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Description
Best way to scale? Your peers have the answers.
This is the podcast for scaleup founders looking for insightful, actionable wisdom from some of the best operators around. Each week we’ll explore one secret that other founders and experts are using right now and how to implement it.
It’s practical wisdom to build the company AND life you want. Hosted by renowned founder coach and advisor James Johnson.
You’ve survived to £1m, now let’s scale to £10m+.
177 Episodes
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Clementine Schouteden built a multimillion-pound e-commerce business selling premium products for Guinea pigs. Not small pets. Not rodents. Just Guinea pigs. As founder and CEO of Kavee (bootstrapped across UK, Europe, and US), Clementine spent 10 years being asked "why not expand?" Her answer changed how to think about focus. What you'll hear: Why 100% relevance to a small community beats 1% relevance to millions. Clementine explains the math behind this that most founders miss. It's not wha...
"What do I do if I feel like my co-founder is micromanaging me?" Anna sent this to James Johnson and Freddie Birley for Peer Effect Post Bag. The first question they ask: are they actually micromanaging you, or do you just feel that way? The distinction matters. Because micromanagement is usually a symptom, not the problem. What you'll hear: The co-founder assumption that's often wrong. Most people assume co-founders means equal shares, equal power, and started together. James worked with co-...
Fabien Koutchekian built his first company with two co-founders. They were completely misaligned. After one year, Fabien left. The company failed. As Co-Founder and CEO of Genomines (plant-based metal extraction, £45M Series A, 30 people across France and South Africa), Fabien's second attempt went very differently. Here's what he learned about choosing and working with co-founders. What you'll hear: The questionnaire that reveals misalignment before you start. There are specific questions yo...
"How to allow for team member personal challenges as a founder?" Katy sent this to James Johnson and Freddie Birley for the Peer Effect Post Bag. James's immediate response: "I always struggle with this." This question has no easy answer because personal challenges could mean anything: mental health, divorce, bereavement, or family crises. Here's what James and Freddie break down: The core principle James always comes back to. You should look after everyone. But you can't look after one perso...
Neil Tanna's early fundraising mistake: he could articulate the hero perfectly. But he couldn't explain the villain. As founder of Howbout (6 million users, backed by VCs and the Sidemen with 300 million followers), Neil learned the hard way that the hero makes no sense without the villain. Investors don't care if you can describe your solution. They need to understand the problem you're solving - viscerally. What you'll hear: Why early Howbout messaging failed. They focused on the solution (...
"What do I do if I feel like I can't trust my co-founder?" Dan sent this to the Peer Effect Post Bag. And if you're asking this question, James Johnson and Freddie Birley know it's probably not the first time you've had that thought. This is Season 6 of Post Bag. James and Freddie are founder coaches who've worked through dozens of co-founder conflicts. Here's what they break down: Trust has two components. (1) Do they have my back emotionally? Are they loyal? (2) Can I consistent...
Dr. Christian Schmierer has 80 people. In two years, he'll have 150-200. As CEO and Co-Founder of HyImpulse (building rockets with paraffin fuel, €74M+ raised, successful launch May 2024), Christian knows the challenge isn't just hiring 120 people. It's avoiding silos, slow processes, and bloat. The decisions he makes now will define what the company looks like at 200-400 people. What you'll hear: What you're actually building at 50-80 people. Not just executing today's work. You're laying fo...
"Fundraising is distracting and draining. How do I cope?" Dave sent this to the Peer Effect Post Bag. And James and Freddie's answer challenges the question itself. If fundraising is your responsibility as a founder, calling it a "distraction" reveals the problem. That framing guarantees you'll feel distracted during it, which means you won't perform as well as you could. This is Season 6 of Post Bag. James and Freddie are founder coaches who've worked with dozens of scale-ups through fundrai...
At a VC, deals are literally the business. But Rachel Townend's philosophy? People first, always. As Chief of Staff and General Partner at Illuminate Financial - employee #1, 12 years, fourth fund, Rachel's watched what happens when founders get this right versus wrong. Her take: Without the right people in the right seats, you can't do deals. It's a multiplier effect. Good people attract good people. Get the first hires wrong and everything compounds negatively. This episode breaks down how ...
Most VCs work non-stop and still feel like they're failing. They do 2x the deals of their peers. They're at every event. And they still feel like they're not doing enough. What James Johnson and Freddie Birley reveal in this episode is what VCs won't say publicly: the loneliness, the ambiguity, the constant feeling of underperforming despite objectively crushing it. What drives this? Founders want freedom. VCs want peak performance. When you're optimizing for achievement but venture's ambigui...
You spent a year building a feature. Someone just replicated it in a day using AI. This isn't hypothetical. Roei Samuel is watching it happen in real-time. As founder of Connected - a marketplace helping 5,700 fractionals work with scale-ups - he's spinning up products daily that took his team a year to build in 2020. His conclusion? Unless you're building quantum computing or genuine deep tech, your technology moat is dead. AI killed it. Here's what makes this different: Roei isn't being dra...
"What do I do if my investors tell me to fire a bunch of my team?" Alex sent this question to the Peer Effect Post Bag. And the answer from James Johnson and Freddie Birley cuts deeper than "evaluate your team." This is Season 6, Episode 1 of Post Bag—where founders, CEOs, and leaders submit their hardest questions and get straight answers from two coaches who've worked with dozens of scale-ups. No fluff. No corporate speak. Just practical takes on the problems that keep you up at night. Here...
You've got £250K in the bank. You're profitable. Everything looks fine. Then your VAT bill hits and you're scrambling. Or a major client payment is 60 days late and suddenly you can't make payroll. Marc Obrart has seen this exact scenario play out dozens of times. As co-founder of Fin House, he provides finance teams and CFOs to 50+ scale-ups. And the pattern he sees most often? Founders managing by their bank account instead of understanding the two stories every business tells. Here's what ...
PR feels like an unquantifiable luxury when you're trying to hit profitability. But Harrison Duhr has helped hundreds of startups use media to drive actual business outcomes - fundraising, hiring top talent, and landing ideal customers. As Head of North American Brand at London and Partners, Harrison's secured coverage in CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, and TechCrunch for startups scaling between the UK and US. But his approach completely flips the traditional PR playbook. Here's what makes this di...
After 9 conversations with entrepreneurs and business leaders, three patterns emerged about scaling successfully. In this Season 5 recap, I share the key lessons from conversations with founders like Mark Shepherd (Gathr), George Sullivan (Sole Supplier), and Gaurav Bhattacharya (Jeeva AI), plus insights from Darcy Martin (Outward VC) and Steve Duncan (C Studios). The 3 patterns: Pattern 1: Vulnerability is the unlock, not the weakness Mark launched a 10,000-member community with a LinkedIn p...
LinkedIn feels noisier than ever. AI posts, surface-level expertise, endless scroll. So is it still worth your time as a founder? James Johnson and Freddie Birley tackle the question: should you still be posting on LinkedIn in 2025, or is there a better way to build your personal brand? The honest answer: It depends on what you're trying to achieve. Are you building for speaking opportunities? Attracting clients? Hiring talent? Or just holding yourself accountable to write? The strategy chang...
Your VCs have hidden value beyond capital. Most founders never ask for it. D'Arcy Martin has been Head of Platform at Outward VC for six years. She's watched hundreds of funding rounds close. And there's one pattern she sees: founders who treat VCs like a bank account versus founders who extract every ounce of value. The difference? They ask. In today's episode, I'm joined by D'Arcy Martin, who sits at the intersection of founders, LPs, and portfolio companies at Outward VC. Her job is connec...
"You're in it together, then you're on a pedestal, then you're a statue." In this Post Bag episode, James and Freddie Birley tackle one of the most honest questions we've received: Why does success often feel more isolating than the early startup days? From sitting in rubbish pubs with your first team believing in the vision, to suddenly being on a pedestal where everyone expects you to have all the answers, to becoming a "company relic" that new hires have never even met - the journey of sca...
Your business is running you. Not the other way around. Steve Duncan spent 20 years in the same company but built three different businesses. His secret? He stopped playing defense and started playing offense. Here's what that actually means: You're either dictating what happens in your business, or you're reacting to everything thrown at you. One feels like control. The other feels like drowning. In today's episode, I'm joined by Steve Duncan, Managing Director of C Studios. After starting a...
"How do you separate your identity from the company's success or failure?" That's Alex's question – and it's one every founder grapples with, especially in those vulnerable early stages. Welcome to the Peer Effect Post Bag, where James Johnson and Freddie Birley tackle your toughest founder questions. This week, we explore the dangerous trap of calling your business "your baby," why that language might be taking critical options off the table, and how to create healthy separation between your...
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