bloomberg.  In 2017, Philipp founded Mathigon, which was acquired by Amplify in 2021. Philipp continues to run Mathigon under the aegis of Amplify.  Mathigon has developed several educational products. The overarching experience that ties them together is an interactive one. As students engage with different problems, they are prompted to explore different avenues. The courses are intended to be fun and interesting, and to engage students as much as possible.  All of the content on Mathigon is completely free to use. One of the main throughlines is to make math exploration visual and creatively engaging. In addition to Philipp's insights into education, he has worked with educators to develop different aspects of the curriculum offered by Mathigon. Mathigon seeks to educate based on students' interests. So, if a student is interested in sports, questions will use sports examples.  Because Mathigon is free to use, its primary source of revenue comes from licensing content to other educational companies. IBM, for example, licensed Mathigon. Part of the business plan, which Philipp successively executed, was to build the product as an acquisition target for a larger educational company.  While Philipp loves education, technology, and building products, he does not love running a business. This was part of the main motivation for selling his company to Amplify. His only condition for the sale was Mathigon, as it existed at the time of signing, would remain free forever.  Philipp Legner is VP at Amplify and Founder of Mathigon. Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses. Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard and Kimon speak with Oliver Webb-Carter, co-founder and editor of Aspects of History, a magazine and website that showcases great writing and research in history and historical fiction.  Prior to starting Aspects of History, Oliver had a varied career as an archaeologist and a banker. As a young man, Oliver worked at a dig site in Belize for six months, which helped shape his interest in the past.  In 2002, just after graduate school, Oliver got a job working in IT at JP Morgan. He loved IT and worked in this department until 2010. He moved into change management, helping intra-company contract negotiations. After, he worked in controls management, an important compliance department. He never worked in trading, but had significant experience in many parts of banking world.  In 2010, he started taking night classes, learning Ancient Greek. Oliver found himself growing disinterested in his day job, regularly waking up at 3am unable to get back to sleep. After a few more years, Oliver began to explore other ideas for work.  As a fan of history, Oliver saw that authors had difficulty promoting their works beyond initial book launches. He points out that publishers are increasingly less interested in promoting their authors. To help with this problem, Oliver co-founded Aspects of History. Aspects of History is subscription-based, and the main purpose is to introduce readers to great historians and their new books. Every year, Aspects of History publishes 6 issues with articles, interviews, and reviews.  Oliver also discusses the challenges that came with quitting a stable, well-paying job to pursue his passion. He discusses his wife's support, and how this was integral to making the entrepreneurial leap. At the end of the interview, Oliver talks about the future for Aspects of History and plans for growth. Oliver Webb-Carter is co-founder and editor of Aspects of History. Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses. Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard and Kimon speak with James Green, one of the co-founders of DQ Ventures, a company that assists experienced professionals launch their own businesses. Originally hailing from Northampton, England, James now lives in Sweden. During his earlier years, James didn't show much interest in business; his passions lay in art and writing. However, as he got older, he realized that entrepreneurship was a fantastic way to express his creativity. Following his college education, he rose to the role of managing director at a creative agency in the UK. However, in 2009, at the age of 33, he decided to become an angel investor. While he did have some successful investments, he gained his most valuable lessons from a failed venture that cost him $2 million. This setback taught him crucial insights about what not to do in business. James now advises against three key pitfalls: (1) getting carried away with one's own success, (2) building a product before understanding the market demand, and (3) failing to network and learn from others in the industry. Overcoming these challenges made James a more thoughtful investor and entrepreneur. With DQ Ventures, James and his partners follow a strategic approach to launching new businesses. They start by identifying a product that people want to buy before creating it. Once they find the right partner, they work together to refine a compelling business idea. Once the entrepreneurial journey begins, they develop a solid business plan based on thorough market research and other methods. James emphasizes the importance of scrutinizing the idea and pinpointing the first ten potential customers. They then seek out these customers, gather feedback, and integrate it into the product development process. During the initial year of supporting the entrepreneur, DQ Ventures provides starting capital and incubation services. If the business shows promise after this period, DQ leads a seed funding round, and the entrepreneurial partner is expected to leave their current job and work on the venture full-time. At the moment, DQ Ventures is involved with 13 companies, six of which have secured seed funding. In his day-to-day role, James serves as the co-founder for around a dozen companies, taking on various tasks, from conducting user interviews to raising funds. Additionally, DQ Ventures has developed educational modules to guide founders through the entrepreneurial journey. Towards the end of the interview, James, Kimon, and Richard emphasize the significance of finding excellent mentors and connecting with individuals who can provide valuable insights on running a successful business. James Green is co-founder of DQ Ventures. DQventures de-risks entrepreneurship for professionals who want to start their own business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Richard and Kimon interview Simon Stanisz, the co-founder of The NorthStar Consulting Group. Simon is a sales expert who has recently shifted his focus to non-profit work. Simon's early exposure to entrepreneurship came from his family's small businesses in the Polish mountains, with his uncle serving as a significant source of inspiration due to his tenacity and commitment to education. At just 16, Simon began assisting his uncle at trade show stands, igniting his passion for business. His initial work experience involved selling educational books and website subscriptions door-to-door in the United States, covering the American Midwest and South. This experience honed his sales skills as he had to quickly gain the trust of strangers to make successful pitches. Simon also delves into his decision to pursue consulting over a traditional sales career. Consulting allowed him to concentrate solely on maximizing sales, without the need to split his attention between sales and product delivery. After exploring various roles in different companies, he found that consulting was the most lucrative path. Once he established a stable revenue stream through his sales consulting company, Simon found himself with spare time for other ventures. A friend approached him with the idea of starting the Hearty Foundation, aimed at providing mentorship, particularly in the IT field, to at-risk youth in foster care. Simon applied his sales expertise to gain support from orphanages and youth support organizations for this initiative. Simon also addresses the intricacies of funding a foundation and offers valuable insights for those interested in creating a sustainable funding base without relying solely on grants. He illustrates how the Hearty Foundation attracted support from companies eager to assist at-risk youth through IT training. With a diverse career spanning various aspects of sales, Simon's story will appeal to individuals interested in pitching and applying business acumen to the non-profit sector. Northstar Consulting Hearty Foundation Social Movers Hub Open Rate Digital Scope Przemyslaw Simon Stanisz is the founder of NorthStar Consulting Group. Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses. Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

On this week's episode, Richard and Kimon continue their discussion on business, focusing particularly on leadership and management. Starting off the conversation, Richard asks Kimon for his views on leadership. Kimon begins by addressing the role of trust. Trust operates in two directions: employees must trust that the CEO is the right person for the job, and the CEO must trust their employees. This is especially crucial in today's business landscape, which increasingly accommodates remote work. However, trust isn't easy to scale. As a company grows, the significance of time-tracking tools and productivity verification systems increases. For smaller companies, these tools can be costly and awkward. In such cases, fostering trust between employees and management becomes paramount. The CEO shouldn't need to constantly verify that employees are fulfilling their commitments. Trust establishes a solid company culture where everyone relies on each other, without excessive and bureaucratic surveillance. If a CEO focuses on controlling and constantly checking employee productivity, the company will incur opportunity costs. Kimon shares that during his time at Argos Multilingual, he prioritized trust over surveillance. Although he encountered setbacks, he believes the overall benefits to company culture outweighed these negative experiences. Richard adds that while employee processes should be "checkable," they don't need to be constantly "checked." If an issue arises, it can be easily identified without management wasting time playing the role of productivity police. Both Richard and Kimon lean towards trust over distrust. Acknowledging their moments of naivety, they still assert that an atmosphere of trust is more advantageous to create than one of suspicion. Clear guidelines and well-defined roles remain crucial. Richard straightforwardly expresses it as: "trust goes with high expectations." Kimon suggests that granting employees leeway "allows the best to stand out." Over time, it becomes evident which employees are engaged, self-motivated, and poised for leadership roles. For this trust-based leadership approach to succeed, the CEO must also be engaged and self-disciplined. Otherwise, employees will follow suit and lose motivation. Later in the discussion, Kimon introduces the concept of the "bank of goodwill." In prosperous times, CEOs should provide raises without employees needing to ask. This demonstrates appreciation for their hard work and eases any stress related to seeking better compensation. During challenging times, CEOs can request employees to forgo raises with the understanding that adjustments will be made when conditions improve. Commenting on the "bank of goodwill," Richard emphasizes communication's significance. The CEO should be accessible and open to employees. Regular communication keeps employees informed about business fluctuations, preventing blindsiding when tough decisions are necessary. In closing, Richard and Kimon summarize their thoughts on trust in leadership. Kimon stresses that for a CEO starting a company, treating everyone equally and cultivating a culture of hard work are paramount. Richard advises potential CEOs to not only trust their employees but also to be candid when facing challenges or difficulties as leaders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode David describes his childhood contact with entrepreneurship, and how he was looking for and found community and acceptance in the video game world. We learn how he discovered and almost invented the profession of “community manager” and created the CMX community of community managers. We also hear about the problems that community managers face in making their communities sustainable, and discuss his book: The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community your Competitive Advantage (Wiley, 2021). We also learn about how CMX became part of Bevy and multiple other ups and downs in David's life so far. The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee. About our guest David Spinks launched his first online community at 14 years old for his favorite video game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Today he's become a prominent leader in the community-driven business movement and has trained and advised community teams at companies like Google, Facebook, Udemy, Waze, and Airbnb. Spinks has long believed that community is the future of business and has made it his life's purpose to help others learn how to build thriving, meaningful communities. He is the cofounder of CMX, where over 20,000 community professionals gather to learn and support each other and is the host of CMX Summit, the largest conference in the community industry. In 2019, CMX was acquired by Bevy, where Spinks now serves as the VP of Community, helping companies launch and scale event-driven community programs. About the NBN The New Books Network was founded in 2007 as a podcast interviewing the authors of academic books, and has grown to the largest author interview podcast in the world publishing 12 podcasts a day in more than 90 specialist areas, with over a million downloads a month. Read about the founder Marshall Poe and the NBN here. In recent years it has expanded beyond its “author interview origins”. Historically NBN only did audio recordings. E&L is the first NBN podcast distributed on Youtube. About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here, About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Richard and Kimon interview each other about B2B sales, also known as enterprise sales. These days, many businesses are considering how they can incorporate AI technology to boost sales, but when dealing with large enterprise clients, nothing beats the value of building personal relationships. B2B sales are generally bigger in scale compared to consumer sales (B2C), requiring more investment per transaction. It's crucial to understand your clients not only on a personal level but also when it comes to their current and potential future needs within the broader market.  Large B2B transactions almost always involve a lengthy onboarding process. It's essential to have at least three strong references from current or former clients. Without a positive track record with past clients, it becomes nearly impossible to attract new clients. If your company is new and lacks a client base, you may need to offer services at a significant discount or even for free. This can create goodwill that will pay off in the long run. Even if your company doesn't secure the contract, it's still valuable to have your name considered. The company chosen by the enterprise client may not endure in the long term. Being proactive in pursuing these opportunities and maintaining a cordial attitude when a deal doesn't go through is the best approach. As Kimon consistently emphasizes: "We're always playing the long game." Later in their discussion, Richard and Kimon delve into the process of comprehensively understanding a client. Having a thorough grasp of a client's needs and their relationships with other companies can lead to new potential clients. Mapping out these details can also uncover new efficiencies. When mapping, it's important to consider the lifetime value of a client, including potential renewals, service expansions, and referrals to other companies. Satisfied clients often bring more clients. The role of the founder/CEO in selling to enterprise clients is another topic explored by Kimon and Richard. Especially in the early stages of a company, before establishing a reputation, the active involvement of the founder and/or CEO is crucial in the sales process. Their presence demonstrates a commitment to transparency and client support. Some people believe that a large sales team is necessary to win clients, but as Kimon points out, "bigger sales team = bigger headache." Having a few exceptional salespeople is more important than the team's size. In the B2B context, where there are fewer sales opportunities, a smaller team can be just as effective. Towards the end of their conversation, Richard and Kimon discuss what makes a sales call effective. Richard advises immediately asking potential clients about their specific needs. This enables tailoring the sales pitch directly to their requirements, avoiding lengthy presentations filled with irrelevant information. In conclusion, a valuable approach to improving enterprise sales is studying the histories of other companies. By examining who their first client was, how they secured major business deals, and what innovative strategies they employed, valuable insights can be gained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Richard and Kimon interview each other about the role of ego in business. The common perception is that entrepreneurs, typically men, have large egos, constantly seeking attention and dominating conversations. Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork, serves as a classic example. While some level of ego is indeed necessary, effective leaders also understand when to control their egos and step back from the spotlight. A leader with an inflated ego who believes that nobody else's opinions matter can create a dangerous environment. By not giving others a chance to contribute, such an egotistical CEO (who may not possess the brilliance of Steve Jobs) can harm the very business they are trying to build. As Kimon puts it, "the real entrepreneur is the one that's super talented at getting way smarter people than themselves." An entrepreneur with a toxic ego is primarily focused on being right. They fail to ask the most important question: "What is best for the company?" It shouldn't matter whether the best idea comes from the leader or the employees; what matters is the end result. In addition to discussing the leader's ego, Kimon and Richard delve into managing the egos of others within the business. Employees often worry about their titles and their place within the organizational structure. Understanding and being sensitive to people's egos, particularly considering the diversity of personalities, is crucial. One effective approach is offering personality tests to both employees and leaders, enabling better understanding of how to interact with one another. Kimon and Richard also touch upon the egos of clients and how big egos can be advantageous. Praising and congratulating clients with large egos can encourage repeat business. In essence, ego is necessary but must be kept in check within the business context. There is a positive aspect that fosters confidence and perseverance and a toxic aspect that restricts growth by suppressing the potential of exceptional employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard and Kimon speak with James Hyde, non-executive director of James and James Fulfilment, in addition to founding and formerly running the company. Initially unemployed out of college, James and his eventual co-founder, took minimum wage jobs. They were working at a shipping and fulfillment facility, and were frustrated by the lack of efficiency they encountered. Starting in 2010, James Hyde and James Strachan, began working on their fulfillment company. One of the first customers they ever had wanted James and James to help them sell home brew coffee equipment. They implemented a fulfillment software and management system, effectively allowing the owners of the home brew equipment to retire. Initially, James and the company adjusted to this model, even though, at first, they only wanted to create a software company, not a software and fulfillment operation. Part of what makes James' story as an entrepreneur especially compelling is that he started with almost no outside capital. By the time that James and James Fulfilment had their fourth customer, they were able to support minimum wage salaries for themselves. James talks about how they deliberately turned downed certain jobs and tasks at this time so they could focus on a scalable, core fulfillment solution. It was at this time that James and his co-founder realized that expanding the service side of the business would allow them to sell more software. The expanded services would be the proof-of-concept that fed the other sales. James also discusses how and why James and James was able to and continues to expand, even when the service they offer, on its face, resembles that provided by the behemoth, Amazon. James and James focuses on direct-to-consumer, i.e. they work with companies that want their own branding and a “direct” relationship with the buyer. Amazon uses it's own branding and doesn't allow their sellers the same access to their end consumers. When James and James first began, they had a significant first-mover advantage as their were very few fulfillment companies of any kind offering cloud-based solutions. James ponders a road not taken where they would have taken more outside capital to scale, instead of the more conservative approach they took instead. He compares his company to the commonly found Silicon Valley-style SaaS company. As James remarks, these companies' software is often far less complicated than the software necessary for accurate shipping and fulfillment. Since the founding and initial success of the company, James retains a position and is an owner. James and James has matured from a start-up into a fully-fledged company with many shareholders. The transformation of the company has changed the culture slightly according to James, especially in its treatment of external threats such as cybersecurity attacks. Towards the end of the interview, James talks about how he sought out advice from seasoned businesspeople with “gray hair.” He offered them a tiny bit of equity in exchange for a nominal amount of capital so that he could comfortably seek their counsel. Nowadays, James works at James and James one day out of the week. His next move is to look for small companies that are looking to scale up. Find James Hyde's profile here James and James Fulfilment Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses. Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

JeVon McCormick was born the son of a black pimp father and a white orphan mother. Hear how, as a nine year old, he critiqued the way his father managed prostitutes, to his rejection of concepts such as “hope” and “luck”. When he was in juvenile detention neither of his parents knew where he was. His journey from toughest of upbringings to fame and fortune is unforgettable and inspiring. Kimon and Richard never spoke to an entrepreneur with a history like his. We are sure you will find it as compelling as we did.  The lessons that he shares from his journey about saving, adaptation, learning by doing, the power of asking questions, accountability, and responsibility can benefit entrepreneurs and leaders the world over. McCormick's book I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Achieve the American Dream tells his story. About our guest JeVon McCormick is the son of a black pimp and a white mother, and was raised in the most dreadful conditions, three times jailed before he was an adult. His book, I Got There, tells the harrowing story of his struggle to succeed despite the over whelming odds stacked against him Today, he's the CEO of a multi-million dollar publishing company that was recently ranked the #1 Top Company Culture inAmerica by Entrepreneur Magazine. JeVon is the President and CEO of Scribe Media, a publishing company that helps individuals from a variety of backgrounds write, publish, and market their books. Scribe Media has worked with more than 1700 authors, including members of The Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Nassim Taleb and David Goggins, whose blockbuster book Can't Hurt Me has sold over 2 million copies. JeVon is an author and highly sought after keynote speaker, delivering the message that “Everyone Has A Story” to enthusiastic audiences across the country. JeVon is passionate about conscious entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for at-risk youth. He has mentored young men and women in the juvenile justice system, as well as those in lower economic communities. JeVon currently serves as a board member for Conscious Capitalism and the StartEdUp Foundation. His story and work have been featured on CNBC, and in Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Inc. magazines.https://scribemedia.com/https:...  The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee. Follow our channels on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. View the episode on Youtube here. You can listen to the episode on the NBN here. About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here. About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Szymon Słupik regards himself as lucky. He tells us how he made enough money by the time he was 35 that he would never have to work again. We learn how growing up in communist Poland taught him to be enterprising, at ease with taking risks, and being open to opportunities, which he took time after time. He believes that the challenges of starting a business in 2021 are child's play compared to how things used to be for those who experienced communism . His trenchant views on thinking long term, focussing on quality, and working with passion and focus on things that he believes in are ones from which we can all learn. Szymon is an entrepreneur with a strong technology background in IT and Electronics. Szymon is a CTO at Silvair, the company he co-founded in 2011. Szymon is also chairing the Mesh Working Group at Bluetooth Special Interest Group. Silvair develops technology for low power wireless device networks based on the Bluetooth mesh standard. The company has been the key contributor to the standard itself, driving it since inception in 2014 to formal adoption of version 1 in 2017, as well as the evolution of future releases. SIlvair is a Delaware company, publicly traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE:SVRS). Szymon's previous companies were CDN (acquired by Comarch in 2004) and Wind Mobile (acquired by Ailleron in 2009). At Silvair Szymon is focused on long term projects which aim at solving difficult problems, contribute to improved quality of life and deliver lasting value. He strongly believes Bluetooth mesh is the winning standard for the Internet of Things and will enable significant energy savings globally as well as proliferation of modern food production technologies such as vertical farms. Since 2005 Szymon has been running a weekly blog at https://headworx.slupik.com He can also be reached on LinkedIn at https://linkedin.com/in/slupik. https://silvair.com/ The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and inform, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee. Follow our channels on Facebook Linkedin Twitter and watch the interview on Youtube here About the NBN The New Books Network was founded in 2007 as a podcast interviewing the authors of academic books, and has grown to the largest author interview podcast in the world publishing 12 podcasts a day in more than 90 specialist areas, with over a million downloads a month. Read about the founder Marshall Poe and the NBN here. In recent years it has expanded beyond its “author interview origins”. Historically NBN only did audio recordings. E&L is the first NBN podcast distributed on Youtube. Watch this episode on Youtube here.  About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here, About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Kimon and Richard speak with Jonathan Gorczyca, the founder of Mentor Deck and Helm Experience & Design. Jonathan has worked as a product designer for almost 20 years, helping companies design and launch their products, often for the first time. Based in Buffalo, New York, Jonathan has been an integral part of the start-up scene. He specializes in UX (user experience) and helps early-stage ventures with new products. Through Helm Experience & Design, he has transitioned from supporting early-stage companies to helping larger companies looking for a product refresh or redesign. When working with smaller companies, Jonathan uses cost-effective methods instead of full consultation projects. He seeks out driven founders who are committed to creating a great product and are open to flexibility. Familiarity with the company, its culture, and its people is essential to helping them develop something new. One of the first companies that Helm worked with is now a publicly traded company, ACV Auctions. Jonathan first saw the idea as a sketch and saw the entire project through until it existed, with over 1,000 employees. Jonathan emphasizes that part of finding success in this line of work is sticking through the good and the bad times with founders. As he puts it, “success is not a straight line.” What concerns him most is when founders become difficult to contact. Jonathan warns that “silence is a red flag.” Through Mentor Deck, Jonathan and his team connect with entrepreneurs and invest in companies based in Buffalo. Mentor Deck investors help ensure accountability for entrepreneurs and bring expertise in critical product design areas. Though still very small in scale, Jonathan is looking to expand into different cities. Kimon and Richard share their own struggles with finding good mentors and the right people for different companies. Jonathan remarks that what spurs him most to connect the right investors with the right founders comes from the excitement of turning nothing into something. He is obsessed with the scale of it and the number of jobs that can be created through entrepreneurship. Jonathan's LinkedIn Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Kimon and Richard speak with Nick Sonnenberg, CEO and Founder of Leverage. He is also the author of the book, Come Up For Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work (HarperCollins, 2023). Nick began his career as a high-frequency trader. He learned to build algorithms to trade stocks, which allowed him to build a nest egg over the course of eight years. At this point, he became interested in start-ups. He left his job as a trader, and created an app that helped with organizational and scheduling issues. The company faced severe financial struggles, which also took a significant toll on Nick. He worked hard to push through the difficulties and learned a great deal about organizational management and efficiency. From this experience, he began consulting with the likes of Tony Robbins, the Ethereum Foundation, and consumer goods companies. This period of struggle saw Leverage decline in headcount from 150 to 50 employees. Losing more than 40% of revenue per month, Nick knew that serious changes would be necessary for the company to survive. Leverage stopped focusing entirely on attracting and converting new customers. Instead, Leverage went all in on customer retention. Leverage's focus is on teaching founders, executives, and employees how to most effectively use every organizational tool available to companies. These tools include email, Asana, Slack, Teams, and others. Leverage's specialty is in conducting a broad overview of organizational efficiency. Then, they gave advice and education using a fully-designed framework. The focus is not on individual productivity but rather ‘productivity at scale.' Instagram: @NicholasSonnenberg Twitter: @Nick_Sonnenberg LinkedIn Link to the book About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Kimon and Richard speak with Sameer Narula, Managing Partner of August One, a private investment firm. Despite self-identifying as an engineer, Sameer has an entrepreneurial mind. Prior to starting August One, Sameer founded two companies, selling one in the early 2000s.  His first ever venture was at the age of 13 when he and several friends started writing and drawing comic books. They used the school Xerox and sold copies to other students. Eventually, his parents became worried about the operation distracting Sameer from his schoolwork. Like most childhood pursuits, this project fizzled out. Sameer describes August Ones as akin to a family office. His family, along with four others, jointly pursue investments together for a multitude of objectives. He has known the other families for decades, and in some cases, his family has known the others for generations. In addition to these family offices, they also work with government funds and other investors.  The nature of each investment varies, though Sameer and his main partners are as hands-on as possible. In one venture, August One is investing in carbon-neutral, real estate development in rural Europe. Sameer works directly with the architects and visits the building sites. In another–– a brewery–– Sameer has personally delivered barrels of beer. The three main areas that they focus on are real estate, energy, and food. Growing up in New Delhi, Sameer experienced firsthand the pollution that comes from these three areas. As a result, he is driven to invest in companies and projects that seek to reduce their carbon footprint.  Sameer also discusses the promises and perils of working with governments. As he describes, working with Portugal has been a pleasure and Singapore is more efficient than any company or government he's ever seen. Later in the interview, Sameer describes some of the challenges he's faced as an entrepreneur and investor. He cautions that investors should fear zombie companies more than companies that try and fail. A company that fails allows you to cut your losses, whereas a zombie company can drain capital over a long period of time. Sameer also discusses the personal values necessary to succeed in the business world. He talks about the importance of working with people you trust. Values matter in addition to grit. Currently, Sameer splits his time between Helsinki, Lisbon, and Singapore. His reasons are both business-related and personal. All three are international, port cities. In Sameer's view, all three are poised for growth and many of his clients operate in those regions. Sameer's LinkedIn August One About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR.  Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode, Kimon and Richard speak with Val Pilch, CEO of ForMeds. Val was born in Krakow, living there for his early childhood before moving to New York in the 1990s at the end of high school. He studied initially in New York before moving to North Carolina to attend Duke University for business school. Val describes the pros and cons of this path, suggesting that an MBA might give someone a valuable toolkit though it does not teach you what it actually takes to run a business. After school, he initially worked in consulting and then in banking. Val's work at investment banks led him to Singapore, where he worked and lived for seven years. In 2015, Val decided to move back to his birthplace to explore a career outside of investment banks. He began running a commercial lighting company, which was the largest in all of Poland. In 2019, the company was sold to a Norwegian industrial group. After this experience, Val decided that he wanted to try his hand at entrepreneurship. He even cites a conversation with Richard in 2020 as part of the inspiration for going down a new path! Val decided to go about entrepreneurship via acquisition. As of the publication of this video, he has been CEO and owner of ForMeds for about three months. Val shares plenty of useful wisdom throughout the interview. He discusses the importance of focus. In a company with many moving parts, it's easy to spiral out into all sorts of avenues. According to Val, it is best to hyper-fixate on the most important issues and execute those perfectly. -Val's LinkedIn -ForMeds  -Novastone Capital Advisors  -Stanford Search Fund -Jack Lancaster: Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Kimon and Richard speak with Christian Arno, founder and CEO of Pawprint, about how companies can effectively achieve sustainability goals. As a young child growing up in Aberdeen, Christian was interested in pursuing entrepreneurship. His first venture was in comic book sales, and his first clients were his parents and schoolmates on the bus. When his father learned more about the finances of Christian's venture, he shut the enterprise down, an early lesson in “regulation.” For university, Christian attended Oxford, where he studied languages. At around this time, the Dotcom boom began, and Christian created a website advertising translation services. He began to receive customer inquiries, and soon enough, was able to establish a revenue stream from recurrent clients. The most important thing that Christian learned while building Lingo24 was how to take advantage of SEO (search engine optimization). Christian was able to land bigger companies despite a lack of experience. Searchers would find his professionally-created website, purchase services, eventually leading Christian to start hiring employees to accommodate the growing demand. In the 20 years of running the company before exiting, Christian was able to grow Lingo24 to a maximum size of 230 people with a peak revenue of around $50 million in a year. Despite this success, Christian felt it was time to move on to another venture. In the mid-2010s, Christian's father, formerly an oil and gas entrepreneur, reversed course and became a climate activist with Extinction Rebellion. Through conversations with his father, Christian came to believe that the second act of his career should attempt to address the environmental issues that threaten him, his father, and billions around the world. Christian's new company is a software platform, Pawprint, that educates, motivates, and aligns employees of companies around sustainable development goals. The CEO of a company signs up, creating accounts for employees. The employees are placed into teams where they compete to reduce their CO2 emissions. The CEO is able to set various financial or non-financial awards for the best-performing employees. Pawprint doesn't just track the results. It also gives employees various actions and pieces of advice, over 500 in total, to improve their environmental impact. Christian talks about his passion for Pawprint and the excitement of working on project with social impact. His big piece of advice for entrepreneurs: Start doing what you care about as early possible. Don't wait! Links UN SDGs BCorp movement Unbabel Buys Lingo24 Pawprint About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Kimon and Richard speak with Cormac Russell, Managing Director at Nurture Development. Cormac focuses on helping institutions, NGOs, governmental organizations, and companies interested in improving their communities. The biggest issue that Cormac encounters in these organizations is a problem with disconnection. In this interview, Cormac discusses his work to overcome disconnection and bring people together. Before he began his work as a community organizer and developer, Cormac wanted to become a psychologist. He worked in childcare, helping kids with mental health issues. Many of the issues he saw that these kids faced became most prominent as they were transitioning from the hospital setting back into their local communities. Cormac realized that the old adage: “it takes a village” rang very true. Cormac soon discovered the work and ideas of John L. McKnight, co-founder of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University. John has since become a mentor and a co-author with Cormac, focusing on the core issues facing local communities. Their approach is bottom-up and people-centered with an emphasis on localism. Cormac was driven to help start Nurture Development, which focused on community development from the inside out. He has grown the company today to the point where it now has a footprint in 36 countries. In his current work, Cormac argues that organizations operating in a particular area should pay attention to more than just its straightforward objective. For example, he discusses how police departments tasked with arresting people should also care about the root causes that lead to crime in the first place. If the goal of a police department is to produce less crime, it should redirect some of its resources toward community-building instead of just boosting enforcement. Cormac emphasizes that many problems faced by organizations are not ones of leadership. Rather, there are not enough people who are focused on connecting or convening those in the broader community. With more people out there whose role it is to connect, the job of the leaders is made much easier. Connectors, like Cormac, offer a more local and granular perspective than a typical leader who is focused on a birds-eye-view of any issue. Cormac makes a case for “thinking like a social movement” while “behaving like an entrepreneur.” He gives the example of a neighborhood in Birmingham, UK. Cormac worked with locals from the neighborhood to embark on a listening campaign to hear directly from the people. In the course of the listening campaign, they found 93 people in the neighborhood who were identified as connectors. These connectors were then brought together and given access to training and community-development materials to help them directly address the problems they saw themselves.  Cormac discusses other examples in the interview of how to bring together communities using a bottom-up and inside-out approach. He is not your standard entrepreneur focused on the bottom line. Rather, Cormac uses entrepreneurial tools to address social issues. The ultimate measure of success is in the long-term growth and development of the community. Cormac Russell is a social explorer, an author and a much sought-after speaker. He is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, at DePaul University, Chicago. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis Richard Lucas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this interview, Richard and Kimon speak with Rudradeb Mitra, CEO and founder of Omdena. He was born in India, moving to England as an adult to complete a master's degree at Cambridge. He worked as an AI researcher and then at a start-up before realizing that making money was not his primary goal in life. Rudradeb saw that there were many issues in the AI community and tech world, including biases in hiring and general social networking problems. As he explains, when a company is looking to hire, they focus on certain characteristics, backgrounds, and experiences that may overlook plenty of smart and talented engineers. The main idea behind Omdena was to create a collaborative platform where AI researchers and engineers could crowdsource problem-solving and demonstrate their skills. In nearly four years of operation, Omdena has run over 320 projects with 120 start-ups and non-profit organizations. More than 10,000 people from 105 countries have worked on these projects, participating in local Omdena chapters in over 60 countries. Every month, around 2,000 people apply to work on approximately 20-25 new projects . Omdena helps pair people to particular programs, keeps track of the best performers, and then helps the top-tier talent find paid work. When a person first signs up for Omdena, they are first given access to educational resources and projects that will help them learn. After completion, they can begin participating in new projects. Success in these projects will then lead to paid work projects with start-ups. Omdena is unlike many organizations, and it is perhaps best to think of it as a mix between a business and a school. Many people who are members are using it as a resource to gain practical experience, the type of education that is not often emphasized at universities. This practice work is usually to support non-profits or other charitable projects. Outcomes from these projects can then be used to get paid work for a large, for-profit company or a start-up. Throughout the interview, Rudradeb talks about the ideas, both philosophical and practical, that have influenced him in his endeavors. At the end of the interview, he describes the importance of focus, building a strong and unified culture, and travel. Rudradeb Mitra is founder and CEO of Omdena. Omdena is a collaborative platform with over 10,000 data scientists, data engineers, and domain experts from 105 countries. Large development organizations (non-corporations) like the UN, UNHCR, WRI, World Energy Council, and the World Food Program, as well as impact startups from 60+ countries have worked with Omdena. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. Kimon's on Twitter here. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where he continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here. Richard is on Twitter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this interview, Richard and Kimon speak with David Regn, CEO of Stream Companies. Collectively, David oversees about 600 employees, generating an annual revenue of around $225 million. Growing up in a middle-class family, David got his first job at age 14. He worked at a grocery store, starting as a bagger, before quickly being promoted to run the in-store bakery. He worked in the bakery for five years, growing its weekly revenue from $300 to $3,000 a week. He left the grocery store once he started college, and after an internship, David realized that he didn't want to work for someone else or a big corporation. Instead, he opted for the more challenging path of entrepreneurship. Along, with his best friend Jason Brennan, David began doing independent marketing consulting for small companies owned by friends. This was in the mid-90s when many small businesses did not have any presence on the internet. At first, they helped small business owners like landscapers and physicians produce and distribute brochures. David humorously describes how the first advertisement he ever took out was in the Yellow Pages phone book. Stream Companies had a phone number, but they used David's mother's home as their business address. From this ad, they got their first significant client. The marketing deck they produced made its way to a VP at Motorola, who reached out to David and Jason about additional marketing work. One of their first significant clients was a small gym franchise of five locations owned by his brother. Over the course of the partnership, the franchise added an additional seven locations. This experience helped their company learn more about retail and how to work effectively with smaller owners.  Over the course of the interview, David continues to emphasize the importance of developing and maintaining relationships with clients over time. Many of David's clients have worked with him for 20+ years. As these companies have grown, so has Stream Companies. David also discusses cultivating and developing talent. He says that any boss and business owner should think about how to adequately care for employees, seeing them holistically instead of as just cogs. In the lead-up to the shutdowns from the pandemic, David and his executive board took pay cuts to ensure that as few employees as possible would be hurt by any declines in revenue. As David says, you have to “put people before profits.” At the end of the interview, David talks about more recent developments, including recently selling a majority share of the company. This has given the company more room to grow.  Jason concludes with some advice on what entrepreneurs need to succeed: 1. Grit 2. Positive attitude 3. Be passionate about work In 1996, David Regn and his lifelong friend and business partner, Jason Brennan, founded Stream Companies. In only a few short years, Stream Companies was recognized and awarded as one of the fastest growing, privately held entrepreneurial companies in Philadelphia and has continued to win awards like Inc. 5000, fastest-growing private companies and Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania multiple times over. Find links to past episodes here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Jack discusses different health care markets around the globe, including why there are 20 markets he would sooner want to enter than the European market. Evolution Surgical owns the full value-chain from end-to-end, meaning they are a manufacturer and a distributor. This allows them to more sensitively listen to customer feedback, which allows them, as as smaller company, to compete with big, multinational corporations. Founded in 2014, Evolution Surgical was never meant to grow to the size it is today. The original founder, intending to work with just a few clients, quickly found that there was significant demand for the products Evolution Surgical designed. This rapid growth is what lead Jack to be able to come in as the new owner and CEO. The founder is able to focus on working directly with surgeons, allowing Jack to focus on management. Evolution Surgical makes tools for spinal fusion, customizing devices to the exact specifications as requested by surgeons in Australia. In this wide-ranging conversation, Richard and Kimon explore what it takes to run a company that makes critical devices for people in need. Jack is insightful, modest, and an example of a great entrepreneur. Jack Lancaster is a highly experienced healthcare leader with a broad background across the sector globally. He is currently CEO Evolution Surgical, an Australian manufacturer and distributor of spinal devices. He is passionate about the role private sector organisations can play in improving outcomes and value for Australian patients. Evolution Surgical uniquely works across the full device value chain in Australia of design, manufacture, regulate, and distribute; and is very closely involved with the Australian clinical, academic, and manufacturing sectors to enable this success. Jack spent the early parts of his career working with the NHS deploying efficiency initiatives as well as in developing countries setting up programmes for large-scale disease elimination. Prior to Evolution Surgical he worked in the Sydney office of Boston Consulting Group in the healthcare practice. Jack has an undergraduate degree with Honours from St Andrews, and an MBA with a concentration in health strategies from Cambridge University. www.evolutinosurgical.com.au Stanford Resources on Search Funds Buying your way into entrepreneurship About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals.  Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this interview, Véronique Özkaya, CEO of Argos Multilingual talks to Richard and Kimon about her career journey. She describes her first taste of the work world, helping her parents as a teenager as they ran their business. As an adult, Véronique first thought that diplomacy would be the right path, though, after just several months, she quit. Without a job and needing to pay rent, Véronique began teaching French at a business school. Véronique describes how she would wear non-prescription glasses to class to look older than her students who were the same age as her.  From there, she saw a job offer as an English-to-French translator for a computer company, a subject she knew nothing about. To her surprise she was hired, only to be let go three months later, along with all of the other translators at the company. The company asked Véronique and the others to stay on for an additional three months, but Véronique organized her co-workers to all resign simultaneously and negotiate for higher pay as outside contractors. Afterward, Véronique was promoted from translation work to project management, overseeing all French translation for nearly seven years at Lionbridge. She began to develop a frustration with salespeople, particularly their propensity for a lack of understanding of the core activities of the translators and the project managers. This caused Véronique to move into sales herself. She took a job at a new company, only to get an offer to stay at her current company working in sales. Véronique quickly became the top salesperson at Lionbridge, which proved to be a personal boon once the company went public. Véronique talks about the challenges of being a woman in business. She describes the different work environments she experienced, some that were models of inclusion and others which were more like old boys' clubs. Véronique discusses some of the personal challenges and difficulties she faced, which eventually led her to work at a new company. At this new company, she quickly became CEO. It was soon after purchased, where Véronique encountered similar issues with gender parity.  Véronique also describes her work at Argos Multilingual as the CEO. Argos' translation work differs from that of a standard translator, focusing on enterprise and specialized translation services as opposed to person-to-person. As CEO, Véronique is also a shareholder with a vested interest in the long-term strategy of Argos. Her goal is to grow the company and turn it into the most reputable translation company. Veronique is a seasoned international leader with experience building and strengthening the sales and marketing functions for organizations with high growth ambitions. Extensive experience in Localization – helping industry leaders grow market share in international markets with services such as translation, internationalization, software development, engineering, and testing. Fluent in French, English, Turkish, and functional in German. Your hosts, Kimon and Richard, together with Veronique, are all shareholders in  A rgos Multilingual , the company which Veronique leads. Veronique on Linkedin About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here, About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Richard Lucas and Kimon Fountoukidis speak with Krzysztof Zdanowski, language and technology entrepreneur. Krzysztof argues that entrepreneurship is about emotional and social intelligence. He discusses the ups and downs on the road to building Summa Linguae Technologies, a company with yearly revenue of $35 million.  Krzysztof studied applied linguistics in college, which helped lay the groundwork for his initial career as an interpreter. He first worked night shifts at a steel plant in Krakow. The factory had workers from different backgrounds, giving Krzysztof experience translating between workers and the international managers. Not long after, Krzysztof was fired from his job, which gave him the perfect opportunity to explore starting his own business. Krzysztof created a translation company and experienced several challenges in the effort to find the perfect business partner. He describes the important lessons he learned in these initial struggles. For Krzysztof, the most important things when it comes to a business partner are a "match in values" and complementary skills.  Krzysztof also discusses the role of luck in creating a business. As he states, in the early days, he gave away half his business, only to buy it back shortly after. Krzysztof also experienced personal setbacks, dealing with a severe illness that left him partially paralyzed and in and out of the hospital for several years. He finally began to recover after a series of treatments in 2015, which allowed him to refocus on growing the business.  That year, the company went public on an alternative stock exchange in Poland and made its first acquisition of a translation company based in India. At this point in time, the company's yearly revenue was $1 million a year. Summa Linguae was able to more than 30x by acquiring other companies. For Krzysztof, this period was filled with stress. To fund these acquisitions, he had to spend a significant amount of time raising money and hiring talent to grow the company. This period of "crazy growth," from 2016 to 2019, was the "death valley" for Summa Linguae. In 2019, Summa Linguae sold a portion of its equity, giving both the company and Krzysztof breathing room.  In recent years, Summa Linguae has begun pivoting from translation to data services. Specifically, they use their data built up from many languages to help train AI voice assistants and other language assistant tools.  Krzysztof spends much of his free time helping to build the entrepreneurship scene in Poland through the Entrepreneurs' Organization.  Krzysztof Zdanowski is an entrepreneur. As CEO of Summa Linguae Technologies, he has built a language and technology company with revenue of more than $35 million per year. The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

In this episode Anna Woodward Kennedy reflects on fundamental issues of relevance to all entrepreneurs. How her challenging childhood home environment in Brazil made her hypervigilant to the moods of others, and how she had to take responsibility early in life. She shares how important it was for her to find mentors and other women as role models, and the way in which her “hard work and lifelong learning ethic gave her an edge, and helped her to believe in herself. Other lessons she shares include: How important it is to “get out there and show up”, to network and meet people. How she learned the importance of self belief, without which one can lose the battle before even starting to try to fight. She shares the hard side of the entrepreneurial journey, how it can be lonely, how she had to take responsibility for tough decisions. She very much underlined how the process of running a business forces one to get to know yourself. When sharing the Chillistore story, the podcast moves into epic mode. She describes how she became aware of there being something profoundly wrong with the way quality control worked in the translation industry, and created an entirely new approach, not just recording errors, but developing feedback loops and process changes in a complex adaptive system. She wanted Chillistore to “right a wrong”, as Guy Kawasaki put it in “The art of the start”. The validation that the market gave her confirmed her that her vision was correct, though there is a long way to go. She reflects on the process of selling her company and becoming part of Argos Multilingual - how the time may come for an entrepreneur to “get out of the way”, and that in Argos, she felt she had found her tribe - an organisation with similar values of quality and innovation. And finally she encourages entrepreneurs to be aware of ego and reflect on their relationship with money. The hosts of the E&L channel, Kimon and Richard are shareholders in Argos, the company that acquired Chillistore. About our guest Anna Woodward Kennedy is a proactive, entrepreneurially-driven and highly accomplished localization specialist with 20+ years of experience in the localization service industry. She is the Founder & Managing Director of ChilliStore Technologies (CT) – a Software, Localization & Globalization Service company specializing in driving Language Quality Assurance (LQA). Linkedin. More about Chillistore here https://www.chillistore.com  The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee.  About Kimon Fountoukidis Twitter Linkedin Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here, About Richard Lucas Twitter Linkedin Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including investments in Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre- to business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Bryan Amaral began his career as an entrepreneur going door-to-door, selling custom-made suits. He learned how to work closely with clients as a therapist might work with their patients. By his mid-20s he was able to establish a brick-and-mortar location and create a showroom. He moved away from simply selling suits to building entire wardrobes for his clients. Soon after, in the early 90s, Bryan began designing customer relations software to expand his business and sell to other companies. His company was acquired by Symbol Technologies, which Bryan describes as akin to being adopted by a dysfunctional family. After an accounting fraud scandal at Symbol in the early 2000s, Bryan purchased his company back and created Retaligent Solutions, Inc.  Soon after reacquiring his company, the 2008 financial crisis hit. Bryan was able to weather the storm by "doing more with less," recapitalizing and partnering with Microsoft. Just three years later, his partners sold the company to another Microsoft partner. At this point, having had over 20 years of experience in retail technology and strategy, Bryan founded a consulting company, Clientricity. Clientricity helps retailers develop and grow, much in the way that Bryan first grew his menswear company nearly 30 years ago. Bryan also discusses the soft skills he learned along the way. He emphasizes the importance of company culture, finding the right people, and investing in the education of his employees to advance and succeed in different roles. As Bryan states, "I loved using the organization as a vehicle for people to live out their potential." Bryan's podcast is here. Bryan on Twitter here. Bryan on LinkedIn here.  About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. Kimon's on Twitter here. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where he continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here. Richard is on Twitter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

At the age of 18, Jonathan Little opened an online poker account with a $50 deposit. By age 21, he had about $350,000 in his account. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship and Leadership Podcast, Jonathan Little explains how he was able to parlay his poker hobby into a profession by keeping his expenses low and saving his winnings. This frugality allowed Jonathan to play in bigger games and maintain a margin of safety that has lasted his entire career.  Now 37 years old, Jonathan continues to play poker professionally, recently ranking as high as the 24th best player in the world. He has written several books on poker strategy and teaches at https://pokercoaching.com.  At first glance, poker and entrepreneurship might appear to be very different activities; however, seasoned pros like Jonathan show how poker at its highest level is akin to investing. Each hand is like an investment opportunity. Playing a great hand is like finding an asymmetric investment opportunity. With each win, you can choose to reinvest or take the profits. Both activities rely on the power of compounding and risk mitigation. And, perhaps most significantly, both poker and entrepreneurship require humility and patience in the face of constant uncertainty. Follow Jonathan Little at: https://twitter.com/PokerCoaching_ https://twitter.com/JonathanLittle https://pokercoaching.com/home About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. Kimon's on Twitter here. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here. Richard is on Twitter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Head ninja. Top strategist. Main innovation engine. Chief optimist. Sören Stamer wears a lot of hats, and it's one of the main reasons he wears the CEO hat at CoreMedia so successfully. CoreMedia markets an open, best-of-breed, API-driven solution that combines a headless content repository with an advanced web-based UI. It allows editors to access content from any source and preview front-end customer experience in real-time. From the very beginning, Sören has played multiple roles in the company's growth. As one of CoreMedia's co-founders, he did everything it took to build the company's CMS from a great idea into what has become a multimillion Euro business today. His entrepreneurial journey, however, didn't start in the technology sector. It began on his family's farm. Growing up on a farm exposed Sören to entrepreneurship ever since he can remember—the good side and the challenges—in addition to the hard and dedicated work it takes to succeed. Sören's story is a fascinating lesson for anyone who not only wants to become an entrepreneur, but also wants to live a full and satisfying life. As he says, “I never regret things I did. I regret things I don't do.” Tune into our episode to learn more. About our guest: Sören Stamer is CEO and Co-founder of CoreMedia, a strategic digital experience platform used many iconic online brands. He is also an award-winning author and speaker. Sören's primary interest is in the power of massive networks to bring about enormous change. A pioneering social media advocate, he is a recognized thought leader on web content strategy, digital rights management, and enterprise 2.0. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Hamburg, and ahs extensive startup and leadership experience In addition, he is passionate about early childhood education and solutions for society's challenges in the age of A.I. About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

What's important about de novo protein design from an entrepreneurship perspective? Everything. As the founder of AI Proteins, Chris Bahl leads a company focused on building proteins completely from scratch. The research and subject matter itself are nothing new to Chris, but the entrepreneurial side of his work certainly is. From October 2017 to October 2021, Chris served as the head of protein design for the Institute of Protein Innovation, a Boston-based research institution. One month later, however, he and his team opted to leave the research world and launch a new biotech company, AI Proteins. While the primary purpose of academic research in protein design is to learn more about the nature of proteins as they relate to disease, Chris believes the main mission of biotechnology is to cure it—and he definitely wanted to be on the “curing” side. AI Proteins is expanding the possibilities of protein therapeutics by rationally designing entirely new proteins, or as they're officially called, de novo proteins. Using AI-based design and a high-throughput drug-discovery platform, the company creates synthetic proteins from scratch and seeks to optimize a specific protein's activity for a variety of therapeutic applications. The objective is to enable the development of proteins that are inexpensive, durable, highly specific, and can be optimized for oral delivery. Such a lofty goal is what entrepreneurship in its truest sense is really about. It's also a fascinating story to hear in the founder's own words. About our guest: Chris Stahl is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of AI Proteins, an Andover, Massachusetts-based company focused on ways to harness the power of synthetically designed proteins to cure diseases. The former head of protein design at the Institute for Protein Innovation, Chris is also a lecturer at both the Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, as well as a TED Fellow. His areas of expertise include computational protein design, structural biology, biochemistry, and in particular, he is credited for inventing the de novo design of synthetic miniproteins. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

When John Sloan was growing up in a small town in rural Texas, he learned at a very early age what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. John's dad ran the local grocery store, and ever since he can remember, his father taught him by his own example the importance of a having a strong work ethic. It was a lesson John has lived by ever since. His path to becoming an entrepreneur, however, wasn't a typical one. Very early in his career, he served as the president of The Thompson Companies, the family who founded the 7-11 chain of convenience stores. Not bad for someone still in his 30s. Later, he left the corporate world to test his entrepreneurial skills. After a brief stint investing in IT companies during the Internet bubble, he realized Internet companies weren't for him. As a result, he focused on companies others weren't interested in at the time—businesses he refers to as “your average well-run firms with good management, real value, and strong growth potential.” The decision proved to be a smart one. Today, John runs John Sloan & Co., a boutique investment firm in Dallas. He is also president of GlobalScope, a worldwide network of 55 independent firms with over 10,000 completed private company deals to date. Don't miss this exciting podcast. John's story is an inspiration to anyone who wants to succeed. About our guest: John Sloan has worked in the financial sector for more than three decades. From the very beginning, he has been passionate about helping people succeed by finding smart financial solutions for everyone involved. John has worked with some of the world's largest public companies, sophisticated private equity investors, talented colleagues, and many valued relationships on both a domestic and international basis. Today, he also serves as the President of GlobalScope, an international network of 55 independent M&A firms serving over 1000 clients in 48 countries. About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Some people just seem to have all the luck, and Robin Bennett is one of them. Robin is a British entrepreneur, writer, and documentary producer. He is also the founder of The Bennett Group, a consortium of companies that primarily provide professional communication products and services. One of the companies, The Aktuel Translation Group, serves businesses that need to communicate globally; Quarto Translations specialises in translations for the publishing industry; PTI is a specialist in patent translations; and Monster Books is a publishing house that focuses on children's books. All of these (and more) are thriving businesses today that belie Robin's modest beginnings. In fact, when he first got started, Robin had virtually nothing more than a beaten-up moped and a single desk to his name. But luck had nothing to do with Robin's successful outcomes. His story is one of how a single entrepreneur used his own determination and perseverance to launch, experiment, and build upon highly successful initiatives. Join us for a captivating hour of candid insights into a highly determined entrepreneur's path to success and personal fulfillment. About our guest: Robin Bennett is Chairman at The Aktuel Translations Group; Commercial Director at Firefly Press; and the author of several publications, from top-selling business publications to widely read children's books. Like his businesses, Robin's writings span a wide range of topics—from educational books, like Start-Up Smart: How to Start and Build a Successful Business on a Budget, to popular children's publications, like Go Be the Light!, the story of a firefly who loses his glow and does what it takes to get it back. Visit The Bennett Group's website to learn more about Robin's businesses and writings, as well as his personal motto for both living and working, which is— Life's a Banquet! Selected Businesses: www.bennettgroup.org www.aktueltranslations.com www.quartotranslations.com www.patenttranslationsinternational.com fireflypress.co.uk Selected Writings: www.harriman-house.com/how-to-make-a-good-living-running-your-own-business www.harriman-house.com/kicking-the-property-ladder About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

When Ukrainian-born Denys Zhadanov went to London to study at the age of 19, he had no idea that a year later he would be launching one of the world's most successful developers of productivity apps for Apple devices. Nor did he know that, working from his rented flat and with no outside funding, in a few years Forbes would recognize him as one of the top 30 under 30 business leaders in Europe. The story of how Denys and his co-founders launched and grew Readdle into a top global player is a living example of how, in Denys's words, “Dedication, hard work, brilliant people all around, and the insane desire to make this world a better place pays off.” It's also of example of how having a larger goal than making money alone adds significance and meaning to the entrepreneurial journey. And success. www.readdle.com www.pdfexpert.com www.sparkmailapp.com www.readdle.com/scannerpro About our guest: Denys Zhadanov is a 33-year-old Ukrainian entrepreneur and board member at Readdle. Founded in 2007, Readdle markets best-in-class apps with comprehensive UI and powerful features designed to increase productivity and shape the future of work. A frequent speaker and advisor between Ukraine and Silicon Valley, Denys was included in the 2018 Forbes List of 30 under 30 Tech Entrepreneurs in Europe. He has also been quoted on the app economy and marketing in many of the world's top media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, The Verge, USA Today, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Wired, TheNextWeb, Fast Company and Mashable. His business success and ongoing pursuits are driven by his three most important passions: technology, entrepreneurship, and happiness. About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

When Andrew Smart co-founded Slator, he banked on a major paradigm shift—and an industry-first—from the very beginning. His hunch more than paid off. Slator is a business news, research, and advisory service for the language services and technology industry. Unlike most business segments, however, providers of translation, localization and globalization services had virtually no trade media to keep them informed at the time of Slator's founding. Andrew Smart, and his Slator co-founder, Florian Faes, believed there was an opportunity, not only to provide the $multi-billion language services industry with a reliable source of industry news, but also to monitor and report language-industry trends to a much broader business audience. Today, Slator's newsletter has thousands of subscribers as well as multiple platforms for promoting, researching, informing and advising language industry providers on ways to elevate their business. Slator's story is a fascinating example of how two people formed a company to serve an unmet need and succeeded by offering a higher level of journalism than the industry had ever seen before. About our guest: Andrew Smart is co-founder and Commercial Director at Slator, which provides news and research on the people, companies and deals that impact the language services and technology industry. Andrew has years of experience as a senior executive with P&L responsibilities at both start-ups and multinational corporations across the media, internet, education and financial services industries. He lives in Bangkok and serves a broad range of clients globally.  About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Austen Mulinder had a highly successful corporate career, holding several leadership positions at some of the world's most respected companies. But as soon as his youngest went to college, Austen decided the time was right to take the leap and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an entrepreneur Not many people would have thought the same way in his position. At the time he was a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and he headed the company's global sales operation. Not only would he be leaving a highly prestigious organisation, he would also be putting everything on the line in terms of his personal performance and financial risk. And that's just what he did. In 2007, Austen used his past experience in retail technology, software development and sales management to serve as a founding board member, President and CEO of Ziosk, a tablet that allows diners at casual dining restaurants to order directly from their tables. Today, Ziosk is the leading restaurant customer tablet provider in the world and processes more than $8 billion in transactions. Join us to hear how Austen became a highly successful serial entrepreneur, and what he believes anyone can do to achieve success. About our guest: Austen Mulinder is a serial entrepreneur and former CEO of Ziosk, the world's leading restaurant customer table-top tablet. He is also the chairman and co-founder of 501 Fun, the global leader in social entertainment systems, as well as the chairman of Forrit, a next-generation enterprise Content Management System. He currently serves as chairman and co-founder of two additional companies, Matilda Cloud Solutions, based in Dallas, and Iiwari, based in Finland. Austen also spends a great deal of time advising and coaching up-and-coming business leaders. 501 Fun, headquartered in London - www.501fun.com Forrit, headquartered in Edinburgh - www.forrit.com Matilda Cloud Solutions, headquartered in Dallas - www.matildacloud.com Iiwari, headquartered in Finland - www.iiwari.com Ziosk, headquartered in Dallas - www.ziosk.com About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Brand strategist. CEO. Chairperson. Entrepreneur. Marketing guru. Author. Early in her career, Rita Clifton didn't think she had what it takes to be a CEO, an entrepreneur, a best-selling author, or any other leadership roles she has played throughout her career. But from her very first days working for the advertising giant, Saatchi & Saatchi, to the release of her recent best-seller, Rita's work history reads like a collection of personal success stories. Her award-winning book—Love Your Imposter: Be Your Best Self, Flaws and All—gives some great insights into why she was able to overcome her doubts and pre-conceived limitations, and why you can, too. Roughly 70% of people say they feel like an imposter at times in their professional careers. Rita's story shows how one person learned to work—and succeed—by facing and embracing her own self-limiting beliefs, rather than trying to cover them up. Join us for an intimate discussion as one of the world's leading brand strategists shares her personal struggles, achievements, and life-changing lessons. About our guest: Rita Clifton CBE is a global brand strategist, chair, portfolio non-executive director, writer, and keynote speaker based in London. She is a regular columnist and commentator for CNN, BBC, Sky, and social channels, and was a business mentor on the CNBC award-winning TV series ‘Pop Up Start Up'. Her writings include the best-selling book ‘The Future of Brands', and two editions of The Economist book, ‘Brands and Branding'. Her most recent release 'Love Your Imposter' explores new types of business leadership and why they are increasingly important today. She regularly gives keynote speeches, chairs panel discussions, and leads workshops around the world. Love Your Imposter: Be Your Best Self, Flaws and All How to Get Rich About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk. On Twitter. On LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Sophie Adelman is the co-founder of Multiverse and The Garden, two companies that are innovating the way people learn and enhance their personal skills. Multiverse offers professional apprenticeships as an alternative to traditional college approaches, and The Garden is launching a platform for building and educating a diverse community of people who share a passion for learning. Sophie's path to success began with no clear entrepreneurial role model, nor a precise idea of what she wanted to do with her professional life. After studies at Cambridge, Harvard, and Stanford Business School, she worked in a variety of positions in the corporate world, including stints in headhunting, banking, and finance. But along the way, Sophie knew one thing for certain—she wanted to change the world, and she believed that meaningful change could begin at the organisational level. Today, her innovative learning models are levelling the playing field for people and businesses that want access to top-tier educational opportunities. Tune in and find out for yourself how it works. About our guest: As co-founder of Multiverse and The Garden, Sophie Adelman is on her way to pursuing her overriding dream—which is nothing less than trying to make the world a better place for everyone. How does she plan to do it? By levelling the playing field between those who can and those who traditionally didn't have access to equal educational opportunities. Sophie's passion for driving change doesn't stop there. She is also co-founder and president of WhiteHat, a tech scale-up committed to creating a whole new generation of leaders. In many ways, she is just getting started. Who knows where her passion for leadership and change will eventually lead her? About NBN: The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate, inform and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal stories of carefully selected guests—all in an informal atmosphere of unscripted conversations and open, personal accounts. Find links to past episodes here. About our Hosts: Kimon Fountoukidis: Kimon is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. He founded both companies in the mid-90s with zero capital, and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. He is passionate about sharing his success with others and working entrepreneurs of all kinds to help them achieve their goals. Listen to his story here. Kimon's on Twitter here.  Richard Lucas: Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who has founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, including Argos Multilingual, PMR and, in 2020, the New Books Network. Richard has been a TEDx event organiser for years, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels. He was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991, where continues to invest in promising companies and helps other entrepreneurs realise their dreams. Listen to his story in an autobiographical TEDx talk here. Richard is on Twitter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

This podcast was first published in 2017. Michael Sliwinski is a productivity guy - he's the founder and CEO of Nozbe - a project management and collaboration tool for busy professionals and their teams. Nozbe is a web-based tool with apps for all the major platforms. Michael is also a speaker, author of best-selling books, a podcaster and a blogger. He is happily married to his wife Ewelina and they have three daughters. Michael is known for his un-orthodox way of running Nozbe - our company doesn't have any physical office (#NoOffice) and we dedicate Fridays to weekly reviews and personal development (#TGIF). Links Tools 2018 Mobiconf presentation in Krakow MichaelSliwinski.com @MSliwinski on Twitter Nozbe.com - a productivity app for busy professionals ProductiveMag.com Co-author of the first post-PC book: iPadOnlyBook.com Tooth Brush Test" in "To change the world - start with yourself | Richard Lucas | TEDxTarnow 91year old Wojciech Narębski at TEDxKazimierz 8 Year Old Marianna Pazhik on the TEDxKazimierz stage Lessons from when 52 year old Ray Croc sees the first Mcdonald's and meets the brothers Michael's Linkedin Time Management from Piotr Nabielec and his TEDxKazimierz talk in Polish… Czas to nie pieniądz - dlaczego warto zarządzać swoim czasem How to organise communication Summary of Hyram Smith's book about time and life Management About Michael  About your host Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here, watch is autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

This podcast was first published in 2015. Since then our guest has founded Growthx, Lightjump Capital and SVG Partners. Will Bunker talked to Richard Lucas and Sam Cook. Will was the founder of One-and-Only.com (currently owned by Match.com). He is a successful entrepreneur and investor. Richard and Will chat about their philosophies around investing. They discuss the importance of surrounding yourself with people that can bring you new ideas and ventures. Finally, Sam and Will look into analyzing data and its use in predicting startup success. Will Bunker LinkedIn GrowthX Borrow my doggy Innovation Nest Open Coffee Krakow About your host - Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here, watch is autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk here. Sam Cook was the co-host of the Project Kazimierz podcast from 2015-2017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

This podcast was first published in 2016. Kimon went from selling T-shirts door to door to running a global translation services company, and (after this podcast was recorded) handing over the leadership to Veronique Ozkaya. Meet Kimon Fountoukidis, former CEO/Founder of the Argos Multilingual and PMR. Kimon moved to Poland 30 years ago. He became a successful entrepreneur with an innovative approach to doing business. Learn his story, his insights on how to do sales, why job automation is not a bad thing, why Krakow is a great place to live and work and much more. In March 2021, Kimon became a co-host with Richard Lucas of the NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast. Kimon and Richard are shareholders in Argos. PMR Argos Multilingual Enlaso Acquisition Chillistore Acquisition Venga Acquisition Donnelley Panorama Firm John Deere Unicode About your host Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here, watch is autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

This podcast was first published in 2018. Since then our guest Patrick Ney has become involved in a parenting startup “All about Parenting”, delivered a TEDxKazimierz talk which has been viewed more than 335,000 times, and is a regular host on PAP owned “The First News” channel. Patrick Ney is a British-born filmmaker and writer living in Poland. His films focus on Polish society and history. They have had more than 17,000,000 views to the end of 2018. He works as a digital marketer specialising in story-based digital sales funnels at James Cook Media. His specialisation is in producing short-form video content that works on Facebook. He is a popular media commentator on UK-Polish affairs. He also regularly appears as a guest in podcasts on digital marketing and LinkedIn. Brought up in the United Kingdom, Paddy moved to Poland in 2010. 'There's so much going on in Poland,' he says, 'it's this cauldron of dynamism, hard work and opportunity. Living here has changed me, and it's my purpose in life to help Poles to develop as well.' Links Michael Moran - A Country in the Moon 'A man who favours the rational, pragmatic and imperial temperament of the conqueror will not find much to sustain him in Polish history. But the rhapsodic temperament, the lover of charm and hospitality, the brave and reckless in life the imaginative observer, the advocate of freedom will surely be satisfied. the lover of horses, and horsemen, the patriot who treasures honour and fidelity above all, the romantic who favours the heroic gesture over the consequence, the burning emotion over the achievement, sincerity of intention over regularity of thought - such as these will mine a rich seam' Czym jest Polska? 2 million views (in Polish) Czym bedzie Polska? 5.6 million views (in Polish) Talk at a Polish High School  (in Polish) Witold Pilecki film Maximilian Kolbe - porazka! Beef and Dairy Network podcast About your host Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here, watch is autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Asaf Navot is the founder of Home Made in London, a fast growing residential property service which is both cheaper and better than existing services. Prior to founding his startup Asaf did an MBA at Insead, was a consultant with Bain Private Equity Group and Wilson Perumal, and served in the Israeli Armed Services. Asaf's Linkedin Home Made website manager tools Richard's blog post about Five things that he has learned from Asaf Navot About your host Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Adam Davidson is the CEO of Trident Royalties, listed in mid 2020. He explains the history of the company, and the business case for investing in royalty based mining businesses. In this case his work in Private Equity Mining Finance led him to the insight that there was room for a company like Trident, and he put that thought into action, with dramatic results. Trident Royalties PLC is a United Kingdom-based diversified mining royalty and streaming company. The Company focuses on base and precious metals, bulk materials and battery metals (excluding steam coal). It is constructing a royalty portfolio to get exposure of the global mining sector with a focus towards production assets www.tridentroyalties.com London Stock Exchange filings Twitter profile Trident Royalties website Linkedin profile TEDxTarnow talk on opportunity readiness Trident Royalties Overview Project Kazimierz video of the interview on Facebook Adam's profile About your host Richard Lucas Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard grew up in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more about him here and watch his autobiographical TEDxTarnow talk about opportunity readiness here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Michał Borkowski is the co-founder of Brainly. This Project Kazimierz interview with Michał was recorded back in 2016. Since then, Brainly has gone from strength to strength. Michal explains the importance of building, growing, and nurturing a community. Richard and Michał break down the competition within the networking platforms. Sam and Michal look into education and the need for personalisation within the system. Listeners are encouraged to note Michał's sense of mission and commitment to the users of his many sites. Brainly Brainly on Wikipedia Techcrunch on Brainly's 2020 Series “D” funding Michał's Linkedin About your host - Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Sam Cook was the co-host of this podcast from 2015-17 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

This interview was recorded and first published in early 2020 when the NBN had about a million downloads a month. Since then the downloads have increased more than four-fold to just below 5 million monthly downloads at the end of 2021 and the number of hosts has increased greatly as well. On the New Books Network authors to talk about their books with a specialist host. Founded in 2007 by Marshall Poe, formerly a Russian history professor from the US. The NBN has grown to be the most downloaded podcast of its type in the world.  New Books Network website NBN on Stitcher NBN on Apple Podcasts NBN on Spotify Marshal Poe on Wikipedia About your host Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Matt Clifford is the co-founder of Entrepreneur First. One of the most successful British accelerators, specialising in supporting the most talented engineers they can find to build companies from scratch. Their programmes are in London, Singapore, Toronto, Bangalore, Paris and Berlin. EF aims to give those who get in the best possible chance to build a world-class technology company. EF have helped over 3000 people build 500 companies with over $5bn portfolio value. Matt Clifford - Twitter 'Why start a startup?' - Matt Clifford, Entrepreneur First, excellent three hour video Entrepreneur First Youtube Entrepreneur First channel CAMentrepreneurs About Matt Clifford Matt Clifford is co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First, which he started with Alice Bentinck in 2011.Matt sits on the board of Code First Girls, which he co-founded in 2013 to teach young women how to code. Matt started his career at McKinsey & Co. and holds degrees from Cambridge and MIT, where he was a Kennedy Scholar. He was awarded an MBE for services to business in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours. About Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Jethro Binns was rated 84th in the world squash rankings. A terrible accident on court cut his career short, later he founded Squashskills, which is now the world's leading online squash training resource. Jethro's Twitter Jethro's squash ranking More about Jethro Binns on his business webiste Just Jack Just Jack Music Drive by Dan Pink  About your host Richard Lucas Richard is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses, Richard has been a TEDx event organiser, supports the pro-entrepreneurship ecosystem, and leads entrepreneurship workshops at all levels: from pre-schools to leading business schools. Richard was born in Oxford and moved to Poland in 1991. Read more here.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Gill has been s a volunteer librarian at Claremont Primary School in Cape Town South Africa since 2010. Through her initiative she has been able to give several hundred children aged 6-14 from largely disadvantaged backgrounds access to books and advice about reading. She believes that this has been life changing for a significant number of her readers – as well as giving her life profound value. Gill is a great example of a social entrepreneur. Richard nominated her to speak at TEDxCapeTown, Watch her talk here For the love of books | Gill Grose | TEDxCapeTown  Claremont Primary School Couchsurfing mikengill@gmail.com