Steel City Business

James and Stephen welcome Neil Armstrong, CEO of Tribepad. He talks about his first few months in the role, the process of stepping up to Chief Exec, and the recruitment landscape right now, plus tons more.

James and Stephen welcome Tom Scott back to Steel City Business, 18 months on from him being our first 'UNCUT' guest. We take stock of where he's at with his business and work, as well as checking in on developments with Stephen, and taking an indepth look at the agency scene and wider Sheffield business landscape. Steel City Business is brought to you by conversational content experts Sound Media...

In our first episode recorded in front of a live audience, James Marriott meets Dino Sofos and Alice Levine, co-founders of the Crossed Wires podcast festival. They talk all things podcasting, Crossed Wires, and Sheffield. This was done as part of the Loose Lips fringe event at Leah's Yard as part of Crossed Wires, on Sunday 6 July 2025. Steel City Business is brought to you by Sound Media - find...

James and Stephen chat to Jessica Flinn about the growth of her jewellery businesses and how she's done things differently to the norm. She tells us about her 20% rule and how it keeps the brand on its toes! Plus we dig into some talk about where Sheffield is heading. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media . Find all episodes and loads more about us at steelci...

James and Stephen head to Victoria Quays to visit Rebecca Knight at Ovo Spaces. On the agenda for discussion is how workspaces have changed, how businesses use their offices now, and what the workplace of the future might look like. It's great to hear more about Rebecca's journey as well, along with her role with the Sheffield Property Association, and to explore some other topics including the ar...

Steel City Business UNCUT returns for 2025 and our first guest of the year is the awesome Hannah Duraid. You may know her for The Great Escape, Gameshow Allstars, Sheffield Business Runners - or maybe one of the other many things she's involved in. Or maybe you don't know her at all yet. Regardless, you'll learn something new about Hannah in this conversation with James and Stephen. Steel City Bus...

James and Stephen meet Jan Gardner, Strategy Partner at Pavement Creative. We explore Jan's journey including two spells at Jaywing among other roles. Among the topics of conversations are home working - something Jan has been an advocate of since long before the lockdown days. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media . Find all episodes and loads more about us...

Charlotte is celebrating 25 years in PR this year (congrats!) So we got together for a look back over her career so far, including her perhaps inventing podcasting before it was a thing. We discuss how things have changed and what the future of communications might have in store. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media . Find all episodes and loads more about u...

James and Stephen chat to B2B sales and marketing specialist Rob Taylor. It's not all sales and marketing chat though - they discuss Rob's niche in working closely with businesses in the lubrication space, his early working life in the music and entertainment industry, all things Sheffield, and his community Dads in Business. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound M...

We're in Sheffield's start-up world for this episode of Steel City Business. James meets Daniel Blaney to talk about the story of Ferrio, but also to discuss his role as organiser of the Sheffield Start-Up Meet-Up. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media and supported by The Kurious . This episode was recorded at the offices of the wonderful Ride Shotgun . Find...

Steel City Business heads in a different direction in this episode as we chat to Tim Neale about his journey to Rise & Shine. It all starts with being told off for something he didn't do at junior school. You'll here reference to another podcast James and Tim recorded together during this episode and you can find that here > https://player.captivate.fm/episode/85859c17-3a99-4db4-b259-0ecd94...

Maria Vardy joins James Marriott and Stephen Kenwright to talk all things agency in this episode of Steel City Business Uncut. Maria's had a long career in marketing dating back to the early 90s and we probe how things have changed - and interestingly, how they haven't. Among other topics of conversations are the rise of the fractional role, avoiding paralysis by analysis, and whether mega agencie...

Mattress Online has been going for more than 20 years. In that time, ecommerce has changed entirely, and the sleep industry has been through something of a revolution as well. Join CEO Steve Adams as he takes us a fascinating journey through the last two decades, including all the ups and downs including one moment where a simple coding error led to half the business' pages being wiped off Google....

Prepare to geek out a little bit in this episode, as James goes to meet Andy Jeffries, head of projects at Stream 7, a Sheffield based streaming business. We discover how much the lockdown years accelerated the development in the space, as well as finding out what kind of projects they work on - from annual company conferences to streaming live surgery in hospitals. Steel City Business is brought...

James and Stephen meet Christina King, Chief Commercial Officer at Tribosonics, in a Steel City Business first - she's the first guest who neither of us had met before the recording. Christina has had an amazing and unusual journey - from building tanks to breaking world records - which she shares with us. We also talk Tribosonics, the tech scene in Sheffield and the north, and female leaders in t...

We head to Victoria Quays in Sheffield to meet Andy Weir. There's a few threads here, as Ride Shotgun is the temporary home for the podcast with our usual studio out of action. And it also just so happens to be the new workplace of our co-host Stephen Kenwright, back in the world of work after 18 months mainly watching Disney, by the sounds of it. But aside from those factors, there is a great sto...

Tom wears a couple of hats here, as we find out about the forthcoming Leah's Yard development on Cambridge Street, alongside his role as CEO at the Tech Parks. It's super exciting hearing all about Leah's Yard ahead of its opening on 24 August - something unique, contemporary, and with that Sheffield 'secret sauce'. Much of the conversation is spent discussing the future for Sheffield City Centre...

Nick Tyrone joins to discuss a new project from Jobs Foundation, including a report he led centred around Sheffield. There's some really interesting key findings - lots of positivity, along with a few challenges. Find the report here: https://thejobsfoundation.com/sheffield-forging-steel-and-embracing-tech/ Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media and supported...

Emily is a freelance graphic designer and art director and pet parent to 'chaotic spaniel' Maggie who becomes the first (hopefully of many) Steel City Business dog. She chats to us about her journey into freelancing and her many and varied extra curricular activities including Sheffield Creative Mornings and Sheff Girls Lift. She does a lot of stuff! Steel City Business is brought to you by audio...

It's a pleasure to welcome our first returning guest to Steel City Business as James Biggin joins James and Stephen - nearly five years after his original appearance on the show. Fair to say plenty has happened in that time, not least a ruddy big pandemic! But James' business has changed lots - but what hasn't changed much recently is his team. It's this which prompts a long conversation about cul...

25 years in business is a rather amazing achievement and that's exactly what Vivid Creative are celebrating this year. Gerry tells us about the company's journey and the huge changes in the marketing world since 1999. And to mark the anniversary, they're giving away time - have a listen to find out more. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media and supported by...

James Marriott and Stephen Kenwright are joined by Jonty Ward, fresh from an American adventure exploring new business opportunities for Reach Technology Group. This leads us to a discussion generally about doing work stateside, growing pains, hiring and firing, and some unpopular opinions on marketing and technology (and lots more, of course). Steel City Business is brought to you by audio market...

Nelly's an amazing and unique photographer who has developed a specialism in capturing weddings, and especially queer weddings. As it's ten years since the law allowing them was introduced, and also Nelly's ten year business anniversary, it seemed the perfect time to get together for a chat. Nelly took James' wonderfully colourful headshots a few years back and they've become mates since so expect...

Aira are leading a clean energy revolution right here in Sheffield. They're a Swedish company making heat pumps. Don't worry if you don't fully know what a heat pump is or how it works, all is explained by Matt. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media and supported by The Kurious . Find all episodes and loads more about us at steelcity.business and get in touch...

When the show relaunched, one of the stories we were keen to tell early on was that of Gravitate. Accountants, but doing things differently, and making a real impact along the way. Hosts James Marriott and Stephen Kenwright met up with founders Sam Newton and Mike Crocker to get the full lowdown on the business. Steel City Business is brought to you by audio marketing experts Sound Media and suppo...