Upstream Podcast: Discovery Series

In episode 4, we talk to Dhivya Venkat, CEO of Esya Labs and Emily Carter, fashion designer whose designs are sold at Libertys and Selfridges. From sustainable fashion to life-saving precision diagnostics for Alzheimer's, these two entrepreneurs delve into what it means to be a founder: overcoming challenges, balancing revenue with growth, and carving out time for creative thought.

In episode 3, we delve into the world of Big Data and entrepreneurship. Sam Carter, CEO of Fospha and Gianluca Carrera, Chief Solutions Office of dunnhumby unpack the key principles behind a ‘good capture' that is insightful to businesses and respectful of their customers before launching into the challenges of being an entrepreneur - wildly agreeing more than predicted. Recorded just before the Euros 2021 semis, it appears one of our speakers has either done some data crunching or is a psychic.

In episode 2 we welcome Prof. Dale Russell of the Royal College of Art and Lloyd Lee of Yoo Capital as they discuss how you reconcile creativity with the bottom line, what technological innovation leaves them hopeful/worried and finishing off on the light note that is our word association round.

We welcomed David Hickson, Chief Strategic Development Officer at Founders Factory to our Money talks series sharing how to fundraise effectively or what he likes to call the “No BS guide to fundraising”.  David has helped hundreds of startups with their fundraising strategies. His experience includes time at one Europe’s biggest tech-companies (lastminute.com) from its founder era to its 2005 $1.1bn exit. Since then, he has raised over $100m worth of venture/investment capital for four tech ventures.   Tune in to hear the best approaches to avoid the quick jump-to-no from investors whilst raising pre-seed to pre-series A. 

In anticipation of a return to the office, the Uplift podcast series aims to mimic lift rides - without the awkward silences. Each time, we bring together two people who’ve never met each other before.  It may be a tech startup and an ad agency, people in the same building or opposite sides of the road. Uplift - Taking connections to the next level In episode 1, we talk to Bethany McDonald Shepherd from LAMDA and John Simpson of Fresh Check. One studied and has worked extensively in theatres and the arts, the other has a PhD from Imperial College London in single cell proteomics and is CTO of a biotech startup.

In February 2021, we welcomed Asesh Sarkar, Global CEO of Salary Finance for a fireside chat exploring his journey as an entrepreneur and the key lessons he learned as he continues to build a fast growing FinTech with a social conscience at its heart.  In this 'truly insightful', 'exciting' and 'refreshing' chat, Asesh covers how Salary Finance's recent Series D funding is being led by Experian and Legal & General and have already raised $138m to date, with backers including Blenheim Chalcot, Goldman Sachs and Royal London.

Our first event of 2021 saw Julietta Dexter, Chief Growth Officer at Science Magic Inc and previously CEO at The Communications Store (TCS), treat us to an "inspiring" and "refreshing" talk exploring the importance of values and purpose in an organisation. She delved into her story, the launch of TCS and how values and a strong organisation commitment were key in its design, where to begin when deciding your own company values and many ways to become more purpose-driven. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in why honesty, reliability and diversity are the best foundations for long-term success.

In November 2020 we welcomed Dana Tobak, CEO of Hyperoptic, for a fireside exploring what she has learned from being a true industry disruptor. Hyperoptic was the first company to offer 1000mbps download speeds in the UK and Dana’s vision of hyperfast full fibre broadband shook up the entire sector. In this  'refreshing', 'grounded' and 'inspiring' chat she covers how they ensured safety of hundreds of employees during the COVID pandemic, the importance of your people & a very clear purpose when scaling, and her path to becoming a CEO.

Over the summer we welcomed Mark Sanders, Executive Chair of Scale Space, for a fireside exploring the key ingredients needed to scale a business successfully. An incredibly down-to-earth entrepreneur with an eye for both detail and strategy, Mark is an expert in scaling businesses with over 20 years of experience. As CEO of TDX Group, he sold it for a whopping £200m in 2016.  We  explore how he achieved this, the key to success as a COO vs. CEO, the importance of a clear path to profitability, and the pioneering work he is doing to support more scale-ups through the newly-opened Scale Space in White City.

Upstream’s Prema Gurunathan meets Nate Macabuag, Founder of Mitt Wearables, a White City- based startup disrupting the world of prosthetic arms by making them affordable, accessible and comfortable. Nate delves in to the origins of Mitt, how they design prosthetics in a similar way to clothing - being breathable, adjustable and avoiding rigid structures, and even the addition of a lightsaber attachment for their children's market!

Upstream’s Prema Gurunathan meets Kieron Heath, Head of Customer Operations at iPLATO, a Hammersmith-based health-tech business that enables the NHS to interact with patients in a digital-first manner. Recorded in February, Kieron discusses iPLATO's entrepreneurial journey and digital first approach, the challenges of scaling-up, and their role in ensuring successful cervical screening across London. Since the COVID-19 crisis began, iPLATO have further developed their myGP remote consultation functionality to help the NHS. Read how it has helped from iPLATO CEO Tobias.

Upstream's Prema Gurunathan meets Alessio D'Antino, Founder and CEO of Forward Fooding, the world's first collaborative platform for the food and beverage industry. Alessio discusses creating a community of food and tech professionals, sustainability in food production, and exciting innovations in food tech such as targeted weed killing with electrical discharges and high protein powders produced from CO2. Interested in food/ tech collaboration? Check out their Food Tech Data Navigator.

In December 2019 we were lucky to welcome author, entrepreneur, and all- round good egg Sophie Devonshire to talk to our community about leadership in a fast paced environment. Sophie is the CEO of the Caffeine Partnership, a growth consultancy, and has also written the book ‘Superfast: Lead at Speed’ which has had great success and been shortlisted for a Business Book Award. We have pulled out some highlights from her talk which explore the importance Energy, Empathy, and Editing to be an effective leader.

Prema Gurunathan interviews Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy, the first guest on our ‘My Entrepreneurial Journey’ series. Despite technical difficulties, we managed to salvage the Q&A session from the evening (woohoo!). Hear Greg's take on having courage to 'go for it', maintaining company culture, and finding the right talent in this inspiring session.

Upstream's Prema Gurunathan meets Michelle 'Mimi' Moyo, Junior Chemical Engineer at Puraffinity, an advanced materials startup, aiming to tackle water pollution, which recently secured £2.8million investment in an oversubscribed seed round from leading sustainability investors.

Upstream's Prema Gurunathan meets Anna Anderson, co-founder and director of Kindred, West London's first conscious co-working and members space. Anna talks about her journey to set up the club and her desire to find a solution to growing isolation and disconnection in London.

Upstream's Prema Gurunathan meets Oliver Bolton, Founder and CEO of Almond, a soon-to-launch free app that rewards consumers for buying responsible brands and helps them understand and reduce carbon emissions.

Upstream's Prema Gurunathan speaks to Graham Hewson, Head of Incubation, Imperial College White City Incubator, to find out what really goes on inside the shared labs at the White City Incubator, a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship providing office and lab space for early stage companies and startups, including spinouts from Imperial College London.

In Upstream’s first ever podcast, Prema Gurunathan talks to Emmanuel Ayoola of Generating Genius about diversity in tech and its mission to get more BAME young people into STEM higher education and careers.

Meet Elizabeth Tweedale, finalist of the Natwest Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2019 and founder of Cypher, which gives kids future-ready skills with coding camps.Upstream's Prema Gurunathan chats to Elizabeth about the challenges of starting a new business, lessons learnt by being an entrepreneur and healthy tech for kids.