Talk to Stefan - Founder Hot Seat
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingIt's not easy being a startup founder/entrepreneur. In the founder hot seat, I'll talk through real challenges founders are going through, coach them and help them find clarity.
These are coaching style sessions with real founders.
To learn more about the podcast, go to https://talktostefan.com/#podcast or find me on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan.
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Episodes
Pivoting the product, what needs to be done? - Ash Phillips, Dffrnt
February 17, 2022 15:28 - 39 minutes - 90.5 MBIn this coaching-style session, I'm joined by Ash Phillips, Founder of Dffrnt. Ash has worked to build up the Dffrnt community, an alternative to accelerators and described as a 'modern membership organisation providing business benefits & perks, plus on-demand support, by subscription'. We talk through how Ash can start to shift the focus of the community to allow room for his other ventures, that support the wider mission. We explore: How he's looking at the bigger mission and how dif...
5 revenue-generating products. Time to double down? - Jakob Greenfeld
February 03, 2022 15:24 - 39 minutes - 90 MBIn this coaching-style session, I'm joined by Jakob Greenfeld, Founder of multiple products. Jakob's worked to build a portfolio of online products, covering both newsletter and data products (along with having many more ideas). His products are producing revenue for him, but haven't seen hockey stick growth. We talk through whether Jakob will double down on what he's got or continue to increase the number of products he's built. We explore: The products Jakob has created so far What Ja...
Building authentic relationships with founders - MK, Sparrow
January 27, 2022 16:48 - 30 minutes - 68.8 MBIn this coaching-style session, I'm joined by MK, Founder of Sparrow. Sparrow provide hands-on growth mentorship calls and let you learn instantly from founders who built, scaled and sold their own startups. We talk through how MK can get out to more founders, have authentic conversations with them and where to focus his growth/marketing efforts. We explore: Where MK has been spending time and what hasn't worked How MK can explore difficulties founders are facing Ways to focus on growt...
Growing an agency through delegation - Lewis Vandervalk, Blue Crocus Solutions
January 19, 2022 15:05 - 28 minutes - 65.2 MBI'm joined by Lewis Vandervalk, Owner of Blue Crocus Solutions. Lewis and his team are a full-service Digital Marketing agency, helping home service and trades with SEO, Lead Generation, Web Design, Google My Business Optimization, and Social Media Marketing. We talk through the challenges of growth as an agency owner and how delegation would help Lewis to grow both the business and his role as the owner. In this coaching-style session, we explore: What Lewis' current setup is How SOP...
SEO, but not how most think about it - Jason Barnard, Kalicube/The SERP Guy
January 13, 2022 15:00 - 48 minutes - 111 MBI'm joined by Jason Barnard, The Brand SERP Guy. Jason runs a service that helps clients make their Brand SERPs (and knowledge panels) accurate, positive and convincing. He's keen to explore growth of the business. In this coaching-style session, we explore: How Jason's service differs from other SEO work Who it is that Jason serves and the reason for specifically helping them How to get to people who would benefit from the service To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan....
Emotional journey of being a startup CEO for a children's charity - Jason Sotiris, Supertee/The Fair Fight Foundation
November 10, 2021 16:04 - 43 minutes - 100 MBI'm joined by Jason Sotiris, Co-founder of Supertee and CEO of The Fair Fight Foundation. Supertee invented superhero costumes for sick kids to wear in hospital. They're both fun and highly practical for the healthcare environment. We explore how Jason is growing into the role of CEO of a startup that's close to his heart and exists out of problems he experienced when looking after his daughter in hospital. In this coaching-style session, we explore: The emotional journey Jason has been o...
Understanding client needs to close sales - Le-an Lai Lacaba, 2xYou Executive Services
November 03, 2021 13:47 - 20 minutes - 47 MBI'm joined by Le-an Lai Lacaba, CEO & Co-founder of 2xYou Executive Services. 2xYou Executive Services helps you hire, manage, and grow your Remote Executive Assistant to support on all aspects of your business. We explore how she can help clients understand how 2xYou can fully help them. In this coaching-style session, we explore: How Le-an can help potential clients understand how 2xYou can support them What Le-an does before calls to understand client's needs Activities clients could...
How to form a community - Shannon Almeida, Volv
October 27, 2021 10:44 - 31 minutes - 71.4 MBI'm joined by Shannon Almeida, Co-founder of Volv. Volv shares the best content on the internet in 9-second reads, in real-time. Shannon wanted to explore how Volv can deepen the relationship with both content creators and users. In this coaching-style session, we explore: Who Volv serves The purpose of bringing users together How to make best use of Discord When to hire support for managing community To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitt...
How to transition customers from one offering to another - Harris Kenny, Intro CRM
October 20, 2021 13:20 - 42 minutes - 96.2 MBI'm joined by Harris Kenny, Founder & CEO of Intro CRM. Harris started out offering solo sales consulting but then made the switch to a service-based business. Intro CRM help with building lead lists and outreach, inbound qualification and scheduling along with helping you keep on top of your sales pipeline. In this episode, we explore: The different services Intro CRM offer What Intro CRM's clients are buying today What's holding Harris back from making the shift to the new service off...
Finding a business coach - Richard Hughes-Jones, Executive Coach
October 13, 2021 12:11 - 37 minutes - 85.3 MBI'm joined by Richard Hughes-Jones, Executive Coach. This is a slightly different episode from the usual format. Richard helps leaders navigate business & personal growth in a complex world. My clients are entrepreneurs and executives in high-growth businesses and the investment industry. In this episode, we explore: What coaching is How to figure out if coaching is a good fit for you What other types of support are out there The journey founders go through as their startup grows To ...
125,000 on the waitlist, how to hire more engineers? - Mike Audi, TIKI
October 06, 2021 11:49 - 33 minutes - 76.2 MBI'm joined by Mike Audi, Founder of TIKI. Mike's building TIKI, a mission-focused company building a platform to allow you to take back your data and get paid your fair share. Despite having 125,000 users on their waiting list, TIKI are looking to grow their engineering team. In this episode, we explore: How TIKI have hired so far The perception new candidates have when they come across TIKI How to get out to more engineers Doing things that don't scale when hiring To learn more about...
Multiple successful exits, now validating new venture - Kenny Schumacher, Appraisal Saver
September 29, 2021 13:41 - 37 minutes - 85.1 MBI'm joined by Kenny Schumacher, Founder of Appraisal Saver Kenny's had multiple exits and is now focused on building Appraisal Saver. We talk through how he's going to get out to potential Appraisers who could make use of his service and how he'll determine if it's a viable business. In this episode, we explore: How Kenny's reaching out to potential customers Figuring out who is going to benefit from the Appraisal Saver offering What Kenny will do to integrate into the community Other ...
Deciding on growth channels and considering a co-founder - Val Sopi, blogstatic
September 22, 2021 10:20 - 32 minutes - 75.1 MBI'm joined by Val Sopi, Founder of blogstatic. Val's exited from his previous startup, Claritask and is now working on blogstatic. We talk through how he's approaching growth but also the idea of working with a co-founder. In this episode, we explore: The different growth channels Val's testing How he manages experiments What Val does to switch off The idea of Val having a co-founder To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.tw...
Challenges of the founder journey - Cam Sloan, Hopscotch
September 15, 2021 13:21 - 35 minutes - 80.4 MBI'm joined by Cam Sloan, Founder of Hopscotch. Cam's been working on Hopscotch but has hit a challenging time in his journey as a founder. Revenue had become stuck and he was figuring out how to move forward. In this episode, we explore: The frustrations and challenges Cam has faced as a founder How he's feeling about his new direction The question Cam asks himself to figure out if he's working on the right thing Exploring how investment/funding may help To learn more about the podcas...
Prioritising and hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) - Christina Pashialis, ContentUK
August 25, 2021 11:52 - 27 minutes - 62.9 MBI'm joined by Christina Pashialis, Founder of ContentUK. Christina's grown her community for content marketers, ContentUK and is struggling to find the time to focus on what's really going to maintain and grow the community. In this episode, we explore: How Christina balances her freelance work with running the business What she spends time on and what she thinks could be outsourced How working with a VA could help and what they could do What she would need to do to get started with a ...
How to sell without a 'hard sell' - Gabby Ianniello, Corporate Quitter
August 11, 2021 13:00 - 29 minutes - 66.6 MBI'm joined by Gabby Ianniello, Founder and Host of Corporate Quitter. Gabby's worked with people who want to make a shift from the 9-5 corporate life into the world of podcasting and online businesses. We explore the different revenue streams she has, how to authentically 'sell' without a hard sell and how to find people who will resonate with her offering. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send...
Pivoted the product, cut down the team, what next? - Adrian Tobey, Groundhogg
August 03, 2021 17:37 - 41 minutes - 94.2 MBI'm joined by Adrian Tobey, Founder and CEO of Groundhogg. Adrian was working with a larger team, but as GroundHogg moved in a different direction, the team was cut down. We explore how things worked when Adrian was working with multiple developers, how the pivot came about and figuring out how he'll decide whether to expand the team he's working with. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me ...
Feeling unmotivated and battling with mental health - James McKinven, Indie Bites
July 27, 2021 16:33 - 52 minutes - 119 MBI'm joined by James McKinven, Host of Indie Bites. This episode is a twist on the normal format. James has publicly shared the challenges he's been going through with his mental health. We explore the journey James has been on over the past year, including when things began to change, what that felt like on a day-to-day basis, how James has worked on his recovery and how he plans to move forward. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: http...
Used in 140 countries, how else to spread the word? - Tariq Fancy, Rumie
July 21, 2021 12:36 - 29 minutes - 67.3 MBI'm joined by Tariq Fancy, Founder & CEO of Rumie. Rumie is an open library of micro-learning courses (Bytes™). The company is a non-profit and they're trying to transform your daily screen time into personal development. We explore what's been done with partnerships before, how Tariq and the team are approaching content creation for the platform and some of the insights he's gained about how users currently use the platform. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#pod...
Growing from 100 to 1000 members, what next? - Connor Mcmanus, Collective Fitness
July 14, 2021 11:11 - 35 minutes - 82.2 MBI'm joined by Connor Mcmanus, Head Coach at Collective Fitness. Connor's building Collective Fitness, a fitness and wellbeing app. The business has taken a hit with COVID but it's now bouncing back as Connor looks at how to take it from 100 to 1000 members. We explore the different options he's exploring (product focused, a traditional sales outreach option or nurturing the community) to get those next 900 members onboard, we explore pros and cons of each and come up with how he can get go...
How to focus on what matters - Laura van den Herrewegen, ZenOutreach
July 07, 2021 12:08 - 24 minutes - 56.9 MBI'm joined by Laura van den Herrewegen, Founder of ZenOutreach. Laura's growing ZenOutreach, a service that provides companies with either part or fulltime Sales Development Representatives. She's looking to spend more time on marketing to continue to grow the business. We explore how she's structured the team, how she spends her time currently and what she could do to get more time to focus on her other priorities, such as marketing. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan...
From 0 to 50 freelancers in 11 months - when's the right time to hire? - Karl L Hughes, Draft.dev
June 23, 2021 10:39 - 32 minutes - 75.4 MBI'm joined by Karl L Hughes, Founder and CEO of Draft.dev. In less than 1 year, Karl's grown his productized service Draft.dev to a team of 5 permanent team members and 50 freelancers. He's tackling the question of 'when is the right time to hire?'. We explore how he's grown the team to this point, where the hesitancy kicks in with future hires and the 'uncomfortable' feeling that comes with growth. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: ht...
How to build in public despite internal conflicts - Daniel Ch, LegitCheck and PriceUnlock
June 15, 2021 17:49 - 34 minutes - 78.1 MBI'm joined by Daniel Ch, Founder of LegitCheck and PriceUnlock. Daniel's grown LegitCheck to $15k/month revenue. How can he share his achievements and build in public for his new venture PriceUnlock? We explore what's happened in the past that's affected how he feels about sharing publicly, the conflict he has with being so open and vulnerable and shifting from a product focus to a 'media' focus. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https...
$1k MRR, what to focus on now? - Philip Baretto, tiiny.host
June 09, 2021 11:59 - 36 minutes - 83 MBI'm joined by Philip Baretto, Founder of tiiny.host. Philip's reached an exciting point of almost hitting $1k MRR. But where does he go from here? We pull apart the different offerings he has, who he really serves, how he converts trial customers to paid plans and how he'll decide where to focus his efforts. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me a message if you're interested in startup/found...
Building a product through community participation - Toomas Laigu, TravelWiser
June 01, 2021 17:24 - 29 minutes - 68.1 MBToomas Laigu, CEO of TravelWiser joins me. Toomas is looking at alternative models to grow his company, TravelWiser. We talk through his potential for growth, the different models he could use (including building a team out of his community) and powering the company through donations. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me a message if you're interested in startup/founder coaching.
Scaling a productized service - Michael Holmes, Vidpros
May 25, 2021 17:59 - 18 minutes - 41.4 MBI'm joined by Michael Holmes, Founder of Vidpros. Michael's talking through how he'll scale up the fractional video editing service Vidpros offers. We talk through the progress Vidpros has made so far, the 2 key options that Michael sees moving forward (building a sales team vs using content marketing) and how he'll decide which to use. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me a message if you'r...
Bootstrapped vs VC-backed - Eli Finer, Wuju
May 18, 2021 11:08 - 29 minutes - 67.7 MBI'm joined by Eli Finer, Founder of Wuju. Eli's exploring which route he'll head down for his mental health app, Wuju. We start by talking through how his previous experience at venture funded companies affects his views, how he'd use the money, before exploring how he'll grow his user base and how to create intimacy with a large audience. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me a message if y...
How to qualify leads - Nick Freiling, PeopleFish
May 11, 2021 21:55 - 29 minutes - 68.4 MBI'm joined by Nick Freiling, Director of PeopleFish. Nick's exploring how he'll best qualify leads for his market research company, PeopleFish. We talk through how he currently captures leads, what has been tested so far and how to manage expectations. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me a message if you're interested in startup/founder coaching.
How to onboard users and get them to take action - Cory McKane, WeStrive
May 04, 2021 16:47 - 28 minutes - 64.8 MBI'm joined by Cory McKane, Founder of WeStrive. Cory's exploring how to grow his SaaS tool for personal trainers, WeStrive. We talk through how he'll approach growth, what the hurdles are once he's signed new users up and how he'll tackle them. To learn more about the podcast: https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan... send me a message if you're interested in startup/founder coaching.
Which route for growth? Charlie Ward, Weekend Club
April 23, 2021 13:50 - 28 minutes - 64.8 MBI'm joined by Charlie Ward, Founder of Weekend Club. Charlie has two key options for growth - launch in a new time zone or start a new offering for founders to work together during the week. We talk through how he'll approach growth, the factors that go into the decision to the point where he's almost certain which way he'll take Weekend Club. To learn more about the podcast, go to https://talktostefan.com/#podcast Find me on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/TalkToStefan.... send me a me...