First Time Founder by Rich Wilson: Recent Episodes
Rich Wilson
n 2018 I was struggling with burnout and chronic stress so I decided to take some time out from my career. During a short break I focussed on my health, family and building new skills and relationships. Now I have founded one of the UK’s most exciting tech start-ups and have never been healthier and happier. First Time Founder is a collection of bi-weekly episodes that include interviews with the founders that inspired me. I hope you enjoy the show!
Michael Brennan has a truly unique story.
He started a business staright from school with no prior industry experience. His ability to learn, fail and learn some more is inspiring.
A nust-listen episode.
Wes Beard has an incredible story taht will resonate with many people. He had an idea while working his 9-5.
He then had the drive to turn that idea into a business. By building an MVP and early customer adoption he built konversable, a glagow start-up doing big things.
James wrote the book on raising start-up funding. Literally.
James share shis story of how a pivot created success for Robot Mascot. James also shares amazing insight into raising funding as a tech start-up in the UK.
A must listen episode for any founder looking to raise money.
Adam Gordon is a truly inspiring founder and is a fascinating to listen to.
Adam has founded many succesful businesses with the most prominent being Candidate.ID which was aquired last year. Adam share his experiejnce in building an MVP, brand building and much more.
If you listen to one podcast on start-ups, make it this one!
GoSwag are disrupting a mult-billion dollar industry all from Glasgow in Scotland!
Conor McKenna share the amazing story of bootrstapping GoSwag as a side-hustle into a thriving business. Conor had a product background prior to GoSwag so it is no surprise he built a very effective MVP super early and then refined further.
This episode will wlak through building an MVP, winning huge clients and growing without external funding.
Hope you enjoy.
Daniel Cocking shares his brilliant story of being involved in designing some of the most famous trainers that you are probably wearing right now!
Daniel started Laceless as a community on Instagram as a side-hustle and became a thriving business.
Daniel talks MVP's, marketplaces, funding and much more in this episode, well worth a listen.
Fliss is the co-founder of Ordo which is a fast growing Fintech based in London.
Fliss was a pleasure to interview and was so honest in her experience. Fliss trained as a lawyer before getting into financial regulation.
She shares how Ordo built and funded their MVP. Also it was interesting hearing a company with more than 2 co-founders and why that worked really well.
Fliss was also very inspirational in how she stays mentally healthy while building a start-up.
I hope you enjoy.
I met Rob wehen he was a judge at the SIA Shark Tank Competition in Dallas last year. I had amired his progress for afar and it was brilliant to get to know him.
Rob built a £100m company from a class project at Harvard Business School. That company was Catalant which is a real pioneer in talent platforms and works with many Fortune 500 companies. Rob shares his insights building Catalant.
To add to this Rob recently created a VC fund called Assymetric which invests in early stage B2B SaaS companies in the US and UK. Rob shares what he looks for in a company.
This is a must-listen episode whether you are a brand new founder or have built traction and looking for investment.
This episode is supported by Gigged.AI and Startup Grind Scotland.
Nikki Gibson built a succesful events company but the pandemic caused demand to slowdown.
Nikki had an idea for SWURF during lockdown and decided to start networking to test out the idea. SWURF has gone from strength to strength since then.
In this epidsode Nikki shares how she built an MVP with little tech skills and funded the business. This is such an inspirational story and worth a listen for any aspiring founder.
SWURF and Gigged.AI now partner to provide great spaces for remote workers to do their best work throughout the UK.
The headline is that Neil Logan is the Co-Founder of Incremental Group who sold to Telefonica Tech in a deal reported by Insider.co.uk to be around £175m.
In this episode Neil shares his story from Software Developer through to forming Incremental Group. This episode focusses on vision, execution, board creation and mental health. This is a must listen for any founder or CEO. Not just early stage.
This is an honest account of building a company rapidly with a strong culture, vision and value prop.
This episode is sponsored by Gigged.AI, as a listener please use the code RICH50 for half price fees when hiring on-demand tech talent for your company.
Chris Bone is building one of the leading recruitment tech companies from Newcastle in England. After a long career in recruitment Chris spotted a gap in the market for how companies hire full-time software developers.
Chris shares how he sourced his founding team and how important that was to the success of Haystack. We cover building an MVP with awesome UX annd also funding.
Chris gives an amazing insight into what it is like building a start-up with a young family and some of the sacrifices he had to make. Real honestly here which is so powerful.
This episode is a must for any aspiring HR tech founder!
This episode if sponsored by Gigged.AI who help start-ups build products and market them through matching you to on-demand tech talent for short and sharp projects. Use the code RICH50 for half price fees.
Thank you to our partner Startup Grind Scotland.
I me Jack in 2020 as Deeper Insights were a key partner when developed our MVP. Jack has developed a world class AI firm over the last few years and his journey is fascinating.
Jack built ahis first business at 20 then sold it at 25. He went onto build Deeper Insights and is a Deal Maker for the Department of International Trade. Jack share his increible story and is well worth a listen.
Sophie shares her amazing journey from an exec at Meta to building one of the hottest HRtech start-ups in Europe.
From building in stealth mode, funding and growth tactics we cover alot of ground in the episode.
Well worth a listen as this will inspire you.
Inkef are one of the most well known venture capital house in Europe who has invested in Remote and GitLab to name a few.
Carien is an investor at Inkef and shares her story. Carien shares how she got into the world of venture capital as well as what she looks for when investing in a company.
This is a must listen for any founder that is curious what large funds looks for when investing in seed through to Series A.
Nick's content on Linked In has really shaped how we built Gigged.AI so it was a joy to listen to his story and tips.
Nick started his first business at 25 which was a huge success. Since then he has started a podcast, an invetsment firm and a new business.
This episode is full of practical advice for any founder at any stage.
I hope you enjoy the episode.
Alex has had quite the journey as a founder!
He built his first business at 19 with a loan from the Princes Trust which he sold at 26. Alex has built multiple businesses in different industries and his approach is fascinating.
Alex shares his experince of burnout and lessons learnt along the way.
I hope you enjoy this one. It was a blast!
Sophie is a freelance superstar!
Sophie built marketing company Pretty Little Marketer while as University. Whta started as a simple instagram page has turned into a freelance business working with amazing brands.
This episode is full of practical advice and it was a joy to record.
I hope you enjoy it!
Bumper are a true disrupter and are scaling quickly.
Jack shares his founder story of how they disrupted the old school servicing market with a clever Fintech solution.
We discuss scaling from 25-60 employees and closing a major Series A!
Well worth a listen!
This is the incredible story of Ishani Malhotra and how she is reinveting cancer research.
We talk about:
Beta testing
Funding
Sales
This is a must listen for any aspiring founder.
Be prepared to be inspired.
Charlie Winton shares his amazing story. Charlie was struggling with panic attacks while working as a Recruitment Consultant which gave him an idea for a business.
His journey has been difficult. In this podcast he shares practical advice and experience on how he built an award winning mental health app.
Any aspirational founder needs to listen to this one.
Colin Hewitt is the Founder and CEO of Float which is one of the top Fintech companies in Scotland.
Colin shares his story which includes building and selling a web agency before going on to launch Float inspired by the experiences he had running a company where cash flow was so important.
In this episode Colin shares advice, books he was inspired by and how he stays mentally healthy while running a scale-up.
Well worth a listen!
Euan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Willo, an amazing video recruiting platform.
Euan shares his origin story of being a digital marketing exec in Glasgow. We also cover:
Saving money before you take the leap as a founder
Building an MVP with no funding
Creating an advisory board
Growth hacks that have enables Willo to grow globally on tight marketing budget
How he switches off and stays present
Well worth a listen just for the amazing grwoth hacks. Really enjoyed this one!
In this episode Sheila Hogan shares her incredible story. Four years ago Sheila started Biscuit Tin after encountering the death of both parents. Sheila used her years as a Business Architect to build a solution.
We disciss funding, Dragons Dens, building an MVP and much more!
In this episode we hear the amazing story of Danny Campbell from HOKO.
Danny started HOKO when we was 25 and now has a team of over 30 and a thriving culture.
We talk about bootstrapping, mental health and some of the key lessons Danny has learnt in the last 6 years.
Well worth a listen!
Another inspiring story this week from Gianluca Maruzzella, Co-Founder and CEO of Indigo.ai.
Gianluca share his story fo founding a company straight from University and how accelerators really drove them forward.
We cover how to build an AI company and secure some of the worlds largest companies as clients in first 6 months.
Well worth a listen!
This week we have the awesome Victoria Fullarton from Toto Sleep. So much practical advice on how to build a company while working full time. We cover the following:
Taking an IOT idea to MVP with no tech experience
What grants and services can help before you get any funding
Mental health while building a company from scratch
Being on Dragons Den and coming away with investment
This is one not to miss!
Episode 3 is live and is an inpsiring story from Michelle Connor.
Michelle shares her story building Kinva including:
Building an MVP
Dealing with rejection
Motivation for Kinva
Michelle drops so much valuable advice in this episode.
Aleks is the Co-Founder and COO of Exizent who are transforming the probate industry. In this wide ranging interview we cover: Building a values-based culture
Talent Acquisition
Exits
Funding
Product Design
An insightful journey of an accomplished founder and the lessons learnt along the way. Well worth a lsiten!
In Season Two we focus on early-stage UK companies. We start strong with the inspirational Lynne Darcey Quigley. Lynne shares here story of building a succesful company then being inspired to then start a SaaS Fintech in 2019. We discuss:
🚀Growth marketing tactics
💡Building an MVP without having a tech background
👥 Building a strong company culture
Lots of practical advice for aspiring founders!
In this fascinating episode I interview Steve Rader who is a leading speaker on open innovation and leads the COE for Colloaborative Innovation at NASA.
Steve shares how open talent can unlock innovation and gives great advice and examples. If you are struggling to hire tech resource then this a great episode to understand how open talent can solve your problems.
Our first ever Masterclass episode. In this episode I interview Frank Cespedes on all things sales. Frank is a Professor at Harvard Business School and aithor of 6 books on sales. He has taught some of the most innovative tech start-ups.
We talk about how start-ups can:
Attract great sales talent
Build sales models that work
How sales and marketing are evolving
This is a must listen for any founders that are worrying about driving sales.
Fascinating conversation with Callum Murray of Amiqus. Callum shares how early failures helped shape his founder journey.
Armed with his mum's Honda Jazz and a fierce determination Callum created an amazing tech company.
In this chat we dive deep into grant funding and pitching to early-stage angel investors.
A must listen for aspiring founders.
Epidsode 5 is with David Brear, CEO and Co-Founder of 11:FS.
This is a fascinating insight into building an amazing company which is at the cutting edge of Fintech. We cover culture, mental health and also how to use B2C marketimng channels. Well worth a listen!
Nick is a serial investor and founder. In this podcast Nick talks me through the early days at Yahoo and then his first start-up. We then talk about co-found Zumo, a mobile payments and wallet platform built on blockchain technology. This is a must for cyptocurrency fans and also apriring founders as so much great advice.
Jon Younger is the Founder of the Agile Talent Collaborative. He is a regular contributor to Forbes and is the author of Agile Talent. We talk about his time as one of the co-founders of RBL Group and all things freelancing. There is so much golden advice in this podcast.
In epidsode two I am joined by the amazing Devina Paul. Davina is founding partner of Galvanise Capital and currently the CFO of Zumo, the cryptocurrency wallet.
Nile Frater is the Managing Director of Nocode.Tech, in this episode he shares his journey founding and buying micro-startups and how he left a six fugure job to scale his business. Nile also shares how sleep has been key to his recent success! Check out: https://www.nocode.tech/
Sponsor:
https://gigged.ai/