40 Minute Mentor

In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, James is joined by two leading voices in the talent ecosystem to unpack one of the biggest make-or-break factors in startup success: building high-performing teams in the AI era. Between them, Sandra Schwarzer from Index Ventures and Charles Guillemet from Lovable have worked with some of the most ambitious Founders and fastest-scaling businesses in the world.  To...

Season 14 of 40 Minute Mentor has been one of our most special seasons yet, and in this short wrap-up episode, James reflects on the pocket-sized mentorship moments throughout this season and over the last 14 seasons.  In this season alone, we’ve had some incredible guests joining us, and we covered everything from Co-Founder dynamics, High Performance, the realities of hyper-growth, AI and the im...

What does it really take to build and scale Startups in the UK, even when the odds feel stacked against you? Find out from today’s 40 Minute Mentor, Alex Depledge MBE , serial entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Resi , and Entrepreneurship Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer - the first time an entrepreneur has ever sat at the heart of the UK Treasury. After co-founding Hassle.com and scali...

What does the hiring landscape really look like for 2026, and how can founders attract and retain exceptional talent in a market that’s evolving faster than ever? Continuing on from Wednesday’s episode on People Predictions for 2026, James Mitra is joined by more Amplified People Group team members, Sophie Graci and Zach Rose from JBM , James Adams and Lisa Crane from Foundation Partners , to unpa...

What does the year ahead really hold for leaders, founders and people teams? In this special 40 Minute Mentor roundtable, James Mitra is joined by Amplified Group’s people experts, Sophie Matthews , Nat Falconer and Mikael Nilsson from Foundation Partners, and Logan Black from Unleashed, to explore the biggest people and talent trends shaping 2026. From leaner organisations and the rise of fractio...

What does it take to build one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups in a legacy industry?  Find out from today’s 40 Minute Mentor, Murvah Iqbal , Co-Founder and CEO of Hived , the UK’s first customer-centric, all-electric, tech-enabled parcel delivery company designed for modern e-commerce. Long before raising a $42 million Series B and rolling out an 100% electric fleet across eight UK cities, Mu...

What does it really take to build an inclusive, high-performance culture in a fast-growing scaleup? Today’s 40 Minute Minute Mentor is Alan Cairns , serial Chief People Officer and most recently CPO at GoCardless, the FinTech helping over 100,000 businesses get paid on time through bank payments and open banking.  With 30+ years across operations, people and talent, Alan has led some of the UK’s m...

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Shimona Mehta , CEO at F11 - the one-stop platform for digital advertising. Prior to joining F11, Shimona spent 6 years at Shopify, working across the Revenue function and becoming Managing Director of EMEA, where she built the rocketship commercial offering Shopify Plus from 0 to $1 billion.  It doesn’t take a lot of digging through Shimona’s CV or many conversations w...

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Duncan Clark , Head of EMEA at Canva , the world-leading visual-communication platform on a mission to empower the world to design.  Before joining Canva, Duncan co-founded Flourish, the data-storytelling platform used by newsrooms and organisations worldwide to bring data to life.  Duncan’s journey from data journalist at The Guardian to first-time founder, selling to...

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Asi Sharabi , Co-Founder and CEO of Wonderbly, the world’s leading personalised publishing company.  Founded in 2012, Wonderbly is on a mission to inspire boundless self-belief in children through clever and sophisticated personalisation.  Over the last decade, Asi and the team have gone from strength to strength, raising money from some of the biggest investors in the...

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Thomas Plantenga , the CEO of Vinted - Europe’s largest secondhand marketplace and Lithuania’s first-ever unicorn.  What started as a small Lithuanian startup in 2008 has evolved into a fast-growth business with millions of users, 2,000+ employees and a €5 billion valuation.  In today’s conversation, Thomas shares the ins and outs of his journey with Vinted, how it beca...

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Jevan Soo Lenox , the Chief People Officer at WRITER , a leader in agentic AI for the enterprise.    Founded in 2020, WRITER helps businesses launch products faster, run deeper financial research and clinical trials. The high-growth startup is backed by some of the best investors, including Balderton, Radical Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures,...

Welcome back to Season 14 of 40 Minute Mentor!  In today’s episode, we’re joined by Claire Davenport , a seasoned tech operator whose career spans investment banking at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, Chief of Staff at Skype, CEO roles at VoucherCodes, HelloFresh UK and Not On The High Street, as well as board and angel investing.  Today, Claire is a prominent figure in the Tech world as a NED, COO...

Welcome back to Season 14 of 40 Minute Mentor!  We’re so excited to kick off the season this Wednesday, and with that, the launch of episode 300!  Before we get into this new season, here is a short preview of the brilliant conversations we’ve got lined up for the coming 10 weeks.  If you’re new to 40 Minute Mentor, don’t forget to hit subscribe so you’re the first to hear about new episodes.  And...

In this 40 Minute Mentor bonus episode, you'll hear directly from your Host, James Mitra, as he recaps another brilliant 10 weeks of mentorship. James shares some of his own highlights from this season and shares more about our upcoming plans. If you haven't caught up on this season yet, make sure you scroll back through Season 13...and our 250+ episodes in the archives. 📣 Don't forget to check o...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Adriana Restrepo, Co-Founder of crypto FinTech, Deblock.  Before building Deblock, Adriana spent 3 years at Revolut, overseeing People Operations and holding the COO role.  While she never expected to step into a Founder role, today, Adriana is building the world’s safest account for seamless management and exchange of crypto and cash, ensuring...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the leadership team of Amplified People Group - Dr Andy Meikle, Anouk Agussol and Andrew Richardson.  Together, they answer some of the burning questions leaders ask them: from navigating the messy world of people, talent and culture to early-stage blind spots, the UK’s employment landscape and practical tips on embedding AI in your teams.  📚 E...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Tamara Lohan MBE, Co-Founder and CEO of boutique hotel travel specialists Mr & Mrs Smith.  Tamara founded Mr & Mrs Smith together with her husband James in 2002.  Since then, the pair have been on an incredible journey, including scaling the business to over 1.5 million members worldwide, growing their distributed team, being awarded with an MBE...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Simon Franks, multi-exited entrepreneur, Managing Partner of early-stage firm, Redbus Ventures and the Founder of Franks Family Foundation, the UK-based charitable organisation.  Simon’s career has been filled with building and scaling some of the most successful businesses in Europe, including as a Founder and now Investor.  Today, he doesn’t j...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Nicky Goulimis and Nico Barawid, the Founders of early-stage FinTech Tunic Pay, the only fraud vendor designed specifically for scams. Prior to building Tunic Pay, Nicky scaled Nova Credit, the credit infrastructure and analytics company that enables businesses to grow responsibly by harnessing alternative credit data. And Nico built Casai, whic...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Dr Ben Maruthappu, Founder and CEO of Cera - the UK’s largest HealthTech and one of the fastest-growing startups in Europe.  We’ve all come across the headline of increasing pressures on the NHS and especially hospitals.  Cera is revolutionising Healthcare, using technology and AI to shift care from hospitalisation to patients’ homes, creating a...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by James Collier, a registered Nutritionist, Co-Founder of Huel and author of his brand new book, ‘Well Fed: How modern diets are failing us (and what we can do about it)’’. In today’s episode, you’ll hear about Huel’s growth journey, James’ new book and plenty of simple nutrition advice for you to implement in your day-to-day, no matter how busy y...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor bonus episode, we’re introducing our brand new partnership with Ethos, the next-generation expert network using AI to match industry leaders with earning opportunities.  Tune in to find out why we decided to partner with Ethos and more about what James Lo is building, who it is for and why this is such an exciting opportunity for experts.  Plus, there’s a special offer...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Vivien Wong, Co-Founder of Little Moons, the popular mochi ice cream brand.  Vivien started her career in banking before spotting an opportunity in 2010 to bring mochi ice cream to Europe with her brother Howard.  Fast-forward to today: Little Moons is a viral brand which launched in big retail brands in the UK and internationally, and has a tea...

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Rafel Jorda Siquier, Founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, the UK-based satellite company on a mission to monitor and combat climate change.  Founded in 2015, Open Cosmos delivered its first satellite in record time with a team of just five people. Since then, the business has scaled to over €100 million in satellite contracts, a team of over 130 empl...