• 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/.

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    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
  • £100m CEO Superpowers & Shadow Sides | Aron Gelbard, Bloom & Wild
    Nov 17 2025

    Aron Gelbard is the CEO of the £100m revenue startup, Bloom & Wild, a flower delivery company operating across Europe.


    In this interview he shares his work styles and shadows as a entrepreneur and a look inside a unicorn startup business.


    📖 Chapters

    00:00 - What does inefficient work look like?

    07:45 - CEO = Upside Down Pyramid

    09:26 - Core Value: Care Wildly

    14:37 - World Class Customer Service

    20:45 - Biggest Feedback from Executives - Goalkeep Less

    25:17 - Responding to Market Trends

    30:10 - Fix the System Not the Symptom

    31:50 - How to operationalise values

    34:19 - Values In Life = Embedded in Business

    37:19 - Balancing kindness with demanding high performance

    39:54 - The Most Difficult Decisions

    45:48 - How To Set Stretch Goals

    50:23 - Managing Up & Down as CEO

    53:32 - Knowing everyone on the team

    56:54 - Stages Of The Business Model

    01:01:35 - Merging Three Teams into One

    01:11:15 - Novel Annual Board Agenda

    01:15:21 - The Secret To Consistency

    01:21:42 - How Life impacts What We Do


    If you enjoyed this interview, you'll likely love:


    WeWork's Co-Founder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)

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


    Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands | Julian Metcalfe

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205s


    👉 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 27 mins
  • Find Calm In The Startup Chaos - Karolina Pelc, BeyondPlay
    Nov 13 2025

    Karolina Pelc is the author of HerPlay, and the Founder and ex-CEO of the startup BeyondPlay, which was acquired by FanDuel.

    She has been through the startup storm and has come out the other side with methods for finding calm.


    📖 Chapters

    00:00 - Karolina Pelc

    01:02 - Intensity As A CEO

    04:22 - "You Think You're So Tough?"

    06:48 - Addiction To Doing & Parenting

    15:20 - Deep Internal Wisdom vs Limiting Beliefs

    21:01 - What if You Fly vs What if You Fail

    24:58 - Don't Try To Be Liked As The Leader

    27:57 - Unexpected Challenges With Gender Diversity

    31:24 - What Does Being Ruthless Mean?

    33:07 - How Transparent Can You Be As A Founder

    38:49 - Boundaries to Transparency

    46:30 - "Entrepreneurs Are Not Managers" - Sir Richard Branson

    49:16 - Your Relationship With Control vs Delegation

    53:41 - Setting Standards of Trust and Attention to Detail

    56:44 - "The Chaos Muppet Building Calmness"

    01:11:27 - What Health Habits To Prioritise When You Have No Time

    01:14:04 - Psychedelics: What they uncovered?

    01:19:00 - The Habit Of Reframing

    01:22:48 - A Book is Like A Startup

    01:29:34 - Don't Believe In Luck!

    01:33:02 - Her Play: The Book


    If you enjoyed this interview, you might love:

    Work Isn't A Family...But It Can Be Human | Katy Turner (interview)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Gxz1cQstI&t=58s


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

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


    👉 Subscribe on this channel to be the first to watch future episodes

    📧 Subscribe to the newsletter to get summaries of each episode: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

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    1 hr and 35 mins
  • Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business, Moonpig
    Nov 11 2025

    Moonpig is valued at over a $Billion and the founder, Nick Jenkins, reveals all his marketing and business secrets in this rich and insightful interview!

    Nick is a marketing wizard and here he delivers a masterclass in business and marketing as well as...

    📖 Chapters:

    00:00:00 - Intro

    00:00:49 - What Will you Do When You Grow Up?

    00:01:48 - What is next to be learnt?

    00:02:28 - Lessons from living through the Russian Revolution

    00:06:26 - Decisions: At Some Point Your Going To Have To Jump

    00:08:55 - When Entrepreneurs Overcomplicate

    00:12:35 - Moonpig Marketing Marvel

    00:18:59 - The Most Important Discovery From A Statistics Degree

    00:21:50 - Growing Repeat Customers

    00:24:46 - Where To Start With Marketing

    00:27:21 - What's Your Price?

    00:28:54 - What's Your Product?

    00:30:56 - What Companies Get Wrong About Customers

    00:33:27 - Actors on the Phone Lines

    00:35:20 - Optimising Each Element of the Business

    00:37:18 - Forming Your Team

    00:40:35 - Breaking Through The Clouds into The Sunshine

    00:42:38 - What Would You have Done Differently?

    00:44:03 - How To Scale Employees

    00:48:43 - Changing Direction

    00:51:43 - Europe Vs US

    00:52:49 - "Don't hand in unfinished homework"

    00:54:21 - How To Sell A Business

    00:59:28 - Burn After Selling

    01:01:51 - Recruiting Advice

    01:06:20 - Work Life Balance

    01:08:10 - Crafting Creativity

    01:10:04 - The Difference Between A Good and Great Entrepreneur

    01:13:15 - Passion For What You Do

    01:14:34 - VC / Investors: Judging what to do next

    01:16:56 - Getting Caught Out

    01:17:50 - What The Entrepreneur Community Could Do Better


    👇 If you liked this interview, you'll probably love these too:

    Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands | Julian Metcalfe

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205s


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

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


    👉 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 20 mins
  • Public Company CEO on Trauma, Trust & Leadership Identity | Devika Wood
    Nov 7 2025

    Devika Wood is the CEO of the public company Brain+, who are leaders in improving dementia care. She is also one of the most honest and vulnerable founders I have ever interviewed.


    In this interview she not only shares her deep inner world and trauma experiences, but also an exclusive summary of a court case involving her previous startup, and a deep betrayal of trust.


    📖 Chapters

    00:00:00 - A letter to my younger self

    00:06:54 - How trauma can shape your impact on the world

    00:13:51 - Refining your 'why'

    00:18:48 - ROI for investors when your mission isn't money driven

    00:26:36 - The story of the previous startup and a betrayal of trust

    00:37:53 - The court case - lessons in leadership

    00:46:10 - Compartmentalising vs Bottling it up

    00:50:33 - The art of transparency in a team

    00:54:22 - Backing yourself in moments of crises

    00:56:50 - The best process to dealing with a crisis

    00:58:51 - The balancing of the masculinity and femininity

    01:11:32 - How your identity evolves as a founder

    01:16:52 - How to best support our partners and ourselves

    01:27:52 - WEALTH - Women In Health

    01:32:27 - What stamp do you want to leave on the world

    01:34:42 - How we can support Devika


    If you enjoyed this episode, you might love these:


    WeWork Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)

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


    Dangerous (But Common) Startup Myths | Sho Sugihara

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8eBlgYIVDg&t=2943s


    👉 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 37 mins
  • 50 Founder Interviews. £100k Spent. 15 Hard Lessons. 1 Hour
    Nov 6 2025

    A 15-lesson reflection on £100k spent, 18 months, over 50 interviews with some world class entrepreneurs.

    This is a very open and honest look under the hood into what it takes to create a podcast business. I've been focusing on founder interviews because I wanted to learn what it takes to create a great company and build an audience at the same time. I definitely learned one of them.... the hard way.

    📖 Chapters
    0:00:00 - Intro
    0:01:13 - Pret A Manger & Itsu Founder - Get To The Truth
    0:05:29 - Sharmadean Reid - Build Networks Of Power
    0:12:30 - Busuu Founder - Operationalise Your Culture
    0:17:19 - Count the pennies, and the millions will count themselves
    0:21:49 - WeWork Cofounder - What Does It Mean To Change The World?
    0:28:11 - Don't go slow to go fast... just go
    0:31:10 - Know what you're selling first
    0:36:44 - Distribution is 50% of the game
    0:39:46 - The cost of isolation is delusion
    0:41:31 - The answer isn't pushing harder
    0:43:32 - Financial Breakdown (My P&L)
    0:48:38 - Don't build for the wrong reasons
    0:51:05 - Question your foundations
    0:53:12 - The Cognitive Dissonance Spiral
    0:54:43 - The art of learning from others' experiences
    0:56:10 - Failure Is The Cost Of Entry
    0:57:22 - The future of this channel

    If you enjoyed any of the clips I shared, here are the whole interviews:

    Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205s

    Create Your Networks Of Power | Sharmadean Reid MBE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyskAAx_P90&t=3243s

    One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s

    From 80 VC Rejections To Rejecting VCs | Atilana Pinon
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gK5uCJscFU&t=1852s

    WeWork's Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s

    Please subscribe and hit the bell icon to support the channel!

    Much love,
    AJ x

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    1 hr