Founders Clinic

Just Billit Limited are the manufacturers of the UK's longest Roll Your Own rolling papers. Their first product the XL SLIMAZ were launched to market in August 2018 and now stock over 900 retailers around the UK and have sold over 40000 units to date. We talk with the founder Gene about: the challenges of trying to displace the marketplace leaders in a very competitive market, incorporating feedback from customers to improve your product, creating assumptions and validating them, how you can convince investors that the money you need to raise will get you where you need to go and overcoming personal challenges to keep the business alive.

Lapapo is the first product marketplace for parents of children with special needs in the UK. Their B2B2C platform solves three pains; product, pricing and emotional. They do this by connecting parents to businesses that sell products to meet their child’s needs. The overall aim is to take the pressure off of the government by empowering parents.  We talk with the founder Lapapo about: the powerful reason why she is pursuing this business, leveraging a passionate community, how having a domain expertise has accelerated her goals, the challenges of building a marketplace from scratch and befriending the competition.

Minute Shorts is the awesome app that allows you to watch quality short films based on how much time you have. We talk with the founder Janvier about: quality vs quantity with a content platform, the value of getting paid before you even have a product, competing with Netflix and positioning your product and showing traction when raising investment. 

NB Global is a social media platform for founders and entrepreneurs to network with fellow entrepreneurs all over the world, to take their business to the next level through online content such as masterclasses and webinars. We talk with the founder Nufi about: narrowing down to the core problem, discovering if the problem resonates with your target users, why you shouldn’t be thinking about facebook/instagram ads too early, the importance of creating content early and why releasing before perfection is the key.

The UpClub is a community for early stage founders who are unrepresented - BAME, females etc. They “feed” the community with information about starting and growing a business by hosting events, workshops and networking opportunities.  We talk to the founder Chikere about: addressing diversity issues in the startup community, circumstances you should look for funding, being on the search for a business model that works, the difference when you love what you do and  sweating your content.

In this first episode of our investor-focused season, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors. They sat down with Marlon Nichols, the Managing General Partner at Mac Venture Capital, (https://macventurecapital.com/) to understand his route into VC, the challenges he's faced and why the General Partners believe in them. This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it! Balsamiq have also kindly donated some of their sponsored airtime to some exciting startups! Say hello to Cledara (https://www.cledara.com/) , a tool that allows you to manage all the subscriptions your company has in one place. Check them out! Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help startups understand their customers in these unpredictable times. You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim ) , to keep up to date with him.

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors. For this episode we sat down with Patrick Newton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-newton-43b9682b/?originalSubdomain=uk) , the Founding Partner at Form Ventures (https://formventures.vc/) . We get to understand how they raised their first £1M, how many meetings it took to get there, comparisons between venture in the UK & US, and how they position themselves to invest in regulated spaces.  This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it! Balsamiq have also kindly donated some of their sponsored airtime to some exciting startups! Say hello to Cumulus1 (https://www.cumulus1.network/) , who provide companies with instant work from home capacity for their employees. With everything going remote now, definitely need to check them out. Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help startups understand their customers in these unpredictable times. You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim%20) , to keep up to date with him.

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors. For this episode we sat down with Paula Groves and Eric Collins, founders of Impact X Capital (https://www.impactxcapital.com/) , the initially £100M VC fund founded to support underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe. This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it! Balsamiq have also kindly donated some of their sponsored airtime to some exciting startups! Say hello to Reitly (https://www.reitly.io/) , where you can find and compare investment opportunities for free, with no jargon!  Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help startups understand their customers in these unpredictable times. You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim%20) , to keep up to date with him

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors.   For this episode we sat down with Matt Penneycard (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpenneycard/) , partner at Ada Ventures (https://www.adaventures.com/) , the £27M VC fund supporting overlooked founders and overlooked markets.   We talk about how they raised their first fund, the privilege they had in doing so, and how Venture Capital economics works at the base level. You can contact Matt via email on matt@adaventures.com (mailto:matt@adaventures.com) .    This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it!   Balsamiq have also kindly donated some of their sponsored airtime to some exciting startups! Say hello to Marie Farmer, founder of MiniMealTimes (https://www.minimealtimes.com/) . They provide age-appropriate personalised nutritional information for parents, helpful non-judgemental advice, and a bank of simple recipes and recommendations   Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help start-ups understand their customers in these unpredictable times.   You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim%20) , to keep up to date with him.

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors.   For this episode we sat down with Jamie Macfarlane (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiemacfarlane/?originalSubdomain=uk) , Founder and CEO at the Creator Fund (https://www.thecreatorfund.com/) , the fund investing in exceptional student teams.   We talk about:   - their unique funding model and how the Creator Fund started - what they have learned from the journey - what they are looking for in both their student investors and investees   This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it!   Balsamiq have also kindly donated some of their sponsored airtime to some exciting startups! Say hello to Anthony Ware (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyware/) , founder of Founder Mental Wealth. They help minority founders create generational mental wealth, so that they can make a positive impact on their lives, businesses, teams, and communities.   Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help start-ups understand their customers in these unpredictable times.   You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim%20) , to keep up to date with him.

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors.   For this episode we sat down with Luke Smith (https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-smith-564a2438/) from Forward Partners (https://forwardpartners.com/) , that not only invest in early stage companies, but simultaneously are a start-up studio.   We had a great conversation about:   - How Luke moved from Corporate VC into Startup VC - How Forward Partners support early stage companies - The Forward Advances (https://forwardadvances.com/) initiative, a revenue based finance solution for start-ups, and how it came about.   This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/) , the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it!    Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nana-parry/) or visit www.tectoniclondon.com (http://www.tectoniclondon.com/) for more info on how we help start-ups understand their customers in these unpredictable times.   You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AndysHVC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) or sign up for his weekly newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim%20) , to keep up to date with him.  

In this season of Founders Clinic, Nana and Andy are talking to Venture Capital firms and Angel Investors, to demystify the funding landscape and draw parallels between the journey of founders and investors. For this episode, we sat down with Jude Addo & Chenelle Ansah from Cornerstone Partners, an angel investment network focused on investing in businesses owned and run by black and diverse founders. We had a great conversation about: - The angel syndicate’s humble beginnings - Why they choose to invest heavily in black founders - Helping founders understand the perspective of investors This podcast is sponsored by Balsamiq, the quick and easy wireframing tool. For anyone looking to create wireframes easily, check out the link below for a promo code to get a 90 day free trial, please visit https://balsamiq.com/go/founders-clinic/. Well worth it! Balsamiq have also kindly donated some of their sponsored airtime to some exciting startups! Say hello to HairPopp, an online marketplace for Afro and curly hair care products. Check them out! Feel free to get in touch with Nana on Linkedin or visit www.tectoniclondon.com for more info on how we help start-ups understand their customers in these unpredictable times. You can find out more about Andy's Angel Investing School on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter, to keep up to date with him.