the talktank

Introducing our new, limited, mini-series founded by alumni talktank member Ksenia Kutuzova... Founder Friday - Samuel Poirier Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova The guest is Sam Poirier, Forbes 30 Under 30, serial entrepreneur (founding his first business at 14!) and founder of Mercantile, a credit card startup that offers rewards to small medical practitioners. 💳 Mercantile recently raised Series A funding at a $75 million valuation. He was the recipient of the Peter Thiel’s scholarship which is a scholarship granted to people to build a startup instead of going to university. https://www.forbes.com/profile/samuel-f-poirier/ Timestamps: 0:50 - Who is Samuel Poirier? 2:10 - Sam Poirier in his own words 2:41 - Courage built vs naturally-born 3:45 - Being taken seriously as a young entrepreneur 5:06 - The death of crypto? 6:30 - Sam’s innovation framework 7:59 - Strategic fit: the key to successful entrepreneurship 9:40 - The 70% margin rule 10:33 - Trend-following vs relevancy 11:03 - All about pricing power 12:09 - How does Mercantile help small businesses? 15:00 - The major perks of co-branding 16:51 - How does Mercantile make money? 17:50 - From funeral homes and medical to beyond… 19:28 - Sam’s cold email and coffee chat quota 21:04 - Startup tunnel vision 22:36 - Where to find business ideas 23:00 - If Sam could change one thing about society, what would it be? 24:33 - Sam’s book recommendations for entrepreneurs 26:47 - Napoleon: an underrated thinker 28:41 - “The best entrepreneurs are not by choice” Credit to Ksenia for self-producing this episode! 👏

The Bits & Bytes Series - Tunde Adekeye Hosted by Danilo Dukanovic Starting with a background in law, Tunde took a leap into the world of investment banking at Credit Suisse, where he navigated the intricacies of Telecom media mergers and acquisitions on the media and tech side. 💼📡 But here's where it gets interesting – Tunde then ventured into the startup realm, cold emailing his way into an agriculture tech startup in Berlin during its Series A phase. Fast forward to Series B, and the startup turned into a unicorn, marking Tunde's initiation into the world of unicorns and disruptive innovation. 🦄   Equipped with startup experience, he made a pivot to the world of venture capital, working with two seed funds – Local Globe VC and Icebreaker VC. The latter, a pre-seed fund, made early investments in the likes of Spotify and Tunde supported 13 startups in their pre-seed stages during his time there. 🏃🚀 Currently, Tunde is now in the space of advising founders on nailing their pitches and developing his own startup that does this with an AI model called Pitch Doctor: https://thepitchdoctor.tv/ I, myself, have been fundraising for my startup for the last couple of months and some time ago, I hit up Tunde for a mock pitch. His feedback improved my pitch but also dished out some real insights on what VCs truly value. I believe this helped me achieve positive results. 👨‍⚕️ Hear all about Tunde’s journey, the green and red flags of pitches, and how to execute a short pitch minute-by-minute. Whether you’re pitching yourself for a job or your startup for investors, you don’t wanna miss out on this one! Major thanks to Myra Stok for editing this (her first) episode! 🕺

The Artistpreneurs Series - Marion Carré 🖼 Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova 🎙 Today we speak to the extraordinary Marion Carré - AI entrepreneur, teacher, speaker, author, and artist! Marion co-founded Ask Mona, a company that uses AI to develop experiences for more than 80 cultural institutions across the world. 🏛️🗿 Why don't you Ask Mona? https://www.askmona.fr/en/home/ Marion also works as an expert evaluator for the European Commission and teaches courses at Sorbonne, Sciences Po, and other universities where she explores the intersection of art and artificial intelligence. Her insights come alive in her book, "Talk about art and artificial intelligence. Artist in the making?". 🤖🎨 Forbes honored her achievements by naming her to their "30 Under 30" list. Check out Marion Carré: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marion-carre-ask-mona/ Thanks to Jessica Ge for producing this episode. 🥂

The Bits & Bytes Series - Ahana Banerjee Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova Today we are speaking to the extraordinary Ahana Banerjee - the founder of the Clear skin social app, which assists you with your skincare routine. Clear was featured under Best Apps in App Store. 📈🌟 Join the skincare social scene! Check out Clear At just 21, Ahana embarked on her entrepreneurial journey while studying at Imperial College London. Ahana's remarkable achievements include being accepted into Y Combinator and being named in Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2023. 😉 Produced by Jessica Ge 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Sam Marchant Hosted by Ksenia Kutuzova ❤️ Today we are speaking to Sam Marchant. From founder to investor, Sam thrives as an Investment Associate at the global investment firm, Hambro Perks where he helps companies build products that matter. 👷‍♂️💰 Before his journey as an investor, Sam graduated with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science and became the Youngest National League hockey coach. 🏒 Now he's not only a successful investor but also a LinkedIn sensation, sharing invaluable insights. Today, we will dive deep into his mind, asking him all the most intriguing questions, from industry trends to the anatomy of successful founders, don’t miss out! 🌟😉 Check out Sam Marchant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-marchant/ Shoutout to Jessica Ge for producing this episode! 🎧

The Beyond Profit Series Hosted by Udbela Escanero In this episode, we speak to Johannes Weber. Johannes is a passionate entrepreneur, pioneering impact investor and a father of three children. After a successful IPO in his mid-twenties, Johannes followed his dream to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges by harnessing the power of entrepreneurship. Johannes co-founded Ananda Impact Ventures in 2009 and was recognized as a ‘Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum’. The company has since become one of the largest impact venture capital firms in Europe. 🚀🌍 Check out Johannes' Ananda Impact Ventures: https://ananda.vc/ We discuss start-ups, sustainability, responsible investing, impact, and accountability and more about the European VC sphere. You don’t want to miss out on this one! Tune in now on all our platforms! 🙇🏻‍♀️ Special thanks to the talented Udbela Escanero for self-producing this episode! 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Emma Ridderstad Hosted by Udbela Escanero Emma Ridderstad is Co-founder and CEO of Warpin, the Stockholm-headquartered virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR) company, helping clients including H&M, Disney, and Ferrari, train staff, market products, and enter the metaverse. 👾 With demand for immersive technology solutions to corporate issues on the rise, Emma is helping businesses bring their strategy into 4D through innovative AR, VR and XR programmes. 🚀🧑‍💻 Dive into the world of metaverse business integration: https://www.warpinmedia.com/ Timestamps: 1:36 Who is Emma Ridderstad? 2:19 Warpin and the metaverse 3:34 The start of Emma’s tech trek 4:50 Moving into the metaverse 8:28 Warpin’s H&M x Moschino AR Fashion Show 11:34 On rights and ethics in the metaverse 13:02 Bullying in the metaverse vs in real life 15:00 Reconnecting with people online 18:53 What are the limits of technology? 24:24 The art of storytelling 25:44 Advice to aspiring female entrepreneurs 26:52 Just go for it! There’s no better time than now 28:29 Feel your worth 29:00 The importance of school for business 31:09 We. Need. Women. 35:50 What would Emma change about society? 39:04 Unconventional truths 40:42 Starting Warpin after a divorce and whilst raising 2 kids 41:55 Who is Emma’s dream interview guest? Thank you Udbela Escanero for editing this episode! 🕺

The Bits & Bytes Series - Jessica Alderson Hosted by Sia Sha Soscyncd is a dating app launched in 2021 that matches people based on personality types. 💏 The startup has currently 10 employees and has recently raised $1m in pre-seed funding. 🕺🚀 Find your perfect match: https://www.sosyncd.com/ Timestamps: 1:20 - Jessica’s background and why she chose to work in Equity Research? 5:50 - How did you get your internship at Morgan Stanley? 8:05 - Are there any parallels between finding a job and building a successfully startup? 9:20 - The importance of networking 12:00 - Favourite entrepreneurship book and blog 14:20 - Why did you quit banking and start SoSynced? 20:50 - How and when did you build and launch SoSyncd? 22:20 - Developing the platform as a non-technical founder 27:50 - Scaling and growing SoSyncd 30:00 - Proving product market fit 31:25 - Raising seed funding 36:00 - How do you market SoSynced? 31:30 - How do you leverage your network? Thank you Humzah Rahman for editing this episode! ❤️

The Unwrapped Series - Eojin Yang Hosted by Sarah Baek In today’s episode, we interview a mountain-climbing, marathon-running, adventurer, Endless Jin! With a world record in climbing Breithorn mountain (4,164 meters tall) in Switzerland with 80 other women from 25 different countries, hear how Jin joined the first-ever all-female rope team in the world! 🧗‍♀️🏃‍♀️ Whether you care about sports or not, Jin’s inspiring journey and outlook on practising gratitude daily is one to marvel at. Joining us all the way from South Korea, the talktank is honoured to have Eojin with us live here in London! 🇰🇷 Follow Jin’s superhuman escapades: https://www.instagram.com/endless_jin/ Timestamps: 00:55 Why are you called “Endless” Jin? 1:36 Jin’s record breaking mountain climb 2:10 Gender in athletic world records 3:02 What would Jin change about society? 5:03 “Just do it” 6:24 Stop blaming your failures on luck 7:01 Overcoming the fear of mountain-climbing 9:32 Travelling outside of your comfort zone (literally) 10:55 How a flight issue became an adventure 12:19 Jin’s advice to her younger self 13:29 How to become an adventurer 14:43 Sports: life’s best medicine 16:12 On running 8 marathons every weekend 16:45 Becoming an athlete model and influencer 18:10 No pain, no gain! Thank you Valli Vikram for editing this episode! 🎧❤️

The Bits & Bytes Series - Matt McMullen Hosted by Sia Sha Matt is the CEO of Realbotix, a technology firm based in Las Vegas, the aim of which is to integrate robotic components and AI into high end silicone dolls. 🤖 Specifically, Realbotix has created Harmony, a companion robot that has been featured on Vice News, the New York Times, and Forbes. Realbotix has recently raised $3m. 🤑🚀 Make a new friend! 👯 https://realbotix.com/ Timestamps: 2:44 Have we made ourselves lonely? 4:02 Cave syndrome: we actually like isolating ourselves 7:55 What do people talk about with a robot? 12:09 Replicating consciousness in AI 15:00 In the eyes of AI, are humans viruses? Parasites to the Earth? 17:10 Robots do it better! 21:05 Robot vs. human therapy 22:30 Do people treat robots worse than humans? 26:30 Improving social skills by talking to dolls 29:20 Matt’s takeaways through the years 31:40 Why put bad human traits in robots? Why jealousy? 33:55 Trekking through the VC industry 38:04 Why crowdfunding didn’t work for Realbotix 40:20 The future of robot companions Thank you Jessica Ge for editing this episode! ❤️

The Bits & Bytes Series - Simona Xu Hosted by Sia Sha The Oh Collective is a sexual wellness startup launched in 2021. It has been featured in several media outlets, including the Economist and Elle magazine. Simona Xu, one of four co-founders, has previously worked for companies such as Zalando and Nike across cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, and Shanghai. Tune in now to hear all about it! Check it out: https://www.theohcollective.com Timestamps: 1:05-What is Oh Collective? 1:57- Discussion of sexual wellness 4:00-Why is sexual wellness important? 11:20-Discussion of Simona's mom's opinion on sexual wellness. 16:10-Discussion of what it is like to operate Oh Collective in an environment like China compared to the West. 25:00-PWC studies on sexual wellness, and the biggest market in Asia. 32:58-discussion of stigma surrounding sex toys. 49:15-What makes Oh Collective different and unique? 54:48-Discussion of raising money for Oh Collective and how it progressed in the sexual wellness industry. 1 hour 10 minutes-What is the worst and best advice Simmons has ever received? 1 hour 15 minutes: Outro

The Artistpreneurs Series - Mirijam Trunk Hosted by Udbela Escanero Today, we are speaking to Mirijam Trunk: after working as a journalist for Bayerischer Rundfunk and reporter for ARD, Mirijam decided to make her journey from the writer’s room to top-level business management. In 2019, she became CEO of the Bertelsmann Audio Alliance and built the company's podcast business. She has grown the production company Audio Alliance into the largest private-sector provider of podcasts, launching around 150 formats that reach over 7 million unique users per month. She has been part of the first management level of RTL Deutschland since 2022 and, as Chief Crossmedia Officer, is responsible for brand, content and talent development. She also heads the Sustainability and DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) departments. Mirijam is a passionate supporter of equality and diversity initiatives and works as an author and speaker to raise awareness of structural inequality in Germany. Don’t miss out on this exciting episode! Mirijam Trunk https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirijam-trunk/ Timestamps: 1:28 Introducing Mirijam 2:42 Overview of Bertelsmann 3:00 Miriam’s trajectory - classical singing to journalism to business management? 4:24 Structural issues noticed within journalism 6:57 The current media and business landscape and its fast changes 7:27 About Bertelsmann’s podcast company (Audio Alliance)  10:33 Power of storytelling - podcasting as as medium? 11:57 People as the amazing experience or component of her career 17:05 Networking - gender differences! 21:11 Sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion challenges 25:20 How did Mirijam end up at RTL Germany? 27:58 How much did Miriam’s journalism education help her get into creative management? 30:52 Tips on starting out - learning to understand yourself! “Who are you?” 35:35 If you could change one thing about society, what would it be? 36:29 Chaos as Miriam’s unconventional truth to success 38:13 If you could invite anyone in the world for a podcast interview, who would you invite?

The Bits & Bytes Series - Joe Cross Hosted by Olivia Coletti Today we have the pleasure of talking with the insightful Joe Cross. Joe is now an angel investor who invests and advises in early-big stage ideas. As previous VP of brand marketing and communication and member of the senior leadership team at Wise money services, he has lots of experience and expertise on marketing and startups. Joe is a Digital masters award winner who is interested in growth marketing, go to market moves, communication and workplace culture. His market segment and philanthropic interests reflect that. 📈🤩 Angel Investor: Advising and investing in early-stage big ideas. Award Winning: 2020 Digital Masters Winner - Excellence in Marketing. Interests: Growth. Marketing. Go-to-market. Comms. Culture. History: Joined TransferWise (WISE) as employee #12 in 2012. Stepped off the rocketship 8 years later, waving g'bye to an awesome team of 2,300 people. Member of senior leadership team throughout, as Head of Marketing (Start-up stage) >> US General Manager >> Head of (VP) Brand Marketing & Comms (Scale-up stage). 2008 Masters in media and comm. at LSE. Check Joe Cross out: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemcross/ Timestamps: 1:40 What does the company do and why do you find it inspiring? 5:25 Are there any specific sectors that you are interested in? 10:10 How do you assess founders? 15:45 What does sustainable investing mean to you? 20:30 What are your thoughts on the ESG industry? 27:15 What are you involved in in your free time? Shout out to Humzah Rahman for producing this episode! 👏

The Unwrapped Series - Virginia Stagni Hosted by Anastasia Baklushina ⭐ Ever wondered how you can bring your ideas to life within the already established corporations? 🤔 Our today’s guest, Virginia Stagni, Head of Business Development at the Financial Times, proves by her own example that it is indeed possible to become an intrapreneur at the one of the world’s leading global business newspapers, and even more - shows that these companies are actually willing to offer space to young creative and entrepreneurial minds. 🙌🏻🪄 Alongside her main role, Virginia is the Founder and Director of FT Talent Challenge programme, which she launched back in 2018 to invite youth with diverse experiences to change the future of media. 📰 She was previously named as the youngest Business Development Manager in the 135-years history of the FT, and is in Forbes Italia 30 under 30 list (2021) & Fortune 40 under 40 list (2021). Virginia’s entrepreneurial path has started long before her current role at the FT. As Bocconi university student, she had an experience of founding digital editorial platform Revolart and Bolognadasballo tour guides project. One of her most recent ventures was GoodSaints, a fairtrade sustainable start-up. 💫 Virginia graduated from MSc in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics (2016) and BSc in Economics and Management for Art, Culture and Communications from Bocconi University (2015). 🎓 Become the next digital news revolutioniser: ⚡ https://www.fttalent.ft.com/ Timestamps: 1:36 - Who is Viriginia Stagni? 1:54 - Virginia’s start at LSE 2:19 - Landing in front of the Financial Times office 5:06 - Entrepreneurship vs. intrapreneurship 9:33 - Shifting your mindset from employee to entrepreneur 10:59 - Virginia’s ethical mental health startup 13:43 - How did Viriginia’s LSE masters help her journalism career? 17:40 - The power of good journalism 18:26 - How a newspaper led to a full merit scholarship 20:58 - Carving your niche 21:25 - Creating a new role at the FT 22:20 - A typical day in Virginia’s life 26:35 - Reading through thousands of CVs 29:03 - Why the younger generation is the future of journalism 32:20 - The inspiration behind Virigina’s book: COVID? 34:12 - A higher-level look: why specialists have to help each other 38:04 - Virginia’s advice for LSE students Shoutout to Jessica Ge for producing this episode! 🕺

The Artistpreneurs Series - Antoni and Alison Hosted by Olivia Coletti Today we have the pleasure of talking with the wonderful Antoni Burakowski. Antoni, with his best friend Alison Roberts co-created the fashionable “Yin Yang” clothing brand “Antoni & Alison”. The brand radiates the individualistic art that they pioneer to the world through joy, love, and positivity. Continuously working together for 32 years, Antoni and Alison aim to create their work by changing the way we view fashion. They have never followed trends, an ongoing motto of theirs is “just because fashion is the way it is, doesnt mean to say it has to be the way it is.” Their brand represents consistency, happiness and art. 🖼 They currently have a store and many stockists worldwide, the first 10 years of their wardrobe has been acquired by the Victoria Albot Musiem & the second installment is being prepared. Their pieces are worn by celebrities and artists that include: Bella Hadid, Nicole Kidman, Katy Perry, Clare Danes, Chloe Sevigny, Beth Ditto, Lilly Allen, Kiki Smith, and more. 😎✨ Check out Antoni and Alison's store (from the coolest website ever): https://www.antoniandalison.co.uk/ Timestamps: 2:00 - How did you meet Allison? 12:50 - How do you build your brand? 24:20 - What was your pricing strategy? 26:40 - Do you advertise your clothes on runways? 35:20 - Who are the craziest people that walk through your door? 37:50 - What are the things that you are most inspired by? Thank to Humzah Rahman for producing this ep! 👏

The Unwrapped Series - Sebastian Mallaby Hosted by Sia Sha Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A Volcker Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. He spent thirteen years at the Economist and has contributed to various outlets such as the New York Times, FT, and Washington Post. 📝 His book, The Man Who Knew, won the 2016 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. He has recently published The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption. 📚🤩 Timestamps: 0:45 - Introduction of Sebastian. 01:39 - What is venture capital? 04:11 - Discussion of Mark Zuckerberg and his unique approach to getting venture capitalists to invest in the company. 10:50 - VCs from a geopolitical perspective. 20:16 - Why is everyone not following Sequoia's practices? 30:00 - Discussion of Sebastian's published book. 36:55 - Discussion of Sebastian's literary diet, including his review of the Economist. 46:57 - Looking for a niche to excel in. Special thanks to Valli Vikram for producing this episode! 🎧

The Bits & Bytes Series - Guglielmo Schenardi Hosted by Jessica Ge Whenever you use an app, access a website, or do anything in the virtual space, you create data. But do you actually know where your data is going? And who’s using it? ❓🤔 Today’s guest, Guglielmo Schenardi, along with his co-founder, created Rita Personal Data - an app with over 100,000 members and a 4.5-star rating from almost 2,000 reviews. Rita allows users to view, control, and earn rewards from their own data. And founded only 3 years ago, Rita has already secured €1 million in pre-seed funding. 💸 Alongside a successful startup, Guglielmo has also recently launched the first start-up program offering a double university Masters called Genoa Entrepreneurship School (GES). GES is a joint initiative between Georgetown and Genoa university so that you can build or work in a venture whilst attending a masters. 🏫🚀 This way, you don’t have to choose between pursuing a startup career or pursuing education, you can do both. In this episode, we will focus on two key topics- the importance of data privacy in an increasingly data-driven world and how education and entrepreneurship can co-exist. ✌ Manage your personal data: https://ritapersonaldata.com/ Build your next venture from school: https://www.genoaes.com/ Timestamps: 2:05 - Who is Guglielmo Schenardi? 2:46 - The conception of Rita Personal Data 3:40 - Why should you use Rita? 4:50  - Trusting Rita with your data 6:01 - Building a tech product from a non-tech background 8:18 - How to raise €1 million in preseed funding 10:34 - You need an advisor! 12:20 - Guglielmo’s life-changing experience 14:04 - MTV’s documentary on Guglielmo’s daily life 16:43 - Creating a university startup program from scratch 20:20 - How to build the dream team 21:41 - Building a venture whilst pursuing two masters, how?! 28:15 - What’s one thing Guglielmo would change about society? 29:58 - Guglielmo’s unconventional truth that helped him achieve his success 31:46 - Reflect, reflect, reflect 34:14 - Guglielmo’s dream interview guest Shoutout to Jessica Ge for self-producing this episode! 🕺

The Bits & Bytes Series - Amai Ganjam Hosted by Humzah Rahman Join us on this episode as we dive into the story of Amai Ganjam, an LSE student who created a social networking app called Buzz during the pandemic. We'll learn about his journey as a student founder and how he navigated the challenges of being non-technical. Along the way, we'll also explore what venture capitalists look for in pitch decks, and how to break into the VC industry as a student. Plus, we'll get insights from Amai's experiences interning at True Altitude and his current role at Tomorrow Capital, a boutique VC firm investing in credit-led models across emerging markets. 📈 Don't miss out on this exciting episode filled with tips and inspiration for anyone interested in startups, VC, or entrepreneurship. 🎯🚀 🌃🕺 Explore and interact with London’s nightlife in a completely re-imagined way: https://buzzsocialapp.com/  Timestamps 1:10 Why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself? 2:00 What’s the founding story behind Buzz? 4:35 How did you prove product market fit? 5:55 What type of person should use Buzz? 7:15 How does Buzz differ from the rest? 8:45 How did you push your product out to market? 10:25 Buzz’s national and international expansion 11:15 What’s your business model? 13:20 How do you build a tech product as a non-technical cofounder? 14:45 How did you vet your first few technical hires and were they successful? 16:55 Where do you want Buzz to be in the next five years? 18:25 What was your defining moment? 19:45 What do True Altitude and Tomorrow Capital specialise in? 22:10 What are some of your responsibilities at Tomorrow Capital? 23:40 How does Tomorrow Capital invest? 25:15 How did you go about finding work experience at a VC? 25:55 What advice would you give to a student trying to break into the VC industry? 28:00 What’s the key to writing good pitch decks? 29:15 What’s a common red flag you see in pitch decks? 30:00 If you could change one thing about society, what would it be? 31:49 If you could interview anyone, fictional, dead or alive, who would you interview? Thank you Humzah Rahman for self-producing this ep! 😎

The Beyond Profit Series Hosted by Laura Calle María Clara Mesa is a Colombian entrepreneur that fell in love with technology and healthcare. ❤ She is a partner of Alternova, a software development company focused on digital health, specialising in developing digital therapeutic video games and gaming-inspired digital products. 🎮👩‍⚕️ Alternova has become an essential player in the health tech industry, having clients such as Stanford, MIT, UCSF, Brain Balance Centers, Children National, DoD, and Takeda. They create digital therapeutics (which includes video games), patient monitor apps and platforms, and platforms to collect and process healthcare. 🏫 María Clara, besides having a full-time job in Alternova, is also a startup mentor to provide qualified autism innovators with the resources they need to scale their ideas. Besides this, she is a baby angel investor, a diversity and women in tech advocate and has recently been interested in using psychedelics for medicinal purposes. 💰🍄 María Clara has a high educational background as she is a lawyer, studied business administration and has a master’s in International Business and Business Analytics. 👏 Check out Alternova: https://www.alternova.co/ Timestamps: 1:35 - Who is María Clara? 2:10 - Alternova’s transition from VR construction to healthcare and gaming 4:00 - Realising your company has no real purpose 4:59 - Finding your company’s purpose 5:48 - Shifting your employees into a completely different industry 7:35 - Feeling the impact 9:43 - Video games that help diagnose mental disabilities 11:20 - Why use video games in healthcare? 12:18 - How training athletes with cognitive VR helps them perform better and earn scholarships 12:32 - Games that help people with autism read 13:48 - A game that helps with ADHD, a possible replacement for focus drugs like Ritalin? 15:25 - Do you find visiting your GP fun? No, it’s probably sh*t. 17:40 - María’s vision for healthcare 18:43 - The intersection of psychedelics and tech 19:50 - Near-death family VR therapy, replacing your VR body with a ball of energy! 23:24 - What got María into neurodiversity work? 24:57 - María’s (and a lot of other entrepreneurs’) superpower: ADHD 26:54 - Women in science and tech 30:17 - Key to growth: forming relationships in key countries like the US 33:04 - How to maintain a work-life balance? Say no 35:18 - The power of music, meditation, and water 37:26 - María’s unconventional book recommendations 43:05 - María’s dream interview guest Special shoutout to Jessica Ge for producing this episode! 😼

The Bits & Bytes Series - Paul Miller Hosted by Sia Sia Paul Miller, OBE, is the CEO of Bethnal Green Ventures, an early-stage tech-for-good VC. The VC was established in 2012 and has invested in 166 ventures since then. Previously, Paul was a Co-Founder of the School of Everything, which has raised over £350,000 in seed funding in 2008. 🏫🤑 Check out BGV: https://www.bethnalgreenventures.com/ Timestamps: 2:00 - Introduction 3:00 - What is venture capital? 4:20 - Terminology: General Partners and Limited Partners 6:40 - Discussion of the Economist’s view on Venture Capitalists 20:53 - Strengths and weaknesses of operating in London vs Europe 29:55 - As interest rates are high, is deployment of capital affected in the venture capital business? 39:00 - Challenges of raising money as a venture capitalist 42:09 - Discussion of ‘Bad Blood’ and Theranos, and accounting for deception 49:27 - Importance of passion for a startup to succeed 57:18 - What is the difference between a successful and non-successful startup? Special shoutout to Valli Vikram for producing this episode! 😍