Stu MacDonald has built the world's tastiest peanut butter. From auto-immune disease, to accounting, a trip to Argentina, scrappy beginnings and then 8 years of grind to build ManiLife to what is it today.

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Stu has been one of the most supportive people on my content journey and his generosity, openness and wisdom shines through in this interview where we cover...

📖 Episode Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:53 - Wilson's Disease (The 'Fuck You' Driver)

05:16 - Psychosis, Mania, Depression

10:42 - Who Is Stu?

11:40 - Why Are People So Important?

13:38 - Edu, The Supplier

16:51 - Love As A Currency

23:00 - Listing With Holland & Barrett

25:39 - One Favour A Day

27:46 - Balancing Ambition And A Family

32:29 - Doing Things That Don't Scale

41:56 - Interviewing For Care

44:16 - Trickle Down Attention To The Team

45:35 - Balancing Accountability & Care

47:52 - Long Run vs Short Run

52:50 - How To Get Out Of The Way

54:47 - What's Unique About You As A CEO

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The Human Side Of Startup Leadership | Margot De Broglie

From Vision to Action: Olio’s Bold Goals & Cofounder Dynamics | Saasha Celestial-One

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🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

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Margot De Broglie founded Juno, a free app for women and non-binary people to help them become more financially literate. Margot is a very honest and passionate entrepreneur who, in this podcast, shares her relationship with key investors, advisors and her sibling cofounder relationship as well as her relationship with herself.

This is the best summary of the human side of startup leadership I've ever seen.

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Margot and I have been good friends for years so this is as honest a conversation between entrepreneurs as it gets. We deep dive into...

📖 Episode Chapters

00:00 - Intro

02:57 - Sibling Cofounder Relationship

09:30 - Encouraging Employees To Push Back

12:21 - When To Systemise Your Management

16:17 - The Impact of Advisors

25:04 - Vulnerable Investor Relationships

29:20 - Leaning Into Inexperience & Imposter Syndrome

32:45 - Masculine & Feminine Leadership

43:10 - How To Bring Play Into Work

47:18 - Story Of A Human Moment

49:42 - Founders Never Get Positive Feedback

51:32 - How Is Your Mental Health?

56:51 - Founders Are More Polyamorous

01:01:09 - What existential crisis are you going through?

01:10:29 - Who are you outside of work?

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Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

Why 93% of Entrepreneurs Fail At Content Creation | Dan Murray-Serter

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my podcast, my videos on Youtube and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

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Graham Hobson built Photobox for 17 years before selling it for €400m. In this deep dive interview he shares crazy stories from that journey and frameworks for building companies.

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Graham and I have been friends for years so this was a deeply personal and educational dive into:

📖 Episode Chapters

00:00 - Trailer

00:46 - How To Deal With Code Reds

08:19 - Intro

15:03 - Characteristics Of An Entrepreneur

18:48 - Talk To Other Founders

28:57 - Culture Transplant

41:54 - What Leader Would You Have Liked To Be?

45:30 - How Much Can We Push Employees? (& Incentives)

51:52 - Near Death Experiences

57:00 - Was It Worth It?

01:02:00 - Impact On Family Life

01:06:04 - Lessons That Apply To Family & Business

🍿 WATCH NEXT (Youtube)

Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

Why 93% of Entrepreneurs Fail At Content Creation | Dan Murray-Serter

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my podcast, my videos on Youtube and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

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Saasha Celestial-One is the cofounder of a rapidly growing consumer scale-up called Olio (4m users in the UK, 8m users globally).

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Saasha and I have been friends for years so this was a very real and educational deep dive into cofounder relationships, scaling challenges, and juggling personal life struggles with the demands of a scale-up.

📖 Episode Chapters

00:00 - Intro

01:44 - What Does 'Getting Old' Mean To You?

03:28 - How Does That Impact Your Leadership?

06:17- ABF (Always Be Fundraising)

08:54 - Weaving Values Into Everyday Life

15:31 - Top Of Funnel Experiments

17:40 - Impacts on User Experience (UX)

20:40 - Olio's Community

23:52 - How To Test Cofounder Relationships

29:53 - How To Nurture Cofounder Relationships

35:50 - Staying Aligned With Cofounders

42:49 - Company Vision Iteration

49:06 - What Feels Ambitious For Olio?

53:08 - Founder-Led Brand

56:30 - Transparency With The Team

01:00:19 - Managing A Divorce & Running A Startup

01:05:10 - Saasha's Husband Mat

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

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James Grant is the cofounder of My Tutor, an online tutoring startup, and in our interview he shares the highs and lows of startup hiring, structuring of rapid team growth, and how leaders must evolve as the business grows.

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📖 Video Chapters

00:00 - Intro

02:58 - Lessons From Pole Vaulting

06:17 - Scientific Hiring Process

15:58 - Hiring Failure Story

18:53 - How To Nurture Employees

23:17 - Evangelist Employees

26:48 - Different Leadership Stages

30:28 - James' Progression Plan

32:28 - Invest In Your Network

34:14 - Covid Journey

40:27 - Growing Pains

45:00 - Investing In Your Leadership Team

50:25 - Cofounder Relationship

56:47 - The Step Into Parenthood

59:17 - What Is Balancing To You?

01:03:38 - Marriage Teamwork 🍿

👉 Follow me on Linkedin

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building. Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

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Rachel Carrell is one of the most methodical, and intuitive hiring experts. She's CEO of the highly acclaimed Koru Kids, where they're building the world's best childcare service.

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Rachel and I have been friends for years and this was a very real and educational deep dive into culture, hiring and the nuanced challenges that CEOs face.

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro

03:00 - Effective Teams

08:00 - Culture of Feedback

20:00 - 3-Word Check Ins

26:00 - Decision Systems

30:40 - Assessing for Values

34:00 - Hiring Process

48:15 - Getting Lots Of Candidates

51:00 - Our Biggest Unsolved Mystery

01:03:35 - What Is Success For You?

👇 Follow me on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-connection/

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

Discover some of the common startup myths, and a deep insight into the life of a founder in this raw interview with Sho Sugihara.

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Sho Sugihara is a serial founder who has through both Entrepreneur First and Y Combinator. He's raised millions in funding, he's had a cofounder divorce and he's smoothly transitioned out of his first business.

Our interview is a deeply honest dive into:

📖 Chapters

00:00 - Intro

02:47 - Stepping Down As A Founder

12:54 - Delegation & Burnout

26:56 - Get The Right People On The Bus

30:34 - Navigating Cofounder Break Ups

36:16 - Skill Of Surfacing Tension

40:43 - How To Build Trust In Your Team

48:00 - Purpose, Vision, Mission Setting

56:24 - How To Get The Best Talent

59:39 - Product Market Fit Definition

01:04:35 - Is The Chip On Your Shoulder Yours?

01:11:58 - Connecting With Our Fun Side

👇 Follow me on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-connection/

🙋‍♂️ WHO AM I?

If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.

Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories of successful entrepreneurs and evidence-based strategies and tools to help you create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!

• 👉 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company and community building.Tugce Bulut is a serial founder, NED, speaker and AI expert. She founded and exited Streetbees. She was a Tech Pioneer for the World Economic Forum, advisor to the Bank of England, studied poverty alleviation in India and is now founder and 'Chief Excitement Officer' at Luna, an AI matchmaker.
• In this episode we deep dive into:📖 Chapters
• 00:00 - Intro
• 03:12 - Streetbees Journey
• 13:00 - How CEO Roles Change
• 22:27 - Prioritisation
• 27:00 - Hiring & Firing
• 33:45 - Supporting Early Employees
• 37:55 - Measuring Culture
• 51:54 - Cultural Diversity
• 01:02:17 - Fundraising Masterclass
• 01:17:56 - Mental Health
• 01:30:00 - What's unique about you?👉 Follow me on Linkedin for daily posts🤷‍♂️ Who Am I?If we haven’t met before - Hey 👋 I’m AJ, a serial entrepreneur and community expert who believes that company building should be viewed more through the lens of relationship building.Through my videos here on this channel, my podcast and my writing on Linkedin, I share stories and strategies of successful entrepreneurs to help you to connect, and create the most sustainable and fulfilling business - giving you a life of freedom!