The Founders Lounge
2 FOLLOWERS
Imagine you are friends with some of the UK's best entrepreneurs. Now imagine you can grab a drink with each of them and casually chat about business ideas, motivations, tactics, strategies, and success habits. That's what The Founders Lounge is all about. It provides real insights into the real day-to-day lives of real founders, CEOs, and other business professionals every week.
The Founders Lounge
2M ago
Sam Oliver started his entrepreneurial journey when he was just 22, founding Eydin Property, a property investment company. He then pivoted to tech, creating LeadPro, a successful property marketing software that he took from zero to a multi-million pound cash exit. Now, Sam is diving into the world of AI with his new startup, OpenFi, which is revolutionizing sales processes using conversational AI.
We talk about:
- Starting a property investment business at a young age
- Key lessons from his first failed startup
- How Sam leveraged property investments to build wealth
- How to compete agains ..read more
The Founders Lounge
3M ago
Jodie Cook started a digital agency at age 22, fresh out of university. Over 10 years, she built her agency into a successful lifestyle business before selling it for 7 figures using her proven "success system" blueprint. Then she soon started Coachvox, and startup that helps coaches make an AI clone of themselves. Jodie chronicled her entrepreneurial journey in her book Ten Year Career which received praise from prolific entrepreneur Derek Sivers, who stated "every future millionaire needs this wise perspective."
We talk about:
- Starting an agency at age 22 fresh out of university
- Jodie’s ..read more
The Founders Lounge
5M ago
James Roycroft-Davis is a serial tech entrepreneur, mental health advocate, and investor. He has founded multiple companies, including his latest startup Baseline which aims to support people with bipolar disorder through an app-based platform.
We talk about:
- Losing a job and starting a business
- First startup: Productizing his mom
- Running a business with spouse or family member
- Challenges of building a tech startup
- Why 72% of entrepreneurs suffer from some mental health condition
- Bipolar disorder and its impact on building companies
- Vision behind his mental health startup Baseli ..read more
I Bought a Side-hustle and Grew It to a 7 Figure Business With Remote Employees - Noel Andrews | E86
The Founders Lounge
5M ago
Noel Andrews is the CEO of JobRack, a company that helps businesses hire remote employees in Eastern Europe and South Africa. He bought the business when it was very small and has grown it to a 7-figure company. Noel is also exceptionally good at building relationships, surrounding himself with interesting people and organizing all sorts of fun activities with other entrepreneurs.
We talk about:
- Buying vs starting a business
- Transition from a corporate job to entrepreneurship
- Challenges in scaling a job board
- Building a remote team
- Hiring freelancers vs full-time remote employees ..read more
The Founders Lounge
5M ago
Roei Samuel is a serial entrepreneur who started one of the world's most successful eSports platforms at just 22 years old, growing it to over 8 million monthly users before selling the business for millions. He then founded Connectd, a platform connecting startups with investors and advisors, which he scaled to $6 million in annual recurring revenue and 80+ employees in just a few years.
We talk about:
- Starting one of the world's most successful eSports platforms at 22
- Growing to 8+ million monthly unique users
- On breaking the rules to achieve success
- Selling the first business for mi ..read more
The Founders Lounge
6M ago
Loukas Hambi is the founder of two multi 7-figure agencies. The first one, Hambi Media, was recently sold to Soar With Us. And his second agency, For You Advertising, became the fastest-growing TikTok agency. He’s helped 150+ DTC brands scale to 7 and 8 figures and spent over £150M on creative. He also started a few of his own DTC brands.
We talk about:
- Lessons learned from the legendary Felix Dennis
- Starting, growing and selling an agency
- Is agency a good or a bad business
- Loukas’ strategy for growing an agency to 7 figures fast
- How AI is changing the agency and DTC landscape
- How ..read more
The Founders Lounge
7M ago
Peter Nixey is a serial entrepreneur who started working with AI way before it was cool. His first startup, Clickpass, was in one of the first 5 YCombinator cohorts (together with Dropbox and Disqus). He’s currently running Intentional, a task/time management software company. He’s also starting an AI focused venture studio.
We talk about:
- The experience of being among the first Y Combinator startups
- Working with Paul Graham, the “godfather” of startups
- Some of the best founders are very clear thinkers
- Lessons on innovation from starting multiple startups
- Current state of AI and its ..read more
Exited 2 Companies by 29, Now He Invests in Startups and Charters Superyachts - Richard Hadler | E82
The Founders Lounge
7M ago
Richard Hadler is a 2x exited founder. He sold a B2B marketing agency and a D2C ready-to-drink cocktail brand. He’s a director at Odin and a Co-Founder of Founders Capital where he’s now focused on investing in startups.
We talk about:
- Turning around a struggling publishing business at a young age
- Scaling an agency business to 80+ employees
- How to build a highly profitable agency
- Starting a cocktail business during the pandemic
- Founders Capital and investing in startups
- Traits of successful founders
- Why charter a superyacht in Croatia
- Modelling Alex Hormozi
- Insights in ..read more
How I Sold a Browser Plugin For 7 Figures in 2 Years (Dragons' Den's Best Pitch) - Jonny Plein | E81
The Founders Lounge
7M ago
Jonny Plein sold his first company, Pouch, for 7 figures after just 2 years. But he’s gone through all the worst entrepreneurial ups and downs throughout this journey. They got 5 out of 5 offers on Dragons’ Den, grew 10x overnight, then had to fire the whole team. Now he raised £2M for his next startup, YASO, helping brands enter the $1.7tn Chinese ecommerce market using social commerce.
We talk about:
- Where the idea for Pouch came from
- Innovative ideas are over-rated
- How to build the first product
- Having the best pitch on Dragons’ Den
- From the highest highs to the lowest lows
- Neg ..read more
The Founders Lounge
7M ago
Alex Macdonald is a Co-Founder of Velocity Black, which was acquired by Capital One for a reported $297M. Now he’s a Co-Founder and CEO of Sequel - an investment platform for the world’s best athletes. He’s also an angel investor in 40+ companies.
We talk about: - One of Alex’s first jobs: buying distressed companies for $0 - How Alex got the idea for Velocity Black - What it takes to build a company worth $100s of millions - Growth strategy of one of the fastest-growing startups in Europe - How to achieve a successful exit - Is it easier to start a hard company? - Dinner with the Pope ..read more