The Back Yourself Show with Tom Fairey

This week we're revisiting Matthew Stafford's episode. He's the founder of the global founder network 9others and the impressive Angel Syndicate. In this episode, he shares his non-linear story of becoming a champion of founders and a successful investor.If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com #startup #businesstips #founder  If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!      This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘about growth and development with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.      Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we're revisiting Eamonn Carey's episode, he's the former MD of TechStars. In this episode, he shares his entrepreneurial journey, the secrets of what early-stage investors (like himself) look for in founders and how to build a company for success. If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founder If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!  This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we're revisiting Anthony Rose's epsidoe, he's the former head of BBC iPlayer and the founder of SeedLegals. In this episode, he gives game-changing tips on product development, how to raise early-stage investment effectively and why the stats suggest having military grade focus is key to startup success.If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we're revisiting Samantha Hornsby and Mae Yip's episode, the founders of Eric. Today, you will hear how two best friends took very different paths, but ultimately knew they needed to solve a problem in the world. So they gave up successful careers to go it alone, together. Now they run ERIC, the largest creative careers festival in the UK and are pivoting to create market-changing tech. If you're looking for inspiring advice on how anyone can make it and why your background means nothing, look no further! If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we are revisiting Brie Read and Tom Martin's episode,  the Founders of Snag Tights. They took an embarrassing event and used empathy and relentless experimentation to create a Startup that within two years takes over 3000 orders and £2m in revenue a month.If you're looking for practical tips on how to start an online clothing business, how to use Facebook advertising effectively and how to speak to your customers, you're in the right place. If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we’re dusting off the cobwebs on some of our first-ever podcasts and revisiting them so we can reshare some of their untapped wisdom.Today, we start with Alex Dunsdon’s episode. He’s a founder, investor and part-time philosopher, and in this episode, he shared his vast knowledge of all things entrepreneurship and investing.If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we are collecting together all of series 4's amazing marketing tips and compiling them into one bite-size episode. In this episode, we are going over: How to listen to your customers effectively, how to hire an amazing head of marketing, how to ask your customer's open-ended questions and how to use influencer marketing to grow your business.  If you're looking for practical tips on how to market your product effectively and grow your business, you're in the right place.  The episode's mentioned:  Why You Should Be Proud to Steal Marketing Strategies with Lottie Unwin  How to Build an Iconic Brand with Hugo Cornejo  Scaling the Unscalable with Disruptive Marketing Tips with Eric Fulwiler  How to Make Your Product Easy to Sell with Dana Publicover  The Power of Influencer Marketing with Jennifer Quigley-Jones  If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founder If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website! This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that. Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Alice Ursini the founder of UMAIn this episode, Alice shares how she started a company with her friend in a sector she knew nothing about, but that fact worked to her advantage as to how having an outsider look at things made the company a success.  She shares all of her secrets on how to talk to your customer when they are children and what are the biggest mistakes a founder can make when building a company for children.Alice also shares how got onto TechStars and how to effectively network.This episode is packed filled with so much information make sure you check it out.0:00 Introduction6:00 Why she started her businessHow to start a business when you're not trained in it17:30 How to get on TechStars19:15 speaking to customers when they are children26:00 What is it like starting a business with a friend30:00 How to network effectively35:00 Startup HackIf you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Dana Publicover the founder of Publicover & Co. In this episode, Dana shares everything about how to sell your product, from how to simplify your product or service, how to prepare for a sales pitch, to how to effectively speak to your customer and use the data to sell them your product.  Dana also shares the secrets of how she landed herself massive clients like Nassa, Google and McKinsey. If you’re looking to find out about everything to do with how to sell your product, you're in the right place.   0:00 Introduction 1:14 How to make you’re sh*t easier to sell  4:00 How to simplify your service or product to sell 6:00 How Dana landed huge clients like Google, Nasa and McKinsey 9:00 What is the first thing I should do when preparing for a sales pitch  10:00 How to ask your customer open ending questions 13:45 How to use the customer's language to market your product  18:30 What is the work difference between the US and German  22:30 Startup Hack  If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com #startup #businesstips #founder  If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!  This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Jennifer Quigley-Jones the CEO & founder of Digital Voices. In this episode,  Jennifer shares everything about influencer marketing, why startups should use influencers, how influencers can grow your business, and how it’s great to gain trust and credibility in early-stage startups. Jennifer also dives into what should startups look for in an influencer to promote their brand and the biggest question of them all - should startups invest in small or huge influencers.If you’re looking to find out about everything to do with influencer marketing, you're in the right place.  0:00 Introduction 1:10 What is influencer marketing? 4:40 What should a startup be looking for with an influencer? 9:00 How should startups reach out to influencers? 12:00 How to do brief an influence on what you want 16:20 Who are the best types of companies that should be doing influencer marketing?  19:00 How do you monetize your audience? 26:00 What is the key to learning from working with big brands? 28:30 How do you grow a platform? 32:00 Startup Hack If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founder If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!  This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Hugo Cornejo, co-founder at Packfleet, and former VP of Design at Monzo. In this episode, you will hear from the very man who came up with the iconic hot coral Monzo card. Hugo shares how Monzo was founded, how he came up with the design for the card, and what startups can do to stand out from their competitors.   He dives deep into all of the learning he has taken from Monzo to start his own business Packfleet a zero-emissions delivery company. This episode is packed full of amazing insight and practical advice.   If you’re looking to find out more about how to stand out against your competitors, put customer feedback into action, and create an inclusive company culture, you're in the right place.   0:00 Introduction 1:30 Hugo's entrepreneurial journey  3:15 The origin story of Monzo  7:00 How to create a bank on the side of the customer  11:00 How Hugo came up with the famous hot coral card 15:20 How to create your own Categorie 24:00 Hack - Recording interviews with customers and listening to them while doing work 28:00 Why it was important for Hugo to have a carbon zero company 32:00 How Hugo is creating an inclusive company culture  34:00 Startup Hack If you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com #startup #businesstips #founder If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website! This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Lottie Unwin, founder of The Copy Club.In this episode, Lottie details the origins of her startup; how her original idea was never intended to become a business, but how after seeing her community continue to grow, she took the plunge and invested all of her time into The Copy Club.Lottie explains the ideas behind cross-pollination marketing and how it can grow your business, all while explaining how you can jump on the latest trends with the help of some fantastic anecdotes from around the startup world.If you’re looking for the inside scoop on all things startup marketing, you’re in the right place!0:00 Introduction0:45 Lotties entrepreneurial story4:00 How Lottie’s business was successfully growing when she was in Deli6:15 Why Lottie created Copy Club12:50 How the Church and Crossfit are great examples of community15:40 How to create an amazing community17:15 Why is cross-pollination marketing important?19:50 Is Thursday’s offline marketing good?23:30 Is offline marketing worth the time and effort?24:40 LittleMoons amazing startup campaign29:00 The power of consistency35:30 Startup HackIf you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Rob Brockington, the CEO of Claro money.In this episode, you will hear how Rob was brought on as the CEO of Claro Money. Even before he had his foot in the door he knew he wanted to pivot the business. He shares why he wanted to pivot, how he validated the new idea and how to pitch it back to investors. He did all of this just as covid hit but still succeed.If you’re looking to learn more about validating new ideas, how to ask customers actionable questions and how to pitch to pivot and idea to investors, you're in the right place.0:00 Introduction0:45 How Rob came to the decision to pivot the company2:30 How to validate pivoting an idea5:00 How to speak to customers without persuading their answers7:20 How to ask customers action based questions11:00 66% of the population who are not in debt but they can’t afford a financial advisor15:00 What to put in a pitch deck to pitch pivoting an idea17:00 How money affects people's mental health20:10 Startup Hack - Hiring your friends21:15 Startup SinBinIf you have a question that you would like answered, email them over to our podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

This week we spoke to Fryderyk Szydlowski, founder of Embargo.In this episode, you will hear the rollercoaster journey that is Fryderyk’s startup story; from losing investment due to Brexit to the pandemic destroying his customer base.Fryderyk shares tips and tricks on overcoming uncontrollable obstacles and how a founder can pick themselves up when everything is falling apart. Additionally, he shares how being a former Pro Basketball player taught him about resilience and coping with failure. If you’re looking for tips on keeping a positive mindset when everything is going wrong, you’re in the right place!  Structure:  0:00 Introduction  1:00 Fryderyk's athletic background  7:30 How the athlete lifestyle is similar to a founder  9:15 You're Idols became your rivals 14:30 Where founders should be spending their time  17:30 How you have survived threw 2 economic downsides 25:00 How founders can help their employees when things are going bad 29:00 What is your startup hack  33:00 Startup Sinbin  If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founder  If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!  This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Will Koning founder of SaaSLead.io. In this episode, you will hear the rollercoaster journey that is will's startup story, from dropping out of university to losing all of his clients overnight to being trapped in Barcelona in lockdown. Threw out the obstacles put in Wills's way he still came out on top and in the last 18 months has bootstrapped his business from 0 to 2.3 million. If you’re looking to learn more about how to bootstrap a business, how to build a product being a non-technical founder and how to recruit new graduate talent, you're in the right place. Structure: 0:00 Introduction 1:00 Wills Crazy entrepreneurial journey  5:00 The Big Problem  12:00 How to convince Graduates to work for you?  16:00 How did you make revenue?  16:45 The value of Linkedin  19:55 How to optimise to be lucky  21:45 What are the best lessons you learnt around culture  26:45 How to build a product when you're not a tech founder  29:00 How to bootstrap your business from 0 to 2.8 million 30:00 Advice for university dropouts  32:00 Startup Hack  33:45 Startup Sin BinBooks mentioned:  What you do is who you are by Ben Horowitz    Follow us on all of our socials here for more content!Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/back.yourself.show/  TikTok  - https://www.tiktok.com/@back.yourself.show  Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-back-yourself-show/If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com#startup #businesstips #founder If you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!  This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guests this week we speak to Eric Fulwiler the founder & CEO of Rival. In this episode,  he shares his amazing wisdom on all things marketing, digging into what you should look for in a Head of Marketing, how to create content that speaks to your customer, and how to create disruptive campaigns. Additionally, he shares key lessons he learned from being one of the first-15 employees and MD of EMEA for VaynerMedia. If you’re looking to learn more about everything to do with marketing, you’re in the right place.  Structure: 0:00 Introduction  0:50 Why is marketing important? 3:00 How to measure the impact of a brand? 5:00 What should you look for when hiring a Head of Marketing? 10:30 How do you test what is good marketing talent? 12:15 How to bring the voice of the customer into the business? 15:49 All growth comes from unlocking new or differentiated value in a market  16:40 You don't buy a product you buy the solution the product brings you 18:15 How important is a personal brand?  21:20 What is a disruptive marketing campaign?  24:10 Big companies waste money  24:45 The pufferfish challenger 28:30 Startup SinBin  31:20 Entrepreneurship is a spectrum 33:31 How Tom raised £1M in 4 hours 34:45 How to create a personal CRM   LinksCompeting Against Luck By Clayton M. Christensen - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062565230/ref=asc_df_0062565230/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=311040647414&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5285619064828713714&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006495&hvtargid=pla-454317071719&psc=1&th=1&psc=1  Duolingo’s TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingo?lang=enIf you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!  This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.  Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Johnathan Sun, founder of Horizan VC.In this episode, he’ll break down the first stages that every founder should not only do to get their business off the ground but validate it properly.He explains how founders can use prototyping to validate their idea quickly and cheaply; how to calculate the right time to raise money and the biggest mistake when it comes to traction.If you’re looking to learn more about validating your idea, when to raise money and how to avoid the biggest startup killer, you’re in the right place.Structure:0:40 Introduction0:55 How can you validate your idea?1:44 How Pretotyping can validate your business idea quickly3:30 Example of how Johnathan used Pretotyping to validate an idea5:15 How to find customers6:00 Why you shouldn’t use Facebook Ads8:00 In an early-stage startup what counts as a good level of traction9:33 Mistakes Founders can avoid15:57 What too early to get money19:00 Startup Sin Bin23:40 Startup HackIf you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guests this week are Thomas Rogers and Llewellyn Kinch, founders of Switchd/ MakeMyHouseGreen.In this episode, they share how speaking to customers changed their business for the better, diving into who they spoke to and what type of questions they asked to get honest feedback. This not only improved their business but gained more customers as well.Additionally, they share how they have built a company culture of feedback and how they have invested in the growth of their employees.And lastly, they share how they have used operational automation to improve the day to day running of their business, cutting out wasteful tasks that more time for important projects.If you’re looking to learn more about speaking to customers, using their feedback, building a feedback-driven company culture and using operational automation to grow your company faster, you’re in the right place.Structure:0:50 How they started with2:30 How listening to customers changed their business for the better.3:41 When speaking to customers, who to talk to and what to ask6:00 How to use experiential questions when talking to customers8:10  Investing in your team9:20 How to build a feedback-driven company culture12:45 How not giving feedback can affect your business14:00 What is operational automation and how it can help your business15:50 How to use operations in your business21:00 How being more efficient can help you grow faster21:50 How do you win customers23:00 Knowing what your customers want23:30 Sin Bin - Glossed over25:30 How to be successful with SBC26:00 Startup Sin Bin - People lying about how quickly they have created a successful startupIf you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Tessa Clarke, CEO of Olio.In this episode, Tessa tells the story of how she grew an unassuming WhatsApp group into a community of over five million people. She also delves into how growing a volunteer base of 50,000 has both helped to grow her business, as well as improve her users’ experience. And, she gives tips on how her fellow female founders can level the playing field and stand out when looking for investment!If you’re looking to learn more about growing a community, how to use and implement customer feedback on your product and tips for winning over investors, you’re in the right place.Structure:1:00 Introduction1:30 How did Tessa go from 0 to a community of 5 million people.2:30 How they used a survey to validate their idea6:00 How they tested their idea through a Whatsapp group7:30 Feedback from their WhatsApp group experiment8:45 How they had a budget of £10 to reach people9:45 How they used their customer feedback to build Olio12:00 Startup book recommendations12:44 How Tessa built her community from 0 to 5 million14:30 How they built a community of volunteers18:23 How they expanded their volunteering community to 50 thousand19:35  Understanding that you might have to fire a volunteer21:00 Tessa practical advice for female founders26:00 Sin BinBooks mentioned:The Mom Test by Rob FitzpatrickThe Lean Startup by Eric RiesLink to Dana Kanze - https://www.ted.com/talks/dana_kanze_the_real_reason_female_entrepreneurs_get_less_funding?language=enIf you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founderIf you want to join us on the show, then fill in the “Pitch to Us” form on the Back Yourself Show website!This is your chance to get your interesting and innovative business in front of a global audience, where you can talk ‘growth and development’ with Tom Fairey: a founder who has been there and done that.Website - http://backyourself.show/

My guest this week is Anthony Collias, CEO of Treepoints. In this episode, he shares his tips and tricks on sales automation and hidden HR costs that could be costing your business thousands. Additionally, Anthony and Tom will be debating about if unlimited holiday makes employees take less.If you’re looking to learn more about sales automation, hidden HR costs, and company culture, you’re in the right place.Structure:0:45 Introduction0:48 What is sales automation?4:00 How to optimize your sales Automation?7:35 How Tom raised 1 million dollars through GMass8:50 How to make sure your sales automation doesn’t get reported as spam10:00 What copy should you put in your Sales emails?13:00 3 key things that should be in every email14:45 How to get sales through LinkedIn17:47 Key tools you need to analyse your sales data and success19:25 The hidden cost of HR that could be costing your business thousands of dollars25:00 How you should apply an Athletes mindset to your business27:00 Importance of sleep on your productivity28:00 Anthony and Toms debate about unlimited holiday32:00 Startup Sin Bin.If you have a question that you would like answered, then email them over to my podcast producer Rosie at Rosie@stakester.com  #startup #businesstips #founder