ZANDA TALKS

In our latest episode we have the pleasure of speaking to Claire Smith, a vegan entrepreneur and impact investor who after 20 years has been able to merge her passion, ethics and career, into a business. Claire shares how she is on a mission to accelerate the transition to a sustainable ethical economy through her new online platform, Beyond Animal, which connects a wide pool of investors to a range of vegan companies, events and resources.   Claire explains how her experience as an investor helps her support impact businesses overcome the problems they face after their initial investment. She also witnessed the needed shift from passive investment to ethical investment, so created a platform to align with this, which speeds up human connection in a digital age.   We get valuable insight from this, investor turned founder, on what she looks for in impact companies and how essential putting together the correct team is; a team that doesn’t just align with the values of the company but lives them, because i

Do you want to learn how to grow a brand based around community? How to scale-up a start-up?  How picking a Co-Founder has similar qualities to a marriage? Then Join us for Episode 3 of our Sustainable Tech Series, in which we are joined by the co-founder of OLIO, Tessa Clarke.    OLIO is a hybrid of a marketplace and a community app, that alerts neighbours of unwanted food in their area, connecting like-minded individuals wanting to fight food waste, and in turn the climate crisis. 1/3 of all the food we produce each year gets thrown away and if food waste was a country it would be the 3rd largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, behind USA and China. Tessa shares how these shocking statistics paired with her respect for the hard work put in to growing food, learnt from a rural upbringing, pushed her to pursue this mission and never go back to her corporate career.   OLIO has grown from a whatsapp group and some leftover sweet potatoes, to a 2 million strong community. So far, 9 million portions of f

In this episode, we speak to Jules Buker one of the Founders of the tree planting app, Treeapp. Treeapp was launched April 2020 and connects carbon conscious users with sustainable brands who sponsor reforestation projects across the globe. Jules shares his valuable previous experience working with numerous startups through Crowdcube as well as founding two other businesses. These experiences helped his team produce a highly acclaimed app that can make an impact with the environment and users, having gained ‘app of the day’ and ‘hottest app in the app store’ several times.     Jules shows his real understanding of sustainable reforestation and explains how they have made it accessible to the masses, daily with Treeapp. As you unlock the map, you learn about the country and species you are helping rehabilitate and Jules explains this user friendly experience is refined thanks to endless feedback. From the Green Tech Alliance, to the importance of hiring the right team and Treeapp’s plans for next year, Jules

We are back with our second series of Zanda Talks and are diving into the world of sustainable tech.  It may have taken a pandemic for some of us to see the damage we have done to the planet but ‘A recent poll showed only 9% of Britons want life to return to 'normal' once lockdown is over’.  So, we are kicking off this series with the CEO of KOMMA, Griffin Peddicord.  KOMMA is striving to create a society way beyond ‘normal’ by providing real world tech based solutions, designed to deliver a better quality of movement and improve the urban landscape for a sustainable future.  Griffin shares with us how their first product, a compact electric vehicle will tackle numerous issues such as carbon emissions, wasted time and efficiency vs safety.  We discuss how the pandemic has shown us how the world can react to address a global problem and how it has accelerated interest in their product.   We talk about how investment focus has shifted to businesses creating a legacy and long lasting impact and that is exactl

In our final episode we were lucky enough to speak to the brains and driving force behind Blooming Founders, Lu Li.    Lu has been changing the narrative for female founders through challenging the need for diversity and using her acclaimed brand and company to help early stage female founders succeed. Prior to the pandemic, Blooming Founders produced popular business events and ran an award-winning co-working space in London.    In this valuable discussion she shares how the pandemic made her realise the shift in the industry, so she pivoted her business to an an internship placement service, where they match businesses with students and save companies 90% of your typical hiring costs.   Lu shares her views on what impact the pandemic could have on female founders and diversity within startups, which leads to discussing the future of funding and the needed shift in behaviour.    As a problem solver with a large amount of entrepreneurial drive, Lu knows the importance of using this time to network, as

In the penultimate episode of our first series of Zanda Talks, we interview telehealth innovator and host of “Digital Health Entrepreneurship Daily” (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtTCTa-oR4Zm2jrQ0ZZkelg ) Laurence Girard   Laurence, Founder of Fruit Street (https://www.fruitstreet.com/) and CovidMD.com (https://covidmd.com/) , shares how his past evolved him into the conscious, motivated founder he is today, through playing soccer for the New York Red Bulls Academy in his teens and twenties and being an alumnus of the Kairos Society, a global network of social entrepreneurs focused on having a social impact. We gain an understanding of how he acquired the resilience needed for leading a startup, as well as finding employees who are inherently passionate about helping society.   Laurence shares with us how he grabbed the opportunity when the pandemic began and pivoted to create CovidMD.com. He is heading up a team of technology experts, business leaders, and nationally recognized physicians who have joined

“In downturns of any sort there are huge opportunities and those that are brave and bold will come out far stronger than if they didn’t have the downturn at all. Winners are created in downturns.” Jon Lerner, Smedvig Capital   Earlier this month we had the pleasure of speaking to Managing Director at Smedvig Capital (https://www.smedvigcapital.com/) , Jon Lerner. Since 1996 Smedvig Capital has partnered with and helped scale over 70 companies in the UK and Nordics.    Jon is currently a board member of Spirable, Masabi, POQ, Infinity, Captify and The Smart Cube and has previously served on the boards of Tusker, ITIS and Selstor. Having worked with so many tech-enabled companies, we thought he was the perfect person to question about the future of tech companies after Covid-19 and get an insight into how Smedvig has worked closely with their portfolio in recent weeks.    In this episode Jon shares an honest insight into the inner workings of Smedvig Capital on a regular day compared to the current situation, a

Businesses are having to reassess whether to shift into the offence or defence.   How do you know when is the right time to draw back and retreat or take advantage of the changes and attack?    Co-founder Dav Masaon sits down with SaaS Co-Founder turned Quake Capital Investor Sumay Parikh. In this episode we get an insight into how Quake Capital, (VC & Growth Accelerator) is helping its portfolio navigate through this confusing time and Sumay shares his views on shifting focus, mentorship, thriving industries and using this time to build trust not capital.    Sumay has advised over 60 start-up companies in the last 3 years, working on distressed business turnarounds, general management, finance and operational strategy. With significant VC and operational experience in Seed to Series B companies, he has a strong passion and understanding of the start-up ecosystem from both sides.

In this remotely recorded episode we are joined by Sabrina Castiglione, the CFO of the multi award winning cybersecurity business Tessian.    Since joining Tessian in 2016 as their 7th team member, Sabrina has played a key role in establishing functions across Talent, People, Finance, Legal, Compliance, IT, Tech as the business expanded to 150 people. She currently overseas all these areas, acted as the Chair of the Wise Campaign’s Young Professionals’ Board in 2019, and recently helped to establish WEDS (We Empower Diverse Startups).   In this episode we discuss the challenges faced as Tessian evolved from a pre-seed startup to a series B scaleup, the current impact of Covid 19, and learn how the imbalances in gender equality throughout the STEM industries sparked the initiative to help startups with diversity and inclusion.   Tune in to the latest episode of Zanda Talks to hear Sabrina’s circuitous route into startups and the lessons she has learnt along the way.

Mars has always been an ambitious individual, either through sports or through his entrepreneurial passions. He’s scaled various companies, totaling $200M of aggregate revenues and leading over 500 professionals. He has worked as either CEO or CFO/COO in multiple venture capital and private equity backed companies, which include 2 successful exits and an IPO.   In this episode, Mars shares how his athlete mentality has helped him enjoy the challenges that start-ups bring. He’s served as an advisor to 30+ start-ups and growth companies, which has allowed him to see various business models and successful traits. With all that experience, including raising over $4.5B of institutional capital through his career so far, we thought we would question Mars for his advice on Covid-19 and how to continue business, whether you are scaling back or seeking investment. We cover how businesses and founders can reduce the impact of COVID-19, by covering a range of topics from; how you can still look appealing to investors, b

In our latest episode we were joined by Jamie Beaumont, Partner at LEGO Ventures, to discuss the “Two Sides of Fundraising”   Jamie spent 10 years as a CFO across a variety of industries and ownership structures, prior to joining LEGO Ventures. Jamie’s last CFO role was at the hyper growth EdTech business Kano Computing where he led a number of their fundraising rounds and was instrumental in the scaling up of the business.    Jamie discusses his transition to the other side of the pitching table and how time as a CFO has massively helped him as an investor & advisor. He also highlights some helpful tips to navigate the challenges of scaling up and how start-ups can steer their efforts, to hook the interest of VC’s.   LEGO Ventures may only be a year old but it already boasts an impressive portfolio of start-ups and it is great to hear how committed they are to the future of creativity, learning, and play.

In this episode, we're joined by speech and communication expert James Bryce who shares his knowledge on speech intelligence and how he believes it's the next big thing in human productivity. James, a former Royal Marines Commando, speaks several languages and has been in the speech and communication field for over 20 years now. It was James’ fascination with this aspect of human behaviour that inspired him to develop AI tool, Gweek; winner of the Innovation in AI Award at CogX, London for 2 years running.   Gweek’s unique technology and application advises speakers in real-time through the privacy and convenience of their own phone. Assisting its user's to master speech patterns and thoughts through bite-sized personalised learning. Gweek is agile and adaptive across all-matter of subject, allowing the user to engage authentically and articulately in situations and conversations where they might have otherwise struggled to find the appropriate words.   Articulating professionally and communicating effectivel

Recently been named on BusinessCloud’s Top 101 HealthTech Innovators of 2019 list, Top 100 disruptive companies 2019 by DisruptionHub and was awarded the 2019 Horizon Prize for Improved Mobility by the EU Research and Innovation Program. Lise founded Walk With Path in 2014, based on her developments during Innovation Design Engineering, and her personal experience with Parkinson’s suffered by her father. The company launched it's first product in 2017; Path Finder, a visual cueing shoe attachment to help those with Parkinson's. The second product, a haptic feedback insole to improve balance; Path Feel, is in development. We caught up with Lise Pape, who provided a fascinating insight into a “founders life” and how the challenges she overcame shaped an idea and business that has always kept the user at the forefront of their mind. 

Great discussion with Philip Fortuna talking candidly about the mindset of a Founder. Philip has an incredible story; Once a professional athlete, he went on to coach Olympians & World Champion Boxers. Fast forward to the present day, his skills and experience see him mentoring high growth startups. Philip has a wealth of knowledge from working closely with Founders and VC's on strategy, creative cognition and high pressure decision making. During this episode we discuss some of the personal and business issues facing Start-up / Scale-up Founders.  We look forward to sharing insights and some quick wins on topics such as isolation, sleep, delegation, and building effective teams. We hope that this session can help along the amazing journey of being a Founder!!