She shut down her business.

Lost a major client. Closed the office. Thought she was done with entrepreneurship.

Then one conversation changed everything.

In this episode, Kim Antoniou shares how personal tragedy, business collapse and relentless belief led her to build two mission-driven tech companies, including Fonetti, a platform transforming reading confidence for children across the UK.

We talk about:

- Losing everything and starting again

- Why most founders underestimate “how bloody hard it is”

- Building technology that didn’t exist yet

- Collecting voice data across the UK to train AI

- Landing Amazon partnerships

- Why autonomy is the most underrated skill in leadership

- And what it really feels like when children’s lives change because of your product

This is about grit, instinct, trust and building something that genuinely changes lives.

If you’re building something meaningful, this conversation will stay with you.

In this reflection episode of Built Not Born In Business, we unpack the biggest lessons from our recent conversation with Andrew Hulbert and what they mean for founders building real businesses today.

This isn’t a surface-level recap. It’s an honest discussion about what actually stuck with us and what we’re implementing inside our own businesses.

We talk about:

• Why long-form video is one of the most underused growth tools in modern marketing

• How one podcast episode can fuel weeks of content, lead generation and brand authority

• Why hiring the person, not the CV, could completely change your culture

• The reality of equity, ownership and rewarding the people who help you scale

• What your “island” looks like after exit and why most founders never stop to think about it

• The uncomfortable truth about happiness, money, health and what success actually feels like

This episode is for business owners, founders and leaders who are building something meaningful and want to think more deeply about how and why they’re doing it.

Real reflection from two founders still in the game.

Because success isn’t born.
It’s built.

What does building a $100m+ business really teach you about people, leadership and success?

In this episode of Built Not Born In Business, we sit down with Andrew Hulbert, founder of Pareto FM, to talk honestly about what it takes to build, scale and eventually step away from a business without losing yourself along the way.

This conversation isn’t about growth hacks or surface-level culture talk.

Andrew shares how building a people-first business from day one shaped everything that followed. From hiring without traditional interviews, adapting roles around real lives, and rewarding behaviour that actually matters, to the uncomfortable lessons that only come from responsibility, pressure and making mistakes at scale.

We also talk openly about:

• What founders often get wrong about “company culture”
• Why treating people like humans is a competitive advantage
• The leadership lessons that only come from losing money and trust
• What happens emotionally after exiting a business
• Why success doesn’t feel the way most people think it will
• How family, time and perspective change once the business is no longer running you.

This is a grounded, honest conversation for business owners who care about how they build, not just what they build.