Startup Scout

Jack Lancaster is the co-founder and CPO at Spoke.ai, a generative AI startup that are cutting through workplace noise by summarizing and prioritizing information. Previously, Jack led product teams at N26 and ONE Finance before co-founding Plantclub.io and Spoke.ai Spoke.ai cuts through workplace noise by aggregating, prioritizing, and summarizing information. Their App for Slack allows you summarize threads and channels in Slack to save time. It's free to use and you can set it up in under a minute: https://www.spoke.ai/slack-summarization They're also building a Smart Inbox that aggregates all your notifications across tools (Slack, Jira, Figma, Notion, etc.), prioritizes the most important topics, and summarizes across notifications. ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:38 - Jack’s background 0:24 - Entrepreneurship & first startup 4:36 - Entering into Generative AI 6:36 - Spoke.ai's first iteration 7:42 - The decision to pivot 10:30 - Second iteration 11:48 - Spoke.ai solutions 16:15 - Optimising the model 18:11 - Knowing when to go all in 21:10 - Getting buy-in from investors 23:07 - Early customers 25:34 - Spoke’s value metrics 27:03 - Go-to-market 28:37 - Beating the competition 30:24 - Team 32:02 - Building strong co-founder relationships 34:25 - Choosing co-founder roles 36:37 - Raising capital today 38:13 - Contrasting US / European tech culture ________________________________________________ ℹ️ Guest & Company info 🚀 Startup - Spoke.ai 🌐 Startup's site - https://www.spoke.ai/ 🗂️ Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spoke-ai 🧑‍💻 Founder - Jack Lancaster 💼 Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacklancaster4/ ________________________________________________ 👍 Liked this episode? 🎬 Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout 🎙️ Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 🎧 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Maximilian Fleitmann is an active angel investor and the co-founder of Wizard Ventures, an internet holding company that buys, builds, and operates online startups. He has been building businesses since he was 13, starting in the gaming industry before transitioning to education. However, his true passion lies at the intersection of founders & investors. As the CEO of BaseTemplates, he creates products and shares experiences related to fundraising, pitch decks, and investors. He has helped raise over 100 million dollars to date. BaseTemplates (part of Wizard Ventures) helps founders to start their businesses, increase the chance of getting funded, and ultimately build a great company. BaseTemplate's fundraising templates & education (Pitch Deck, Financial Model, Investor CRM) are easy to use and help you find the right investors for your startup. Start saving time & money now by using one of BaseTemplate's high-quality templates instead of building everything from scratch. ⭐️ Special offer: 30% off all BaseTemplates products with code: startupscout (valid until 15th May 2023) ⭐️ ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:44 - Max’s background 3:31 - When to think about raising capital 5:34 - Why do many founders think they need investment 7:38 - Pre-Product investments 8:50 - Team sizes 11:25 - Sole-Founders vs Co-Founders 12:40 - Title slide 14:07 - Problem slide 15:25 - "Land & expand" strategy & investing 18:59 - Solution slide 21:22 - Demos 24:01 - Market slide 27:19 - Competitors 29:14 - Go-to-Market slide 31:18 - GTM channels 32:22 - Roadmap / plan slide 35:17 - Projections slide 38:03 - Runway & breakeven 41:06 - Including advisors in slide decks 42:26 - Why now slide 44:19 - CTA / Final slide 44:49 - Who should the deck be shared with 46:25 - Finding the right investor 48:54 - How long to raise a round 50:21 - Choosing Angels vs VCs 51:59 - Bootstrapping ________________________________________________ ℹ️ Guest & Company info 🚀 Startup - BaseTemplates (part of Wizard Ventures) 🌐 Startup's site - https://www.basetemplates.com/ 🗂️ Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/basetemplates-com 🧑‍💻 Founder - Maximilian Fleitmann 💼 Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilian-fleitmann/ ________________________________________________ 👍 Liked this episode? 🎬 Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout 🎙️ Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 🎧 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Abhishek has been a consultant and operator in Technology, Media, and Telecoms industry in the US and APAC. After 13 years in the industry, in 2017 Abhishek launched Shoffr, an ad-tech platform serving marketers of retail brands. In 2019, Shoffr was bought by Affle, a publicly listed company in India. Abhishek started Fewcents in 2020 to solve subscription fatigue in online media. Fewcents provides a plug-and-play micro-access solution for online media companies. Online media is getting squeezed for subscription and ad revenues; Users face subscription fatigue. Fewcents Wall allows brands to target audiences across the Fewcents content network and micro-sponsor individual content in exchange of user data with explicit opt-in of the user. Alternatively, users can pay for individual content using their local payment option across 80+ supported countries. Regulated by the MAS in Singapore, Fewcents offers users a wallet facility to store value and consume individual content on the fly. ⏱️ Timestamps0:00 - Intro0:32- Abhishek’s background1:27 - From startup to exit3:44 - Fewcents origin story5:22 - Fewcents MVP8:33 - Product suite10:52 - Demo12:30 - Data sharing14:20 - Revenue model15:45 - Cohort targeting18:24 - Use cases20:04 - Micro-sponsorships21:28 - Go-to-market strategy23:50 - How to approach partnerships29:04 - The Fewcents team and growth31:03 - Fundraising33:20 - Upcoming plans35:11 - Advice on exiting ________________________________________________ ℹ️ Guest & Company info🚀 Startup - Fewcents🌐 Startup's site - https://www.fewcents.co/🗂️ Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/fewcents🧑‍💻 Founder - Abhishek Dadoo💼 Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adadoo/ ________________________________________________ 👍 Liked this episode?🎬 Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout🎙️ Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201🎧 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Jed Ng is the Founder of AngelSchool.vc. Their mission is to help angel investors build their own syndicates. He’s a self-taught angel with 1x exit and has backed 2 startups from seed to unicorn. He started his own syndicate in 2020 and has grown this from 0 to 1000+ LPs with $0 marketing spend. As an operator, He built the world’s largest API Marketplace with RapidAPI (a16z and M12 backed unicorn). He holds an MBA from INSEAD. AngelSchool.vc is a Fellowship program dedicated to helping Angel Investors build their own syndicates. Program Fellows are equipped with a syndicate blueprint in just 8 weeks. After that, they’re invited to the Investment Committee (IC) to gain real deal experience and earn carried interest. Angel School’s syndicate is backed by 1000+ LPs and deploys $MNs annually. ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:25 - Jed’s background 4:08 - Angel investment trends 8:48 - Angel capital vs Venture capital 11:01 - Combining Angel and Venture capital 12:09 - Raising from Angels vs Angel syndicates 14:33 - Angel syndicate processes & due diligence 16:30 - Top tips for raising Angel investment 21:46 - Startup pitch deck mistakes 25:14 - Placing a value on your startup 27:56 - Down rounds 29:00 - Angel terms founders can expect 31:14 - Angel investors and board seats 32:28 - Non-monetary benefits of Angel investors 36:20 - How to keep investors updated 37:31 - How to connect with Angel investors 40:36 - Top red flags Angel investors see 46:20 - Brokers 48:04 - Why founders should consider syndicates 49:52 - Angel School overview 51:19 - Angel School acceptance criteria ________________________________________________ ℹ️ Guest & Company info 🚀 Company - Angel School 🌐 Company site - https://www.angelschool.vc/ 🧑‍💻 Investor - Jed Ng 💼 Investor's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedng/ ________________________________________________ 👍 Liked this episode? 🎬 Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout 🎙️ Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 🎧 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Sebastian is the CEO and Founder of Sealution, a startup that aims to improve safety, health, and productivity on merchant vessels by deploying IoT solutions. As a former maritime officer, Sebastian recognized the lack of connectivity below deck, which inspired him to create Sealution. By introducing digital innovation to the maritime sector, Sealution is ushering in a new era of connectivity, making vessels safer and more productive. Sebastian is committed to finding innovative solutions to the challenges faced by the industry, and with Sealution, he is leading the way for a more connected, safe, and efficient maritime sector. Sealution is a B2B hardware-enabled software startup providing connectivity on board merchant vessels to enable data collection below deck. The collected data is used for preventive maintenance and furthermore for reselling to relevant data aggregators such as insurance companies. The system significantly reduces areas without connectivity, displays the real-time location of the crewmembers, connects the vessels internal systems to the central module and displays ship status in real life to our users ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:22 - Sebastian’s background 07:57 - Sealution origin story 15:48 - How it works 21:01 - Positioning 24:14 - Revenue model & pricing 26:58 - Ideal customer 31:05 - Security 34:29 - Raising capital 43:06 - Advice to early-stage founders 46:47 - Where founders should look for support 51:41 - Job opportunities ________________________________________________ ℹ️ Guest & Company info 🚀 Startup - Sealution 🌐 Startup's site - https://sealution.io/ 🗂️ Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/sealution 🧑‍💻 Founder - Sebastian Hamers 💼 Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamerssebastian/ ________________________________________________ 👍 Liked this episode? 🎬 Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout 🎙️ Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 🎧 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Stuart was Co-founder and CEO of hoolah, the buy-now-pay-later company that anticipated the growth in the consumer spending sector to build first-mover advantage in Asia. hoolah exited to Shopback in 2021. Prior to that Stuart had over 20 years of experience in industries ranging from telecoms to payments to eCommerce across Europe, Asia and Australasia. Originally from the UK, Stuart held leadership roles within both large enterprises and start-ups - including companies such as Verizon, Vodafone and Worldpay. Now he is embarking on startup number 2 and this time in the sports industry with heros. heroes is a membership club platform enabling athletes and fans to connect, inspire and invest in each other. The mission is to solve the unsolved issue of athlete earning, living and maximising true value. By building a community around the athletes, connecting and enabling fan engagement and rewards as well as bring brands to engage the athletes and fans, we aim to create a new ecosystem for the ever growing sports industry. Borrowing from the Patreon model - its time to level the playing field in sport, enable athletes from all sports, career stages, backgrounds and countries to earn & experience a career and achieve their dreams.  ➡️ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:39 - Stuart's background 4:19 - Recognising a startup opportunity  7:34 - Competing against incumbents 9:38 - Experience and advice around being acquired 14:27 - Establishing relationships with potential acquirers 17:15 - Heros origin story 25:46 - How Heros works for athletes 31:24 - The Heros MVP 33:00 - Acquiring athletes to Heros 35:12 - Working with sports industry insiders 36:30 - How Heros acquires fans / consumers39:03 - The Heros team 40:51 - Financing 42:00 - Stuart’s call-to-action it’s 43:37 - Advising startups 48:21 - Top 3 pieces of advice for early-stage startup founders ________________________________________________ ℹ️ Guest & Company info 🚀 Startup - Heros 🌐  Startup's site - https://www.heros.xyz/ 🗂️ Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/heros-aee8 🧑‍💻 Founder - Stuart Thornton 💼 Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartjthornton ________________________________________________ 👍 Liked this episode? 🎬 Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout 🎙️ Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 🎧 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Ben is the co-founder of Superlinked where he helps democratise access to real-time Machine Learning infrastructure. Ben is a seasoned entrepreneur, product manager and strategist, with experience building consumer products at Orange in the "golden age" of telecoms, helping Fortune 500 corporations reignite growth at McKinsey, and conducting commercial due diligence at PwC. Ben holds a BSc in Computer Science, and an MBA from London School. Superlinked makes it easy for developers to build their own scalable and real-time ML-powered personalization engine, and deliver a highly relevant user experience, driving engagement and retention.                                                                                                                                                                                            Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:40 - Ben's background 2:25 - Lessons from acquisition 3:49 - Working in startups vs larger companies 05:39 - Superlinked origin story 12:35 - How Superlinked integrates 14:14 - Beta customers / Design partners 17:09 - Model customisation 22:40 - Different use cases 22:20 - Superlinked deck presentation 42:33 - Pricing model 43:18 - Financing 44:14 - Team growth 45:40 - Ben's call-to-action ________________________________________________Guest & Company info • Startup - Superlinked • Startup's site - https://superlinked.com/ • Crunchbase - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/superlinked • Founder - Ben Gutkovich • Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benben/ ________________________________________________Enjoyed this episode? • Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout • Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 • Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Richard is a serial entrepreneur and expert in the Technology, Companion Animal (Pet), Media & Lifestyle industries with over two decades of experience. Richard is currently the CEO and Founder of MyPetGo, a health and wellness monitor for dogs, coupled with decision intelligence (AI) that provides the user with next step data-driven recommendations, bridging a connection to a marketplace of locally relevant service providers. Richard co-founded, ⁠LifestyleAsia.com⁠ in 2006 to fill a void in the online luxury and lifestyle publishing space across Asia. Lifestyle Asia launched pre-Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, smartphones, tablet's and sophisticated and user-friendly digital publishing, all things we use daily and take for granted a decade later. Richard managed the sale of the company to German Media & Tech conglomerate Hubert Burda Media through their international arm, Burda International in Dec 2016. MyPetGo is the first of its kind Health and Wellness monitor (Wearable) for dogs, coupled with decision intelligence (AA/ML/AI) that provides the care taker with next step data-driven recommendations, bridging a connection to a marketplace of locally relevant service providers or products. The triaged data with the AA/ML/AI recommendations and the marketplace (link-out) forms the entire MyPetGo pet-care Ecosystem. Truly a one-stop-pet- care-shop.The aim is to improve the well-being and livelihood of pets, while simplifying the (guess)work and pet chores off being a (responsible)pet parent. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 0:34 - Richard’s background 05:24 - MyPetGo origin story 09:50 - Pet ownership growth rates 11:54 - Problems MyPetGo solves 15:40 - MyPetGo’s pivot / doubling-down 19:35 - How it works 23:00 - Customer profile 26:08 - How MyPetGo acquires customers 32:31 - Upcoming roadmap items 36:00 - Raising venture capital 38:54 - Team structure & hiring 41:47 - Advice to founders looking to exit ________________________________________________Guest & Company info: Startup - MyPetGo Startup's site - https://mypetgo.com/ Founder - Richard Nilsson Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-nilsson-rpn/ ________________________________________________Liked this episode? Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Hailing from Bangalore, India, Sidhant Gupta is the co-founder of Clearbot, an AI-powered, self-navigating boat that can automate marine cleanup, oil clearing, foam removal and other critical maritime tasks without any pollution or manpower requirement. Sidhant holds a Guinness World Record for building the world's fastest robotic fish, has spoken at TEDx and is a Tatler Gen-T honoree.  Clearbot builds electric, emission free, self-driving boats. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:25 - Sidhant’s background 02:15 - Sidhant’s Guinness World Record 04:03 - Origin story of Clearbot 07:43 - Clearbot’s variety of use cases 09:51 - Why Clearbot wins 11:49 - How it works 17:38 - Clearbot’s customers 19:19 - Business model and pricing 22:56 - Go-to-Market strategy 24:24 - Challenge of scaling hardware startup 27:49 - Raising Venture Capital 31:25 - Job openings 33:15 - Expansion plans 35:43 - CTA for audience ________________________________________________ Guest & Company info Startup - Clearbot Startup's site - https://www.clearbot.org/ Founder - Sidhant Gupta Founder's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sdhntgupta/ ________________________________________________ Liked this episode? Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Paddy is the cofounder of Odin, who are building a new way for people to invest in angel syndicates and venture capital funds. Prior to Odin he worked in corporate venture at Coca Cola, started a vodka brand and at the Irish Embassy in Moscow. Odin is a community-centric investment marketplace for angel syndicates and venture capital funds. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:23 - Paddy’s background 02:38 - Odin origin story 09:43 - Competitive landscape 14:16 - Odin’s MVP 17:03 - User experience & demo 20:08 - Customer acquisition 24:28 - Odin success stories 28:23 - Job openings 33:23 - Odin’s investment news 36:12 - Fundraising advice ________________________________________________ Guest & Company info Startup - Odin Startup's site - https://www.joinodin.com/ Founder - Patrick Ryan Founder's LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/paddy-ryan ________________________________________________ Liked this episode? Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Tobias is a co-founder and the CEO of awork, a work management tool based in Hamburg. With over a decade of experience in software development and team planning, Tobias and his team are dedicated to revolutionise the way teams work. Although Tobias holds a degree in mechanical engineering, his true passion lies in entrepreneurship and team culture. He firmly believes that we can improve our lives by improving work and how we interact with it. Currently, awork is helping over 2,200 teams to work better and happier together. awork builds software to help teams work better and happier together. Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 0:26 - Tobi’s background 03:07 - Founding team 04:12 - awork origin story 05:04 - MVP of awork 07:50 - Private Equity carve out 09:21 - Problem space 11:32 - Market size 14:31 - awork as more than just software 16:44 - Remote / hybrid work 19:40 - Where remote / hybrid goes wrong 21:49 - How it works 24:29 - Product prioritisation 27:03 - Integrations 28:43 - Customer characteristics 31:41 - Approach to Sales 33:59 - Series A 36:21 - Job openings 37:53 - Partnership opportunities ________________________________________________ Guest & Company info Startup - awork Startup's site - https://www.awork.io/en/ Founder - Tobias Hagenau Founder's LinkedIn - https://de.linkedin.com/in/tobiashagenau ________________________________________________ Liked this episode? Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Peter is the CEO of Revend.ai, a company dedicated to making e-commerce operators sleep better at night. Revend is Peter's second software company, and he's happy to share his experiences with fickle founders, furious fundraising, and finding feng shui when it comes to forging a company. Revend is real-time e-commerce monitoring that defends your revenue. Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 0:17 - Peter’s background 7:07 - Revend origin story 20:10 - Early-customer cohorts 23:24 - How Revend works 29:34 - Roadmap 31:38 - Revend user personas 36:38 - Team 37:23 - Investor involvement 38:49 - Talent development 41:38 - Advice on raising capital in 2023 46:58 - Startup Scout special offer ________________________________________________ Guest & Company info Startup - Revend Startup's site - https://revend.ai/ Founder - Peter Wellens Founder's LinkedIn - https://be.linkedin.com/in/peterwellens ________________________________________________ Liked this episode Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@StartupScout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Dr Stein is a seasoned and enormously qualified healthcare veteran. He earned a D Phil (PhD) in Physiological Sciences (Immunology) from Oxford University (as a Rhodes Scholar) and lectured in immunology and pathology there. He has also served as an executive leader and board member, including for Map of Medicine (which he co-founded) and immuno-oncology biotech business Valo Therapeutics. Dr Stein’s tragic loss of a dear friend inspired him to help others understand and take control of their health. Now, he is using proactive, preventative medicine to keep people well. Added Health helps people be healthier, happier and more vibrant. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:25 - Michael’s background 02:53 - Previous leadership experience 05:12 - Overview of Added Health 06:16 - Market size 10:18 - Client experience 15:10 - Methodology 18:09 - AI in Medicine 22:15 - Client customisation 24:52 - Client loyalty 30:30 - Go-to-Market strategy 34:06 - Added Health as complimentary to NHS 39:12 - Patient record integrations 46:17 - Team 50:01 - Seed raise For Startup Scout viewers and listeners who are interested in trying Added Health out for themselves, Added Health has extended their introductory discount of 20% off the monthly price. To pay £20 per month, head to their site (link below). ________________________________________________ Guest & Company info Startup - Added Health Startup's site - https://addedhealth.com/ Founder - Dr. Michael Stein Founder's LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/michael-stein-648a993 ________________________________________________ Liked this episode? Like and subscribe on YouTube for more - https://www.youtube.com/@startupscout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

Euan Cameron has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and product development. Working with UK and US-based clients in retail, beauty, automotive, fintech and FMCG; he has a rounded understanding of how to operate and grow a business.  Willo is his 4th startup - previously starting a website design agency at age 15, an, online car finance brokerage CarMoney and a marketing agency for D2C eCom startups, where he led their successful expansion into the US market. Willo is an asynchronous video- and audio-based candidate screening platform. Candidates record answers at their own pace and submit to a secure dashboard. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:17 - Euan’s background 02:07 - Going all in on Willo 03:40 - Exclusivity clauses 04:32 - Willo’s origin story 09:46 - Early team 10:31 - Validation 13:50 - How it works 14:53 - Problems prospective customers have 18:40 - How customers use Willo 24:29 - Success metric 26:35 - Pricing model 27:54 - Willo’s secret sauce 29:40 - Team size and structure 31:49 - Value of remote work 35:13 - Successful investment raise 36:48 - Raising in the current environment 41:41 - Job openings 42:44 - Special offer! ________________________________________________ Guest & Company info: Startup - Willo Startup's site - https://www.willo.video/ Founder - Euan Cameron Founder's LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/euanacameron ________________________________________________ Liked this episode? Like and subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@startupscout Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/startup-scout/id1305855201 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2LN6Bw37yNfqM9rcb0lVhr ________________________________________________ #StartupScout #NickHynes

The first episode of Startup Scout where I introduce you to the show! In this episode, I tell you about what Startup Scout is all about. I talk about why I created the show, what kinds of businesses we'll cover, and who should listen to the show. In the coming weeks, I’ll be interviewing founders, makers, and influencers in the early-stage startup space. If you’d like to be featured on the show (or if you know a startup you’d like to hear more about) then simply send me a message on our Contact page at www.StartupScoutHQ.com or email me at scout@nickhynes.com I hope you enjoy the show! Nick

Have you ever worked in a company where professional development and education wasn’t taken seriously? Have you ever found that it’s a struggle to get courses and training signed off by managers or even that what’s offer doesn’t fit with what you’d love to be learning yourself instead? Have you, as a business owner, wanted to help upskill your employees, but have struggled to create a framework to manage and implement this? Or have you found that retaining employees and improving engagement is becoming a real struggle in an increasingly competitive market for top talent? In this episode, you’ll hear from Carlos Lagrange, CEO and Founder of Sunlight about his employee learning and development platform which seeks to solve all those problems. Carlos goes in-depth with us about his journey from first concept to customers and the challenges of building a business that investors believe in and users love. After our chat, I wrap up with some of my thoughts on Sunlight for customers, potential employees, and prospective investors going forward. If you’d like to learn more about Sunlight, simply visit www.sunlight.is If you like this episode and if you like the show then please leave a review on iTunes. Leaving a review has a massive impact and really helps others to find the Startup Scout podcast and enjoy great episodes just like this one. Thank you! - Nick --- Music by: Buddha by Kontekst https://soundcloud.com/kontekstmusic Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0

How does a sailing trip sow the seeds for an electrical vehicle charging marketplace? How does an effort to simply get extra credits at university turn into one of Europe’s most promising, eco-friendly startups? How does a startup pivot entirely from being focused on hardware, to now being dedicated to software? And how, through all of this, does that startup’s members radically change it’s team, fire some of it’s founders, and even its very own CEO voluntarily step aside for someone else to take the reigns?
 On this episode of Startup Scout, you’ll learn how Åsmund Møll Frengstad did all of this and more with his startup Meshcrafts. We go in-depth with Åsmund, to hear how he created his Norwegian-based startup: a marketplace and platform in the Electronic Vehicle space catering to both businesses and consumers. Åsmund and Meshcraft’s story is a compelling one filled with plenty of up’s and downs, and is full of insights for founders, customers, and prospective investors alike. If you'd like to learn more about Åsmund and Meshcrafts, visit them at www.meshcrafts.com You can also download their Smartcharge app on iOS and Android by searching for “SmartCharge” in the respective app stores. If you have any questions or would like to be featured on the show, please don't hesitate to learn more at www.StartupScoutHQ.com, or contact me at scout@nickhynes.com --- Music by: Buddha by Kontekst https://soundcloud.com/kontekstmusic Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0

In this episode you'll hear from Google's "Adopt a Startup" winner Ann-Marie McSorley and her training quality assurance and compliance startup Veri. We discuss how Ann-Marie's background in training and accreditation led her to identify a problem which she couldn't find a solution for off the shelf. Necessity is the mother of invention and Ann-Marie built a beta solution to her problem which she has gone on to evolve into a full product built by a team under her leadership. With current customers, prospective customers in the pipeline, recognition from Google, and now looking to close out it's latest funding round, Veri truly has a bright future ahead. You can learn more about Veri at www.Veri.ie If you like this episode, or if you like the show, please leave a review on the iTunes Podcast store. Reviews have a huge impact and help spread the word about the Startup Scout podcast. If you have any questions or would like to be featured on the show, please don't hesitate to learn more at www.StartupScoutHQ.com, or contact me at scout@nickhynes.com