40 Minute Mentor

“It’s really important to sell your business when there’s still a lot of growth left. You really shouldn’t be looking to sell it at its absolute peak.”  In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Mary Bonsor, Founder of Flex Legal, a bespoke online platform created to connect law students with law firms and in-house legal teams on a flexible on-demand basis.  Mary has been on an incredib...

“Feedback is the only way you will develop as a Leader. It is the only way people develop, full stop.”  If you’ve been following JBM’s journey or been listening to 40 Minute Mentor for a while now, you will know that we’ve recently joined forces with Amplified People Group - the people services supergroup, supporting tech companies from inception to IPO.  That’s what makes today’s 40 Minute Mentor...

“People think VC is about chasing the next big thing…but actually, it’s not about making quick money. It’s about the long game and deep relationships.”  We often talk to Investors on 40 Minute Mentor, but today we’re taking a deep dive into an increasingly important role within VC, the Platform role.  To help us explore what a Platform role can look like, why it’s so important and how you can get...

“I have more than 70% of equity in the business. Unfortunately, female Founders are actually encouraged to give up more equity in the early stages, which I would have never agreed with…”  The fashion industry is the third most polluting industry in the world.  Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is on a mission to change that.  We are joined by Eshita Kabra, Forbes 30 Under 30 and Founder and CEO of By Rotat...

“Something that’s often quite misunderstood in mission-driven companies is that you don’t change the world between 9 and 5.”  Today’s 40-Minute Mentor is Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, a Sunday Times Best-Selling Author, the first Nordic woman named a Forbes 30 Under 30, and Co-Founder of Female Invest.  Female Invest is a global edTech platform on a mission to close the financial gender gap and smash gl...

“There are so many limitations put on women in this industry and you have to adopt a mindset where you’re going to challenge that as you move forward.”  Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is the brilliant Mary Bekhait, Group CEO of YMU.  YMU is a global talent agency representing some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry and beyond, including Fearne Cotton, Clare Balding, Davina McCall, Graham...

“It’s easy to look from the outside in and think ‘wow, what an adventure’ and it is an adventure, but if you’re thinking about going on a startup joinery you need to ask yourself: am I okay if this fails?”  For episode 1 in our brand new 40 Minute Mentor season, we’re joined by Clare Jones, ex CCO of what3words and CEO of Polarsteps.  Clare has had an impressive career so far, including joining wh...

We’re officially DAYS away from launching Season 12 of our 40 Minute Mentor podcast.  And this might be one of our best seasons yet.  We have an amazing line-up of 40 Minute Mentors sharing the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journey - all the way from that initial idea to launching and breaking world records along the way.  For a preview of some of the amazing pocket-sized mentorship that...

“Everyone needs different things, but if we’re going to spend so much time going to work, at least do something where you feel that you matter and that you make a difference here.”  As we’re approaching this year’s Sifted Summit in London, we thought we’d use our final Replay episode as a throwback to our live podcast recording at the Summit two years ago.  In this episode, we’re joined by Nikki W...

“Being a mum is my superpower. If a company doesn’t want my superpower, then I don’t want to be in that company.”  Whether you’re an aspiring GM, leader in Tech or are navigating the workplace after becoming a parent - you won’t want to miss today’s 40 Minute Mentor.  In today’s Replay episode, we’re revisiting our conversation with the brilliant Claire Valoti , prolific angel investor and Foundin...

“Ability is equally distributed but opportunity isn’t. It’s about giving people the freedom to fail and the right and opportunity to fully participate in all levels of the society we live in today.”  Social Mobility has always been an important topic for us on 40 Minute Mentor.  Not just as a topic to openly discuss on the podcast, but as a production team to continue to find underrepresented stor...

“The great differentiator of that England team was our ability to never allow ourselves to be consigned to fate. We always believed it was in our hands.”  Over the years, we’ve had some absolute legends of the sporting world on 40 Minute Mentor.  One of them is England Rugby legend, Broadcaster and Journalist, Will Greenwood MBE .  Will is one of the greatest English Rugby players of all time, pla...

“We are not expected to all develop in the same direction. Success isn’t the same for all of us and we can’t plan our way to some kind of predictable future.”  40 Minute Mentor is fast approaching its 12th season.  With over 250 episodes published, we know that not every single one of our listeners will have been around from the beginning.  To share some of our earlier mentorship with you, we’re r...

“There’s a competitive drive and edge that you see in sport that is really important in business. And Teamwork. Dealing with individuals, knowing what helps make an individual tick is really important.”  For the final episode in this season of our VC feature, we’re joined by Ruari Bell, Founding Partner at The Players Fund, the UK’s first athlete-led firm, founded to empower the athlete community...

“When a VC gives you a low valuation, it isn’t the fact that your company is worth that much, it might just be because you didn’t pitch it in the right way.”  Fundraising can be a lonely process at times. And an endless emotional rollercoaster throughout.  In today’s episode, we collated some of the best fundraising advice from Founders who have been in your position and raised some impressive rou...

“This is a long partnership. We’re here to return money to our investors, but we are also here to experience a very unique journey together. So, trust is very important, on both sides.”  We’ve been so lucky to have some of the best VCs in the industry, come on 40 Minute Mentor over the years.  For today’s episode, we thought we’d collate some of the best VC advice we received on the podcast to dat...

“Founders deserve Investors that have relevant operating experience, time to help them and can be impartial and objective in the advice they give.”  Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Gideon Valkin, former Monzo and ClearScore Commercial Leader, Investor and Entrepreneur.  Following 15 years as a Founder, Operator and Investor, Gideon is now combining being a Founder and Investor in the launch of Andrena...

“If you eventually want to do investing, become an Operator or Founder, don’t go into banking.”  We are back with another season of our popular VC Feature series, where we hear from some of the best Investors in the space.  Today, we’re joined by Ash Arora, the youngest Partner at LocalGlobe.  Before joining LocalGlobe in 2022, Ash was the Investment Lead for Crypto Unicorn, Polygon’s venture arm,...

“Dyslexia is a learning difference. There’s nothing difficult about it. You have challenges, but you’re not a difficult individual.”  In our final episode in this specialist advice series, we’re joined by Onyinye Udokporo, one of the UK’s youngest education experts, entrepreneur, dyslexic author, neurodiversity consultant and content creator.  Onyinye’s entrepreneurial journey started when she was...

“It very often feels uncomfortable for Founders to put themselves out there in that way. But the more you do it, the easier it will get.”  In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re covering a topic critical for every early-stage Founder - the power of Public Relations.  To help us discover the do’s and don’ts and share some of the biggest advice for Founders and Communication teams, we’re joined by...

“Make networking a daily occurrence. It’s everyday interactions. It’s making a good impression early doors and really taking the time to build meaningful relationships and connections.”  In today’s episode, we’ve put our host, James Mitra, into the interviewee seat.  James was recently invited on Alembic Strategy’s Strategy Café, hosted by Founder and MD, Nick Mayhew.  If you haven’t heard of Alem...

“[Debating] teaches you to listen, to challenge well, and it teaches you all the skills that you need to be able to be in any room at any time, with anyone.”  The world seems more divided than ever before.  But is it actually or are we simply shying away from debating and leaning into disagreeing with each other?  This is exactly what we’ll explore in today’s episode - the power of debating and th...

“The most difficult part [of going fractional] is starting a business. It’s having to wear every hat yourself, from selling, marketing, relationship building, finances, ops and admin. You are everything.”  Fractional careers have been on the rise over the last few years. Both, for experienced Operators making the move into fractional work and for Founders who are looking to hire highly experienced...

“If you’re in a situation where you’re dealing with [a difficult boss], I think the question is - am I actually getting something from this? And if the answer is ‘no, I’m getting nothing’, then it’s time to really think about what could be your next step.”  To kick off our brand new ‘Specialist Advice’ series, we’re joined by workplace expert and long-time contributing editor at Harvard Business R...

That’s a wrap on Season 11 of 40 Minute Mentor and 12 weeks of non-stop pocket-sized mentorship.  Our guests over the last 12 weeks have candidly shared the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and shared the advice they wish they would have received when they started out.  We also celebrated some 40 Minute Mentor firsts this season, including hitting 1 million+ downloads and welcoming our very first...