Entrepreneurship and Leadership

In this episode, Annette Lawlor of Lion People Global shares her story of getting jobs from the age of 13 when she lied about her age, through multiple sales jobs, selling advertising, tampon vending machines, technology solutions, and recruitment services on both sides of the Atlantic, before setting up jewellery shops and Aerobics classes. She explains her preference for flat organisations, a re...

In this episode Kimon and Richard discuss the role of ego among entrepreneurs: how while self confidence is necessary and positive, entrepreneurs who put themselves and their own personality at the centre of everything often hold the company back. They discuss the impact of ego in sales, where entrepreneurs must be able to face and embrace rejection, and in the recruitment, motivation and retentio...

Martin Frost, CEO and co-founder of CMR Surgical, joins us this week. Martin is passionate about supporting technology based start-ups that make a difference in people’s lives, and has great experience raising venture and company development. In this podcast, he talks about his early corporate life licensing breakthrough tech and how this led him into entrepreneurship. He co-founded Red Cloud, a m...

Jonathan Milner's second Invested Investor podcast details his experience as Cambridge Angel. Since he began in 2002 he has invested in forty different companies, very often leading deals as well. In this episode he shares his most important tips learned from an extensive entrepreneurial and investing history: from shouldering the burden of turning around a company in dire straits, to simplifying...

Jonathan Milner was working as a postdoc in a Cambridge oncology lab when he was struck by an 'entrepreneurial seizure'. Inspired by his father, an engineer who ran a small company, he set up a venture to manufacture antibodies for biology research. Having come close to bankruptcy, Abcam is now worth £2.3 billion and renowned for its positive company culture. In this podcast, the first of two podc...

Shirin Dehghan is a hugely successful entrepreneur, having built Arieso and sold it to JDSU. In part 2 of her podcast, we hear how she decided to take a year out before getting bored and subsequently gravitating back to the start-up ecosystem. She has made a number of angel investments, including a lesson inletting her guard down as she invested in a team she knew well. Shirin is now a senior part...

Priya Lakhani is an entrepreneurial adrenaline junkie. She has founded two successful companies, won numerous business awards, and acted as an advisor to the Department of Business, Innovation, and Skills. Oh, and is an OBE. Her life's aim is to change the world for the better, and to that end she has funded meals in India, vaccinations in Africa, and her current project improves education for tho...

Following on from Andy Phillipps first podcast, we are pleased to bring you part two. In part one, Andy described how he co-founded Active Hotels, selling to Priceline and eventually helping form Booking.com. Part two follows his transition into Angel Investing. Andy's first venture into investing came with Toptable, investing not only capital but importantly for the companies success, he invested...

Excitingly, Invested Investor Andy Phillipps joined Peter Cowley for a two part podcast. In part one, Andy explains how he established the hotel booking company, Active Hotels, alongside his co-founder and cousin Adrian Critchlow. Active Hotels grew rapidly, bought by Priceline and merged with Bookings BV to become Booking.com. Andy's business model transformed the UK online hotel market and conti...

In part two we continue William Tunstall-Pedoe’s journey. William discusses his exit from Amazon, his involvement with Toronto based incubator, Creative Destructive Lab and what drove him to be a successful invested investor with over 50 investments with Cambridge Angels and Octopus Investments. He offers us an insight into his passion for big impact, deep tech, in particular, an AI physician app,...

In part one we are fascinated to learn how the hugely successful, artificial intelligence entrepreneur, William Tunstall-Pedoe developed anagram-generating AI to solve cryptic crosswords and how he was inspired to become the sole founder of the Cambridge based start-up Evi in 2005. As the architect, William tells us how he steered a course from family investment through multiple venture capital ro...

In part two of Hermann Hauser’s podcast he brings us up to date by discussing his role within Amadeus Capital. Giving us an understanding of his investment portfolio, explaining why he champions AI, machine learning, quantum computing and Blockchain, and what qualities he looks for in an ideal entrepreneur. Hermann offers us his top tips for entrepreneurs and an insight into how lessons can be lea...

Hermann Hauser of the legendary Acorn computers is our distinguished guest this week. In part one of Hermann’s podcast, he talks to us about his long and successful history as an entrepreneur. He prompts memories and amuses with his truly amazing journey. Hermann entertains us with the story of how he secured a bank overdraft to finance Acorn computers and how the team managed to put together the...

The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the personal story of our carefully selected guests aiming for the atmosphere of an informal conversation in a bar or over a cup of coffee. In this episode we review Season 1, the lessons learned and share reflections on some highlights from our many guests. Find links to all the episodes and g...

In 2013, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey started a movement with Conscious Capitalism, a New York Times bestseller that taught the power of the heroic spirit of business. Since then, readers and fans have been asking Mackey for a follow-up on leadership. Now he's answered their call, to inspire entrepreneurs and trailblazers to take the next step: as leaders who see beyond the bottom line.  Conscious...

Why do many startups fail? Tom Eisenmann, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School realised that even he didn’t really know the answer, despite a lifetime teaching entrepreneurship, and decided to write a book to answer exactly that question. You can hear him go into detail on the NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership Channel interviewed by experienced entrepreneurs Richard Lucas and...

After a career in B2B sales, including the experience of seeing how marketing departments fail to provide sales people with the presentations they need, Greg decided to found PitchKitchen to help other CEOs solve the problem he faced. Greg shares his journey into sales from art school, and what the key elements of a successful approach to sales presentation and websites that sell really are. Greg...

Andrzej Nedoma talks about how he saw his father start a translation business when he was a boy and observed the stresses, pressures and successes of having a solo-entrepreneur in the family. How his love of coding and maths, plus the rewards the Polish system gives prize winners drove him to high achievement at school, and then how moved into the family business effectively as a co-founder. He sh...

Vasco Pedro talks about growing up in Portugal, the lessons learned in military boarding school from the age of 10, his love of coding and building things, and how he was always pushing himself to do better and why team surfing trips, and mock battles are part of the Unbabel culture. We hear him being open about his mistakes and his view of Steve Jobs’ concept of “reality distortion”. He talks abo...

In this podcast Michael Blakey describes how as a strongly dyslexic child his relationship with schooling and formal education was very challenging. He credits his parents with putting him in environments where he developed a lot of resilience - going to boarding schools from the age of seven, and only later in life realising that this was unusual. His early experiences retailing sweets and vodka...

Renato describes his accidental journey into entrepreneurship, the many mistakes and near disasters on his road to business success. We learn about the importance of being the guy who says “Yes”, and then figuring out how to to get things done. Anyone listening can learn from his journey, the importance of finding opportunities in setbacks, and being able to create the right impression. About our...

Mungo Keulemans talks about growing up in South Africa, working in the family business, his army experiences, his move to Europe, Japan and back to Europe. We hear about his entrepreneurial journey in the family business in Poland, and after its sale to one of the world’s leading companies, his time in the larger corporation and his return to entrepreneurial life leading to his investment and CEO...

In this episode Florian Feas describes his route into setting up Slator: to solve problems he became aware of, as a result of working in the translation industry in senior positions. He outlines the importance of having a co-founder with complementary skills and how SaaS business tools enabled him to scale his business fast and cost effectively We draw out lessons that any entrepreneur can benefit...

In this episode we talk to Ashutosh about his upbringing and journey into corporate life, and the lessons that taught him. His route into entrepreneurship to build the “Boots of India”,which grew to be India’s largest retail pharmacy chain, and his life post-exit as an author and podcaster. The NBN Entrepreneurship and Leadership podcast aims to educate and entertain, sharing insights based on the...

"'You never step in the same river twice.' Our intensely interconnected world never stops evolving. Amid the chaos of intended and unexpected consequences we're expected to lead a change initiative. We have to learn fast, as its already started. This highly practical, human and humorous book shows us how to makes complex change attainable - organizational, professional or personal - whether you ha...