Couverture de The Naked Founder

The Naked Founder

The Naked Founder

De : BusinessCloud
Écouter gratuitement

The Naked Founder Podcast

Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. Direction Economie Management Management et direction
Épisodes
  • Sean Brown: People don't see the sacrifices founders make

    Sean Brown: People don't see the sacrifices founders make
    Jul 13 2026

    Sean Brown is the founder of tech startup Versori, which was acquired earlier this year by US tech giant Avalara.

    The deal was remarkable because Brown and Daniel Jones had only founded the next-generation integration platform specialist four years earlier.

    However, success has not come without significant sacrifices. Brown recalls leaving his wife and newborn child to attend the Y Combinator programme in San Francisco for three months.

    In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Brown discusses:

    • Working alongside Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett in his early days
    • How a skydive saved him from being skint in Australia
    • Launching his own cryptocurrency, SeanCoin – but only for people called Sean
    • Understanding the importance of having the right team
    • Why he still gets a buzz from building things
    • How a Post-it note bearing the words 'profit' and 'purpose' drives his decision-making
    The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned. Chapters: 00:00 – The Story That Just Got Acquired by US Tech Giant Avalara: 00:24 – What Nobody Told Him: It's Not About You, It's About the Team 01:52 – Why He Doesn't Call Himself Resilient - He Just Likes to Build 02:33 – Happy Place: Maldives at 2am, Laptop Out, Waves in the Background 03:51 – Broke in Australia, Sniffing Bakeries & Raffling a Skydive He Didn't Own 06:41 – Growing Up Above Rough Pubs: Why His Relationship With Risk Is Completely Inverted 07:52 – Psychometric Test Says: Unemployable. He Agrees. 09:08 – Social Scuba, $6,000 & Learning to Code From YouTube at 20 10:56 – Working With Steven Bartlett Before Anyone Knew Who He Was 13:44 – Sean Coin: Why He Launched His Own Cryptocurrency 15:45 – 24 Staff, Millions in Revenue - and How He Learned to Be a Terrible Boss 17:28 – Leadership Flaws 19:10 – The Problem That Built The Story 20:26 – Building a Connector Engine Instead of Pre-Built Connectors 23:45 – 50% of Pipeline Comes From Conferences - Here's Exactly How He Works a Room 25:53 – We Don't Fish, We Hunt 27:08 – 100% Close Rate From Qualified Meetings: Why Cold Calls Are a Waste of Time 28:01 – Four Weeks Post-ACL Surgery, Flew to San Francisco, Knee Blown Up 29:07 – 310% Growth, Y Combinator & the Who's Who of Startup Validation 30:18 – Three Months in San Francisco, Newborn at Home, House Already Sold to Fund It 31:11 – 260 Investor Calls in Three Weeks: Refining the Pitch 1% at a Time 32:04 – Raising - Term Sheet Signed in Austin on a Wednesday 33:16 – Why the Avalara Acquisition Felt Like a Match Made in Heaven 35:41 – Family First, Then Keep Building: Why He Said Yes to the Deal 37:50 – Five Identical Sweatshirts, One Post-It Note: The Mind That Doesn't Waste a Thought 38:48 – No More Existential Dread: What It Feels Like to Found Inside a Huge Company 39:30 – Profit and Purpose: The Two Words on His Post-It Note That Drive Everything 41:04 – Why Profit Comes First - and What That Means for the Letter He'd Write to His Sons
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    41 min
  • Simon Swan: How I got Michael Vaughan to join my startup

    Simon Swan: How I got Michael Vaughan to join my startup
    Jul 6 2026

    Simon Swan is on track to create a one-man £1m+ startup, with a little help from former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.

    Two-time founder Swan is the latest guest on The Naked Founder podcast and his second business, Uthful, is already profitable after less than six months.

    Uthful is a health supplement business and it’s a far cry from Swan’s previous enterprise, Manchester-based talent marketplace Hiring Hub.

    In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Simon discusses:

    How he persuaded cricket legend Michael Vaughan to become an investor Growing a £1m business with just one member of staff Changing the face of the health supplement market How the idea for Uthful came to him on a bike ride The importance of being authentic Inspiring his children Why he wants Uthful to be different from Hiring Hub The Naked Founder is a BusinessCloud podcast. It is sponsored by Financielle, the home of money for women, and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.

    Chapters: 00:00 – 14-Year Overnight Success, Then Going Again at 45: Meet Simon Swan 01:06 – What He Wished He'd Known First Time Round 02:28 – Calm on Top, Furiously Paddling Underneath 03:16 – Cricket, Michael Vaughan & How Uthful Got Its First Investor 04:22 – 24 Vitamins, One Drink: The Problem He Was Solving for Himself 05:34 – Meeting Michael Vaughan 06:22 – No Website, No Product — Just a Name and a Napkin Pitch 07:05 – What Hiring Hub Actually Was (and Why He Hated Being Called a Recruiter) 07:51 – Designing the Logo on His Honeymoon 09:06 – Two People, One Office, One Phone — Fake It Til You Make It 10:27 – The Lessons He Carried Out of Hiring Hub and Into Everything Since 11:03 – Founder vs CEO: The Moment Hiring Hub Stopped Being His 12:38 – Burn the Boats: Why He Had to Remove the Safety Net Completely 14:05 – Gary Neville, Reinvention & Not Wanting One Thing to Define You Forever 14:50 – Loving the Building Phase: Why Year 11 Felt Nothing Like Year One 15:54 – The Apple Moment: Why Packaging and Brand Image Matter From Day One 16:50 – Solo Founder, One Dog, No Office: Is This the Future of Startups? 17:51 – Six Months Riding His Bike Across Spain, Waiting for the Idea to Come 18:12 – Lying in Bed on GoDaddy: The Night Uthful Became Real 20:01 – The Pub in the Peak District He Nearly Bought Instead 21:02 – What Humans Will Still Value in a World Run by AI 22:20 – Idea to First Sample in Eight Weeks: The Speed of Starting Now 23:00 – His Advice to Anyone With an Idea: Just Test It First 24:08 – Transparent Founder Content: Why He Posts the Bad Days Too 24:53 – The Day Meta Stopped Working and 3,000 Boxes Came Back Wrong 26:38 – Kids Watching Dad Build From Scratch: The Best Lesson He Can Give Them 28:56 – Could Uthful Be a £100M Business? 30:06 – Has Founding a Business Made Him Unemployable? Probably, Yeah 31:04 – The Hardest Part of Being a Solo Founder: Loneliness, and How He Beats It 32:46 – Letter to His Younger Self 33:29 – Never Too High, Never Too Low: The Emotional Steadiness That Defines Him 33:50 – Happy Place: 140km on a Bike Through the Spanish Countryside
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    35 min
  • Tom Dunlop: Why founders should always be paranoid

    Tom Dunlop: Why founders should always be paranoid
    Jun 30 2026
    Tom Dunlop turned his back on an Olympic dream to launch LegalTech Summize and said a degree of paranoia is healthy in business. Earlier this year, Summize raised £40m in a Series B investment round and has just acquired the key assets and staff from Seattle consultancy InnoLaw Group. After swapping a successful badminton career for a legal one, he became an in-house lawyer at AppSense, where he met high-profile entrepreneur Charles Sharland. While working as a lawyer, Dunlop recognised how technology could speed up legal processes, so he launched Summize, and Sharland became an early investor. In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Tom discusses: Why paranoia can be good in businessHow he turned his back on an Olympic dreamHow he struggled when he lost at badmintonWhy he can never forget his children's namesThe lessons he took from elite sport into high-performance businessRaising $50mThe difference in mindset between the UK and the US The Naked Founder is a BusinessCloud podcast. It is sponsored by Financielle, the home of money for women, and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned. Chapters 00:00 – Thinking Long-Term From Day One 02:45 – The Year or Two He Could Have Shaved Off Just by Planning Five Years Ahead 04:13 – Three Kids, Three Tattoos 04:29 – Europe's Number One Badminton Player 05:51 – Untouchable: The 15-Match Winning Run That Made Him "The Killer" 06:59 – Turning Down the Olympics for Law School: The Decision That Changed Everything 07:44 – Going From Invincible Junior to Getting Exposed by the Far East 09:13 – From Superstitious Socks to 1% Marginal Gains: What Sport Taught Him About Business 10:24 – ABCD: Codifying Culture So Every Employee Knows the Mission 11:55 – The Lesson in Being a Founder People Listen To 13:22 – Healthy Paranoia: Why You Should Never Feel Comfortable 13:55 – Office Tour 14:58 – The Elevator Pitch Booth (and the Original Pitch Line) 16:04 – One Team, One Board: Keeping Three Offices in Sync 17:00 – £1,000 a Month for the Best 1% Idea 17:37 – Meet the Nameless, Eyeless Office Giraffe 18:35 – The Gong, the Clocks & the Mural: Building Culture Through Physical Symbols 19:36 – Highlighting Contracts by Hand: How Summize Was Actually Born 21:45 – From Point Tool to Full Platform: What Summize Does Today 22:59 – Why San Diego Over LA or San Francisco: Choosing Offices on Culture, Not Just Cash 24:25 – 250 Pitches, Four Funding Rounds: What Investors Actually Back at Pre-Seed 27:06 – Hurt Money: Quitting His Job, Moving House & Having a Baby in the Same Month 29:08 – The Polish Badminton Players Who Had No Plan B — and Why That Stuck With Him 31:24 – Burn-and-Raise vs. Build It Right: The Philosophy Between Series A and B 33:52 – UK vs. US Founders: The Ceiling of Ambition Difference 35:42 – "Could You 10x?" — Why US and UK Investors Ask Completely Different Questions 37:00 – From Silicon Valley Podcasts to Trusting His Own Gut 39:24 – Letter to a Young Founder: Build Your Network, Raise Your Ceiling00:00 – Thinking Long-Term From Day One 02:45 – The Year or Two He Could Have Shaved Off Just by Planning Five Years Ahead 04:13 – Three Kids, Three Tattoos 04:29 – Europe's Number One Badminton Player 05:51 – Untouchable: The 15-Match Winning Run That Made Him "The Killer" 06:59 – Turning Down the Olympics for Law School: The Decision That Changed Everything 07:44 – Going From Invincible Junior to Getting Exposed by the Far East 09:13 – From Superstitious Socks to 1% Marginal Gains: What Sport Taught Him About Business 10:24 – ABCD: Codifying Culture So Every Employee Knows the Mission 11:55 – The Lesson in Being a Founder People Listen To 13:22 – Healthy Paranoia: Why You Should Never Feel Comfortable 13:55 – Office Tour 14:58 – The Elevator Pitch Booth (and the Original Pitch Line) 16:04 – One Team, One Board: Keeping Three Offices in Sync 17:00 – £1,000 a Month for the Best 1% Idea 17:37 – Meet the Nameless, Eyeless Office Giraffe 18:35 – The Gong, the Clocks & the Mural: Building Culture Through Physical Symbols 19:36 – Highlighting Contracts by Hand: How Summize Was Actually Born 21:45 – From Point Tool to Full Platform: What Summize Does Today 22:59 – Why San Diego Over LA or San Francisco: Choosing Offices on Culture, Not Just Cash 24:25 – 250 Pitches, Four Funding Rounds: What Investors Actually Back at Pre-Seed 27:06 – Hurt Money: Quitting His Job, Moving House & Having a Baby in the Same Month 29:08 – The Polish Badminton Players Who Had No Plan B — and Why That Stuck With Him 31:24 – Burn-and-Raise vs. Build It Right: The Philosophy Between Series A and B 33:52 – UK vs. US Founders: The Ceiling of Ambition Difference 35:42 – "Could You 10x?" — Why US and UK Investors Ask Completely Different Questions 37:00 – From Silicon Valley Podcasts to Trusting His Own Gut 39:24 – Letter to a Young Founder: Build Your Network, Raise ...
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    41 min
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
Aucun commentaire pour le moment