Episodes

In this episode, Adriana Ignat (COO of Pulsate and Founder of VEKT AI) unpacks what it actually looks like to build a startup alongside a full-time executive role. From late nights and weekend sprints to creative ways of funding a business without chasing big VC rounds, she shares a candid view on discipline, trade-offs, and redefining success as a founder.

On this episode Philip speaks with Alan Costello, Partner at Resolve Partners, about what founders should focus on when building and funding a startup. They discuss customer discovery, building real traction, and how founders can find the right early investors. A practical conversation on why customer insight should come before capital.

In this episode of Founders and Funding, Philip speaks with Oscar Williams - VC investor, climate tech specialist and deep tech mentor. They explore funding strategies for hard tech startups, mixed capital stacks, what investors really look for in founders, and why raising capital is more like a marriage than a fling. A must-listen for founders navigating early-stage fundraising.

After exiting his advertising business, Michael Nissim became an angel investor backing early-stage startups across sectors. In this episode, Michael shares what he really looks for before investing — why founder resilience matters more than the business model, why he prefers founders who bootstrap first, and how startups should tailor their pitch to different types of investors. If you’re raising capital (or planning to), this is a practical look at funding from the investor’s side of the...

In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip chats with Simon Gray, Founder and former CEO of Boost Drinks. Simon shares how he built Boost from a small wholesale operation in 2001 into a nationally recognised energy drinks brand, without taking on external investment, before selling the business to AG Barr (makers of IRN-BRU) in 2022. They discuss building a product that customers come back for (not just hype), why cash flow beats vanity sales, when funding acts as an accelerator...

In this episode of the Founders & Funding Podcast, Philip chats with Kieran Greene, Founder & CEO of Shinka, an adtech platform powering ultra-fast real-time advertising auctions. Kieran shares his journey as a solo founder from bootstrapping and early debt financing to raising pre-seed and closing a seed round. They discuss how investor expectations change at each stage, building a technical MVP without a co-founder, and why having a clear vision has been critical to Shinka’s growth. A pract...

Philip Smith is joined by angel investor Matthew Stafford, co-founder of Nine Others and founder of Stafford VC. Matthew shares how 9others grew from a simple monthly dinner into a trusted global founder community, why honest peer conversations matter, and how founders can better navigate the challenges of building a company. He also discusses his approach to early-stage investing, what he looks for in founders, and why ideas that start niche or obscure often become the most interesting opportu...

Philip and Frank discuss when bootstrapping makes sense and when it limits ambition, why founders should raise if there’s a real path to $100M ARR, how to think about investors as partners not just capital, what Frank looks for when investing in startups himself and the startups he's invested in including Boardy and Clay, why red oceans don’t matter if you build your own lane and why founders should “engineer for luck” instead of building in silence

Philip and Leroy discuss why co-founder fallouts are one of the biggest causes of startup failure, what bootstrapping really looks like day-to-day, why sales is a non-negotiable skill for founders, how “easy money” can quietly destroy startups, what investors actually respond to (and what they ignore), when to take funding — and when to stop chasing it and much more.