Next Big Thing Show

Jeremy Harbour tells his story to David Bradley about how he started as a struggling young entrepreneur buying distressed businesses for no money down (because he didn't have any).  It was tough. But 25 years on, Jeremy Harbour has bought, built and sold businesses around the World, including a bank.  He now pioneers a unique investment process, Agglomeration®, which attracts institutional and family office funds into small businesses and gives investors great returns per share.  The engine behind his ideas and growth is the Harbour Club (not to be confused with the famous Tennis Club in London), an M&A learning forum and deal making community.  He has also written a number of books, including Agglomerate: from Idea to IPO in 12 Months, Go Do Deals and Democratising Wealth: a Pragmatic Alternative to Murdering the Rich, due out soon.   In this podcast, you will discover: How Jeremy Harbour left school at 15 and a few years later, despite having no money, doubled his telecoms business in an afternoon through an acquisition. The scariest moment in his business career, caused by his youthful cockiness. (It involved bolt cutters.) How to buy a profitable business without upfront capital, nor debt. How Agglomeration® can fix the seismic, societal problem of $93 trillion dollars being controlled by large financial institutions, yet none is invested in small and medium sized businesses that drive the real economy.  How Agglomeration® can help successful small businesses break through the glass ceiling so they can win bigger contracts and compete – and win – against the big boys.  How new and unique Extra (Exchange Traded) Bonds, provide SME business sellers capital on completion as well as cheap capital for a fast acquisition growth strategy.  How the Harbour Club, apart from being a learning and deal-sharing community, is a hot bed for innovation that has helped bring Jeremy Harbour – along with a growing number of business owners - to where he is today. 

Imagine a world where nothing breaks down. Everything’s reliable. Whether it’s your car, your plane or your commuter train, nothing’s ever late. Everything just works. Then as you hop off your always-reliable train that’s never late, you whiz into a store, grab dinner off the shelf and walk straight out. No one arrests you for shoplifting. Instead your credit card charges you for what you’ve taken. There are no long checkout queues, self-scanning machines and everything’s cheaper, since the retailer saves on expensive retail payment hardware and armies of checkout staff. All this can soon be possible, largely thanks to Computer Vision on the Network Edge. David Bradley talks to Alex Taylor, founder and CEO of Net4, the Internet of Things provider that’s working with ARM Holdings, both at the cutting edge of developing and rolling out computer vision on the network edge. Alex tells his story and describes  opportunities now for listeners.  If you’re not familiar with the term, computer vision is the application of powerful computers to process and analyse optical and video data, in greater quantity, depth and detail than ever before. This then provides previously undreamed information for decisions and subsequent actions – whether for humans, robots or other automated systems. The network edge refers to where this processing happens. The problem with sending video to the Cloud is prohibitively huge cost. So to avoid that, Net4 house their video processing computers physically near camera feeds – on the “network edge”. That means no cloud processing charges from Amazon, Microsoft or Google too. If you want to find out about Net4’s smarts and whether they are poised to dominate this fast growing and valuable niche, listen in.

David Bradley interviews the inventor, Adam Sutcliffe. He tells his story about how he came to be a Dyson Award winner, and how he came up with the idea for Orbel, a unique, ergonomic wearable hand sanitiser. So far, 1m have been sold since launch earlier this year (this being written in June 2020) and sales are growing rapidly. Certainly, the wearable hand sanitiser niche is fast growing market and the Orbel is the “Big Thing” within it. Fitting perfectly in the palm of your hand, when rubbed, some carefully engineered roller balls turn and release just the right amount of hand sanitiser. It is quite a pleasurable, almost sensual feeling, with the effect of encouraging regular use. An Orbel can be clipped conveniently onto a breast pocket, belt or armband, which makes it not only convenient to use, but shows others that whoever is wearing it has Covid-free hands. Reassuring too for hospital patients during more normal times.  For more information visit www.nextbigthing.show/orbel. 

Gawain Towler shares valuable PR nuggets, which if you apply them, can help you become the Next Big Thing in your market from a publicity perspective. For Gawain's the PR expert that managed the publicity for Nigel Farage, the politician that recently won Spectator Magazine's Disruptor of the Decade and who is arguably the most influential UK politician since 1945. (For those not listening in the UK, Farage instigated, fought for and (against the odds) affected the UK’s exit from the EU). But this is not a political podcast, rather it’s a business one. Gawain share's his approach to managing the press, managing the news and keeping out the bad stories. This is a chance to hear, first-hand, valuable PR advice from the world of politics that can be applied to business – from one of the most effective PR experts in UK politics over the last 15 years. Gawain explains what sets PR apart from social media, how to entice journalists and generate news and how to manage it - especially in a crisis.

Whether you are on a stage or pitching a boardroom, if you want to become the Next Big Thing in your market, you need to understand what it takes to have your audience hanging on to your every word. Listen to this episode and discover Stewart Pearce, the Master of Presentation who voice trained Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and Anita Roddick. His story is remarkable. Stewart also coached Minnie Driver, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Michelle Williams, Hugh Bonneville, Eddie Redmayne, Simon Callow, Matthew Goode, and Mark Rylance. He explains too the techniques that you can start adopting to become a compelling, charismatic and persuasive speaker. (If you aren't one already, of course.)

Ryan Evans provides a powerful tool, Tend.io. It’s like a very bright torch that you can shine into that dark, opaque cellar, which is your marketing budget.  Shine it around, and you’ll spot those nuggets of 22 carat gold – ads, pages and keywords that sourced and influenced your most profitable customers over time, before they bought.   Crucially, it shines a light onto those pesky non performing ads and marketing expenditure, so you can chop them out. 

On this occasion, we are not talking to a prospective “Next Big Thing”, but to Jim Kinnear, who is already an established “Big Thing” in the highly profitable Canadian Oil and Gas industry.  You will hear how Jim Kinnear built up a $5bn company. Investors were paid a 14% return over 20 years, including reinvestment of distributions. Jim’s now looking to raise a relatively small amount, 20m USD. It’s to fund acquisition of additional “proven producing reserves”, which represent the least risky way to take advantage of extremely attractive current asset prices. During this podcast you will learn: Jim’s story and how he got to be where he is now:industry; Why now is the time to acquire assets which are cyclically very favourably priced; What the risks are and how to mitigate them, including competition from renewables; That natural gas is the cleanest hydrocarbon fuel; That pipelines are now flowing in reverse directions between Canada and the US and how that could put upwardly pressure on prices;   How these assets produce LNG and sulphur, which means that even if the gas price were to drop to less than $1 mcf, the business will be still profitable. Jim explains that investors will receive convertible notes paying a 9% coupon, secured against proven producible reserves.  If you want to know more, email david@nextbigthing.show (mailto:David@nextbigthing.show) , writing “Jim Kinnear” in the subject line and your query in the email’s body. The Next Big Thing Show is not qualified, nor regulated to give investment advice. As such, it is not endorsing what Jim says. The purpose of this podcast episode is to ask Jim questions, so listeners can get the measure of Jim and hear him discuss the opportunity.

Is your pitch, for what you offer, perfect? If so, can you pick up the telephone and arrange to meet the one person who has the power to make you the Next Big Thing in your market? If not, you need to speak to Ian George.  Ian is one the world’s top professional introducers. His introductions have made his clients $millions. David Bradley was lucky enough to interview Ian. If you listen to this episode, you’ll discover how Ian’s been able to arrange meetings with the likes of royalty, a sitting Prime Minister, a billionaire investor and countless chief executives and senior buyers at the likes of Walmart. During this 27-minute interview, Ian tells David his story (including working with Frank Warren when he was shot) and gives some useful low down on his strategies. If you want to reach out to Ian, email david@nextbigthing.show (mailto:david@nextbigthing.show) with your message and contact details, writing “Ian George” in your email’s Subject Line. Your message will then be passed on so he can call you. 

Paytah is the Malta-regulated financial institution that could well become the Next Big Thing in providing banking facilities to profitable, licensed and regulated (where necessary) businesses that traditional banks want to ignore. Marco’s business life started when he was in his 20s. Thinking that he’d become an academic, like the rest of his family before him, Marco instead discovered his innate entrepreneurial flair. He was fast and skillful at using 1990s de-regulation to challenge the dominance of the postal and telecommunications monopolies, unused to competition.  With hardly any startup capital, he built businesses that made life cheaper for millions of consumers. In the late 90s, Marco sold them, pouring the proceeds into GoldX, an e-Gold exchange he founded in Australia. It seemed, quite literally, that everything Marco touched turned to gold. But the US Government, in the meantime, was having concerns with the entire e-Gold industry. Marco, though, had thousands of happy customers. He was serving them transparently and thoroughly, with full anti-money laundering and KYC checks and audit trials. Even though this wasn’t legally required at the time. But then, overnight, his entire capital was confiscated by the US Government. That drove him to depression, but he bounced back, founded another new business - with nothing - and finally, in 2013, the confiscated funds by the US authorities were returned. With those he was able to launch his now regulated financial institution, Paytah. You’ll discover in this podcast: - •         How having all his business’s funds confiscated by the US Government affected Marco. How he went from depression, staring at walls, to starting another business - with nothing. •         What he did when he was completely vindicated by the US authorities, with every cent being repaid, and how that enabled him to establish Paytah – and soon-to-be-launched Monetum. •         Why Marco is challenging another set of fat, slow, unresponsive industry dominators: traditional banks. •         Who exactly the customers are that are being shunned by traditional banks- and why? Can Paytah serve them? What’s the catch? •         How Paytah is regulated and how that gives it competitive advantage against UK based “challenger” banks, such as Revolut and Tide. •         How big this new market is. What’s the upside? •         Whether or not Paytah, led by Marco Lavanna, will become the Next Big Thing in providing banking services to the already large, growing “deserving under-served” banking market. Listen and you’ll find out.

**During this 30 minute podcast, you will learn…** Why MyClinic has a massive advantage over its competition, such as Babylon. It’s why it could be the Next Big Thing, the #1 in sales, in telemedicine globally. That market in 2017 was worth $28bn. By 2020 it could be worth $55bn. Huge growth. Why for anything but the most serious of ailments and emergencies, using the MyClinic app should be not only quicker than seeing a doctor, but a much faster experience. Why accepting cryptocurrency can be a huge advantage in making healthcare available to the unbanked in the World.   Why clinicians will embrace MyClinic. (Competitors can do very little about this.) Why private health providers will have a ready network of new clients, thanks to MyClinic. So, will MyClinic be the #1 in telemedicine? You decide.

Alastair Johnson, founder and CEO of Nuggets, explains how this e-commerce and identity platform makes the business of buying online much easier and more enjoyable. And of course the underlying technology is Blockchain.      The result is a simplified and much more secure process and it’s a business with built in network effects. The more buyers there are, the more valuable the Nuggets platform is to merchants - and vice versa. The "Uber" effect if you like. If Nuggets takes off fast and establishes itself ahead of others, it could be tricky to dislodge. Moreover, network effect leaders tend to distort the 80/20 rule. Instead of 20% of leaders winning 80% of a market, it's more like 5% of leaders getting 95% of a given market - perhaps more. The question is, will Nuggets catch on. Will enough merchants adopt it and are the benefits and rewards sufficient to entice consumers? Will Nuggets indeed be the Next Big Thing in e-commerce platforms?      Listen to David Bradley quiz Alastair Johnson and you will discover how Nuggets uses Blockchain to enable a revolutionary network of buyers and sellers to trade without either party having access to the others’ sensitive data. For merchants, they no longer have hindering credit card fees. No more charge backs either. And they can assess the quality of the buyers’ reliability without the expense of credit checking. Nor do they breach users’ privacy. They're much less risk of breaching data privacy laws.     For consumers, they can access any Nuggets store or website and buy with a simple click. No credit card details or passwords required. Plus, consumers control who accesses their data and they get rewarded - whenever they use the platform. This all sounds compelling. But is it for real? Does Alastair have the right strategy? Can his team execute it? Listen to David Bradley talk to Alastair to find out. (If you want to acquire Nuggets tokens, please click here.) 

Troy Broussard is a entrepreneur that has built multi-million dollar businesses. He's also an author (with a very engaging writing style) and he's a hugely successful Infusionsoft business automation consultant. Normally, the Next Big Thing is about interviewing founders launching, exciting, industry-disrupting businesses. But on this occasion, we're listening to an expert in business execution.  So Troy is a techie also. But you will discover in less than 30 minutes that actually it's not about tech. In so doing, Troy tells the story about how he never makes sales from his public speaking appearances. But each one is brings in clients that are worth at least $35,000.  Troy will share with you what he knows in this interesting and engaging conversation.

If you think cryptocurrencies are here to stay, that Bitcoin and other cryptos will gain value, then listen to David Bradley interview Josh Riddett. The question he helps answer is, if you want exposure to cryptocurrencies, what is the most profitable way to go about it?  You will also discover if Josh Riddett’s solution, Easy Crypto Hunter, is likely to be the easiest and simplest way to do this.    First, he explains quickly, in very simple terms, what cryptocurrencies are, how they are mined and what the role is of the miner.    You will hear about selecting the most profitable cryptocurrencies to mine and what to do with them once you’ve been paid your mining fee in that crypto.   You will then learn about the different types of mining equipment on offer, equipment you must avoid and what you should buy. Josh gives you an idea about costs, profits and how long your mining equipment will last.  He also outlines various options, from Do It Yourself mining through to Easy Crypto Hunter hosting your equipment and mining cryptos on your behalf.   The question is, will Easy Crypto Hunter become the Next Big Thing in cryptocurrency mining for individuals – and if so how can you benefit? 

This is a short pithy podcast episode. We’re joined by Pippa Malmgren, economist, Presidential Advisor to George W Bush and now entrepreneur and Wayne Harburn, flight tech expert, pilot with a top arbitrage executive. They’ve joined forces to start H Robotics, a post revenue startup, already with happy customers in a market that’s about to explode. You might think that drones are used by hobbyists and to deliver groceries. But if you listen to Dr Pippa Malmgren, and Wayne Harburn, your perceptions will change. You’ll learn in this episode that the commercial drone market is forecast soon to be worth billions. You'll discover drones go where helicopters can’t – and they’re cheaper to buy and run. They go where Man can’t. So could H robotics become the Next Big Thing in industrial automated drones? They have some secret source to improve drones by using technology. Listen to this podcast to understand the advantage. Visit www.nextbigthing.com/hrobotics for the lowdown and to reach out to them.

Tarik Khribech talks to David Bradley about how LaborCrypto will revolutionise the world's Gig Economy using Blockchain. Potentially, LaborCrypto could be a giant boost to the World's economy. Millions of workers around the world have talent. But today, they can't sell themselves online because they don't have bank accounts. LaborCryto could change all that. For example, a local unbanked web designer in Manila may suddenly find a client in Chicago, paying in LaborCrypto tokens. Both parties would get better value. Unlike current gig economy platforms Fiverr.com, Upwork and PeoplePerHour - who should be terrified - Blockchain allows LaborCrypto to reward platform participants for being active and to charge a mere fraction of their fees. All thanks to Blockchain and Smart Contracts. But will LaborCrypto become the Next Big Thing in Blockchain powered freelance platforms? Will it spend enough on marketing to attract freelancers and their clients? Can it harness inherent network effects to quickly accelerate and consolidate any lead? How solid is Tarik Khribech’s ability to execute the business plan? Listen to this episode and you'll find out.

It may take a leap of the imagination to work out how an app can train a dog. But that it can, as Ross Fretten goes on to explain. Not only that, it's a vast, but very new market. Listen to this Next Big Thing Show podcast episode and you will learn HOW Ross will do this. He has some very secret sauce that will be enable him to dominate this market. Or will it? You decide.

David Bradley talks to Simon Krystman about Smart Startup Token. Will that become the Next Big Thing in automated smart contracts? Simon is taking on the legal industry with a Blockchain-based solution, which automates the creation and enforcement of legal contracts. This is going to be hitting lawyers right where it hurts – in their billable hours. We all know that, when starting out, money is tight. It’s crucial to protect yourself by operating effectively within the legal framework, but the associated legal costs can seem disproportionately high and, crucially, they don’t generate any revenue. Even once you have your legal contracts in place, monitoring them and enforcing them is highly expensive. This is where Smart Startup Token comes in: through Blockchain technology, cryptographically secure smart contracts use software code to represent legal agreements, and, critically, to enforce them. So, for example, when a financial statement comes out in your company, you won’t need to check your contract and see whom you have to pay and how much. The software just does it automatically.   Smart Startup Token: automation saving you time, personnel costs and legal fees.  

In Africa and much of the developing world, most people shun banks owing to their cost, incompetence and corruption. So to save, invest and lend money, they form groups of trusted close-knit family and friends. In Kenya, these groups are called Chama. They've existed in one shape or another for millennia and there are now thousands. In Kenya, they're responsible for financing the transport network and in whichever country they are, they help much of the local economy grow. But they have a problem. They use rudimentary paper-based, old fashioned accounting techniques. This limits how quickly they develop and the opportunities to trade between each other across large distances. Queue Chamapesa's Blockchain solution for Chamas. Listen to Ken Griffiths explain how using Blockchain, Chamas can both improve their record keeping, as well as connect with Chamas and similar organisations to pool resources for more disparate and larger investments. Access to capital, advice and opportunities can be flung open with diaspora around the World, who can send money from abroad to invest or lend at near zero fees using cryptocurrency. This podcast does not provide investment advice. It merely asks the question: will Chamapesa come to dominate blockchain co-operative accounting - and we ask will this new market niche grow fast. To know the answer, invest 25 minutes listening to this podcast episode.

David Bradley talks to Maksim Balashevich of Samtiment. Santiment is a crypto-trading platform with a difference. Using algorithms based on its unique crowd sentiment formula, Santiment offers prediction trading analysis to its platform users. After raising $millions in July 2017, selling tokens that provide access to the platform, Santiment will soon be offering its services to those that bought them. The demand for what they maybe great, especially in Asia. And being the first of its kind could rapidly make its position more dominant through deploying its inherent network effects. But will it be the Next Big Thing in predictive trading exchanges? David Bradley explores.

David Bradley meets Angelo Monteiro, Mothive's founder and CEO. Angelo explains that crop-growing farmers can extract huge value in controlling watering systems based on measuring tempurature and soil moisture, then harvesting at the precise optimum moment. Mothive provides the sensors and cloud based technology to make this possible. The question is, are they set to become the Next Big Thing in measuring crop conditions? Listen to find out.

David Bradley talks to Wayne Turner, CEO of Odyssey Sensors, to discover that they could become the Next Big Thing in monitoring water troughs over vast distances, saving ranch owners both huge time and money. Can they move quickly enough to get a critically large market share? David Bradley discovers...

David Bradley talks to Sam Collett, one of HiP's founders. HiP may help solve a massive problem in the UK - and one that exists in many countries. For HiP will be a smart property equity exchange. Built on Blockchain, HiP will empower people to use their equity in their own property to buy equity in that of others. The question is, will HiP forge a brand new market category, Smart Property Exchanges - and will HiP become the Next Big Thing within that? David Bradley finds out.

David Bradley talks to Abdullah Albeyatti and Mo Tayeb. Both are medical doctors and founders of MedicalChain. They tell their story and explain why MedicalChain promises to be the Next Big Thing in putting the World's patient records on to the Blockchain. Like never before patients will be empowered to resist aggressive non-payment behaviour from medical and travel insurance companies. They will have access to evidence to support negligence claims. And they will be able to make money (in the form of Medtokens) when third parties pay to use their patient data. They will also be able to buy medical services via MedicalChain with their Medtokens. Which begs the HUGE question: could MedicalChain become the global platform over which citizens from multiple countries buy medical services, circumventing much expensive bureaucratic administration and cost, matching medical need with the right supply at the best price, wherever in the World it may be?

Around 2 years ago, Omar Rahim started EnergiMine. Large corporations were spending too much money buying energy from expensive, inefficient energy companies. So EnergiMine gave them access to cheaper wholesale markets.  Harnessing Artificial Intelligence,  EnergiMine started doing this cheaper than their competitors, rapidly winning previously less profitable, ignored, smaller businesses. They now have over 1000 small business clients in Europe and Asia. The momentum is relentless. They have just raised $15m (in 81 minutes) via an ICO, selling tokens giving people access to the first peer to peer smart energy trading exchange. People can buy and sell electricity to one another directly without the need for traditional energy companies. Disruption could be brutal. So could EnergiMine become the Next Big Thing in smart energy platforms? How valuable will the tokens be if they indeed EnergyMine becomes the Next Big Thing in buying energy.  David Bradley talks to Omar to find out..

David Bradley, Revellers' Club founder, quizzes Adam Cleary, a leader in issuing digital tokens to raise capital for growing businesses. Adam explains Bitcoin, its underlying technology Blockchain and how digital tokens can, potentially, turn capitalism upside down, for the better of all. On 29th November at 7pm, Revellers' Club members can meet Adam over drinks and dinner in central London, to learn of the opportunities this new cryptocurrency phenomenon provides - both concerning accruing capital personally, but also about how capitalism as a result can become much more accessible to those with only miniscule capital. For more information, visit www.revellersclub.com.