The Business and Marketing Podcast with ideas and insights to help you think differently about your business, challenges and opportunities. Stephen Morris talks to entrepreneurs, experts and owners to uncover business inspiration that you can apply and translate to your business.
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Is what you’re building actually connected to who you are? And would you know if it wasn’t? Nish Sharma knew. He had the banking career, the best car, the best house, four holidays a year - and a question he couldn’t shake: what am I actually doing?
What exactly is an entrepreneur in residence, and why would one of the UK’s largest food distributors deliberately plant a founder inside its business? What experience do you need, what is the host looking to achieve, and what do you actually do day-to-day?
Two-thirds of co-founded businesses will lose a founder at some point. Sometimes it’s dramatic, maybe even existential - businesses sold amid conflict go for circa 40% less. However, the personal toll - the sleepless nights, the stress - rarely gets mentioned because of the NDAs... Jane Hales is trying to stop it getting to that point.
Many companies are building smaller permanent cores, augmented freelancers. It makes sense on paper, but do we have the skills, processes, and mindset to make it work, and is it the future of work?
We almost never think about the role of chance — the randomness in the path to success. But we should...
Most B2B software companies are leaving serious money on the table — not because the product isn’t good enough, and not because the sales team needs more training. It’s the pricing. And the problem usually isn’t the number on the page. It’s everything that comes before it.
”We invest in people” is the oldest principle in venture capital. It is also, Soma Pirityi argues, the industry’s longest-running paradox. Why has nobody been able to more reliably measure and guide startup teams to success? Listen to find out how he’s tackling the challenge.
Neil Mullarkey is an expert at performing in the moment. Find out what 40 years of improv has taught him, and how he’s taken those skills into boardrooms and teams for the last 27 years. Discover how it all started with a soda syphon and what a room full of cardiologists taught him about serious improvisation.
Chris Stone has spent 13 years making podcasts for major UK publishers, writes the Podcast Strategy Weekly Substack and is building Podcast Crew, a marketplace for the podcasting industry talent. But he doesn’t have a podcast himself. Why not?
After growing up as a programmer, hating school, and being given a chance to follow his passion via an apprenticeship, Justin Megawarne is the co-founder of Megaslice, a technology consultancy with a difference. Justin progressed to consulting, software architecture and CTO roles. However, he became tired of seeing technically excellent work fail commercially. So, along with co-founder Mikal, he built Megaslice with a mission to let no good idea go to waste.
How do you build and fund a business built around a mission you’re passionate about but that doesn’t represent a 10x opportunity for investors? Meet Kirsten Jack, founder of Uncommon, the online community where neurodivergent young people can find the support they need.
While competitors raced to scale by loading their products with fillers and sweeteners and call it health food, The Protein Ball Company has stayed stubbornly natural. This is an episode about the reality of entrepreneur life: logistics, cash flow, risk, production decisions, export paperwork, and the hard-won instincts no degree or accelerator will teach you.
What happens when a professional writer who finds AI-generated content ”quite horrific” decides to build an AI writing platform to help people show up more authentically on LinkedIn? With AI as his development team.
Imagine being told the person you love is dying, and then discovering they have been trapped in a coercive and controlling relationship. You’d turn to a number of agencies to seek help, support and justice. But it turns out you often need to know the ’magic words’ to unlock help.
In a world that’s ever-noisier and more complex, the companies that can co-create, communicate and change to bring customers value tend to be the winners - but it requires a very different approach.
What’s it like to be a real legacy business? One with a heritage going back over 100 years? How do you navigate new methods, classic products and changing tastes? This is a masterclass in knowing who you are, who your customers are and what you’re about.
After eight years as Head of Marketing for Red Bull UK and Europe, Huib van Bockel walked away to build something the industry told him couldn’t work - an energy drink made entirely from nature. Every manufacturer said it wasn’t commercially viable, but today Tenzing is the third-biggest energy drink brand in Tesco.
How much can we influence people with advertising? What’s the best way to understand and model buyer behaviour? How should we set about growing market share? In this episode James Hankins challenges marketing myths, explains Share of Search and the Hankins Hexagon, and explains why understanding your market matters more than chasing funnels.
Chris Brogan shares some brutally honest insights about leadership, growth and being helpful. He’s a self-proclaimed expert at failing, but what does that mean? And how can leaders learn from it to keep their organisations flexible and effective even as they grow at speed?
Meet Ella McKay, founder of Fatso, the provocatively named chocolate brand that’s bringing unapologetic indulgence to dark chocolate but putting ethical sourcing at its core. Ella shares the story of her journey from corporate marketeer to entrepreneurial risk-taker.
How do you turn a 15-person tech shop into a £300m global powerhouse? Is it instinct – or experience? What are the tough calls that fuel growth? And do you keep ahead and keep pushing forward?
How do we move beyond AI hype to take advantage of the real business strategy opportunities it presents? Who’s doing it well today, and who can we learn from? What happens when AI upsets your value chain and how can business leaders focus on competitive advantage?
What do you do when people won’t pay for the high quality product you’ve worked so hard on? How do you get started in your career? How do you blend those two things to create a fast-growing business. The co-founder of Hive Mind Mead tells all.
Is communication a soft skill or is the most powerful tool in your armoury? In this episode of Curious Business, Nima Abu Wardeh, author of The Brilliant Communicator argues that it’s often the difference between success and failure.
In this episode of Curious Business, we explore how band logos encapsulate essential elements of branding, such as design, culture, and emotional connection. Discover the untold stories behind iconic branding in the music industry. Tune in to gain insights on how these branding principles can apply to your business.
