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The UK Investor Magazine was pleased to be joined by Damon Rand, the founder of Cepro, to discuss their residential smart grids for new UK homes, which promise to disrupt both the new home and renewable energy markets.Find out more about Cepro on Crowdcube here.Cepro is an award-winning smart grid developer and operator based in the UK, specialising in developing and operating residential smart grids for new UK homes, combining solar power, battery storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.The firm's vision centres on decarbonising and decentralising home energy whilst helping housebuilders deliver all-electric, future-proof homes at reduced costs.Cepro is addressing the challenge of high-carbon, gas-reliant centralised home energy systems at a time when housebuilders face mounting regulatory pressure and costs to deliver low-carbon infrastructure.We discuss the company's pipeline of commercial proposals covering over 11,000 homes and how Cepro aims to scale through strategic partnerships with builders in the growing UK new-build market.Find out more about Cepro on Crowdcube here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Matt Cooper, Co-CEO of CrowdCube, joins Breakfast Business to explain how startups can raise capital through micro-investments, and how the model is helping Irish businesses grow.Get all this brilliant conversation here.
We welcome back Thor Mitchell, who shares his journey from being a CPO at CrowdCube to becoming a VP of Product at Miro, where he established an Associate Product Manager (APM) program. Thor discusses the importance of structured APM programs, the qualities to look for in candidates, and the benefits of bringing fresh talent into companies. Featured Links: Follow Thor on LinkedIn | Miro | Apply for one of Miro's graduate programsOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.
Salinity Solutions: An innovative water technology company specializing in batch reverse osmosis. The company focuses on improving the efficiency of conventional reverse osmosis systems, achieving higher water recovery rates while reducing energy consumption and chemical usage. Their technology is particularly applicable in industries facing water scarcity and pollution issues, such as mining, zero liquid discharge (ZLD), and vertical farming.Reverse osmosis (RO) is a widely used technology for water treatment, but it has significant drawbacks, including high energy consumption and waste production. Salinity Solutions, led by Tim Naughton, has developed a batch reverse osmosis process that addresses these issues by improving efficiency, reducing waste, and lowering chemical use. This innovative approach offers a more sustainable solution for water treatment needs.Unique Insights:Batch Process Innovation: Unlike traditional RO, batch reverse osmosis operates in a non-steady state with varying pressures, making it more efficient and easier to manage waste.Market Adaptation: The primary challenge for batch RO is market adoption due to its process innovation rather than new technology. However, it offers significant improvements, making it a viable solution for many applications.Humanitarian Roots: The technology was initially developed for humanitarian aid, utilizing solar energy for remote communities, and has evolved into a commercially viable solution addressing various industrial needs.Key Ideas:Reverse Osmosis Drawbacks: Traditional RO systems are energy-intensive, produce a lot of waste, and use significant amounts of chemicals, which limits their efficiency and sustainability.Batch Reverse Osmosis: Salinity Solutions' innovation involves a batch process that significantly improves efficiency, achieving up to 98% water recovery with half the energy consumption and reduced chemical usage.Market Penetration Challenges: Although batch RO is not a new technology but a process innovation, its market adoption is hindered by the need for industries to adjust to its non-equilibrium operation.Initial Development and Funding: The technology's development began as a volunteer project, leading to a government-funded program that helped commercialize the technology through substantial grants and investments.Crowdfunding Success: Salinity Solutions successfully raised funds through Crowdcube, attracting over 2,000 shareholders and significantly exceeding their initial funding goals.Strategic Partnerships: The company has formed key partnerships, including a joint venture in India for ZLD applications and collaborations with large companies like Suez, enhancing their market presence and credibility.Technology Applications: The batch RO system is versatile, with applications ranging from lithium extraction in mining to phosphate removal in wastewater treatment and water reuse in agriculture.Future Outlook: Salinity Solutions aims to become a leading technology in the desalination sector, with ambitions to use their technology for humanitarian aid projects, particularly in remote and water-stressed regions.Counter-Intuitive Facts:Efficiency Paradox: Achieving 98% water recovery in batch RO is not just 3% better than 95%, but twice as efficient in terms of outcomes.Market Adoption: Despite being a superior process, batch RO faces market adoption challenges because it's a process innovation, not a new technology.Humanitarian Origin: The commercial technology originated from a humanitarian project aimed at providing solar-powered water solutions for remote communities.Full Episode: https://dww.show/how-oxyle-destroys-pfas-with-the-energy-youd-actually-waste/Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Scottish technology-led producer of green chemicals, Celtic Renewables, has launched its latest crowdfunding campaign with Crowdcube aiming to raise a minimum of £2.75 million to boost operational capacity and scale revenue growth. Scotland's first producer of green chemicals launches Crowdfunding campaign Celtic Renewables continues to lead the sustainable chemical revolution Celtic Renewables is the first in the world to produce and supply green chemicals to lower the carbon footprint of thousands of products like cosmetics, paints and household cleaners, and has recently sent its first production of bioacetone and biobutanol to distribution partner, Caldic, a company that creates bespoke solutions for the food, pharma, personal care and industrial markets. Funds raised from the Crowdcube campaign will be used to increase the global distribution of green chemicals, broadening the reach of products across multiple sectors where replacement of incumbent fossil fuel derived chemicals is most needed. Celtic Renewables has plans to build a further four biorefineries in the next four to five years with a combined product output of around 32,000 tonnes per year. Celtic Renewables makes its green chemicals at its flagship biorefinery in Grangemouth, Scotland. Their patented technology converts low-value by-products, residues and waste from a range of industries, such as food and drinks production, into high-value green chemicals. These green chemicals, namely bioacetone, biobutanol and bioethanol, are chemically identical to and can directly replace their gas and oil-derived equivalents (acetone, butanol and ethanol). Mark Simmers, CEO of Celtic Renewables, says: "The ultimate goal of this crowdfunding campaign is to allow us to scale what we are doing which will allow us to supply green chemicals to a long list of potential customers who are ready and waiting. "The timing is right and many companies and industries are eager to make the change to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Our technology offers a commercially proven and green alternative for the production of key chemicals and will lower the carbon footprint of everyday products like skin creams, nail varnish, household cleaning products, paints, medicines and vitamins. We have the momentum and potential to accelerate the defossilisation of the chemical industry and make everyday life more sustainable for consumers." The production of acetone, butanol and ethanol contributes significantly to CO2 emissions in the chemical sector, accounting for 18% of total industrial CO2 emissions globally. Celtic Renewables' production of bioacetone, biobutanol and bioethanol generates up to 70% less carbon emissions compared to petrochemical alternatives. Simmers adds: "We are working closely with our strategic partner Caldic to develop a list of initial customers for our green chemicals. The challenge is that the demand is huge and our Grangemouth plant will only supply a small fraction of what we really need to produce, so the pressure is on to grow the business and build bigger production plants." Global markets for acetone and butanol are estimated at $6.63 billion and $16.5 billion respectively and growing, according to Future Market Insights. Celtic Renewables' green chemicals have extensive applications spanning multiple industries and can completely displace petrochemical equivalents with an immediately addressable market of over $2 billion. Bettina Brierley, Product Group Leader Caldic UK, says: "We have been waiting for a solution like Celtic Renewables for a long time. We don't need to change consumer habits, but instead we can improve the products we make by ensuring they are not derived from fossil fuels. "This is the first real innovation that I have seen in the chemical space that is truly green, not just greenwashed. The beauty of the product is that the chemicals are made from residue materials, not food competing crops. Our customers which include manufacturers o...
How do we draw people towards a deliciously sustainable future? In this episode, we're going off at a slight tangent: to explore how we can bring people into this world, to feel they have agency and to see an exciting, meaningful future where we do better, with less. We're going to hear about a way of telling stories – that could be fiction to help people understand circular solutions, or it might be stories to help them imagine how circular products and services work in real life, helping them see how that's more fulfilling than buying yet more stuff and adding to the problems of waste and pollution. Alex Holland is the Founder of SolarPunk Stories, and has worked as a journalist in the UK, Venezuela and India. Alex has an MA in Leadership for Sustainable Development and created the world's first Tea Pub which was also Crowdcube's most-shared startup. SolarPunk is a much more optimistic genre than dystopian fiction – it's more like the Thrutopian concept set out by Professor Rupert Read in an article for the Huffington Post, a few years ago. Utopias are too fantastical, whereas dystopias can be useless, even dangerously doom-mongering. Instead, we can create thrutopias: stories that help us see a way through the challenges we face, that help us build a vision for the future we want to be part of: a regenerative, fair and inclusive future that we can be proud of. Stories that help us to imagine, to feel what it would be like, and to design the political and economic systems to get us through.
There's a lot of great content out there. So why not find inspiration there? Sample it, remix it and make it your own.In this episode, we're turning to one of the greats when it comes to sampling: the late rapper and producer J Dilla. Together with the help of our guest, Head of Marketing at Crowdcube, John Hills, we're talking about borrowing from content that's already out there, building your content IP, and never losing your human touch.About our guest, John HillsJohn Hills is Head of Marketing at Crowdcube, Europe's leading equity crowdfunding platform. To date, they've helped raise over £1.4 billion for over 1,300 businesses and built up a community of over 1.7 million members. He joined Crowdcube in April of 2022. Prior to his current role, John led the marketing team at FrontFundr, Canada's leading equity crowdfunding platform. There, his team helped 70+ companies raise more than $90M and built up an investor community of over 32,000 people. He has also previously held marketing roles at Duuers and Founder Institute. Outside of work, he is a bass player, marathon runner and a record collector.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Donuts:Sample, sample, sample. Just like J Dilla samples from Dionne Warwick, The Temptations, Run-DMC and more on Donuts, you can borrow ideas from content that's already out there too. You don't have to come up with something totally original every time. John says, “When you're doing content marketing, the bar is incredibly high. You can feel quite overwhelmed. Like, I don't have the budget that Apple has, neither do I have the brand expertise or the people to do it. That doesn't mean that I can't have an impact. I can still be scrappy. I can still look at what's working and create things that are memorable and valuable for people. And so I think that you can just look at what's already out there and how you fit into that rather than feeling you have to create something new. You can take what's there, see what appeals to people and see how you can make that memorable and impactful as well.”Build your content IP. John says, “You could create a load of content and just farm it out. [But instead] why don't you find a problem that your customer really cares about, name it so you're acknowledging it, you're identifying it, and then exist only to solve that problem. You become known - you become synonymous - with that content IP.” For J Dilla, his calling card - what he was known for - was a horn sampled from Isaac Hayes. And John says, “I kind of think of that as his content IP. You know it's him. It's giving you what you want, which is a dopamine hit of great music. He's being there for you. And I think that's what we have to do as marketers too, right? Like basically find your Isaac Hayes horn and blast it where appropriate.”AI's a useful tool, but never lose your human touch. John says “that's really what's going to land with people and what's going to resonate.” It's like how J Dilla sampled from live recordings, which John points out have slight imperfections and variations from a studio recording. He says live recordings catch your ear, engage you more and are more memorable.Quotes*”Sampling is interesting because you're channeling your interests. You're like part curator, part creator. And like that is truly what a marketer is. It's just a perfect metaphor for modern marketing.” - Ian Faison*”If you want to engage and build an audience, you want to be known as someone that's bringing them the good stuff. You filter through. You know which places to look, which is what [J Dilla's] doing on the album. Like, ‘I know this really particular little piece of a song which I dug out from a record shop and turned into something that sounds really cool for you.' In the same way we, as marketers, have an attention economy, right? So it's kind of ‘Why should you have to pay attention to me rather than someone else?' I've done the hard yards and I'm bringing you the good stuff, packaged neatly in a newsletter or a podcast or on a social feed.” - John HillsTime Stamps[0:55] Meet John Hills, Head of Marketing at Crowdcube[2:44] Exploring the Genius of J Dilla and Donuts[10:39] Sampling in Music and Marketing: Creativity Unleashed[22:13] AI in Marketing: Keeping the Human Touch Alive[26:30] Crafting a Content Strategy at Crowdcube[27:42] Content Strategy: Educating Companies on Equity Crowdfunding[28:19] The Art of Content Distribution and Engagement[29:04] Crafting High-Quality, Educational Content[31:18] Innovative Campaigns: From Invoicing Templates to Cricket Burgers[40:25] Leveraging LinkedIn for Demand Generation[44:26] Broadening Horizons: Beyond Marketing Books[46:53] RecommendationsLinksWatch Parks and RecreationConnect with Jen on LinkedInLearn more about IntellimizeAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.
This week on the podcast, we had John Hills from Crowdcube discussing the world of crowdfunding and its impact on marketing. We delved into the benefits for businesses, the challenges of raising funds in a tough market, and the unique approach of using a massive mailing list for marketing. Tune in for valuable insights and a laid-back chat to ease back into the swing of things after a short break. Chapters
he UK Investor Magazine was delighted to welcome Eric Degolier, Founder & CEO Body Rocket, for a deep dive into the world's first real-time drag meter, a device capable of offering precise drag measurement directly integrated into a cyclist's bike.Body Rocket has taken the power of a cyclist wind tunnel and placed it in the pockets of everyday cyclists. Body Rocket is the first and only company to integrate the aerodynamic technology found in wind tunnels directly into bikes.By leveraging AI, Body Rocket has developed a consumer-friendly interface that breaks down aerodynamics' complexity into easy-to-understand and easy-to-action metrics.The technology is being used by Olympic triathlon champion Kristian Blummenfelt, current world champion Beth Potter, Ironman and 2x Ironman 70.3 champion Gustav Iden, World #6 Indie Lee, and former world hour record holder Alex Dowsett.Body Rocket is raising funds to propel its growth strategy and make its technology available to the wider $12.9bn premium cycling market.Find out more on Crowdcube here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The UK Investor Magazine was delighted to be joined by Dan Hubert, CEO and Founder of AppyWay, to discuss their current Crowdcube round and plans to revolutionise car parking.AppyWay has brought together parking/loading maps, occupancy data and cashless payments to offer local authorities and drivers a unique service that helps efficient travel and parking, while reducing emissions.The company has developed a SaaS business model generating recurring revenues from multi-year kerbside management system contracts sold to local government and private operators Data Licensing (B2B & B2C). It also operates a cashless parking app with unique kerbside access visibility to help drivers save time and money.AppyWay has smashed its target on Crowdcube and is now overfunding with availability for new investors.Find out more on Crowdcube here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The UK Investor Magazine was thrilled to be joined by Stephen Crosher, CEO and Co-Founder of RheEnergise, to discuss the company's long-duration power storage technology designed to enhance and stabilise the distribution of renewable power.RheEnergise is revolutionising pumped hydro energy storage which turns small hills into giant batteries. RheEnergise has developed a high-density, low-viscosity liquid that enables the storage of power to be released in times of high energy demand.Stephen provides comparisons against other power storage methods including lithium batteries and traditional pumped hydro.RheEnergise are engaged with major players in the power industry and has a number of early facilities planned for 2024.The company is currently raising funds on Crowdcube as part of a wider funding round to scale the business in line with growth in power storage demand.Find out more on Crowdcube here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today we're continuing our funding series by speaking with Dan Hardy, Chief Revenue Officer at Crowdcube to find out how to prepare and execute a successful crowdfunding campaign. Crowdcube is Europe's largest private lending marketplace with a community of over 1.5 million members. To date the platform has helped raise £1.4 billion of investment and has worked with over 1,300 entrepreneurs, including ambitious companies such as Grind, WatchHouse, Brewdog and Monzo.In this conversation Dan walks us through the crowdfunding process and sheds light on how to build and capitalise on campaign momentum. We also discuss the importance of creating a narrative with your community and communicating a clear and powerful mission statement.Credits music: "Dizzy" by Richard James in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB CollectiveSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear
In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris catches up with Crowdcube Co-CEO Matt Cooper. Celebrating over a decade of innovation, Crowdcube is a pioneer in online capital raising, transforming the startup investment landscape in the UK and globally. With over $2 billion raised for startups and more than $100 million returned to investors, their impact is undeniable. This conversation digs into the challenges and triumphs of building the platform Crowdcube, the evolution of investor engagement, and the future of digital private markets. Key highlights include Crowdcube's groundbreaking approach to investor acquisition, their strategy in winning over traditional financial institutions, and insights into the evolving landscape of private market investments. Highlights include… Challenges and successes of pioneering equity crowdfunding platform. (2:12) Sustainable growth and investor acquisition strategies in the fintech industry. (6:07) Industry sentiment, secondary markets, and founder-led liquidity opportunities. (9:34) Building trust in private company fundraising and sourcing strategies in the EU. (15:55) European investment platform Crowdcube's successes and complexities. (20:44)
The UK Investor Magazine was thrilled to be joined Tim Evans, CEO and Founder of 3ti, an award-winning B Corp specialising in solar power generation, storage and EV charging.Find out more on Crowdcube here.Their mission is to ‘Leave Something Better Behind'.3ti has established solar car park facilities for partners including Bentley, JPMorgan, NHS and MoD. The company has over 900 sales enquiries and is raising funds to meet this demand.The business's economics are compelling. On average, 3ti's solar car park produces £1,000 in energy cost savings per year per car parking space.In addition to its core services, the company is developing new vehicle-to-grid (V-to-G) technology. V-to-G enables power stored in electric vehicles to be supplied to the wider network, generating grid management fees.Tim explains the favourable regulatory environment and market opportunity for 3ti. The company is exploring expansion into the United States to meet burgeoning demand.3ti will be holding a series of webinars and investor open days.Register for 3ti's Open Days and Webinars here.Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our expert hosts, 11:FS Ventures Director Ross Gallagher, is joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. This week's guests include: Matt Cooper, Co-CEO at Crowdcube Valentina Kristensen, Director of Growth & Communications at Oaknorth Olivia Minnock, Senior Partnership Manager at mmob and formerly the editor of Fintech Alliance We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: Investment platform Crowdcube acquires Semper OakNorth move into business banking Adyen and Plaid team up in the US German digital bank N26 pull out of Brazil after three years Klarna set up UK holding company as they eye IPO John Lewis launches new BNPL products Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a bi-weekly podcast dedicated to all things finance, banking, technology, and financial services. Our expert hosts, with real industry experience, are joined by the biggest decision-makers, VCs, and reporters from across financial services including guests from Visa, Nubank, M-Pesa, Techcrunch, Starling, and JP Morgan Chase to discuss the latest news, developments, and trends within the industry. Our weekly news show drops every Monday and tackles the biggest news stories, from acquisitions and launches, to regulatory changes and innovation. Then, every Friday our Insights show dives deeper into the hottest topics shaping the industry like web3 and BNPL. Whether you're already immersed in the world of financial services, or just keen to learn more, this is the #1 podcast for you. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: @fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Matt Cooper, Olivia Minnock, and Valentina Kristensen.
Hey folks, in today's episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I had the pleasure of sitting down with James MacNaghten, the CEO of Caldera, to dive deep into the game-changing world of energy storage.
The UK Investor Magazine was thrilled to welcome Eugeni Llagostera, CEO of Magnetika, for an exploration of their wireless power transfer technology.Visit Magnetika's website to explore its technology.Magnetika, who is currently crowdfunding on Crowdcube, have developed a technology that enables the charging of devices from a greater distance than existing wireless charging. For example, you could have your mobile in your hand while it is still being charged.The technology has a wide range of applications and can be used to charge vehicles, although this isn't in their immediate plans.Eugeni provides an overview of the business and the key market opportunities for Magnetika. He also highlights what he feels are the most exciting elements for investors.Find out more on Crowdcube here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The UK Investor Magazine was delighted to welcome the Faith in Nature team to the Podcast for a deep-dive into their natural personal care products and current campaign on Crowdcube.Faith In Nature has grown 226% in the last five years – recording £14.8m – and is stocked in Holland & Barrett, Boots, Waitrose and Sainsbury's.Explore Faith in Natures products here.We were joined by Sara Fisher, UK channel director, and John Allaway, Managing Director, for a comprehensive exploration of Faith in Nature's business and crowdfunding goals. The company was founded 50 years ago and has deep roots in sustainability having recently achieved B Corp status. Sara and John present the investment case and detail their commercial success to date.We look at the aims of the crowdfunding round and what the future holds for Faith in Nature and its investors. Find out more on Crowdcube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In case you weren't paying attention, a whole boatload of activity happened across the European tech scene this week. So much so that we had trouble whittling down what to discuss and what to let slide. In discussion:- The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2023 (GSER 2023)- German autonomous trucking company FERNRIDE announces it has raised $31 million in Series A funding. - Venture capital firm Molten Ventures has written down its holding in Revolut by 40%, adding to the fintech company's recent trouble as it struggles to gain a UK banking licence.- Stock trading app Freetrade is cutting its pre-money valuation by around 65% ahead of a planned Crowdcube fundraise later this month.- UK payments unicorn GoCardless is to cut 17% of staff in a bid to shave 15% off its cost base and quote unquote rediscover its scrappy startup energy.- Digital bank Zopa, also based in the UK, is rejigging its leadership team.- Amsterdam-based cloud banking provider Mambu has announced the immediate departure of its CEO and co-founder Eugene Danilkis for “personal reasons”.- France is openly courting to become the home of Tesla's next Gigafactory in Europe.- Earlier this week, Musk met with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni as leaders in Europe attempt to woo the Tesla boss into building a new car manufacturing facility in their countries.- Less than a month old startup Mistral AI raised a seed round of €105 million at a €240 million valuation.- Wargraphs sells to M.O.B.A Network for €50 million.- Wayflyer renews debt line of $300 million from JP Morgan.- EU Regulation Update- Amsterdam - Framer AI- Mercedes adding ChatGPT to their cars- a16z crypto comes to London. - Pirate Summit scuttles the ship with its last burn.All this and a whole lot more on this week's Drive at Five!
In this podcast episode, Osajie is the founder of Cut Box, a company that provides affordable, high-quality haircuts. Oz discusses his background in engineering, his journey as a startup founder, and Cut Box's expansion plans. Oz shares his thoughts on pricing strategy, customer experience, and talent acquisition. We also touch on the possibility of offering haircuts for women and kids in the future, and much more!TimestampsStarting a Billion Dollar Business [00:00:18] Oz talks about his background in engineering and his goal to create a billion-dollar business.Raising Funds through Crowdfunding [00:02:33] Oz discusses Cut Box's crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube and their plans to expand to more stores.Pricing Strategy and Market Differentiation [00:06:13] Oz shares his thoughts on pricing strategy and how Cut Box differentiates itself from competitors in the men's grooming industry.Recruitment and Training [00:08:32] Oz explains how Cut Box recruits and trains barbers, including character phone calls, trade tests, and data analysis. They also discuss plans for a Cut Box finishing academy.Choosing Bristol as the First Location [00:12:57] Oz talks about why Cut Box chose Bristol as their first location, citing the city's young, affluent demographic and competitive barber market. They also discuss leveraging their relationship with House of Fraser.Launching in a Second City [00:15:44] Oz discusses the strategy behind launching in a second city, emphasizing the importance of identifying what makes a good barber store.Geographic Expansion [00:15:59] Oz discusses Cut Box's expansion plans, focusing on major cities in the UK and franchising opportunities.Differentiating with Tech [00:18:37] Oz explains how Cut Box differentiates itself from competitors with a focus on innovation and optimizing the customer experience through tech systems.Revenue and Break-Even [00:21:43] Oz shares Cut Box's revenue run rate and discusses the revenue and break-even numbers for each store, as well as the higher margins for products.Product Development Mistakes [00:23:31] Oz shares his experience with product development and the importance of getting a minimum viable product to market quickly.Messaging Philosophy [00:24:39] Oz discusses the importance of clear and simple messaging that highlights the value proposition for customers.Talent Acquisition Lessons [00:26:45] Oz shares his insights on talent acquisition, including the importance of hiring senior people early on and the value of hiring hustlers with drive and enthusiasm.Successes and failures [00:32:29] Oz talks about the importance of determination and drive in succeeding as a startup founder.Hiring a senior operator [00:32:50] Oz shares what he would have done differently if he could go back in time when he started Cut Box.Cut Box's crowdfunding campaign [00:33:29] Oz shares how people can reach out to him and know more about Cut Box's crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.Key LinksCutbox - https://cutbox.co.uk/Crowdcube - https://www.crowdcube.com/early-access/cutboxLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/osajie-oboh-b5291a127/
¿Sabías que solo el 1% de la inversión de capital riesgo llega a startups fundadas por mujeres? Una cifra super llamativa que hoy viene a explicarnos, Azahara Espejo, la Country Manager de HearstLab.Amsterdam, México, Ruanda… Azahara ha viajado por el mundo aprendiendo sobre finanzas, hasta su llegada a España y su entrada en Crowdcube, la mayor plataforma de equity crowdfunding de Europa. Tras ello pasó a La Bolsa Social, un fondo de inversión de impacto y finalmente a HearstLab, que invierte exclusivamente en emprendedoras.Con Azahara profundizamos en el síndrome del impostor de las mujeres, en el mundo del emprendimiento y la inversión, y en los referentes femeninos de emprendimiento e inversión.Si quieres saber qué aprendió Azahara de un millón de inversores retail, y por qué la inversión de impacto acaba siendo mejor que la del non-profit, ¡No te pierdas este podcast!NOSOTROS
Businesses can find success when they have others to back them and support them; to show some belief in what they're trying to achieve. Crowdcube is Europe's leading equity crowdfunding platform. Crowdcube helps entrepreneurs connect with potential investors to raise funds and allows all types of investors to invest in Europe's hottest businesses. John Hills, Head of Marketing dives into how the company has experienced significant growth due to the company's marketplace model, where companies looking to raise funds and investors looking to invest in those companies are the supply and demand sides of the marketplace, respectively. Their marketing efforts are focused on educating companies on the benefits of equity crowdfunding, and they use these companies to acquire more investors. PR and LinkedIn are key channels they use for demand generation and demand capture. Serving various countries, John's strategy has to adapt depending on where they are targeting. While nurturing and engaging investors to keep them activated and happy.
Our expert host, Ross Gallagher, is joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: Crowdcube and Octopus Investments are opening up retail investments in a new partnership - 5:20 Apple Pay Later is finally launching - 16:35 Investing app Acorns acquires kid-focused fintech GoHenry to expand in Europe - 28:50 The Meltdown of a Gay Bank: What went wrong when an LGBTQ+ start-up set out to disrupt finance - 41:15 Twitter changes logo to Dogecoin cryptocurrency image in apparent late April fool's day gag - 43:00 This week's guests include: Jason Mikula, Publisher, Fintech Business Weekly Jonathan Keeling, Chief Growth Officer, Crowdcube Polly Jean Harrison, Features Editor, The Fintech Times With soundclips from: Louise Hill, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer, GoHenry This episode is sponsored by Global Processing Services At Global Processing Services – the expert partner in issuer processing – they take your security seriously. Their game-changing Fraud Advantage tool, powered by Featurespace, assesses fraud risks in milliseconds and uses AI and machine learning, to constantly adapt to stay ahead of emerging fraud threats. With their array of available fraud solutions at your fingertips, you can feel secure with GPS as your payment processing partner. Find out more at www.globalprocessing.com/fraudmanagement This episode is sponsored by Blinkist The Blinkist app offers distilled audio content from over 5000 non-fiction books and podcasts, to get bitesized insights in just 15 minutes, across 27 different categories. Go to Blinkist.com/fintech to start your 7-day free trial and get 25% off of a Blinkist Premium membership. And now for a limited time you can even use Blinkist Connect to share your premium account with a friend or partner and get 2 premium subscriptions for the price of one. " Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. It's hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David M. Brear, Ross Gallagher, Benjamin Ensor, and Kate Moody - as well as a range of brilliant guests. We cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Send us your questions for the Fintech Insider Mailbag here (https://11fscompany.typeform.com/to/kBMan5qL?typeform-source=t.co) Follow us on Twitter: @fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Jason Mikula, Jonathan Keeling, Louise Hill, and Polly Jean Harrison.
In this week's episode, we are joined by Kate McCutchen, the CMO of Seedrs and Global Head of Marketing for Republic Retail. As Republic looks to revolutionise the way ordinary individuals can invest in the best startups and VC funds, Kate is leading the charge with their marketing. Drawing on over 15 years of experience at Apple, Samsung, Amazon Fresh, Square and Away, she has a wealth of insight and experience in what it takes to grow a business in a new market and capture lightning in a bottle, at scale. It was such a masterclass for marketers who are trying to deliver growth at a global level. Amongst other things, we discussed:Why she thinks paint brands like Coat are incredible challengers in a redundant space How to launch businesses like Square, Amazon Fresh and Republic into new markets successfully The one mindset modern marketers need to have in order to capture the viral moments Mentioned in the show:
Journalist, Tea Pub operator, and Founder of SolarPunk Stories Alex Holland helps us learn to tell better and more constructive stories about our collective future.
Our guest this week is Crowdcube Co-CEO Matt Cooper.Crowdcube is a leading equity crowdfunding platform for investing in high-growth opportunities across Europe. They help entrepreneurs of start-ups and growing businesses to connect with potential investors. Dedicated to helping UK-based entrepreneurs raise finance to start or grow their business, Crowdcube gives investors real equity in the companies they fund.Matt joins James Pringle and Hector Mason to discuss the evolution of crowdfunding, the democratisation of private market investing, work-life balance and much, much more!Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow The Riding Unicorns Podcast on our socials and your chosen podcast platform to stay up to date!
The UK Investor Magazine was delighted to welcome the Changeover Technologies team to the Podcast to explore their carbon-reducing technologies.Changeover Technologies is reducing carbon emissions by providing industrial manufacturers the technology to reuse particle waste in their manufacturing process.Changeover Technologies is tackling the problem of up to 40% carbon waste by providing plug-and-play processing units to customers to produce pellet feedstock.The company is currently raising funds on Crowdcube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's your chance to invest in ZOE! Own a piece of ZOE for as little as £10 on our Crowdcube page. Learn more about OwnZOEThe last decade saw a rise in gluten-free diets. But the number of us with diagnosed gluten intolerance each year hasn't changed. Eliminating gluten is the only treatment for those with celiac disease, but the rest of us could be doing more harm than good by embracing ultra-processed, gluten-free foods. In today's short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Will ask: Should you be worried about gluten?Studies referenced in the episode: ‘Health Benefits and Adverse Effects of a Gluten-Free Diet in Non–Celiac Disease Patients' from Gastroenterol & Hepatology here‘The Gluten-Free Diet: Recognizing Fact, Fiction, and Fad' from The Journal of Pediatrics here'Is There Evidence to Support the Claim that a Gluten-Free Diet Should Be Used for Weight Loss?' from the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics hereFollow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.
The acid in your stomach is so powerful it can dissolve metal. Luckily, your stomach is fine-tuned to deal with its acidic fluid, but the rest of your body isn't quite as hardy. So, if acid escapes from your stomach and reaches your esophagus, it can cause a painful sensation in the chest — this is heartburn. It isn't rare, with more than 1 billion people suffering from it globally. In today's short episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Will ask: Why do we get heartburn, and what's the best way to deal with it?Want to own a piece of ZOE? You can Invest for as little as £10 on our Crowdcube page. Learn more about OwnZOEFollow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/If you want to discover the right foods for your body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.Studies referenced in the episode:‘Prevalence and clinical spectrum of gastroesophageal reflux: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota' from Gastroenterology here‘Proton-pump inhibitors and risk of fractures: an update meta-analysis' from Osteoporos Int. here‘Proton pump inhibitors alter the composition of the gut microbiota' from BMJ hereThis podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.
We were thrilled to welcome Adam Norris, CEO and Founder of Pure Electric, to the UK Investor Magazine Podcast to explore Pure Electric. Adam Norris was the founder on Pensions Direct and working with Hargreaves Lansdown he floated the company before committing his time to his son Lando's motorsport pursuit. Lando went on to become a Formula One driver and Adam turned his attention to angel investing.Feeling his investee founders did not have the same passion as he did for their projects, Adam founded Pure Electric.Adam describes how he wanted to create a business that would provide people with a positive impact. His interest was channelled towards climate change and thus Pure Electric was born. Adam explains while he saw the benefits in nuclear power and other major infrastructure, he wanted to be instrumental in his business and has invested a significant proportion of his wealth in establishing Pure Electric. Pure Electric has since sold over 200,000 scooters and generated £35m revenue. Pure Electric are now welcoming investors to join their journey through a Crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.You can find more information on Crowdcube here.Adam Norris can be contacted personally on LinkedIn here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“I need to push myself to build that and get myself to a point where I feel that I am financially secure. And probably that's one of the main drivers for why I'm so passionate about encouraging people to learn about money and understand money and be empowered by it so that they can reap benefits later on.”Louise co-founded GoHenry in 2012 when she realised that her children needed to learn how to manage money in an increasingly digital world. At the time her son was eight and her daughter was 11. Louise was so frustrated by how much they were buying online without realising the implications that she would pin Apple invoices to the fridge door to help them understand why their £4 a week pocket money was now just 50p. Fast forward ten years and GoHenry now has a community of 2 million customers in the US and UK who fiercely believe that good money management is a vital life skill.“It's always fantastic when a customer contacts us and says that their kids' behaviors changed or decisions have changed since they joined goHenry.” Louise is Crowdcube's top female fundraiser, raising £12m in four rounds on Crowdcube, including a single, record breaking raise of £6m in September 2018.In this episode we discuss:the launch of goHenry and the moment she realised it was bigways the company is empowering young people to manage their moneyinternational expansion into the US and Europe and the challenges brought about by the idiosyncrasies of these marketsLouise's own journey and how that's shaped her attitude to money plus more. Louise has over 20 years experience in commerce and operations. Prior to goHenry, Louise was at the forefront of the retail industry's transition to digital, launching the first wave of ecommerce websites for some of the UK's biggest household names, including Next Directory, John Lewis, The Innovations Group, Past Times and Debenhams. “Prosperity to me means that point at which you feel you've got enough, you're financially secure. And I don't think I've reached that point yet. I wish I had started investing and saving earlier.” Louise is an authority on financial education and the youth economy and has made regular appearances on BBC radio and TV, including BBC Breakfast. Louise is a big advocate for the power of learning by doing and dedicates time talking to MBA groups at universities around the country.Find out more about goHenry on their website and Louise Hill on LinkedIn. Support the show
The UK Investor Magazine was delighted to welcome Oliver Goffe, the co-founder of the Marloe Watch Company, for a discussion around the UK's watchmaking industry and how Marloe are targeting a revival in UK watch manufacturing. The Marloe Watch Company designs and assembles ‘refreshing, heirloom-quality' watches here in the UK and are at the forefront of a resurgent UK watchmaking industry.Oliver describes a company that is as focused on the service they provide as the mechanical watches they design. Marloe are a community oriented watch designer and it is evident they want their customers to be involved in every step of their journey. We discuss how the company was established, the industry they operate in, Marloe's future expansion, and how they plan to deliver shareholder value.Marloe are currently raising funds on Crowdcube and having already met their target, are now in overfunding. Get more information on Crowdcube here. Visit the Marloe Watch Company's website to explore their range here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Tänk att göra dina följare och fans till delägare. Det är vad Crowdcube gör för onoterade bolag på den svenska marknaden. Mikael Angesjö berättar hur det s.k. community fundraising fungerar. Det handlar om att demokratisera investeringar så att alla har möjlighet att bli delägare. https://www.crowdcube.com
Patrick Ryan is the Co-Founder of Odin, an investment platform and community for people building the future. Odin are making it 10x cheaper and easier to launch and invest in syndicates, SPVs & funds. Before Odin, Patrick was the Project Director of Corporate Venture Capital at Coca-Cola European Partners. Prior to Coca-Cola, Patrick was Head of Inbound Equity Crowdfunding at Crowdcube. Patrick also built his own Vodka brand, Ishka, before selling in 2019. Download the Callin app for iOS and Android to listen to this podcast live, call in, and more! Also available at callin.com
Detalles y enlaces del episodio AQUÍ: https://bit.ly/3Qz9bG4 Hoy hablamos con Valentí Acconcia, consultor de crowdfunding desde 2011, profesor, emprendedor, podcaster y youtuber! Valentí es también profesor de Balio desde hace unas semanas con un curso dirigido a emprendedores que quieren lanzar su proyecto con financiación de sus futuros clientes a través de plataformas como Kickstarter, Indiegogo o Crowdcube. Si te interesa el curso, sigue en descuento por lanzamiento aquí: https://bit.ly/3xdb03w ¿Nos ayudas a que llegue a más gente compartiéndolo? Y si tienes unos segundos, agradeceríamos mucho tu valoración en Apple Podcast o un simple
Lucy Hall is the Co-Founder of LOANHOOD, an online fashion rental platform and community that allows users to loan inclusive, diverse, and creative styles for an affordable price. Chad talks with Lucy about being a peer-to-peer fashion rental app, building a community, and reducing the impacts of the fashion industry on the planet and people by helping to create a sustainable future. LOANHOOD (https://www.loanhood.com/) Follow LOANHOOD on Twitter (https://twitter.com/loanhoodlondon), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/loanhood/), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/loanhood), TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@loanhood), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzWBlASKUfH1OsdPEJOKxg), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/loanhood/). Follow Lucy on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-hall-616b1614/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is Lucy Hall, the Co-Founder of LOANHOOD, who are changing the face of fashion. Lucy, thank you so much for joining me. LUCY: Thank you so much for having me, Chad. CHAD: How are some of the ways that LOANHOOD is changing the face of fashion? LUCY: So we're starting off with a peer-to-peer fashion rental app, which we just launched ten days ago now. CHAD: Congratulations on the launch. LUCY: It's been a long time in the making. And, like I said, we're starting with a fashion rental app. But there are so many different ways that we want to change the face of fashion. It definitely needs a facelift. CHAD: What caused you to start with the rental platform? LUCY: It was something that we were really passionate about. So my co-founders and I actually worked in the fashion industry for the majority of our careers. So we could see first-hand how it was changing, how it's developing. And sustainability started coming into our lives, and we could see that things had to change. And we know that the fashion industry is quite archaic. Big fashion businesses are like these huge ships. It's so hard for them to change their course and to actually implement sustainability into their supply chains or their values. And we knew that we could do it quicker and better and faster than them. So we started testing the idea of circular fashion by doing clothes swaps which is a kind of an entry-level way to circulate fashion for free or relatively cheaply. And we started getting this amazing feedback from people like, "Oh, we would love to do this again. And have you thought about monetizing it?" And, of course, that was our...to get to scale, we knew that we had to monetize this sharing of clothes. And that's how our peer-to-peer fashion rental app grew and was born. CHAD: That's great. So you have two co-founders. LUCY: I do. CHAD: Jade and Jen. Were the three of you working together at the time? LUCY: Funny story, Jade and I are actually best friends. And Jade was my model back in the day. So Jade has been a fashion model for 12-plus years. And she was on Britain's Next Top Model. And I was a model agent. She came into my agency as one of the runner-uppers, and we forged a lifelong friendship from there. And we've both been passionate about fashion. And then, as I said, our career paths, we could see the detrimental effect of the planet. And Jade decided to go back to university and start studying. She did her master's in fashion futures at London College of Fashion. And that's where she started seeing sustainability. And the idea of a peer-to-peer rental came from that course. She was studying the future of fashion, and she knew that this was the only way we can move forward. And Jen was a friend of Jade and is a graphic designer by trade and is an amazing brand builder and amazing designer. So we were asking her for some advice. And she came on as a co-founder at the beginning because she just knew this was the right path for her. CHAD: You started with these swaps. Were you doing the swaps as friends because you felt it was the right thing to do? Or did you have an eye towards this could be something more? LUCY: Well, we knew from the beginning that we wanted to do something big. We knew we'd got to a certain point in our careers where we were like, right, let's use our skills to really make a change. But we were also working, and we all had jobs, so we were kind of doing it as a side hustle, just testing the idea and going, "Oh yeah, we'll do this." And then it started picking up, and we got a contract with a local council. And we were like, wow, people are really interested in this. Let's keep going, and then the pandemic hit. CHAD: How did the pandemic affect you? LUCY: [chuckles] Well, as you can imagine, people weren't really doing clothes swaps or renting or even thinking about those things at the beginning of the pandemic anyhow. So we kind of just put it on hold and did what everyone did in the pandemic, hunkered down. And we started learning as much as we could about the circular economy, about sharing economy, trust economy, marketing, product, really teaching ourselves from the bottom up what it takes to make a global brand. So we were quite lucky in the respect that we had that time away to really hone our skills and focus on what we wanted in the long term. So post-pandemic, when we came out of the lockdowns, although there were multiple back and forth, as you know, it was definitely a stop-start for us, but we knew that it actually...it just allowed us that time to really focus our minds on what we wanted and a long-term plan, not just like, oh, let's try this out. We know what we want for the next 5 to 10 years, basically. CHAD: At what point did you decide, okay, we have to make an app? LUCY: It was a difficult one because we thought Shopify, Sharetribe there are all these amazing platforms. You can just get a business at the click of your fingers. However, for peer-to-peer fashion rental, it's a much more complex model. Even Sharetribe, which is supposed to be for those kinds of models it's not as detailed as we needed it to be. So we tried to build a website from scratch. And, again, we just knew that we're very much focused on Gen Z. And when we were talking to our audience, we knew that they wanted an app. So we just scrapped it and said let's just go for it. But having no technical background was a real difficult decision for us because we had no funding. We'd all just left our jobs. The pandemic had happened, so we didn't have any savings really. So we had some money from the clothes swaps. And we did a rewards-based Crowdfunder, and we raised £14,000 from friends and family in our community that were buying free rentals for the future and just believed in the mission that we were on. And we were able to get that £14,000 and put it into the start of building an app. And as you're aware, apps cost a lot of money. CHAD: [laughs] LUCY: We didn't get that far. And we learned a lot of lessons with the build because we tried to project manage it ourselves. Having no technical background, that was tricky. And we offshored it to a team in India who were lovely and amazing but not as skilled as we needed them to be. Because we had no technical background, we really needed somebody to lead that for us. So we had a starting point, but we knew that we had to actually get a technical lead on board pretty soon. And we were lucky enough to find a partner in a company called ON, who are based in the UK. And with them on board, they led the tech from there on. CHAD: Continuing to work with that team in India, or did they actually provide the entire team at that point? LUCY: We switched to another offshore team because it costs so much money here in the UK. CHAD: So when was this all happening? LUCY: Last year, mainly. 2021. CHAD: To give folks an idea, you make the decision to start building an app. You start doing that in 2021. You just launched. But your business is more than just the app. Were you right up to the wire with the app being ready? LUCY: Like you said, we're building a community. And what we learned from the pandemic is that you can't rely on one part of your business to help you succeed. You need multiple things. And what we're passionate about more than anything is community. And what we found with the fashion industry is that it can be quite elitist. And if you want to work in the fashion industry, you have to move to London or New York or Paris, and you have to probably know somebody in the fashion industry, and we wanted to change that. We wanted you to be able to start your own fashion journey wherever you are based. And what we also saw was that all this money that people were spending on fashion was going to big fashion businesses and to probably one guy at the top of that chain, whereas, with peer-to-peer rental, you can actually circulate that money within communities. You're lifting communities up so they can create their own sustainable fashion future. So what was really important to us was to have community as one of our main pillars going forward. CHAD: And how have you gone about building that community? LUCY: Organically so far, which has been really nice. And again, the events that we do have been part of that. But to scale, we really need to start building out ambassador programs, referral systems that can help us hit those kinds of network effects. CHAD: So I know you're only in the UK. LUCY: Correct. CHAD: What are the limiting factors to expansion beyond the UK? LUCY: Money, obviously. CHAD: [laughs] Okay. LUCY: We're on a funding journey at the moment, and that's a ride for sure. So we kind of use the Depop playbook. Do you know Depop? You're probably over 25, so that's probably why you don't know it. CHAD: [laughs] Yes. LUCY: A third of 16 to 25-year-olds are on Depop in the UK. It's the 10th most-searched-for resale platform in the U.S. And they started off in the UK, and they organically grew into the U.S., which is nuts. We probably won't do that, of course, but we plan to go to the U.S. potentially next. But it depends on investment, on what our audience is saying, where they're based. What we find with our audiences, the universities that we partner with we have a lot of international students. So they're taking that idea back to their hometowns, which is really interesting. But on a tech front, going into the U.S. is easier because it's an English-speaking country. Going into Europe is a bit more complex because you have lots of different languages, although you have one single currency, which is helpful. CHAD: Since your model is peer-to-peer, individuals are sending the rented item directly to the person who's renting it, right? LUCY: That's correct, yeah. CHAD: And so I suppose one potential barrier is you don't need to be able to receive centrally or to handle things in the United States. But you need enough people in the U.S. to make it worthwhile for individuals to be sending each other things to have enough rentals and activity. LUCY: Always, the problem with the marketplace is the cold start problem. There is a great book by Andrew Chen called The Cold Start Problem. And we really need to build both the supply side, which we call the loaner, and the demand side, which we call the borrower. So we have been working really hard in the UK to get as many of the supply side on board because we know the people that we want to be on the platform, so emerging designers, young makers, and creators. And because we have our fashion backgrounds, we can identify those people quite quickly. And we've done things that are totally not scalable, like messaging them on Instagram and scouting people in the streets. But as a small startup, you kind of have to do those scrappy things as well just to kind of build the supply side. CHAD: Right. And I think that's why so many marketplaces end up focusing on particular geographies even if they could expand because that focus helps you do those unscalable things that you need to do in the early days to bootstrap that community that you need for the marketplace. It hadn't occurred to me until you just said it that I've been thinking that this would totally be individuals, but for an emerging fashion designer to be on your community offering up their clothing for rental, that hadn't even occurred to me as a possibility. LUCY: Something that we're passionate about, especially post-pandemic, a lot of young people that are either at university and didn't get the real university experience had to make some extra money started these side hustles of teaching themselves to crochet or teaching themselves to knit. And now they have these amazing pieces, and they're open to renting them out as well as doing their retail side of it. And what we found from the resale people, so the Depopers or people on Vinted, was that they'd get this kind of seller's remorse. So they'd upload the item, take amazing pictures, and they'd sell it once. But with rental, you upload it, and you can rent it out over and over and over again. And you still get to keep it and wear it yourself, so a bit of a no-brainer. CHAD: Yeah. So you went on the journey of creating the app, creating the community. You've just launched. So are you actively fundraising? LUCY: We are actively fundraising. We're just closing our pre-seed round. And we were very lucky to have an incredible lead investor come on board. He just got the idea instantly. What we found difficult is being female founders who don't have tech backgrounds; it's definitely a couple of negatives against us. [laughs] But we're going to use it to our advantage, and the people that are on the journey with us now 100% are behind us and believe in what we're doing. Because we're an impact business as well as we want to have profit alongside people and planet, that's what's important to us to make impact socially, environmentally, and through the industry. So the next step of our fundraising journey will be a crowdfund, an equity-based crowdfund. So we did the rewards-based crowdfunder last year. This year, it's going to be equity-based because we really believe that we're building this platform for our community, our audience. So they should be able to invest in us and come on that journey with us. And hopefully, the business grows to huge proportions, and that they can get some money back out of that later in their lives. CHAD: Are you going to be using a platform to do that? LUCY: We are undecided, although I'm leaning over to between one and another. There are only two platforms really in the UK, so Seedrs and Crowdcube. And I've spoken to some other founders that have done both platforms. And I've spoken to both the companies. I've looked at articles trying to find which one's the best fit for us. One interesting thing that we had with the Crowdfunder was we were deciding between Kickstarter and Crowdfunder UK. And Kickstarter is very much more focused on men, more sports, definitely a male demographic, so that's why we went with Crowdfunder. With Seedrs and Crowdcube, they don't have that; it's a very equal split. So it's just on the feedback that we've had from other people that have used those platforms. So I'm leaning towards one, but I won't say yet because I haven't fully decided. CHAD: So you're only allowed to do that with people in the UK? LUCY: I think it can be global, actually. CHAD: Are you planning on having it be global? LUCY: We have friends and family all across the world. I spoke to somebody today in Lithuania. I spoke to somebody the other day in Australia. I speak to people in the U.S. all the time that are like, "When are you coming to us?" [chuckles] CHAD: Yeah, that'll be interesting; the fact that you're able to do the equity crowdfund anywhere, but people won't be able to actually use the product right away. You know, it's sort of a catch-22; you've got to have one before you can have the other. And so, hopefully, people go along on the journey. LUCY: Chicken and the egg. We need the money to build the tech, to build the audience. But we need the audience and the tech to show the investors that we've got engagement and traction. And yeah, there's always something. I think we're doing pretty good. MID-ROLL AD: As life moves online, brick-and-mortar businesses are having to adapt to survive. With over 18 years of experience building reliable web products and services, thoughtbot is the technology partner you can trust. We provide the technical expertise to enable your business to adapt and thrive in a changing environment. We start by understanding what's important to your customers to help you transition to intuitive digital services your customers will trust. We take the time to understand what makes your business great and work fast yet thoroughly to build, test, and validate ideas, helping you discover new customers. Take your business online with design‑driven digital acceleration. Find out more at tbot.io/acceleration or click the link in the show notes for this episode. CHAD: You mentioned that your three female founders have faced some bias, it sounds like, especially in talking with potential investors and seeking to grow your community. How has that been for you? LUCY: You know, I don't want to put it down to being a female founder. I actually think the statistics tell us that, unfortunately. But I think what's the problem is that most of the people that I speak to in investment, either VCs or angels are guys, middle-aged guys between, say, late 30s to the 60s, and they are investing in businesses that they get. They don't generally get a peer-to-peer fashion rental app for Gen Z. They're like, "Oh, they're going to want to ship things to each other, and like, what about the packaging?" And they've never heard of Depop. It just got bought by Etsy for $1.62 billion. It's a huge industry, and rental is just an evolution of resale. And they're like, "Oh, okay, kind of get it," but they don't really. We have to hand-hold them a lot through the pitch deck and get them excited. But that's, the problem is that we don't have enough women in the investment space or ex-founders. I know in the U.S., it's a lot different. They have a lot more ex-founders investing, especially angel investors, which is great because they get the journey. Whereas if you have somebody with a financial services background, all they care about is the math of it. And it's like, you know what? Startups don't always just succeed on the math; it's the vision, it's the idea, it's the network effects, it's the audience. There are so many different things at play here. And if you've never started a business yourself, you just don't get that. CHAD: There's a lot that goes into creating a company. And it may not be the fact that your female founders directly contribute to it but in an environment where they're looking for a reason not to invest. LUCY: Exactly. CHAD: That bias can creep into all of the excuses or differences that someone might point to and say, "Oh, this isn't going to work," or "I don't get this." LUCY: 100%. If you've got a good business idea and you've got a strong pitch deck and a strong financial model, then that business will do well, for sure. However, there are so many other factors at play. And when there are so many great businesses competing against one another, they unbiasedly go with one over the other. CHAD: So you also mentioned you have another excuse that people might use is you just don't have a technical founder on the founding team. LUCY: That's definitely a struggle. We will be bringing in a CTO later in the year, which will be really exciting because it's definitely the missing piece to the puzzle. We have domain expertise in fashion. We have that side of it down. But yeah, the technical side of things, I think all the founders that I have spoken to that do have a CTO in the founding team or even have brought their technical team in-house just say it's a game changer. When somebody is invested in your company, and they're using the platform every single day, they can see the bugs. I mean, Chaz from Fat Llama, which is a great rental app, said that his developers would pull out a laptop in the pub and be like, "Oh, I just saw a bug. Let me quickly fix it." I mean, wow, that would be insane. Our developers finish at a certain time, and that's it; they're gone. So if we have a problem on an evening or even because they are in India they have a different time, we can't get hold of them. It's so frustrating. CHAD: So when you start to build a team, will you be doing it based in the UK? LUCY: Or based in Europe, at least. I think another thing to come out of the pandemic is this remote work, and I think that's great. I think there's so much talent across Europe, across the world. But for the timezone issue, I think Europe is definitely a better fit for us because we don't want to be having the same issues that we're having now with the time differences with India. But yeah, there's so much talent across the whole of Europe. CHAD: Yeah, that's what we do at thoughtbot. We are all throughout the Americas, all throughout Europe, Middle East, and Africa. We've built our team. But we're grouped in by timezone. So people work with clients and with each other. And there, it's based on the timezone that they're in. And so that does make a big difference around how communication can work and how a part of the team you're able to feel because you're online at the same time as each other. LUCY: Yeah. Definitely, that's a great show. CHAD: But I definitely recommend casting as wide as possible. It definitely allows you to hire the best person for the job. LUCY: Yeah, I think we need to find somebody that's passionate about the mission and who understands working with three co-founders that don't have a tech background that we probably do need a little bit more hand-holding than another founder would. We're learning so much as we go. Hopefully, we'll be coders one day. [laughter] CHAD: I actually don't think that. Some people might say, "Oh, you really should learn to code yourself." And I think that that does a disservice to what you are bringing to the table with your domain expertise and with your ability to really understand the industry and know what needs to happen from a business perspective. LUCY: Yeah, I would totally agree. You can't be an expert in every part of the field. You can't be an accountant; you can't be a CTO. You need to be good at exactly what you do. And I'm the CEO, so I have an overview of everything. And that's what I love is kind of have a little finger on each little project that's going on and really get an understanding of across the board. But you need those people that are drilling into, like, we have my co-founder, Jen, who's a graphic designer by trade, but she's our Chief Creative Officer. And she really drills down into the creative side of things. And she knows what she's talking about. And she is the expert in that, and that's so valuable. CHAD: And I think that that's the important thing to founders to do early on is to really understand what their product and business are. You don't necessarily need to learn how to code. But I do think it's a mistake when early founders start stepping away from the product too early. LUCY: Yeah, you need to be super close to the product. And you need good communication across all different divisions. So marketing and product have to talk to each other all the time, so we can tell our audience what's happening in the product, and then we can build the features that we need to grow from the marketing side of things. It's all about communication. And it's so hard as a startup because there are so many different things going on and so many people pulling you from left to right. There are metrics to hit; there are bills to pay, there's audience, the community to keep happy. And it's like, oh, you can't drop the ball on anything. You really have to just do as much as you can. But if you communicate to each of those stakeholders, we're doing our best. I mean, we had a mail-out the other day that said this is a business built by hands. It's built by people. I know we're a tech company, but there are real developers there hammering on their laptops. We're all here writing the copy and doing everything that we can to make this the most successful business so we can make real impact on the climate change and communities. CHAD: I want to talk about that impact, but before we do, I'm curious, so you're all in the same general London area? LUCY: No, we're not, actually. So Jade and Jen are based in London. And I actually moved out of London a couple of years ago, and I live in New York in the north of England. CHAD: Oh, okay. LUCY: See, definitely a different dynamic. And another reason why I'm passionate about bringing the fashion industry outside of London is because I travel up and down all the time, and I'm lucky it's like an hour 50 on the train. But that becomes expensive, and it's difficult to travel all the time. CHAD: So, are you meeting in person with each other? LUCY: We try. I just saw the girls last week. I'm seeing them again at the weekend. We speak every single day on Slack, WhatsApp. We have weekly calls, and we jump on pretty much video calls to each other every day. And that's, again, another thing from the pandemic that's been a game changer. Because when I actually left, it was just before the pandemic. We were like, oh my God, how is this going to work? But I knew that it was the right decision for me. And then the pandemic hit, and everyone was on video calls. And we were like, oh, this is so easy. This is great. [laughs] CHAD: Yeah, it really opened that up to everyone's expectations. LUCY: Yeah, and I think it's great. I think it's much more flexible. And we will get an office for sure. But I would love to have an office here and an office in London so we can have teams across the nation. Because I think we don't all have to go and live in a capital city to get the same out of the fashion industry. CHAD: Yeah. So let's talk about sustainability, the environment, and climate change. I am somewhat aware that an enormous amount of resources goes into creating new items of clothing. LUCY: It's crazy. So the fashion industry accounts for 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions at the moment. And if nothing changes by 2050, it will use a quarter of the world's carbon budget. It is insane, and it affects not only the planet but people. The garment workers are paid nothing. They're treated badly. And this is all part of the supply chains of fashion businesses. And like I said, when I started in the fashion industry, e-commerce really was only just starting, and Jade, who is the model, was working for Asos, which is a big fashion brand and big fast fashion brand. So when she started working for them, she was shooting like 10-15 items, 20 items a day, and when she left, so five years later, they were shooting like 70 items per day. They were just churning out more and more fashion, more options. And you can imagine most of the clothes are made...well, we have this whole disconnect about clothes. So I actually had a restaurant for three years in between my fashion career. And that's where I found sustainability because you have that connection with food. And you know that eating organic or eating locally and seasonally is better for you and better for the planet. But nobody thinks that your clothes come from the ground. They're made from plants. Or if they're not made from plants, they're made from oil. It's nuts that people don't have as much education around it. And that's partly because the fashion industry doesn't want people to know, and it's a lot of smoke and mirrors. It's a very opaque industry. We went to one university, and they said that they thought all clothes were made from machines. They had no idea that there was cotton and linen. And so, like, wow, this is crazy. CHAD: So given that it's the magnitude of the size of the problem but also the industry, there are two ways of looking at that, I'm sure, one is the potential for your impact is huge. The other is how do you get started? How can we have an impact there? So how are you tackling that? LUCY: I get asked a lot by people, like, how can I start my sustainability journey? I feel so much pressure to do things. I should be vegan, or I'm not recycling enough. I got a plastic bag, oh, I feel terrible. And it's like we are all on a journey. And you just have to start one day at a time and just be more conscious. So whether that's instead of buying one dress for a wedding that you are probably just going to stick in your wardrobe, why don't you rent it? Try one of the platforms that are out there, and you can rent a really cool dress, and that's probably someone else is going to rent it, and someone else is going to rent it. And by prolonging the life of an item, you can save so much energy and water. And those small things that we can each do will make a huge impact globally. There's a lot of mindset shifting and behavioral change that needs to come with rental. As we saw with Airbnb when they started, people were like, "Oh God, I don't want someone sleeping in my bed," and now I Airbnb in my house all the time. And it's a great source of secondary income, especially for a startup founder [chuckles] but also giving people the opportunity to have these experiences in small communities, which I love. And that's what we want to see with fashion is that people will start being more conscious. And how LOANHOOD is different to other more traditional rental systems is it's much more affordable. And it's much more accessible because you can meet in person. So how we see it growing is these hyperlocal communities where you can meet people in person, a bit like Facebook Marketplace. They've done super well in more of the suburban areas. You can drop off your dress to somebody around the corner. So you're reducing the cost of delivery and reducing the emissions by meeting in person. So those hyperlocal communities will be really important in helping people adopt this behavior. CHAD: Are you worried from a business perspective that if it's just renting to someone around the corner that they might not want to do it through LOANHOOD? LUCY: I think people will still do it through the platform because of the added value that we give, you know, rental protection. I could go and borrow people's clothes like my friends in the area. I wouldn't do that. I might do it once or twice. I think if it's not somebody that you're really friendly with, then you would definitely do it through the platform. CHAD: Yeah. And by rental protection, you mean if something gets damaged or that kind of thing, it's protected. LUCY: We don't have full insurance yet because, again, the sharing economy is a new economy. And, of course, insurers are very old school. And it's hard for them to grasp the fact that there's a new industry here, but that is changing. And as soon as we have more data, we'll be able to get full insurance for these items. But right now, we do it in-house and protect items, minor damage, or repairs. And if it isn't returned or damaged beyond repair by the person that's renting it, then they have to cover the retail price of it. CHAD: Yeah, makes sense. What's beyond rental platform in terms of this is where you decided to start, but your goal is to change the face of fashion? What's beyond? LUCY: There are lots of different verticals that we can do within rental or in fashion. So we're really passionate about digital fashion. Jade, my business partner, is actually doing her Ph.D. in digital transformation in the metaverse. So how can we bring sustainability and ethical practices into the metaverse with fashion is something that we're really passionate about and something that we're exploring, renting different things so femtech, or skiwear, activewear, all those kind of things and then just creating a space for our community to grow creatively. So entrepreneurship is really important to us as well, and giving people the opportunity to be...especially Gen Z they have this way that's called pay to create. So they're passionate about making money out of things that they can do themselves, whether that's creating content, renting out the things they own, upcycling. We want to expand on that and give them the tools to actually create their own career paths. You don't have to go down the traditional university routes. We see a world where there's a LOANHOOD campus where you can come and learn how to be content creators or all sorts of different things. It's a really exciting time. And our 10-year plan keeps getting more bigger and bigger. And we're like, oh God, it's just exciting. CHAD: Yet do you worry about spreading yourself too thin and compromising on the early steps? LUCY: We always come back to the point of why we're doing this and who we're doing this for because what's the point? Otherwise, we're doing this to reduce impacts of the fashion industry on the planet and people. And we are doing this for our community and to give them the options and give them the power back. As we've seen with governments around the world, people in leadership roles are not doing enough, and we can't rely on them. So if we want to create our own sustainable future, we have to do it ourselves. And we want to give people the tools to do that. CHAD: Well, I wish you the best of luck in that. I'm very confident that you're going to have the impact you're looking for along the way, and I wish you the best in that. Thank you for stopping by and sharing with us. I really appreciate it. LUCY: Thank you so much for having me. It was great to chat too. CHAD: If folks want to find out more or get in touch with you or follow along, where are all the different places that they can do that? LUCY: Check out our website, loanhood.com. If you are a founder and you want to talk about funding or building a product, marketing, you can email me lucy (L-U-C-Y) at lucy@loanhood.com. And we are on Instagram and TikTok @loanhood. CHAD: Wonderful. You can subscribe to the show and find notes which include a link to everything that Lucy just mentioned along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter at @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success.
Bienvenue dans Finary Talk : le podcast qui vous parle de vos finances et vous apprend à mieux investir ! Finary, c'est l'appli et le site pour gérer tout votre patrimoine au même endroit. Notre mission : vous permettre d'atteindre vos objectifs en mettant la technologie au service de votre argent. Rejoignez-nous sur finary.com et ensemble, construisons le futur de l'investissement. Pour ce huitième épisode de Finary Talk, Mounir, CEO et Cofondateur de Finary vous dévoile les détails de notre levée de fonds communautaire. Pour la première fois, les utilisateurs de Finary pourront devenir actionnaire de la plateforme à partir de 10€. Nous réalisons cette levée de fonds en partenariat avec Crowdcube, leader européen du secteur. Les utilisateurs de Finary accèderont aux mêmes termes que les meilleurs VC pour cette levée de fonds. Rejoignez l'aventure Finary, ensemble nous allons révolutionner la banque privée ! ⚠️ Votre capital est à risque. Investir dans des start-ups et entreprises en phase d'amorçage ou “early stage” comporte des risques, en ceux inclus, des risques de liquidités, manque de dividendes, perte d'investissement et dilution et doit donc faire partie d'un portfolio diversifié. Envie d'échanger avec d'autres investisseurs et investisseuses pendant que vous écouterez cet épisode ? Rejoignez-nous sur http://community.finary.com Bonne écoute !
Named by Debrett's as one of Britain's 500 most influential people, Darren Westlake is co-founder and CEO of Crowdcube, the pioneer and leader of the equity crowdfunding industry.Inspired by his own experiences as an entrepreneur raising finance, Darren's idea for Crowdcube was driven by the ambition to democratise investment and diversify the sources of funding available to businesses.Since launching Crowdcube in 2011 with co-founder Luke Lang, Darren has helped establish Crowdcube as a mainstream funding option for ambitious startups and growth-stage businesses, such as Monzo, Revolut, CityMapper, Pip & Nut, Mr & Mrs Smith, what3words and Freetrade. To date, Crowdcube has helped more than 1,300 companies successfully fundraise. With more than 1.3bn members, a total of £1bn has been invested on the platform to date.Today, Darren is leading the company's vision to create a world where everyone has a share in business.Connect with Darren Westlake via: LinkedIn.Find out more about Crowdcube via: website, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.A new episode EVERY WEEK, showcasing the journeys of inspirational entrepreneurs, side hustlers and their mentors. We discuss their successes, challenges and how they overcame setbacks. Focusing mainly on what they wish they had known when starting out. The podcast aims to give aspiring entrepreneurs the confidence to START UP and START NOW by showcasing real and relatable entrepreneurs. After all, seeing is believing!Join the conversation using #startupstartnow and tagging us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Don't forget to leave a review as it really helps us reach those who need it and allows us to get the best guests for you! Connect with START UP. START NOW. and to nominate a guest please visit: www.startupstartnow.co.uk. To connect with Sharena Shiv please visit: www.sharena.co.uk.
In this live on location recording, Oliver caught up with Andy Shovel co-founder of vegan food brand THIS at their London HQ. A born entrepreneur Andy's hit the headlines recently for his slightly ‘out there' marketing stunts, one of which included a life size naked statue of Piers Morgan in Leicester Square with his ‘THIS' product housed around Piers' nether regions… That said, the self proclaimed ‘un-cool' entrepreneur that is Andy, co-created his first business with a group of mates whilst at University. Ironically quite a ‘cool' clubbing night called ‘cash throw events' and yes the clue is in the name, it didn't take off financially but opened Andy's eyes to the possible. From University to founding a recruitment business which he later exited through to finance, insurance and everything in between Andy has built and sold multiple businesses. Not all of Andy's business ideas however have succeeded. One such flop was ‘Equity Fish', a business similar to what Crowdcube is today. Andy left this idea behind after being “outgunned by the legal system” - It didn't stop there however, Andy also ventured into advertising on escalator handles however, that too also didn't work… Relentless and not knowing when to stop, Andy has since learnt, thankfully, when to say ‘no'. Clearly however, and contrary to that, he said ‘yes' at exactly the right time when launching THIS, his most recent business. Having overfunded on multiple occasions and recently rolled out vegan THIS sandwiches into WHSmith and other high street stores, Andy's vision of a mass market vegan brand is coming to fruition as their current market value is circa £75million. Watch the full episode on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/BULhsd5cgg0 Sponsored by Capsule Cover Produced by PinPoint Media
Cette FinTech basée au Royaume-Uni a comme vision d' éduquer nos jeunes à la gestion des finances personnelles. Alex nous explique comment trois parents, au cours d'un match ont lancé l'aventure Go Henry qui compte à ce jour 2 millions d'utilisateurs actifs. C'est une véritable épopée avec ses rebondissements, ses surprises, ses difficultés et un travail exemplaire des équipes en matière d'efficacité opérationnelle. Avant de détailler la stratégie d'internationalisation aux US, Alex nous explique tout d'abord comment la plateforme Crowdcube leur a permis de financer ce projet puis il décrit les étapes qui les ont conforté dans ce pas décisif. Après s'être attaqué sans croissance externe aux marchés Américains, Go Henry se penche désormais sur les marchés européens à commencer par la France. Alex nous livre les secrets de la négociation qui a précédé le rachat de PixPay les raisons qui ont motivé cette acquisition mais aussi les fonds qui financent ce développement, notamment Revaia. Un must listen si vous avez des projets de développement à l'étranger !
Community based crodfunding - att låta vem som helst investera i framtida techsuccéer. Detta möjliggör Crowdcube och äntligen kan detta avsnittet släppas! Mikael Angesjö är deras Nordenchef och är i studion idag. Vi diskuterar crowdfunding och mycket mer i ett fullspeckat avsnitt. Glöm inte prenumerera och följ oss på instagram
In this special episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri invites three graduates from her CPO Accelerator program to share their stories, insights, and advice about moving into the C-suite. Amy Carmichael of Crowdcube, John Martin of Housecall Pro, and Simone Dive of Clir Renewables all recently took on the Chief Product Officer role in their companies. They tell Melissa what it was like to make the jump, how the job differs from other product leadership roles, how to start practicing for the job now as an IC, and the skills they recommend strengthening if you hope to land a CPO job in the future. Here are some key points they will be discussing: Amy, John, and Simone talk about their journey from entering the product field to becoming CPO. [2:16] Melissa asks the guests to reflect on the most surprising aspect of the CPO role. Simone highlights the human element of the product; for Amy it's taking the time to plan product strategy, and John talks about going to market. [5:21] When transitioning into a CPO, you may need to finetune some skills to succeed in your new role. [8:29] Being a CPO is not only about managing teams and setting strategy – it's about understanding how your product and company fit into the larger market. [10:00] Although financial skills are important as a CPO, John believes that learning to invest in people was the biggest skill he needed to hone. He explains that product managers and product leaders are sought after, so it was important for him to develop his people skills and relationships with his team so they're likely to stay with the company. [12:32] Melissa asks her guests how they managed to build relationships and foster collaboration with their new team. [14:20] Melissa asks her guests how IC roles can prepare a person to become CPO, and what they can do to put them on that path. [18:52] Simone advises aspiring CPOs to get comfortable not taking credit and to build relationships with the people who make executive decisions. [20:53] Amy, Simone, and John talk about how to evolve into a great CPO [25:11] Resources Amy Carmichael on LinkedIn John Martin on LinkedIn Simone Dive on LinkedIn
In this special episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri invites three graduates from her CPO Accelerator program to share their stories, insights, and advice about moving into the C-suite. Amy Carmichael of Crowdcube, John Martin of Housecall Pro, and Simone Dive of Clir Renewables all recently took on the Chief Product Officer role in their companies. They tell Melissa what it was like to make the jump, how the job differs from other product leadership roles, how to start practicing for the job now as an IC, and the skills they recommend strengthening if you hope to land a CPO job in the future. Here are some key points they will be discussing: Amy, John, and Simone talk about their journey from entering the product field to becoming CPO. [2:16] Melissa asks the guests to reflect on the most surprising aspect of the CPO role. Simone highlights the human element of the product; for Amy it's taking the time to plan product strategy, and John talks about going to market. [5:21] When transitioning into a CPO, you may need to finetune some skills to succeed in your new role. [8:29] Being a CPO is not only about managing teams and setting strategy – it's about understanding how your product and company fit into the larger market. [10:00] Although financial skills are important as a CPO, John believes that learning to invest in people was the biggest skill he needed to hone. He explains that product managers and product leaders are sought after, so it was important for him to develop his people skills and relationships with his team so they're likely to stay with the company. [12:32] Melissa asks her guests how they managed to build relationships and foster collaboration with their new team. [14:20] Melissa asks her guests how IC roles can prepare a person to become CPO, and what they can do to put them on that path. [18:52] Simone advises aspiring CPOs to get comfortable not taking credit and to build relationships with the people who make executive decisions. [20:53] Amy, Simone, and John talk about how to evolve into a great CPO [25:11] Resources Amy Carmichael on LinkedIn John Martin on LinkedIn Simone Dive on LinkedIn
Patrick Ryan is the founder of Odin a game-changing investing platform. Before this, he ran his own businesses and managed teams at Crowdcube and Coca-Cola Ventures. He learned a lot from his varied career in entrepreneurship and funding startups. He breaks down his biggest lessons in the fundamentals of starting a business that works. Creating VALUE. We recount his journey up to now and how the problems along the way were stepping stones to where he is now. --- I have to confess that as an investor myself I'm also very excited by his startup Odin. It removes a lot of unnecessary fees and time-wasting associated with raising money and allows founders and investors to quickly create syndicates and close deals. Connect with Patrick: - Odin - LinkedIn - Twitter --- Connect with Sam: Sam's newsletter on creativity and entrepreneurship - Explosive Thinking Sam's podcast on books - Wiser Than Yesterday Support the Show - Patreon Listen and connect with the show - Podvine See podvine.com/privacy-policy for privacy and opt-out information.
Our expert hosts, David M. Brear and Nicole Perry, are joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. This week's guests include: Dan Hardy, VP - Sales, Crowdcube Peter Renton, Co-Founder and Chairman, LendIt Fintech With soundclips from: Prakash Pattni, Managing Director of Financial Services & Digital Transformation (EMEA), IBM We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: Unicorn Qonto partners with Crowdcube to open up ownership - 5:10 Fast shuts doors after slow growth - 16:30 The competition will pay for this later: Klarna completes PriceRunner deal - 27:00 Rishi Sunak asks Royal Mint to launch non-fungible token - 36:00 Egyptian financial super app Khazna raises $38M from Quona Capital and Lendable - 45:00 IBM offers real-time fraud detection in new z16 mainframe - 47:15 Bank of Italy bans N26 from onboarding new customers over AML failings - 50:30 Liam Payne launches Revolut card - 52:00 This episode is sponsored by Alto IRA Did you know the majority of people are investing in cryptocurrency through a taxable account, when they could be using an IRA and avoiding or deferring the taxes? With an Alto CryptoIRA, you can invest in crypto without tax headaches. Create a free account in minutes. Choose from over 150 coins, and invest with as little as $10. No setup charges and no account fees. To open an Alto CryptoIRA with as little as $10, just go to www.altoira.com/insider Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. It's hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David M. Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates and Gwera Kiwana, as well as a range of brilliant guests. We cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: @fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Dan Hardy, Nicole Perry, Peter Renton, and Prakash Pattni.
Crowdfunding: Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Ecommerce with CrowdCrux | Crowdfunding Demystified
Launching your first crowdfunding campaign can be a scary experience! You might be thinking: What if people don't like my business idea? What if I don't reach the funding goal? While these might be valid concerns, they shouldn't be your excuses for not launching. Crowdfunding isn't rocket science, and it isn't based on luck; instead, there are methods you can learn that will aid your success. And today's guest is going to prove just that! In today's episode of Crowdfunding Demystified, you'll hear Salvador Briggman talk to Louise, a business person and creative who raised a mind-blowing $808K funding for her restaurant, Stem + Glory, which offers delicious and healthy vegan food. You'll hear about Louise's multiple businesses and crowdfunding campaigns as you listen. She also reveals: How to attract investors and build excitement around a campaign The #1 thing that separates high-achievers from failures The mindset you need to build a successful crowdfunding campaign Listening to this is a must if you've been on the fence about launching your first campaign. It's filled with valuable information and proof that anyone can be successful. So grab a pen and paper, and enjoy your listen! Resources and Tools Mentioned on the Show Crowdfunding Coaching Equity Crowdfunding Explained Free Equity Crowdfunding Course Fulfillrite: Kickstarter and crowdfunding reward fulfillment services. They come highly recommended! Download their free shipping and fulfillment checklist. Stem + Glory
If you live in the U.K. or the U.S., you may already be quite familiar with equity crowdfunding.
Le sujet : Sur La Martingale, on a déjà parlé d'épargne responsable, d'investissement dans les énergies renouvelables ou les arbres. Vous-même avez certainement déjà entendu parler de finance verte, finance responsable, finance durable ou de finance à impact. Greenwashing ou véritables ambitions ? Pas toujours facile de se repérer et de savoir comment faire une bonne action sans faire l'impasse sur les performances économiques. Avec Vincent Piche, Matthieu Stefani, cofondateur de CosaVostra, cherche à comprendre comment détecter les bons dossiers dans lesquels placer son argent pour faire la différence. L'invité du jour : Vincent Piche est le cofondateur de Kimpa, l'un des premiers Family Offices à impact en France. Après avoir occupé des postes à responsabilité chez Cartier en Europe et en Amérique du Nord, l'entrepreneur accompagne désormais les familles entrepreneuriales qui veulent contribuer à un monde durable en déployant leurs capitaux vers des projets à impact positif pour la planète. # Un Family Office, c'est quoi ? On parle ici d'un organisme de conseil qui traite la fortune d'une ou plusieurs familles à la tête d'un patrimoine. Kimpa est un Multi-Family Office, et travaille de ce fait avec plusieurs clients, qui possèdent plus de 5 millions d'euros d'actifs investissables. # Il n'y a pas de Planète B : Kimpa est un des premiers Family Offices qui prennent en compte la dimension d'impact et la mettent au centre de leur stratégie. En choisissant parmi les 17 objectifs du développement durable des Nations Unies, ses clients investissent en priorité dans les domaines qui les animent (éducation, croissance économique, changements climatiques… ). # Comment faire la différence entre la finance responsable, la finance durable et la finance à impact ? Là où la finance responsable exclut des secteurs polluants, la finance durable étudie la performance environnementale, sociale et de gouvernance des entreprises. Pour finir, la finance à impact vise une transformation juste et durable de l'économie réelle, et est capable d'apporter une preuve tangible de ces changements. # Un des éléments essentiels de la finance à impact, c'est son caractère intentionnel : la raison d'être de l'entreprise doit émaner de ses actions. # Pour être certain du succès des entreprises à impact avec lesquelles elle travaille, Kimpa suit des critères précis. Leurs équipes les sélectionnent si elles garantissent une double contribution positive, qui puisse répondre à deux objectifs de développement durable. Un bon exemple serait l'entreprise TooGoodToGo qui rencontre un succès croissant, en agissant à la fois pour la consommation responsable et contre la faim. # Le choix des placements peut également s'effectuer en suivant les propositions d'un club d'investisseurs. L'émergence des groupes comme Angels Santé, FrenchFounders ou 50 Partners répond à un besoin de sécurité : il existe un véritable intérêt à ne pas investir seul et à s'aligner sur un objectif commun. Quelques références citées dans l'épisode : Les objectifs de développement durable formulés par les Nations Unies, qui servent de premier guide pour qualifier les intentions d'un investisseur quant au bénéfice qu'il ou elle souhaite apporter à la planète et à la société via son investissement. Parmi les acteurs considérés pour leur impact tangible et pour le retour financier cohérent, les clients de Kimpa citent par exemple : les startups à impact Betteries, Too Good To Go, ou encore L'intendance les fonds Ring Mission, Blisce, 2050, 50 Partners Impact, Impact partners, Raise ou encore Norrsken La mesurabilité est le dernier pilier fondamental de l'investissement à impact. La mesure d'impact peut être réalisée grâce à des référents internationaux comme les 5 dimensions du GIIN par exemple ou via des agences spécialisées répertoriées ici par Weefin. Beaucoup de sujets évoqués s'appliquent aux investisseurs professionnels, mais pour les investisseurs retails, il existe d'autres plateformes : généralistes en actions : Eldorado, Crowdcube, Anaxago, en dette : October, MiiMOSA, ou spécialisées impact : Lita, Wiseed, Activeseed. Et entre les deux, les clubs de business angels : FrenchFounders via son Investors Club, ou Angel Santé, ainsi que des acteurs néo-banques engagées comme Green Got, ou helios, ou d'épargne comme Goodvest. Trois livres de chevet recommandés par Vincent Piche : Zero to One de Peter Thiel, pour la qualification des startups. Le Monde sans fin, une bande dessinée de Jean-Marc Jancovici et Christophe Blain. How to avoid a climate disaster de Bill Gates, pour ceux qui sortent atterrés de la COP 26 et qui souhaitent comprendre les enjeux climatiques. Ils y parlent aussi d'anciens épisodes : #12 - L'Impact Investing : Investir dans un Burger King pour avoir un impact social en gagnant de l'argent. avec Mathieu Cornieti d'IMPACT Partenaires #79 - Un an plus tard, comment les montres d'occasion ont résisté à la crise, avec Greg Blumenfeld du Guide des Montres #81 - Faut-il investir dans l'épargne responsable ? avec Joseph Choueifaty de Goodvest #148 GDIY : Jean-David Chamboredon – isai – Tout comprendre sur les fonds d'investissements Bonne écoute ! C'est par ici si vous préférez Apple Podcast, ici si vous préférez Google Podcasts ou encore ici si vous préférez Spotify. Et pour recevoir toutes les actus et des recommandations exclusives, abonnez-vous à la newsletter ! C'est par ici. La Martingale est un podcast du label Orso Media. Merci à Iroko d'avoir rendu possible cette huitième saison de La Martingale. N'hésitez pas à prendre quelques minutes pour vous rendre sur le site iroko.eu et découvrir en détail la SCPI Iroko ZEN. Et, si vous renseignez le code MARTINGALE en créant votre compte, une bouteille de champagne vous sera offerte.
In this episode of the Funky Marketing Show Nemanja hosted Paul Cash, B2B strategist, storyteller, author, and Founder of Rooster Punk, who's on a personal mission to Humanize B2B Marketing. He even wrote a book called Humanizing B2B: The new truth in marketing that will transform your brand and your sales. His life story is very interesting and eventful. He has made millions and lost millions, written 2 books, turned down a cheque for £19m for his first company (madness), developed the 13 stories framework, won over 30+ awards, co-founded the fastest growing marketing agency in the UK, fallen in love, been seconds from bankruptcy, fathered two awesome boys, been divorced twice and even after a thousand rounds of golf he has never come close to a hole in one. He's passionate about helping B2B brands to fulfill their potential and HATE it when lazy marketing gets in the way. He's driven by human understanding, creativity, narrative development, branding, storytelling, innovation, ABM, sales enablement, category design, disruption, and transformational growth. He has worked with companies such as HP, Microsoft, Cisco, Vodafone, Samsung, Oracle, Virgin Media, Colt, Amadeus, Symantec, Adobe, Canon, KPMG, TCS, Funding Circle, Make it Cheaper, Currencycloud, Crowdcube, Incopro, Sage Pay (Opayo) and many others. Paul and Nemanja talked about things like - Changes in B2B buying behaviors and the ways we can adopt them - How to make an impact on the older generation of marketers - Which factors contribute to the change of the marketing landscape - Why emotional and humanized storytelling is the future of B2B marketing - Doing stuff you shouldn't do will make your brand stand out And more. Subscribe to this channel to get notified when we drop the new episode and make sure to follow Paul. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcash/ www.roosterpunk.com And buy his new book which I highly recommend: www.humanizingb2b.com https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humanizing-B2B-truth-marketing-transform/dp/178860251X --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/funky-marketing/message
Joining us today on Small Business Marketing – Then & Now is Samit Patel, who runs an agency that helps businesses bring products to the market using sales channels like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdcube, Seedrs, and Amazon to deliver huge sales volumes for new products. He discusses his proven system called 'TLFES' which has delivered over $43 million in multiple different industries and is used by everyday brands. Samit has been featured by Forbes, Alphr and Fast Company and speaks at major events around the world, educating audiences on how to launch new businesses or new products to market. You can click www.samitpatel.net to learn more.As always, this podcast is brought to you by Profit Master Business Solutions, implementing measured marketing for small businesses while calming the chaos and creating the confidence and competence to exceed expectations.Click www.profitmasterbusinesssolutions.com. You can find your host, Howard Wolpoff, at:www.profitmasterbusinesssolutions.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/hwolpoffInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hwolpoff/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@hwolpoffThank you for listening!