Podcasts about simply business

Hoxton Live with The Preshaah welcomes two special guests to talk local news and international art alive and amplified from Mama Shelter in Bethnal Green and The Face Radio in Brooklyn NYC.Pauline Forster of legendary East London pub The George Tavern stops by to talk about the Simply Business promo to win £10,000 for your small business to raise awareness about the struggle our high streets are currently facing.We also welcome Benji Fox who heads up Audio Visuals at the Royal Academy Of Arts and recently composed a piece of music for the Michael Craig Martin exhibition which wraps up on 10th December so this is your last weekend to catch it. For more info and tracklisting, visit: https://thefaceradio.com/hoxton-live/Tune into new broadcasts of Hoxton Live, LIVE, Fridays from 7 - 9 AM EST / Midday - 2PM GMT.//Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textWelcome to our review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins and mergers & acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in November 2024.Andrew is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew launched Andrew Bloch & Associates in 2020.If you haven't heard already I'm pleased to say we've now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement event. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications.The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite.Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.3 mins Andrew on the current state of the PR market. How does the golden quarter compare to previous years.“Measurement is more critical than it ever has been.”PITCHES DFS appoint Red Consultancy and PR First. Teneo continues to work on financial comms.“Everyone loves a retail client.”Simply Business appoint Golin. Danone appoint Freuds.“This is a whopper… a fame making brief.”“The best agencies have had very good years organically (growth.)” Pret A Manger appoint Frank. Headland continues looks after corporate pr Levis appoint Burson – corp reputation brief  across the EU.  Stanley 1913 appoint The Romans – pr and influencer for drinkware brand (best known for Stanley cups – the quencher) UK, France, Germany, Netherlands. Product launches, brand partnerships.  Apply creative with local relevance. PG Tips appoint The Romans – retained pr and social- engaging tea lovers across UK. PG Tips now part of Liptons (formerly Unilever) Rebrand – new blends, packaging etc. previously a project client. Digital and social now a third of all biz for Romans. Cayman Islands Tourism Dept appoint Allison. Essity appoint PR Agency One.  B2B comms brief to raise the profile of the group and reinforce position as industry and category leader across brands. Fed Olsen Cruises appoint The Academy – consumer pr. Targeting new and existing passengers. Previously in-house.Tui (First Choice/Marella Cruises) appoint Ogilvy for a long term comms strategy and earned first activation. First Choice merged with TUI in 2007. Nest, the UK Government backed pension scheme, appoint H+K (now part of Burson) – Corporate reputational support services. Also work with Blurred to help promote purpose PR strategy.Uni of Warwick appoint Shook This month's round up of M&A activity:“This has been a boom month for the PR M&A sector.” Croud sell majority stake to ECI (PE) – Croud is a full service marketing company. Croud is estimated to be worth £180M+. Fee income of £23.5M.“Croud is one to watch for sure.” Coolr sell minority share to Growth Capital Partners (GCP.) Founded in 2017 by Adam Clyne. 120 full time employees (FTEs.) This acquisition will help deepen service offering and scale quicker including i

Apply for a chance to win £25,000 via Simply Business' Business Boost: https://bit.ly/4cUXQdl Episode Guest Meet Claire Marchais, Co-Founder at Fair-Well. How do you turn a milk float into a movement? Claire Marchais did just that with Fair-well! From her first job in Paris fashion to creating a plastic-free revolution in North London, Claire reveals how winning a £25,000 grant helped her business thrive. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or passionate about sustainability, Claire's story will inspire you to dream big, start small, and embrace failure along the way. Tune in to this inspiring episode of MDF to build an eco-enterprise from the ground up! Episode Timestamps 00:00 The Journey of Entrepreneurship 10:02 Overcoming Challenges and Learning from Failure 19:51 Building a Sustainable Business Model 29:51 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Episode Partner T&Cs apply. One entry per person and business. Business Boost is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Entrants' businesses' annual turnover must not exceed £750k or have received over £50k in private funding in the past two years (not including Gov grants). For full eligibility terms visit Simply Business. The competition closes: on 15 Oct 2024. Simply Business will announce the winner on 13 Dec 2024

Apply for a chance to win £25,000 via Simply Business' Business Boost: https://bit.ly/4cUXQdl Episode Guest Meet Sarah Jordan, CEO at Y.O.U Underwear. Sarah Jordan is a recognised industry leader with over 20 years' digital and business experience across not for profit, commercial and publishing sectors. She originally trained in Geography (meteorology and IT) wanting to be a weather forecaster, but after building a website to teach kids about the weather she moved into technology and worked for many years in the ‘tech for good' space. Following several high-profile client-side roles, including as Head of Digital Strategy at Oxfam and Digital Director at the MS Society, Sarah set up her own strategic consultancy focusing on business transformation, strategy and organisational change. She remains an active speaker and judge at UK and international events and mentors on a number of industry programmes. Sarah never expected to end up running an underwear business! Everything changed on a trip to Uganda in 2016, where she took part in the Uganda Marathon. While volunteering in local villages she came face-to-face with the problems associated with not having underwear. In some communities 1 in 10 girls miss school on their periods due to a lack of underwear and sanitary products – up to 12 weeks a year! This inspired Sarah to found Y.O.U Underwear on a buy-one-give-two model with the charity Smalls for All. In addition to her work with Y.O.U Underwear, Sarah is a trustee of the Beam Foundation, a charity and crowdfunding platform that supports homeless people by getting them into employment and training. For the past 7 years she has also run a positive change agency called BOLD which helps women achieve success in all areas of their lives. Episode Timestamps 00:00 The Accidental Entrepreneur 03:05 Lessons from Early Jobs 05:54 The Journey of Self-Discovery 08:49 Embracing Failure and Regret 12:10 The Importance of Taking Action 15:01 Knowing When to Let Go 18:02 Building a Sustainable Business 20:58 The Role of Business Boost 24:14 Transformative Experiences in Entrepreneurship 27:03 Finding Your Purpose 29:47 Final Thoughts and Advice Episode Partner T&Cs apply. One entry per person and business. Business Boost is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Entrants' businesses' annual turnover must not exceed £750k or have received over £50k in private funding in the past two years (not including Gov grants). For full eligibility terms visit Simply Business. The competition closes: on 15 Oct 2024. Simply Business will announce the winner on 13 Dec 2024.

Apply for a chance to win £25,000 via Simply Business' Business Boost: https://bit.ly/4cUXQdl Episode Guest Meet Mo Kanjilal, Co-Creator at Watch This Sp_ce. Award-winning senior leader and employee engagement expert. Mo is an Author, TedX Speaker and Mentor. She is an NLP Master Practitioner, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Clock Tower Sanctuary and Non-Exec Director for Here Care Unbound Episode Timestamps 00:00 Becoming an Entrepreneur by Chance 02:24 The Importance of Communication and Listening Skills 07:30 Winning the Business Boost Competition 16:34 The Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion 18:55 Creating a Positive and Inclusive Work Environment Episode Partner T&Cs apply. One entry per person and business. Business Boost is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Entrants' businesses' annual turnover must not exceed £750k or have received over £50k in private funding in the past two years (not including Gov grants). For full eligibility terms visit Simply Business. The competition closes: on 15 Oct 2024. Simply Business will announce the winner on 13 Dec 2024

With the huge ongoing skills shortage, it's vital that more young people feel encouraged to get on thetools!Today we'll be discussing whether training is both good and available enough to young people, to encourage them to get into the trades. We were joined by many guests on today's show, including Julie Fisher, the Interim UK CEO for Simply Business, who shared data on the skills shortage, and Kirsty Evans - Executive Principal for the National Construction College who discussed training opportunities.There's also the pub lunch quiz for your chance to grab yourself 6 points as well as the very best messages that we received - enjoy!

What is the importance of the Labor party's landslide victory in recent UK election? What is the new social and economic policy for the United Kingdom? And what will the development of postindustrial cities look like? Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!) talks with Jason Stockwood, a writer and a businessman who tries to help redefine the next era of capitalism to be more inclusive. Currently, he is the Chairman of Grimsby Town Football Club and a Venture investor. He was previously on the UK board members of BCorp & Global CEO of Simply Business. He also authored a book titled "Reboot: A Blueprint for Happy, Human Business in the Digital Age" (Virgin Books, 2018). Tune in for their talk! This podcast is produced by the European Liberal Forum in collaboration with Movimento Liberal Social and Fundacja Liberté!, with the financial support of the European Parliament. Neither the European Parliament nor the European Liberal Forum are responsible for the content or for any use that be made of.

In this installment of TPS Reports the Squares discuss the presidential debate, white sweatsuits, Rick Ross getting jumped in Canada, fingerboard sponsors, stolen pennies, naked bums & Sophie Hunter. Outro song: "Simply Business" by Little Stranger Smoochie Gang Playlist Term's Album of the Week Playlist Please send questions, stories & whatever else to tpsreportspodcast@gmail.com and feel free to leave us a voicemail at 708-797-3079. The Palmer Squares on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Patreon & more Shop for Official TPS Merchandise

This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.http://gotopia.tech/bookclubRead the full transcription of the interview hereAshley Peacock - Staff Software Engineer at Simply Business & Author of "Creating Software with Modern Diagramming Techniques"Stefan Hofer - Co-Author of "Domain Storytelling" & Requirements & DDD Expert at WPSRESOURCESAshleyhttps://twitter.com/_ashleypeacockhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-peacock-133749120https://medium.com/@ashley-peacockhttps://github.com/apeacock1991Stefanhttps://twitter.com/hofstefhttps://social.wps.de/@hofstefhttps://github.com/hofstefhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hofstefhttps://domainstorytelling.orgDESCRIPTIONDiagrams communicate relationships more directly and clearly than words ever can. Using only text-based markup, create meaningful and attractive diagrams to document your domain, visualize user flows, reveal system architecture at any desired level, or refactor your code. With the tools and techniques this book will give you, you'll create a wide variety of diagrams in minutes, share them with others, and revise and update them immediately on the basis of feedback. Adding diagrams to your professional vocabulary will enable you to work through your ideas quickly when working on your own code or discussing a proposal with colleagues.Expand your professional vocabulary by learning to communicate with diagrams as easily and naturally as speaking or writing. This book will provide you with the skills and tools to turn ideas into clear, meaningful, and attractive diagrams in mere minutes, using nothing more complicated than text-based markup. You'll learn what kinds of diagrams are suited to each of a variety of use cases, from documenting your domain to understanding how complex code pieces together. Model your software's architecture, creating diagrams focused broadly or narrowly, depending on the audience. Visualize application and user flows, design database schemas, and use diagrams iteratively to design and refactor your application. [...]* Book description: © Pragmatic ProgrammersRECOMMENDED BOOKSAshley Peacock • Creating Software with Modern Diagramming TechniquesStefan Hofer & Henning Schwentner • Domain StorytellingSimon Brown • Software Architecture for Developers Vol. 2Woods, Erder & Pureur • Continuous Architecture in PracticeTwitterInstagramLinkedInFacebookLooking for a unique learning experience?Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.techSUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL - new videos posted daily!

Imagine embarking on a vibrant journey through the often-unexplored terrain of early career moves, small business wisdom, and the unexpected delights of the insurance industry. That's precisely what we unpack with Julie Fisher from Simply Business. Our conversation spans from the priceless lessons learned in small businesses to navigating the emotional rollercoaster of job changes, all while building your commercial acumen. Julie's insights on the transformative power of youthful work experiences and the deep value of customer connections will equip you with new perspectives whether you're just stepping on the career ladder or seeking a refreshing climb.As we traverse this path, the nuances of commitment and adaptability take the spotlight, and you'll find that even the tiniest tasks have the potential to shape your character and future. We dissect the stark contrasts between the environments of small versus large businesses and the different opportunities they present. Reflecting on the importance of demonstrating reliability and navigating professional transitions, we'll share stories that underscore the resilience and self-awareness needed to not just overcome adversity but to thrive amidst it.Whether you're pondering a leap into insurance or any other field, this episode is a trove of practical strategies. We dive into the importance of showcasing your unique skills, the power of a strong support network, and the indelible impact of mentorship. The episode wraps up with a celebration of paying it forward, sharing the significance of creating opportunities for others and the personal mantras that keep us motivated. Join us for an episode that promises to leave you inspired, informed, and ready to take on the world of work with newfound vigor.

Simon Schnieders is an entrepreneur, SEO expert, investor, advisor, and mentor for businesses across various verticals. He is the Founder and CEO of Blue Array, UK's most popular & largest specialist SEO agency, a B Corp offering a unique approach 'consulgency®' services (a hybrid of consultancy & agency). Clients include startups, scale-ups and incumbents such as Simply Business, RAC, Funding Circle, Floom & many more. Simon Schneiders Interview Questions00:00 - 04:00 Introduction04:01 - 07:14 Simon's background07:15 - 11:09 Dealing with personal challenges11:10 - 17:35 Simon's journey into the world of SEO17:36 - 20:08 Working with big brands establishing Blue Array20:09 - 27:11 What is Blue Array's vision for the SEO industry?27:12 - 36:43 The SEO industry in the current age of AI36:44 - 42:20 Work done by Blue Array in the field of SEO education42:21 - 46:33 The concept of consulgency46:34 - 55:18 How Blue Array leverages AI55:19 - 59:22 Simon as an angel investor and mentor59:23 - 01:01:20 ClosureSimon Schneiders BiographySimon Schnieders is an entrepreneur, SEO expert, investor, advisor, and mentor for businesses across various verticals. He is the Founder and CEO of Blue Array, UK's most popular & largest specialist SEO agency, a B Corp offering a unique approach 'consulgency®' services (a hybrid of consultancy & agency). Clients include startups, scale-ups and incumbents such as Simply Business, RAC, Funding Circle, Floom & many more. Blue Array also published the Amazon best selling Mastering In-House SEO series, compiling contributions from 26 leading in-house SEO experts on topics ranging from successful case studies, getting tactics and strategy implemented, community building, and much more. Some of the events organised by Blue Array include ReadingSEO & LondonSEOMeetup, the capital's largest monthly SEO meetup. The agency also provides e-learning via the Blue Array Academy, an SEO training course with certification.As an SEO expert, Simon has led in-house SEO teams at major companies like Zoopla, Mail Online, European Directories, and Yell.com. Simon is also an angel investor and advisor to companies like ClickMechanic.com, Baked In, SonicJobs, and SafeBuy. He mentors at startup accelerators, including 500 Startups, MassChallenge UK, Wayra, Techhub, and Mayor's International Business Programme, which is designed to fit very specific international growth ambitions to fast-growing, post-revenue companies in London.Simon is a BSc in Business and Computing from University of Surrey. Outside of work, he serves as the Trustee of the homeless charity "New Beginnings" in Reading, UK. The organisation is dedicated to the prevention and relief of poverty and financial hardship.Learn more about Simon Schneiders on https://www.openbusinesscouncil.org/wiki/simon-schniedersLearn more about Blue Array on https://www.openbusinesscouncil.org/wiki/blue-arrayAbout Dinis Guarda profile and Channelshttps://www.openbusinesscouncil.orghttps://www.intelligenthq.comhttps://www.hedgethink.com/https://www.citiesabc.com/https://openbusinesscouncil.org/wiki/dinis-guardaMore interviews and research videos on Dinis GuardaSupport the show

Last week's Simply Business Summit was a resounding success, so many great takeaways and memorable moments. Missed it? Catch up here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining us LIVE at the Simply Business Summit, alongside Lisa Messenger is the wonderful Alli Garison. Alli is a Women's Therapist, who works online and in person, supporting women to heal & transform emotionally, mentally, physically & spiritually from the inside out. I am so excited to see what magic Alli will create in the room at this years Summit. I hope you will join Alli, Carrie, Susan, Lisa, Tahnee and I at this years Simply Business Summit June 21-23, 2023. Book now at simplystaceymorgan.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining us LIVE at the simply Business Summit, alongside Lisa Messenger and Tahnee Sanders is the gorgeous Carrie Benedet from Global Leaders Thrive.  Carrie Benedet has a contagiously positive attitude to thriving in career and life. With 24 years of leadership experience in adult education, Carrie specialises in designing and facilitating professional learning and leadership programs, coaching and mentoring for workplace growth and performance.  Her strong growth mindset and skill-set of social and conversational emotional intelligence (Genos Certified), coaching methodologies and leadership skills, Carrie relishes working with motivated business owners giving them confidence to revitalise their purpose, direction, voice, mindset and relational skills. I hope you will join Carrie, Lisa, Tahnee and I at this years Simply Business Summit June 21-23, 2023. Book now at simplystaceymorgan.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may have heard by now, Lisa Messenger will be joining us LIVE at the Simply Business Summit in June 2023. Lisa Messenger is the vibrant, game-changing founder and CEO of Collective Hub. She launched Collective Hub as a print magazine in 2013 with no experience in an industry that people said is either dead or dying. Collective Hub has since grown into an international multimedia business and lifestyle platform with multiple verticals across print, digital, events and more recently, co-working spaces – all of which serve to ignite human potential. Lisa is an international speaker, best-selling author, and an authority on disruption in both the corporate sector and the start-up scene and we are thrilled she will be joining us for the Simply Business Summit in 2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Summit is less than 2 months away and today we talk to guest speaker and summit presenter Tahnee Sanders from the Strategy Studio about what she is going to be presenting in Byron bay in June.  We still have spots available so book now at simplystacey.com/summitSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a brand new episode of the ¿Quién Tú Eres? podcast, where we explore the conflict we often face between "professionalism" & being our authentic selves. This week, we have the pleasure of speaking with Joshua Encarnacion. Joshua is a 1.5 generation Dominican-American, and a proud Afro-Latino…with his heart set on growing and helping people grow into their full potential. He's helped build 3 tech-industry startups and worked in training & recruiting roles for big tech companies Uber & Google. Born in Manhattan, NY, and raised in Lawrence & Springfield, MA, Joshua has nothing but love for his folks and the people he's met along his journey as a lifelong learner consisting of a lot of sports, math, reading, perreo, bachata, y cafe bustelo. Throughout his career, he's serviced the following organizations: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, UBER, Airbnb, Netflix, Pandora, Slack, Twitter, Pinterest, Earnest, Gusto, Affirm, Abstract, Simply Business, Thumbtack, Yelp, Asana, Lyft, Atlassian, Tinder, First Round Capital, Kapor Center, General Assembly, Hackbright, Latinas in Tech, NextPlay, CODE2040, Hack The Hood, CODE Tenderloin, The Justice Collective, Change Catalyst, Techqueria, Big Nerd Ranch, and MANY more unlisted. He's coached people through various challenges by helping them grow the emotional intelligence and high-performance habits necessary to create their own professional success, which is a passion of his. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/quientueres/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/quientueres/support

Historically, the U.S. government has relied almost solely on its own intelligence analysis to inform strategic decisions. This has been especially true surrounding geopolitical events and nation-level cybersecurity situations. However, the explosion of assets being connected to the internet, along with the fact that most critical infrastructure is owned by private sector organizations, means that commercially developed cyber threat intelligence is being generated at a faster pace than ever before. In the Russia/Ukraine conflict, we saw how commercially generated satellite intelligence played a critical role in alerting the public and ensuring our allies were ready for an invasion. At LookingGlass, we believe commercial threat intelligence can provide similar anticipatory insight – and that it can be shared more easily and quickly than intelligence generated solely by the U.S. government. Ultimately, the public and private sectors need to work together to protect the interests of the American people. Currently, both private industry and academia are targeted by foreign adversaries, just as are government agencies. This means that commercial entities also have access to adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise, and they have that access from a different perspective, which is valuable intelligence for the government. On this episode of CyberWire-X, host Rick Howard, the CyberWire's CISO, Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, speaks with Hash Table member Wayne Moore, CISO at Simply Business, and host Dave Bittner speaks with Bryan Ware, CEO at episode sponsor LookingGlass Cyber Solutions. They'll discuss why the U.S. government needs commercial cyber threat intelligence now more than ever before and how both the public and private sectors will benefit from closer, trusted cyber partnerships. 

(4:10) - The guys start the hour with a conversation about Apple, which lost 5% (or $120B) in their market cap on Wednesday.(14:25) - Dr. Hunter Threadgill from Simply Business joined the show to talk about the company's survey of small businesses.(22:23) - Touching on Mexico's plans to build a $5 billion LNG plant on the Veracruz port.(34:49) - Paul LaMonica of CNNBusiness called into the show to discuss Beyond Meat's fall from grace, as the company is now trading near its all-time low.

Dr. Hunter Threadgill from Simply Business joined the show to talk about the company's survey of small businesses.

On this episode of CyberWire-X, we examine double extortion ransomware. The large-scale cyber events of yesterday – Stuxnet, the Ukraine Power Grid Attack – were primarily focused on disruption. Cybercriminals soon shifted to ransomware with disruption still the key focus – and then took things to the next level with Double Extortion Ransomware. When ransomware first started to take off as the attack method of choice around 2015, the hacker playbook was focused on encrypting data, requesting payment and then handing over the encryption keys. Their methods escalated with Double Extortion, stealing data as well as encrypting it - and threatening to leak data if they don't receive payment. We've seen with ransomware groups like Maze that they will follow through with publishing private information if not paid. In the first part of the show, Rick Howard, the CyberWire's CSO, Chief Analyst, and Senior Fellow, talks with Wayne Moore, Simply Business' CISO and CyberWire Hash Table member, and, in the second half of the show, the CyberWire's podcast host Dave Bittner talks with Nathan Hunstad, episode sponsor Code42's Deputy CISO. They discuss how classic ransomware protection such as offsite backups are no longer enough. They explain that Double Extortion means that you need to understand what data has been stolen and weigh the cost of paying with the cost of your data going public.

Key Learning Points1.The stress induced on couples experiencing rounds of IVF and infertility2.How organisations can help people cope through their fertility journey3.What (not) to say to couples struggling with infertility Trigger warning - this episode discusses ectopic pregnancy and failed rounds of IVF.In this episode of the Parenthood Diaries, we speak to Samantha Davidson, a 29 year-old Senior Product Manager at Simply Business, who will be talking about her ongoing fertility journey and how the insurance industry can help those struggling to conceive.Sam explains how she began trying for a baby with her partner, Dean, in June 2020, but had no joy after 6 months. They went to the NHS for tests, but came back all clear. People often told her to ‘not to worry so much' and ‘relax', which, she shares, was easier said than done! Sam tells us that after her first two rounds of IVF, she was diagnosed with poor egg quality - making the chance of conceiving naturally ‘very slim'. Sam would either have to adopt, or use a donor's eggs if she wanted to carry a child herself. ‘DNA-wise, the child wouldn't be genetically mine… it hit me like a slap in the face'. Sam tells us DNA is a now non-issue, but carrying a child is very important to her.After the two failed UK rounds, Sam and her partner looked abroad, eventually choosing a clinic in Prague. Using a donor's eggs, they got 8 top-quality embryos, returning the next month to have them implanted. They then became pregnant - but Sam soon began to feel unwell. She had cramps, nausea and started bleeding, and headed to A&E at 4AM in the morning. Doctors found that she had an ectopic pregnancy, which needed keyhole surgery to remove the pregnancy and a fallopian tube.We then ask Sam if she knows how common infertility is. She tells us that 1 in 7 couples struggle with infertility - that's 48 million couples globally. Recent studies suggest that microplastics and other common chemicals are increasingly to blame. But Sam also warns that things can ‘get absolutely ridiculous' if you ‘bury yourself in a rabbit-hole of things to avoid'. She tells us she stopped using chemicals to clean her house and drank and ate things she hated. ‘I said to my consultant: “If you tell me that I need to eat cat poo to get pregnant, I will!'When asked all this has affected her work, Sam tells us that she struggled, as IVF put a big mental and financial strain on her and her relationship. Sam tells us that work could sometimes be a good distraction, but mounting stress meant she reduced her hours to 4 days a week, which helped. After her ectopic pregnancy, and during IVF rounds, Simply Business gave her plenty of time off to recover. Yet Sam also said that as a woman she was anxious that her career would fall behind, or that she would be seen as incapable or emotional.Finally, we ask Sam for her top tips to employers and employees on how to communicate properly with those on a fertility journey. Sam tells us that, first and foremost, employers need to be understanding and sympathetic. She then tells us what not to do - like refusing a request to work from home. She encourages managers to ‘give people what they need', offer resources available, and be patient. She also encourages employees to go to HR if they aren't getting the support they need from their manager. Sam also explains that people can be (unintentionally) insensitive. She recommends that people never say ‘at least' when talking about infertility, but that the worst thing you can say is nothing at all - it's best to just let them know you care.To listen to more of Sam's story, check our her podcast called “Infertility and Me - Samantha” available on Spotify and Anchor.As always, a big thanks to our series partners, Genasys and The Camelot Network!

Oh sweet romantic love... the one and only, being made for each other, your better half, staying together forever or till death do us apart. But is it really all great and cheesy? Or are couples simply business deals? Are you just accumulating wealth through marriage? Well it's true, marriage is a contract between two parties. In this episode we talk about lisping kings in incest kingdoms, polyamourosy even though is called polyamory, love in general and the question if the grass is really greener on the other side. Tune in to get our perspective on the most beautiful business deal of all times! Hosts: Fatima Ammalou and Marie Heimburg. Max Zimmermann and Belen Sabroso Ballesteros. This is a podcast from K103 Gothenburg Studentradio

DeadHappy is on a mission to change attitudes to death and make a difference to the third sector. It's the first fully digital pay-as-you-go life insurance provider, their plans are designed to be cheaper, easier and better than traditional providers.  It also provides its customers with the unique opportunity to leave their charitable legacy, as with every plan the customer gets to select a charity they want to receive a £5,000 legacy payout as a free gift.  Its ‘deathwishes' also help customers personalise their life insurance by expressing what they want to happen when they die – from paying off their mortgage to funding a wake party in Ibiza for their friends. Phil has a long track record in start ups having built three business' in the insurance sector, the last of them becoming the largest white label supplier of generalInsurance in the UK. He went on to invest (and Chair) a number of business' including iGO4 Ltd, one of the largest Telematics insurance brokers, and worked with a range of Private Equity Houses in their insurtech investments including Simply Business, the SME insurance broking business. Phil stepped back into the front line setting up DeadHappy to take on Life insurance with the aim of completely changing the customer experience and purpose of the product. Highlights from the Show DeadHappy offers term life insurance in the UK Phil Zeidler is a general insurance (P&C) veteran, but has not been in the Life insurance space In 2005, Phil suddenly had a close call where he nearly died from septic shock from an infection, which caused him to stop and think about what he had to protect his family He surprisingly found he couldn't make any changes to his coverage when he realized he needed, leaving him with a desire to change things His co-founder, Andy, had a similar experience where he could not get coverage, and a branding and digital marketing background, so the two came together to change things Andy was also taken by how awful and morbid it is to buy life insurance, and that didn't sit well with them Phil and Andy are Yin and Yang to each other, speaking to the point in The Future of Insurance Volume IIaround diversifying your thinking to succeed While the brand is clever and cheeky, the way they're engaging prospects and customers it the differentiation Phil talked about the huge coverage gap – over 8m in the UK and 42m people in the US with dependents and no life insurance – and how if you don't engage and educate them, you aren't really solving the problem and relegated to just selling to those who are already buying Their focus is on those who need, but don't have coverage Phil shared a stat that, every day, 112 children in the UK lose a parent, and for 50% of them, there would be no protection in place Life Insurance is a very simple concept in Phil's eyes, where you pay a fixed amount, and the insurer pays out a fixed amount on death, so why do we complicate the sale with advisors and medical evaluations? DeadHappy instead sells direct, online, with just four questions and no medical questions or tests DeadHappy looks at your current age, not the projected age when they think you will die, and underwrite off that, which inherently means they're cheaper They also allow you to change your policy specifics I questioned how they can do that if these are things that drive the mortality calculations and investment decisions that underpin the economics of Life insurance, and he said it's more about system flexibility than the economics only working one way Phil noted how Life insurers generally try not to engage with customers once the policy is sold out of fear that people will cancel DeadHappy takes the opposite view, and engages throughout the customer's life to learn more and take that into account with their underwriting decisions The data advantage this offers DeadHappy can excite reinsurer partners in a way that others aren't able to do DeadHappy uses the concept of Death Wishes to size coverage rather than asking people how much money they want their family to get when they die Death Wishes are discrete things or experiences an individual wants to make happen or provide on the event of their death Phil shared some examples, like sending a bouquets of flowers to your spouse every year, buying new soccer cleats for your kid every year so they can keep pursuing their passion, sending your buddies on a trip to Vegas, etc This allows mechanism to engage with the idea of life insurance each year to see if the Death Wishes they chose are still relevant, or if new ones have emerged, and allowing people to change Death Wishes, which inherently changes their coverage They've found a way to create an emotional engagement with Life insurance, which isn't something that's typically happened I asked Phil about the idea of a telematics-like approach to Life insurance, reacting to people's choices throughout their day with lower or higher premium, he sees that possibly taking hold down the road, but it would take so much more flexibility in the models from all insurers to make this the norm DeadHappy only offers a Term Life product, and I asked whether the simplicity of it is a pre-requisite to spread cover over the uninsured, and he currently does see that as a prerequisite, at least for now We talked about mental health and suicide being excluded from many products, and DeadHappy makes it optional and changeable, where you can opt into covering suicide or not, giving customers the power and the choice Looking to the future, pricing will certainly change, as will the dynamics behind it As a result of how they engage with customers, their NPS is 85 and their TrustPilot reviews are 4.9, both outstanding for insurance or any industry As Phil says, life is too short to be morbid about death   Special thanks to Pinpoint Predictive (pinpoint.ai) for sponsoring this episode. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of UPbeat Music, available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play. Just search for "UPbeat Music"

Interested in getting involved with crypto but don't know where to start? We hear you - it's the wild west out there. But this new report on the CATGIRL altcoin might help! Simply Business llc explains it all. Visit https://selectcrypto.us/catgirl-coin1 (https://selectcrypto.us/catgirl-coin1)

In episode 45 of o11ycast, Charity and Liz are joined by Chris Holmes of Simply Business. Together they unpack OpenTelemetry, the importance of tracing, and the observability adoption process at Simply Business.

In episode 45 of o11ycast, Charity and Liz are joined by Chris Holmes of Simply Business. Together they unpack OpenTelemetry, the importance of tracing, and the observability adoption process at Simply Business.

What if business could be easy? What if we can “go with the flow” and still have success? In today’s episode, Stacie talks about the idea of the wu-wei of business, how we tend to overcomplicate, and how it serves us better to keep things simple and easy.Interested in learning more about wu-wei and Taosim? Listen to the podcast What’s This Tao All About?Resource: Wu Wei: The Taoist Principle of Action in Non-Action by Elizabeth ReningerJoin the Burned Out to Biz Boss Community to attend the free upcoming Masterclass on How to Get Clients, happening March 29th at 5 pm Eastern.

In this latest edition of Real HR Professionals, Lucinda is joined by learning and development specialist, Maria Brugel, to discuss how L&D is best used in the financial space, and her career journey so far.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Maria is currently focused on three big initiatives - inclusion, how to make the "new normal" work better for the team, and how to get better at receiving and actioning feedback. Looking after graduates gave Maria a whole new perspective on development, allowing her to learn along with them, essentially beginning her L&D career over again. When looking for a new role, two factors are sought - where value can be brought to the position, and what can be gained in terms of learning. Certainly, some people are better suited to certain parts of HR. For Maria, the development of others was more attractive than the somewhat tougher side of the role. Valuable Resources The HR Uprising Podcast | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher   The HR Uprising LinkedIn Group Host of The HR Uprising Podcast, Lucinda Carney, is also the founder and CEO of Actus Software, where you can find additional free HR Resources: https://actus.co.uk/free-performance-management-resources/ The HR Uprising 100th episode! Introducing the new Actus Academy: your on-demand learning platform! Latest Performance Management Blog Enter the HR Uprising Competition! Virtual Training Programmes: How to be a Change Superhero Virtual People Management Accelerate Potential Change Superhero Resources: Book: How To Be A Change Superhero – by Lucinda Carney Free Change Toolkit: www.changesuperhero.com BEST MOMENTS 'It's about supporting their needs - their growth needs' 'I quite enjoyed passing my knowledge onto new starters and really seeing them shine' 'There was a big learning journey for me there' 'Learning and development is quite a vocation' About The Guest Maria is a modern L&D professional with nearly 10 years experience spanning digital learning and technologies, early careers development, and L&D programme management across insurance, tech and consumer goods sectors. Maria joined Simply Business, an online small business insurance broker, in May 2019 and in her role delivers business impact by overseeing employee onboarding experience; delivering digital learning strategy; partnering across the business; and contributing to enterprise level People initiatives. Also, Maria is passionate about personal growth and supporting others on their development journeys, and most recently doing that through the Insights Discovery tool. Outside of work Maria is a mum to a threenager and enjoys learning about the world through travelling, reading and sampling world cuisine and wines! Connect with Maria Brugel: Maria Brugel LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/mariabrugelk ABOUT THE HOST Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles and a further 10 as CEO of Actus Software where she worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. It was this breadth of experience that inspired Lucinda to set up the HR Uprising community to facilitate greater collaboration across HR professionals in different sectors, helping them to ‘rise up' together. “If you look up, you rise up” CONTACT METHOD Join the LinkedIn community - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13714397/ Email: Lucinda@advancechange.co.uk Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindacarney/ Twitter: @lucindacarney Instagram: @hruprising Facebook: @hruprising See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aquiline’s Vincenzo La Ruffa - Driving Value Creation in Financial Services Miguel Armaza sits down with Vincenzo La Ruffa, President of Aquiline Capital Partners and head of their financial technology group. Aquiline was founded in 2005 and is a private investment firm based focused on businesses across the financial services sector with almost $6B in assets under management. Vincenzo is also a proud alum of our amazing Wharton and Penn school. We talked about - Vincenzo’s career path - Fintech trends and exciting opportunities - Their approach to partnering with entrepreneurs - Stories and case studies from some of their exciting portfolio companies - Challenges as an investor during COVID - Identifying Fintech opportunities in a fast moving and fast changing market - Private Equity as a career - And why he still loves reading physical books! Vincenzo La Ruffa Vincenzo is president of Aquiline. Vincenzo also heads the financial technology and services group and serves on the investment committees for the AFS, ATG and ACO fund families. Prior to joining Aquiline in 2014, Vincenzo was managing director of Susquehanna Growth Equity, a group he co-founded, where he invested in financial technology, healthcare IT and software companies across the US, Europe and Israel. Vincenzo currently serves on the boards of portfolio companies Ascensus and HedgeServ. He previously was on the boards of Simply Business (sold to Travelers), Togetherwork (sold to GI Partners), Fenergo (realized in 2018 recapitalization) and BISAM (sold to FactSet); his prior investments include The Logic Group (sold to Barclays), 29West (sold to Informatica) and Managed Markets Insight and Technology (sold to Welsh Carson). Vincenzo serves as a trustee of the Collegium Institute on Catholic Thought and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania, Delbarton School, the Montfort Academy, the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and the Regina Angelorum Academy. About Aquiline Capital Partners LLC Aquiline Capital Partners, founded in 2005, is a private investment firm based in New York and London investing in businesses across the financial services sector in financial technology, insurance, investment management, business services, credit and healthcare. The firm has $5.6 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2020. For more information about Aquiline, its investment professionals, and its portfolio companies, please visit aquiline.com.

Jasper Martens is the Chief Marketing Officer at leading online pension provider, PensionBee. Jasper is an award winning marketing professional with over 15 years of client side experience. Prior to joining PensionBee, Jasper worked at Simply Business, bringing business insurance to SMEs online.James and Jasper came together to discuss his rise as a marketer, how he helped grow PensionBee from a team of 5 to being on the verge of an IPO and what his plans are for the future of the company. Make sure to like and subscribe to the Riding Unicorns podcast to never miss an episode. Also don't forget to give Riding Unicorns a follow on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep on top of the latest developments.

Hasani Jess is the UK Chief Technology Officer at Simply Business, responsible for the InsureTechs technology vision. His wide ranging expertise and forward-thinking approach enables him to devise and execute ambitious long-term technology strategies. A recognized technology thought-leader, Hasani has operated in multiple domains spanning two decades including telecoms, government, finance, healthcare and retail. In 2019 he was recognized as one of the top business leaders in technology and was named in the CIO 100 list, an annual recognition of the UK’s technology leadership community. Hasani received his Bachelors of Eng in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from Aston University in Birmingham, UK. During the podcast episode, we spoke about Hasani's impressive and vast tech career journey. Carving a career in tech now - during a time of recent growth and adjustments within the industry, is different from ever before, we hear Hasani's thoughts and advice on this. We also spoke about how to build a high-performing, successful team, and some of the most important aspects to take into consideration.

The Key Learning Points:1.The challenges of being a young and confident woman in a male-dominated industry.2.Top tips for developing a resilient mindset.3. How fitness, one day, could have a place in the corporate world.On this week's remote Risky Mix podcast, we're joined by a rising star of the insurance industry. Sophie Vickery was named Employee of the Year at Allianz early in her career and was one of Insurance Business Magazine's Young Guns in 2018. Having moved to Simply Business in mid-2019, she recently won the SB-er of the Year award and alongside her insurance career, juggles a wide variety of other activities - including being a fitness and dance instructor.Sophie explains that she has two main passions – people and health and fitness. It's these passions that led her to start a number of side hustles alongside her career in insurance, which we speak more about later in the episode. Sophie has spent five years in the insurance industry so far and found her first role after looking for a sector that combined her love of English and Maths. She lives in Guildford which placed her perfectly for a role at Allianz but admits: “I knew absolutely nothing about insurance. I'd bought maybe two policies for contents insurance, that was it!” Sophie's role involved looking after brokers and she held various roles in personal and commercial lines. Having started at the insurer when she was just 22, Sophie explains: “I look back now and I'm like, ‘I don't really know how I did some of those things!” Sophie worked at Allianz for three to four years when she received a knock on the door from a recruiter who presented the Simply Business role. She was attracted to the prospect of working for a new, tech-focused company, which would enable her to develop new skills and experience. Sophie has now been at Simply Business for just over a year. We speak to Sophie about her experience in the broker space as a young woman. “Being a young woman in the industry certainly had its challenges.” Sophie explains that there were so many times when she was the only woman walking into broker meetings: “You walk in and you feel it.” Sophie's approach was to make sure that she was adding value - bringing expertise that they didn't already have in the room: “I need to know more. I need to be ahead!” She would put in extra work before meetings to get rid of that “back-foot feeling” and aimed to come across as strong and assertive, even though she admits that at times she didn't feel very comfortable, but it was her way of setting the tone. “There were times when I'd leave meetings and be in the car on the motorway and be in tears because I found it exhausting to put on this big confident aura.” Sophie also noticed that her age held her back, possibly more than her gender in the early stages of her career. Sophie speaks a lot about getting yourself into the right headspace and building resilience: “It does take practice. It does take a lot of grit and confidence.” For her, audiobooks and podcasts really help, and she shares her top recommendations:  Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, Girl, Stop Apologising by Rachel Hollis, Annie Mac's podcast, Changes, and Positively Selfish by Robyn Lee.We move on to chat about Sophie's numerous side hustles. She's been a fitness instructor for around six years, starting out in the world of Zumba, explaining that she “fell in love with the class.” Sophie was initially teaching in studios but C19 has meant that she now runs all of her classes online. “The future of fitness is going to be a bit of a mix of in-person, online, virtual pre-record. I think it will be a whole host of things and you know what, that's fantastic because it means it's more accessible for people.” Sophie is looking to expand her Zumba business and her dream is to bring it together with the corporate world – you heard it here first! 

This is the second Marketing BS podcast. Alex Norman is an old friend who co-founded TechTO, the leading tech-event company in Canada. He is also a partner with AngelList, co-founder of HomeSav and runs a micro-seed venture fund. In Part 1 we talk about Alex's career. Tomorrow in Part 2 we dive into how he grew the TechTO business. (Note: Originally the interview this week was going to be with Nick White, head of marketing for Osano, but due to some issues with the transcript I am pushing that episode to next week)This episode contains a new experiment using background music. Please let me know what you think of it. Engaging? Distracting? Comment or just hit reply.TRANSCRIPT:Edward Nevraumont: My guest today is Alex Norman. Today's episode covers his career, McGill university, Lehman Brothers, Simply Business, McKinsey, HomeSav. He's now Managing Director of Tech TO and a partner with AngelList and N49P among other things. Alex, the first time you oversaw marketing was when you were running HomeSav and you got that opportunity by starting the company yourself. How did you go about making that company happen?Alex Norman: Yeah, that's an actually really good question. I want to break it down to two things. Why did we start this company? And how I was in a position to start this company? One is I had recently been at McKinsey and I felt giving other people advice is great, but I like building something and I started looking for opportunities. My co-founders and I were spending time looking at money, different opportunities, looking at acquiring companies. Over six months we realized we all had a similar problem, finishing our houses. It sounds silly, but we all realized you buy more furniture and home decor than you think you do over your life and you constantly buy it and it was really no good solution. The brands out there were all retailers. It's a huge category with very few leaders. You had Ikea you have like a couple other like restoration hardware, but the whole process of what you buy and how you buy, it's pretty crummy experienceThen we saw there was an opportunity to change how people buy furniture and home decor and to leverage, we thought people were now becoming comfortable with the internet for purchase like this. So we found this opportunity the problem we had, we saw that there was an interesting way to insert ourselves in the value chain and use a changing environment.Now, Why I was able to set myself up to do this is a couple of things. One is, I was already 10 to 15 years in my career and I'd never, lived at my means. What I mean by that is, when I was working at McKinsey, you make a decent salary, decent bonuses. But I was consciously keeping a lot of dry powder cash there in case I ever needed it. So when it came time to starting a company, investing in a company and living with no salary, I had six figures liquid saved up. So I could deal with that immediate casual pressure. Second of all, my experiences gave me insights on knowing what starting a company looks like, the challenges that I'd face and the skills that we would need and I had found the right co-founders to do it with. So one was finding the right opportunity. The other was positioning myself in a career that I could actually jump in on the opportunity when I saw fit and also knowing what to do or believing. I knew what I needed to do.Edward: When you were there you grew the business to about 350,000 subscribers before you sold it. How did you know what you were doing on the marketing side? Because you didn't have a lot of traditional marketing experience going in.Alex: So I think some of it is intuitive. I've been around marketing functions for a long time. I had previously worked at startups in the States and UK. Where I wasn't responsible for marketing, but I was close to marketing strategy and I was building into my product, so I understood and saw what they did and watched the approach. I did a marketing major in my MBA, whether or not that's practical or not. It gives you a framework and how to think about it. Also did some marketing projects at McKinsey. So I was aware, of let's say the frameworks and strategies to use. But I think it was more just customer development and intuition are saying how the internet works. So my approach was, it was doing customer development and also from marketing channels to build a bunch of experiments in a portfolio approach.Sorry, let's take a step back and say, there was two things we had to build. We have to build a brand and awareness and we had to build, actual get transactions, either people, micro transactions to sign up, to be subscriber or to actually purchase, and I think the, transaction building the list, that was much more natural to me. We figured out who our target customers are or we had hypothesis, we test it with a bunch of different campaigns to refining to figure out a customer. Now we did research and it was 28 year old to 42 year old women living in metropolitan areas who had a white collar job and had limited time and was interested in home decor.So we figured out where we believe this woman was, what our habits were and then we did a bunch of experiments to reach out to her and run a portfolio of, different distribution channels and messaging and figured out which ones are the right ones to double down on. When we had something that was working, we put 70% of our efforts and have a portfolio of other activities that we'd keep on testing. From the branding perspective, we took a bunch of different activities and I would say that was a lot less measured. So you'd probably be disappointed in how I ran that. But it was more of, how do we get awareness and credibility by leveraging off brands that, would resonate. So we had a BizDev approach where we'd go partner with people like House & Home or Styled Home or approach not and try to do BizDev where we'd get our national post even.We'd get opportunities to get our brand in front of people and get distribution. And it was really the ability to consistently show certain type of product, a certain value proposition. We have partnerships that wouldn't necessarily drive people to sign up through email or to do purchases, but we'd give people comfort that when they saw something else and are deepen our channel they'd feel comfortable to interact with us. How do I learn to do this? This is just read a lot. So my past history taught me some of the frameworks and how to think about it and an experimenting a lot and just looking at the data, looking at what's happening and just quickly iterating and talking to a lot of other people. because there's, a lot of people doing startups that you could just reach out to for help.Edward: How did You come out of the HomeSav experience different than when you went in? Like, what did you learn there that set you up for growing free future businesses?Alex: So I think a couple of things, one is trying and understand the high level game you're playing. So this is not applicable necessarily to marketing, but we usually try to bootstrap, bootstrap, his business. People say, don't look, all your competitors are doing, but I think it's understanding the value chain and who you're competing with and what your ultimate goal for that business is in planning a bit more backwards. So, the One Kings Lane existed, they were competitor to us and there's a few others emerged like FAB, pivoted into our space and they had a lot more capital play and act a lot more irrationally. So while you don't really want to worry about your competitors, normally. The actions of people that were much significant, more well-funded to us caused us to go raise money and, change our game at the game we were playing.So I think understanding the value chain, who the competitors are and where you can compete differently. So like, what's your unique accesses and how you can compete and how that lets you either compete completely differently or where do you have to overlap and value proposition and what the implications are? I'd build a much stronger hypothesis at the beginning. I think the second thing is, a team perspective. I think strategically mistakes we did is we kept a few people that were excellent performers, but bad culturally for too long. And so they create some ill will in our culture that hurt the productivity of other people. So we had some people are excellent. They were like, they're 10 times their former at half the cost. But what we didn't realize is by having them in the company too long they infected another five, six people and hurt their, ability to deliver value.I think, the third thing is I think in the marketing channels, we did the right thing by focusing what's winning and keeping portfolio activity, because every channel or message eventually changes. The ultimate vision stays the same, the ultimate positioning stays the same or can be changed over time, much slower than the channels and distribution. So I think we did the right balance of 70% investment on what's working in 30% in experiments. I think for some of the core business, we probably should have done less experiments and double down a bit more while it was working.I think those are high levels from running business. I think it's a lot and as you scale, it's all about the people, because we got to 45 people, 50 people at one point, it became either about recruiting, about setting the culture or about handling people issues. So I think realizing that as a business scales, you want to get the right leadership set that helps. I think as leaders, the CEO or founders, you're always going to be responsible for that, but the level of the, bench strength of the management team faster, would it have been helpful.Edward: That's helpful. So I want to go back on how you got there. So I have a theory that the things people do when they're in junior high school or early in high school affect their entire lives. How did you spend your time in junior high? What were you passionate about Back then?Alex: Comic books, reading, sports. Wasn't a big athlete, but I was a big fan of the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs.Edward: What drew you to those things? Was it the math behind the baseball? Was it the money behind the comic books? Was it the Superman jumping over buildings? What, what drew you to those things?Alex: That's a good question. So two things which I think drew to most of my activities in my life, and I wouldn't say necessarily for comic books but is, I have an inherent desire and this is something I've realized later in my life is, that I like taking stuff apart, figuring out how they work and putting it together. Not necessarily physical things, but I like understanding how things are interrelatedly work. I just have an innate curiosity to figure things out. I say I'm numerically logically inclined, but it's not necessarily like, I'm not like someone who needs to do deep calculus. I think for comic books and reading I think and just reading. I was an avid reader, comics is just, was a great way to escape. It was fun to read. Just different ways of thinking, I guess, a bit of fantasy.I think just like reading in general, just to see in different perspectives. Reading in general is just a great way to explore a world without leaving and I think comic books as a kid was something that let you do it and it was superheros, but eventually as I got older, it was like stuff like Sandman, which was, it was more mythology. So I think it's a bit of escapism, I think that it's a bit of creativity. It's just a bit of ways to see the world differently and then eventually I started buying and selling comic books and that was, it was almost as much a challenge of as much enjoyment of reading. So originally started off to pay for my comic book collection because it was spending way too much. But then it was also a way to just figure stuff out, figure out, make the business work for lack of a better word.Edward: Those skills carry forward, the stuff you developed back then, how did that affect things later in your career?Alex: So, and this is a nature versus nurture question. Most people today, especially in the tech world, don't believe there's anything as business skills. They just think that, inherently you can learn everything and I, feel that, there's like business common sense, which I think I've naturally had and this helped me, nurture it and help me bring up sooner, faster. So like I understand clearly supply and demand. Like I went there and I had these words, I understand arbitrage. I would understand basic marketing. So it taught me lots of skills. People learn in college. It taught me a lot of just experiential experiences, with a lot of concepts that are important to business. I didn't have any experience with managing team, but like at this time this was before the internet and so I would see arbitrage opportunities by reading local newspapers, for example.So I'd buy stuff in Toronto and put them for sale in the States. Vice versa, I'd see stuff for under price in the States and sell them in Toronto. I had a whole business, so I had to understand profit and loss. I had to understand, I understand supply demand. I can understand, so I think there's a lot of basic business skills that I picked up that I had advanced learning. But I also think if I look at my career, I think I just have an innate understanding of some like common sense when it comes to business.Edward: Now you went to university in Montreal, McGill. How did you come out different from that experience than when you went in?Alex: Much more global view. I think, if you asked me before McGill I'd have probably said, I'm going to be right back in Toronto, probably may, my career mission, maybe being an accountant like my father. McGill had a, it still has a very international student body. It was just eyeopening to see people from all over the world and with all different ambitions and spend time with them.Alex: I had a roommate that just moved from Delhi a few years ago, years before McGill, I spent two years living with him. I like, one of my friends originally from Hong Kong, also people from small town Ontario, which didn't have the perspective I had growing up in Toronto. So I think you go there for the education supposedly. But I think with the education you get is from your peers and they change your perspective and they change how you view the world. I went right to New York after that. If I didn't go to McGill and didn't meet the people I met, I wouldn't have had, lack of a word ambitions our desire to go to New York and I wouldn't have gone into finance. So it, it changed my whole career trajectory.Edward: So let's talk about that. So let's say you went to York, the local university in Toronto, instead of going to McGill, how do you think your life would have been different?Alex: Well, probably lived at home for those four years. So right away. That's a whole different experience because living on your own, you have to do adulting. You have to clean your house. You have to be responsible for rent. Like basic life stuff, but you're not sheltered by living home and second aspect of not living at home is you spend a lot more time doing social stuff. Like my parents really didn't care what time I came home or not but like I had car, I'm sure if I came home a few nights at three o'clock in the morning, it would have been an issue. But when you live by yourself, you are responsible of yourself. You have your own social calendar. So I think, you get a bit more responsible taking care of place and budgeting and everything like that.I think it also gives you more Liberty to do what you want without any oversight and again, I'm the oldest of five so my parents just really didn't care about me because they thought I was responsible but I don't know. But I still think there's self pressure that it opens up. I think also I do think York, two things, it doesn't have an international group of people. It's a bigger university I think student body wise, but more homogeneous and how they think and it doesn't have, also one benefit of McGill's as an international alumni base and reputation, which also has benefited me, which I think York has is a strong school, but its reputation is probably limited to the Southern Ontario region.Edward: Where would you have ended up, like you wouldn't have gone to New York, you think you would have gone and taken a job as an accountant in Toronto?Alex: Like I probably go on accounting. Maybe I'd gone to one in the Bay Street, which is okay, I think. But Bay Street it's probably better destination out on the was 20 years ago at best would have been at Bay street, but probably been an accountant or, some professional service job.Edward: After you left Lehman, you went to San Francisco and then less than a year later, you went to London. How much of that was chasing the good opportunities and jobs and how much, what was the allure of new cities in places?Alex: I'd say it's more cities and places than a good job. To give context. So this was 2000, 2001. So as a Lehman doing Tech M&A, it's funny I didn't believe in the valuations of dot-coms, but what I saw was technology was going to change how business was done. So I wanted to get close to it and at that time, the experience you get as a 22 year old at working for these dot-coms was way beyond what you'd get historically. They come in and say, run a division, run marketing. So start off, I left Lehman to go to the company in New York, which wasn't working out and there was an opportunity that came to me via several contacts to say a couple of people I knew were, moving to San Francisco once said Hey, there's a great startup that I'm going to work at why don't you apply?So I went for that job and I wanted it because it was the ability to be close to where the actual what's happening and then you have to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with San Francisco at that time from, again as going for the experience of the startup, but also experience of being somewhere other than New York and other than East coast. And it's funny, I was, it was more at that time, San Francisco was more middle America and New York is. I think it's now much more like New York than it was in 2000, 2001. So we'll come in. I was working at, I was failing for a couple of reasons. One being the CEO and founder got really sick and so she was going to basically resign and the investors want to take the money back because it was a big bet on her.So when I knew that was going to happen, I said, you know what? I want to go outside of States. I want to see a bit of the world and I actually literally reached out to a colleague of mine, a senior VP of mine that worked with me at Lehman brothers in London. He was about to start a company and one of my friends from McGill was in Hong Kong and I asked them both what opportunities do you know? A week later I was in London interviewing with this ex former senior VP from Lehman brothers, learning about his company, meeting his founders and I left London with an offer and I was there two weeks later. So it was an ability to get out of North America, see a bit of the world, get a different culture. It was also another opportunity to continue working in tech and actually a more senior role and they had an interesting idea, which was worth pursuing.Edward: It sounds like that you were at a few different places that didn't work out. What were the biggest failure points in your career? Where did things not go as expected?Alex: I guess maybe I have a growth mindset. I don't think anything was really a failure, there's companies I worked for that don't exist and didn't work. But they weren't my companies. So I think the activities I did, I think in those companies were successful, but though either a strategy wasn't right. They didn't have enough funding and I learned a lot from them. Like if I look at companies that fail, so I worked one in New York, they were the first B2B marketplace and they raised a ton of money from a bunch of notable investors. I just think the timing was off and they were trying to do too much because they raised like a hundred million dollars, but we were trying to cover 30 markets and you'd have people raise $30 million just to cover excess apparel inventory. So we were trying to do a hundred markets with not having any traction anywhere.We have competitors doing every single market and, I just want some for market, for sub markets and even when I had everything that looked like it was ready to be in place. I had supplied and a man lined up at all those things, ready to create that market. The timing wasn't there.So like I remember they did a deal with Stanley works. Stanley works is going to put $400 million of excess goods on our marketplace, we're going to help them sell it and we're going to clear it, go to implement the steel with the CFO and CTO at Stanley Works. Drive up to I think it was Connecticut. They said, "Yep, we're all for this. We know we have $400 million of excess inventory. We don't know what it is or where it is". Their technology systems were not ready and then the people that like the jobbers or buyers that are brokers are going to buy stuff still will want to do stuff offline. So half the time we even did transactions, we've done offline and recorded online. The timing was not right and we were just too spread thin to actually to make it work. So that company didn't go there.Edward: So if that company had succeeded. What would have happened to your career? You've had a very different experience going forward, what would it happen?Alex: I don't know. Like even if I stayed at Lehman instead of going there, like the good thing is every change has a compounding impact on my career. If that worked out hypothetically, I could be much wealthier than I am that. Think about it, you have a startup in 2001, let's say it works out. The IPO out of had probably enough money to make some money that, and more importantly would have been an early person that has an exit or an IPO you to be in the flow with people and that ecosystem that could have probably invested and had many more opportunities based on that. I don't know what I'd be doing. Like, I don't know if I'd be a market builder because I was responsible for four different markets here and I was getting supplies, getting demands, some partnerships to build awareness and get, I guess I was doing some marketing that I think about there.So maybe it'll start something sooner. I don't know. It's hard to know. That, interesting is also if that company was started in 2008, instead of 2001, there was a hundred employees when I was there. I'd be probably in touch with those people because I think right now, occasionally I hear from one of the people, but there wasn't a social network. You didn't have personal emails. So it would have been completely different, if I say the Lehman Brothers, I could've be there till it went bankrupt and I could have still walked away with a lot of money. I'd have probably been in New York. I'd probably had a complete different perspective on what gets me excited, probably be an investment banker for so long. Your justification life is, how much money you make, which money is important but it's not the end all be all measuring stick for my life right now. So culturally I would have been different and opportunity to be different. So it's just hard to know.Edward: Let's, jump ahead. You went to business school, spent four years at McKinsey, came back to Canada, started HomeSav, you sold it. How did you figure out what to do next after HomeSav?Alex: So I had silver bronze handcuffs. So which means, I had incentives to stay at the choir, but once you get acquired, you have pressure to perform, but it's not the same as being a founder. So that was the time to start figuring it out. I actually thought I'd just start another business by now. That's actually the first thing I started doing, I found new co-founders. I thought I had problems and I tested some ideas. So one of the key learnings also, I guess, going back to the question about HomeSav is, after being a first time founder and selling something, you realize it's a 10 to 20 year journey for a really good outcome and building a real sustainable business. Every day you can get hit in the face or I have a huge celebration within 10 minutes and so I started exploring other ideas.I went through two or three different ideas where I got a team together. We explored it and I was much more critical about what information I have to learn to make a no go or go decision and how much passion I have to have. So try to ideal around providing technology for early education like kindergartens and Montessori schools. I did another idea, can't even remember what the other, second one was? Then as a third one, which is like class pass for hair salons, you can look at my hair, you can see I'm definitely a customer for that, but actually that, that, one's actually funny. I have four sisters, a wife, a daughter, my co-founder. They're also like just, we start off with doing classical blow outs and that one actually looks successful, two months in, we had 5,000 customers paying us a hundred bucks a month.You know the accounts were horrible though and we actually got offered venture funding and I think we did for another month and a half and said, like we're not passionate about this and we don't believe fundamentally you could have a create something that delivers values for all the stakeholders. You always, having leakage at one part of this business model. So we actually put a bullet in it. So I thought was start another company right away over a series of a year, the three companies, they put bullets in all of them. I started advising startups. So it wasn't clear and then, I sort of organically found what, I had the luxury of time to figure out what I wanted to do and I followed what I'm excited aboutEdward: You ended up, Managing director, co-founding Tech TO and then becoming a partner at AngelList and then launching your own VC fund. How many more jobs are you planning to do? Can you consider being the CEO of a social network and a payments platform for them simultaneously?Alex: I'm only goal is to be as talented and connected as Jack Dorsey. It's weird because I think a lot of people believed the only way to be successful is to have a clear end set of where you want to get to and build towards it. I do believe that increase your chances of success significantly. I think the other thing with the path I follow, which makes it more difficult is if I were inherently interested in doing stuff I enjoy and doing stuff where I believe adds value and which will eventually pay for it, pay for itself. So all these things are connected and I think by giving a lot to others without expecting, anything in turn has helped me build this career path. So like Tech TO was started when Jason who we both know, Jason Goldlist came back to Toronto, said had, I'm working remotely.I'd like to get involved with the tech ecosystem, I said, here's some opportunities. There're some things you can do to help improve the culture, the Kane or the Toronto tech ecosystem and we had both experiences, he'd be in Seattle, I've been in three other startup ecosystems. What do we bring the best from organizations we saw there? We just started doing what we thought would be best for the ecosystem that got, for lack of a better word product market fit. It wasn't planning on being an organization. I was planned on me like a three hour per month give back to the ecosystem and it's grown into something much bigger. We can get that later. So I started doing that is actually what happened was the timing was before I started Tech TO I was, actually going through a series of startups that I was seeing if I want to start one up, I advising a bunch of startups.So I started doing this three hours a month and then it start getting traction. So okay let me figure out what we can do to have a bigger impact and bigger impact that continue to grow. And because of that, and we've been advising startups, eventually AngelesList was looking for someone to launch a candidate and reached out to me. I wasn't looking for anything. So if you look at Textron, we're trying to help the ecosystem by helping people get knowledge faster, learn from others, faster, meet people faster and build awareness of what's going on in Toronto. One thing I never explicitly touch was we believed it was more capitalism ecosystem, but we didn't think this organization was well positioned for that. Angels reached out to me, spent like three months talking to them, their mission as an organization, as a company, it was very aligned with what I'm trying to do with Tech TO.They had the ability to bring capital and SQL system. So there was a natural fit there and to sort of live the mission I'm trying to live in and help him with another organization. So that's why I took on the role at AngelList. Then in that draw, I'll take up both of these.I started as an angel investing and I found I had good deal flow, good judgment and I had well positioned myself again. Love say the strategic. Maybe, if I was forced, I'd say this is what I'd like to do with my life. I would have strategically taken both these roles and built these up, but it wasn't. So I said, okay, here's an opportunity for me to further align myself with the companies I'm investing in by bringing more capital, more connections to them. So I've raised the venture fund based upon the leverage, basically all the different networks and all the different skill sets and learnings I've had and have a bigger impact on the ecosystem. So while it looks like three different jobs, they're all very correlated. They have synergies for lack of a better word. Do I want to take on more roles? No. Am I taking on too much right now? Probably will there be a shift in how I allocate my time between all three? Probably there's been shifts over the last few years. It'll probably be more shifts over in the next six months.Edward: Awesome. Thanks Alex. We're going to dive into more into Tech TO when we do part two of this interview, which should be released tomorrow. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marketingbs.substack.com

Geçen hafta paylaştığımız Ankara Anlaşması bölümünden sonra bazı sorular geldi, ve birkaç yanlış anlaşılmaya müsait durumu açıklayıp burada iş ve şirket kurmak konusundan bahsettim. Her türlü sorunuz için bana aşağıdaki kanallardan ulaşabilirsiniz. İyi dinlemeler. Bölümde Simply Business demişim ama şirket kurduğum site Companies Made Simple imiş linki aşağıdadır https://www.companiesmadesimple.com/company-formation-name-search.html Devlet işlemleri için; https://www.gov.uk/ e-mail: mrtttalks@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrTT_Talks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrtt_podcast/ Dinleyebileceğiniz tüm platformlar için: https://linktr.ee/mrttpodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mr-tt-talks/message

The Key Learning Points:1. How poor mental health can impact your career and make you reassess your life goals2. The impact that having children, whilst working at a law firm, can have on career progression 3. The changing discourse surrounding mental health and the importance of removing the stigma around mental health struggles In this episode of the Risky Mix podcast, we're joined by Joanne Theodoulou, a lady who has held a number of senior positions within financial services law and is currently general counsel and company secretary at Simply Business. Jo is a mental health advocate and sits on the board of trustees at leading mental health charity, Mind.We hear more about Jo's story, losing both of her parents by age 15, her ambition to become financially independent and entering a career in law after university. She entered the world of work as a trainee solicitor at a top City law firm and was lucky to spend six months working in New York. Jo explains that she often worked very long hours with the law firm but adds: “I remember noticing women who were older than me still doing that, and I remember thinking, I don't want to be doing this, I don't want to be in the office at midnight on a regular basis when I'm a bit more senior. I'm happy to do it now while I'm still learning, but I'm not sure I want to be doing this forever.”Jo is married and now has two teenagers. Her original plan was to have children in her mid to late 30s, potentially after becoming a partner. But Jo explains that children entered the picture slightly earlier than planned after she experienced a period of mental illness: “Things changed for me quite dramatically when I was 28. I had a very intense period of being mentally ill. I had a deep depression that then turned into a manic episode. I was psychotic for a while and ended up being sectioned under the Mental Health Act and spent six weeks in a psychiatric clinic before I was diagnosed and then found the right treatment and the right medications.” Jo explains that that experience made her re-evaluate what she wanted and when she wanted it, and so a couple of years later she had her children in her early 30s. Jo went back to work at the law firm after taking a number of months off on maternity leave. She worked on a flexible basis, still working five days per week, but on reduced hours, which gave her afternoon time to spend with her son. She explains that this was unusual within law firms and says that she did see an impact on her career progression. Jo admits that, after having children, she didn't put herself forward for the big transactions, the ones that used to excite her, because there was too much risk that she would have to work extremely long hours, which she didn't want. Naturally, the smaller projects got less exposure, to both clients and partners within the firm. Jo explains that when she returned to work after her mental health episode, she didn't talk to anyone about it: “It was 1999, and I can tell you, no one was talking about mental health then, at all. I came back into the workplace and I didn't talk about it at all, I didn't tell anyone where I'd been or what had been going on for me.” Jo explained that because she was a junior lawyer, she felt she still had a lot to do in terms of proving herself and her ability and she didn't want anything to knock her back.Becoming a board trustee of mental health charity, Mind, was a turning point for Jo: “If I am going to be serious about taking on a role like this, I want to be a real ambassador for the charity. To do that I need to be open about my own story. And I never had been. So that was a little bit of a turning point.” 

The Key Learning Points: 1. Tips for companies on how to promote social mobility and give young people a realistic insight into working life 2. The role culture plays in determining the experiences employees have in the workplace3. The positive impact authenticity can have on how employees view their leadersIn this episode of the Risky Mix podcast we're joined by Alan Thomas and Hasani Jess, two of the leading men at Simply Business, a digital insurance broker with a great culture around diversity and inclusion. A successful career in the insurance industry has led to Alan recently taking on the UK CEO role at Simply Business, while Hasani has held senior tech roles in a variety of tech and financial services businesses. He's now CTO at Simply Business, as well as being a diversity champion. Alan explains the steps that Simply Business has taken to promote social mobility. The first being an apprenticeship program which helps to support young people from a range of different backgrounds in getting that initial career foothold. The insurtech has also run different intern and summer programs, providing the opportunity for young people to observe what working in the City looks like. Alan explains that they work with a charity which supports schools in Barking and Dagenham, and statistics showed that the pupils had very little idea of what a City job looks like and there was absolutely no expectation that they could get a job at a City business like Simply Business. For Alan, it's all about taking away some of the mystery around City jobs and breaking down those barriers to entry.We spend some time hearing about the career paths that both men have taken. Alan explains that he has held a number of senior positions at insurance businesses over the years, including RSA and Hiscox, and it was in these senior roles that he observed just how important company culture is: “The bit that really excites me is the amount of impact you can have through the culture that you help define. By setting the criteria in the right way you can really make it a different experience for the people that work there, and the outcomes can be completely different.” Hasani, after finding the world of journalism rather “boring”, made the transition into technology after his mum purchased a PC. He started his tech career as a consultant at BT Syntegra before moving into financial services. As a B Corporation, Simply Business takes a broad approach to business, placing weight on company culture and values. As a result of this, Alan explains that they currently have 60% women in leadership positions. They believe that diverse teams are better-performing and for Alan: “It's really important to show up and have a bit of fun at work. You've got to make the environment a fun place to be and frankly the most fun teams to be a part of are the most diverse teams where you get different viewpoints.” What can other businesses looking to evolve culturally, do? Hasani says it's about the leadership being authentic. It's important to acknowledge that those leaders may be parents, they may be caring for elderly parents, some may have dependents. Ultimately, they all have lives outside of work. “Sharing part of their lives with their people will change the dynamic. Because then they will stop looking like the CEO or CTO, the super-being who has no challenges.” Hasani encourages business leaders to show some vulnerability with their people. 

In this episode Sam is joined by the visionary Jason Stockwood former CEO of brands such as Simply Business, Match and Lastminute. Jason & Sam discuss the deeper meaning of humans being "useful" and where we might find purpose in a World that doesn't involve needing to go to work.

Today's interview is with Geraldine McBride, CEO of MyWave, a next generation CRM solution that puts the customer in charge of their data and their experience. You might remember that I spoke to Geraldine just over a year ago (Moving from the era of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to the era of CMR (Customer Managed Relationships) and this interview was an opportunity to catch up and see what's been happening in the data, privacy and development of the the emerging Personal Information Management (PIM)/Customer Managed Relationship (CMR) space. This interview follows on from my recent interview – What it takes to build an award winning and customer centric culture – Interview with Fiona McSwein of Simply Business – and is number 161 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

Today's interview is with Fiona McSwein, Chief Customer Officer at Simply Business, the UK's favourite business insurance broker. They've just been awarded first place in The Sunday Times' 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list (mid-sized category) this year. They are also a Sunday Times Tech Track 100 company and were recently named in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA. Fiona joins me today to talk about what it takes to build an award winning and customer centric culture. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Behavioural science, customer experience and why we should test more things – Interview with Rory Sutherland of #ogilvychange – and is number 160 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to their customers.

A new model of business and leadership is needed: Lessons from one of the UK's best companies to work for - Interview with Jason Stockwood, Group CEO of Simply Business, the UK's leading B2B insurance broker and among the Tech Track 100 of the nation's fastest-growing tech companies. He has also just published a new book: Reboot: A Blueprint for Happy, Human Business in the Digital Age, which aims to counter much of the news that predicts the massively negative effect that Artificial Intelligence and automation will have on jobs and shows how any organisation can think freshly and benefit from technology by putting its people first.

I spill all the beans...from my first website to where I am today! As I share my journey, you will also learn three key components that have helped me on my journey. (That you can apply in your business right away!) --Visit my website! | Let's hang out in Simply Business!

Essex to East London Business Podcast S02E07 - Martin Caparrotta - The Sport Review Martin studied journalism at University (UCL) where he and his business partner met and entered the bright ideas award with their website idea won. Since then they have continued to grow their website www.thesportreview.com and are now moving on to developing two more websites. Martin talks to the Simply Business podcast about how it all got started and where the business is at today. He gives some great insight into running a business, struggles, creativity and even a few practical tips for anyone wanting to start out in business. We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Martin and would like to thank him for coming on the podcast and being a great guest You can follow Martin here: Instagram: https://instagram.com/martincap Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincap Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartinCap These interviews are for anyone interested in businesses. Especially ones local to Essex & East London. Find out what it's like to be in the thick of it and not just from one point of you. Every journey in life and in business is different. Full of great stories, motivation and ways for you to find out more about what it's really like in for different people in different business at different stages. YOU CAN ALSO FIND SIMPLY CREATE HERE: Website: https://www.simply-create.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_simplycreate_ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_simplycreate_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplycreate.uk Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simplycreate Podcast: https://anchor.fm/simplycreate Email: getcreative@simply-create.co.uk

In this episode we talk to Lewis Jones. Lewis finished an Art degree before getting into retail for a few years. He took a chance in stepping into a more technical support analyst role and eventually went to a bootcamp to become a software developer about 3.5 years ago. He's now a senior software engineer at Simply Business.

In this episode we’re Talking Business with Jason Stockwood Jason is the Vice Chairman of Simply Business and it’s difficult to sum up his career in a paragraph ... Vice-Chairman & CEO at Simply Business (acquired for £400m in 2017) Non-Exec at Skyscanner MD of Match.com & Lastminute.com Simply Business won ‘best place to work in the UK’ in ‘15 & ‘16 Jason was voted ‘Best Leader in the UK’ in 2016 and in 2018 he published his first book ‘Reboot’ Jason has also invested in 25 companies, including Sanctus. In this episode Jason talks to us about: - how making money isn’t the end goal - how growing up on a council estate and studying philosophy translated to being good at business - why the existential question ‘who are you?’ drives him so much - how it felt to make a life-changing amount of money - why genuinely caring about people has been good for business — Jason is one of the most successful people I know but also one of the most genuine and I felt lucky to get the chance to sit down and talk business with him for an hour - hope you enjoy :) GB x

Editor Siân Barton sits down with head of personal lines at LV Broker, Michael Lawrence, to talk about the top five articles this week. He weighs in on issues such as MGAs, commission and takes a look at Ardonagh’s most recent set of results. Top five stories in the week commencing 20 August 2018: 1) Aviva denies being on big crusade on broker commissions 2) Broker Network spending spree prices revealed 3) Simply Business reveals losses for 2017 4) Ardonagh losses fall to £32.8m 5) CII targeting December 2018 for Chartered MGA status