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scale with soul

scale with soul

Written by: AJ
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About this listen

AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups.

After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him.

He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building.

At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success.

If we don't understand people, we don't understand business.

But people are hard to understand....

Which is why this show exists!

scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.

AJ
Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • No.1 Neuroscientist: The Problems With Goals (& What To Do Instead)
    Dec 16 2025

    No.1 Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff shares the theory behind her book Tiny Experiments, which includes the problems with goals as we know them today.

    She is an entrepreneur, whose first startup failed after she left her comfortable job at Google, but now has a thriving content business, Ness Labs, alongside her research as a neuroscientist at Kings College London.We dove into a range of topics including...


    📖 Episode Chapters

    00:00 - Intro

    00:58 - The 3 Problems With Goals

    08:06 - Why You Should Use Metacognition

    13:47 - How To Escape The Prison Of Over-Thinking

    20:35 - Cognitive Scripts: The Sequel, The Crowdpleaser & The Epic

    32:51 - Where Are We Drunk On The Illusion Of Certainty?

    39:43 - How To Lead Through Change

    43:13 - How 1 Tiny Experiment Can Change Your Life

    50:30 - End Of Year Routine

    54:56 - The Paradox Of Persistence

    57:50 - How To Get Out Of A Mental Hole

    01:11:21 - How Can We Support Anne-Laure


    If you enjoyed this episode you'll probably love;


    One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s


    WeWork Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s&pp=0gcJCTwKAYcqIYzv


    🪨 Resources:

    Episode summary doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KdMvHuOvSA-WCkRGWcF3-xZoGntx7PpMBGyHuxmbobI/edit?usp=sharing

    Ness Labs: https://nesslabs.com/

    Ness Labs Annual Review Template (Google Slides): https://nesslabs.com/annual-review-template

    Ness Labs Annual Review Template (Notion): https://satisfying-melody-287.notion.site/Year-in-Review-Template-5b31d64596cf40f1b8d79e88fb24a280?source=copy_link


    👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs


    📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building:

    https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Ex-COO of Monzo: What Collapses When You Scale Too Fast
    Dec 11 2025

    Cherrypick Discount Code: https://alpha.lollipopai.com/codes/soul50


    Tom Foster Carter is the Ex-COO of Monzo and a serial entrepreneur. He joined Monzo as COO at Series A and helped them scale to become a £1 billion unicorn, before leaving to start his next startup Cherrypick.


    He's a startup and business weapon which you can tell through this interview where we cover...


    Episode Chapters:

    0:00 - 0:53 - Intro

    0:54 - 9:27 - Monzo: What broke as they scaled?

    9:28 - 18:55 - Hiring lessons - 30-1000 employees

    18:56 - 22:47 - Don’t set Values, set Operating Pinrciples

    22:48 - 41:01 - Speed as a habit; Kipchoge, not Bolt

    41:02 - 53:14 - Speed is a habit; Data not Debate

    53:15 - 58:58 - Pains of going from free to paid

    58:59 - 1:02:42 - How to spot shifts in the VC landscape

    1:02:35 - 1:09:05 - How has he developed as a leader

    1:09:06 - 1:15:25 - How are you kind in firing people?

    1:15:26 - 1:20:39 - Top lessons from Monzo & Curve

    1:20:40 - 1:24:54 - His secret sauce to startups


    If you liked this episode, you'll probably love;


    One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s


    Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDJtTNTxvs


    👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs

    📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building:

    https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 26 mins
  • The Psychology Of Meaningful Marketing - Maya Moufarek
    Nov 19 2025

    Maya Moufarek is a Full Stack meaningful marketing expert, with decades of experience from companies like Google, Amex, Not On The High Street, and then the company she was the founding CMO of, Pharmacy2U (which raised $300m and is the 3rd largest pharmacy in the UK).


    How do we have to evolve as the company evolves? How do we think about our business' marketing from a high level? What biases do leaders suffer from the most? Expect to learn a lot about your psychology, meaningful marketing, startups and so much more in this podcast interview.


    📖 Chapters:

    00:53 - What got you here won't get you there

    04:05 - The Problem With Founder-Problem Fit

    09:39 - What Biases Do Founders Fall Prey To The Most?

    11:28 - What's A Meaningful Company To You?

    18:53 - How To Recognise Meaning

    23:58 - Hoffman Process - How To Come Back To Yourself

    27:20 - "I'm not good enough" vs Owning Our Differences

    31:25 - Finding Your People (Mentors, Advisors)

    35:24 - Strongest Limiting Beliefs In Female Founders

    39:03 - How We Get In The Way Of Timing

    42:29 - Maya's Evolution Of Her Relationship With Control

    44:00 - Control: Masculine vs Feminine

    48:24 - How To Give Feedback Well

    01:01:56 - Meaningful Marketing

    01:05:07 - How Should We Stay Aligned With Customers?

    01:14:05 - Customer Interactions Post PMF

    01:18:44 - The Core Of Business

    If you enjoyed this, you'll probably love:

    Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDJtTNTxvs


    £100m CEO Superpowers & Shadow Sides - Aron Gelbard, Bloom & Wild

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c289plCAeDA&t=76s&pp=0gcJCQgKAYcqIYzv


    👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs


    📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 23 mins
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