scale with soul

AJ

AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups. After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him. He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building. At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success. If we don't understand people, we don't understand business. But people are hard to understand.... Which is why this show exists! scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.

  1. 16/12/2025

    No.1 Neuroscientist: The Problems With Goals (& What To Do Instead)

    No.1 Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff shares the theory behind her book Tiny Experiments, which includes the problems with goals as we know them today. She is an entrepreneur, whose first startup failed after she left her comfortable job at Google, but now has a thriving content business, Ness Labs, alongside her research as a neuroscientist at Kings College London.We dove into a range of topics including... 📖 Episode Chapters 00:00 - Intro 00:58 - The 3 Problems With Goals 08:06 - Why You Should Use Metacognition 13:47 - How To Escape The Prison Of Over-Thinking 20:35 - Cognitive Scripts: The Sequel, The Crowdpleaser & The Epic 32:51 - Where Are We Drunk On The Illusion Of Certainty? 39:43 - How To Lead Through Change 43:13 - How 1 Tiny Experiment Can Change Your Life 50:30 - End Of Year Routine 54:56 - The Paradox Of Persistence 57:50 - How To Get Out Of A Mental Hole 01:11:21 - How Can We Support Anne-Laure If you enjoyed this episode you'll probably love; One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s WeWork Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s&pp=0gcJCTwKAYcqIYzv 🪨 Resources: Episode summary doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KdMvHuOvSA-WCkRGWcF3-xZoGntx7PpMBGyHuxmbobI/edit?usp=sharing Ness Labs: https://nesslabs.com/ Ness Labs Annual Review Template (Google Slides): https://nesslabs.com/annual-review-template Ness Labs Annual Review Template (Notion): https://satisfying-melody-287.notion.site/Year-in-Review-Template-5b31d64596cf40f1b8d79e88fb24a280?source=copy_link 👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs 📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/.

    1h 13m
  2. 11/12/2025

    Ex-COO of Monzo: What Collapses When You Scale Too Fast

    Cherrypick Discount Code: https://alpha.lollipopai.com/codes/soul50 Tom Foster Carter is the Ex-COO of Monzo and a serial entrepreneur. He joined Monzo as COO at Series A and helped them scale to become a £1 billion unicorn, before leaving to start his next startup Cherrypick. He's a startup and business weapon which you can tell through this interview where we cover... Episode Chapters: 0:00 - 0:53 - Intro 0:54 - 9:27 - Monzo: What broke as they scaled? 9:28 - 18:55 - Hiring lessons - 30-1000 employees 18:56 - 22:47 - Don’t set Values, set Operating Pinrciples 22:48 - 41:01 - Speed as a habit; Kipchoge, not Bolt 41:02 - 53:14 - Speed is a habit; Data not Debate 53:15 - 58:58 - Pains of going from free to paid 58:59 - 1:02:42 - How to spot shifts in the VC landscape 1:02:35 - 1:09:05 - How has he developed as a leader 1:09:06 - 1:15:25 - How are you kind in firing people? 1:15:26 - 1:20:39 - Top lessons from Monzo & Curve 1:20:40 - 1:24:54 - His secret sauce to startups If you liked this episode, you'll probably love; One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDJtTNTxvs 👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs 📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    1h 26m
  3. 19/11/2025

    The Psychology Of Meaningful Marketing - Maya Moufarek

    Maya Moufarek is a Full Stack meaningful marketing expert, with decades of experience from companies like Google, Amex, Not On The High Street, and then the company she was the founding CMO of, Pharmacy2U (which raised $300m and is the 3rd largest pharmacy in the UK). How do we have to evolve as the company evolves? How do we think about our business' marketing from a high level? What biases do leaders suffer from the most? Expect to learn a lot about your psychology, meaningful marketing, startups and so much more in this podcast interview. 📖 Chapters: 00:53 - What got you here won't get you there 04:05 - The Problem With Founder-Problem Fit 09:39 - What Biases Do Founders Fall Prey To The Most? 11:28 - What's A Meaningful Company To You? 18:53 - How To Recognise Meaning 23:58 - Hoffman Process - How To Come Back To Yourself 27:20 - "I'm not good enough" vs Owning Our Differences 31:25 - Finding Your People (Mentors, Advisors) 35:24 - Strongest Limiting Beliefs In Female Founders 39:03 - How We Get In The Way Of Timing 42:29 - Maya's Evolution Of Her Relationship With Control 44:00 - Control: Masculine vs Feminine 48:24 - How To Give Feedback Well 01:01:56 - Meaningful Marketing 01:05:07 - How Should We Stay Aligned With Customers? 01:14:05 - Customer Interactions Post PMF 01:18:44 - The Core Of Business If you enjoyed this, you'll probably love: Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDJtTNTxvs £100m CEO Superpowers & Shadow Sides - Aron Gelbard, Bloom & Wild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c289plCAeDA&t=76s&pp=0gcJCQgKAYcqIYzv 👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs 📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    1h 23m
  4. 17/11/2025

    £100m CEO Superpowers & Shadow Sides | Aron Gelbard, Bloom & Wild

    Aron Gelbard is the CEO of the £100m revenue startup, Bloom & Wild, a flower delivery company operating across Europe. In this interview he shares his work styles and shadows as a entrepreneur and a look inside a unicorn startup business. 📖 Chapters 00:00 - What does inefficient work look like? 07:45 - CEO = Upside Down Pyramid 09:26 - Core Value: Care Wildly 14:37 - World Class Customer Service 20:45 - Biggest Feedback from Executives - Goalkeep Less 25:17 - Responding to Market Trends 30:10 - Fix the System Not the Symptom 31:50 - How to operationalise values 34:19 - Values In Life = Embedded in Business 37:19 - Balancing kindness with demanding high performance 39:54 - The Most Difficult Decisions 45:48 - How To Set Stretch Goals 50:23 - Managing Up & Down as CEO 53:32 - Knowing everyone on the team 56:54 - Stages Of The Business Model 01:01:35 - Merging Three Teams into One 01:11:15 - Novel Annual Board Agenda 01:15:21 - The Secret To Consistency 01:21:42 - How Life impacts What We Do If you enjoyed this interview, you'll likely love: WeWork's Co-Founder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands | Julian Metcalfe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205s 👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    1h 27m
  5. 13/11/2025

    Find Calm In The Startup Chaos - Karolina Pelc, BeyondPlay

    Karolina Pelc is the author of HerPlay, and the Founder and ex-CEO of the startup BeyondPlay, which was acquired by FanDuel. She has been through the startup storm and has come out the other side with methods for finding calm. 📖 Chapters 00:00 - Karolina Pelc 01:02 - Intensity As A CEO 04:22 - "You Think You're So Tough?" 06:48 - Addiction To Doing & Parenting 15:20 - Deep Internal Wisdom vs Limiting Beliefs 21:01 - What if You Fly vs What if You Fail 24:58 - Don't Try To Be Liked As The Leader 27:57 - Unexpected Challenges With Gender Diversity 31:24 - What Does Being Ruthless Mean? 33:07 - How Transparent Can You Be As A Founder 38:49 - Boundaries to Transparency 46:30 - "Entrepreneurs Are Not Managers" - Sir Richard Branson 49:16 - Your Relationship With Control vs Delegation 53:41 - Setting Standards of Trust and Attention to Detail 56:44 - "The Chaos Muppet Building Calmness" 01:11:27 - What Health Habits To Prioritise When You Have No Time 01:14:04 - Psychedelics: What they uncovered? 01:19:00 - The Habit Of Reframing 01:22:48 - A Book is Like A Startup 01:29:34 - Don't Believe In Luck! 01:33:02 - Her Play: The Book If you enjoyed this interview, you might love: Work Isn't A Family...But It Can Be Human | Katy Turner (interview) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Gxz1cQstI&t=58s One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesner (interview) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s 👉 Subscribe on this channel to be the first to watch future episodes 📧 Subscribe to the newsletter to get summaries of each episode: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    1h 35m
  6. 11/11/2025

    Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business, Moonpig

    Moonpig is valued at over a $Billion and the founder, Nick Jenkins, reveals all his marketing and business secrets in this rich and insightful interview! Nick is a marketing wizard and here he delivers a masterclass in business and marketing as well as... 📖 Chapters: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:49 - What Will you Do When You Grow Up? 00:01:48 - What is next to be learnt? 00:02:28 - Lessons from living through the Russian Revolution 00:06:26 - Decisions: At Some Point Your Going To Have To Jump 00:08:55 - When Entrepreneurs Overcomplicate 00:12:35 - Moonpig Marketing Marvel 00:18:59 - The Most Important Discovery From A Statistics Degree 00:21:50 - Growing Repeat Customers 00:24:46 - Where To Start With Marketing 00:27:21 - What's Your Price? 00:28:54 - What's Your Product? 00:30:56 - What Companies Get Wrong About Customers 00:33:27 - Actors on the Phone Lines 00:35:20 - Optimising Each Element of the Business 00:37:18 - Forming Your Team 00:40:35 - Breaking Through The Clouds into The Sunshine 00:42:38 - What Would You have Done Differently? 00:44:03 - How To Scale Employees 00:48:43 - Changing Direction 00:51:43 - Europe Vs US 00:52:49 - "Don't hand in unfinished homework" 00:54:21 - How To Sell A Business 00:59:28 - Burn After Selling 01:01:51 - Recruiting Advice 01:06:20 - Work Life Balance 01:08:10 - Crafting Creativity 01:10:04 - The Difference Between A Good and Great Entrepreneur 01:13:15 - Passion For What You Do 01:14:34 - VC / Investors: Judging what to do next 01:16:56 - Getting Caught Out 01:17:50 - What The Entrepreneur Community Could Do Better 👇 If you liked this interview, you'll probably love these too: Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brands | Julian Metcalfe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205s One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesne rhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s 👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs 📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    1h 20m
  7. 07/11/2025

    Public Company CEO on Trauma, Trust & Leadership Identity | Devika Wood

    Devika Wood is the CEO of the public company Brain+, who are leaders in improving dementia care. She is also one of the most honest and vulnerable founders I have ever interviewed. In this interview she not only shares her deep inner world and trauma experiences, but also an exclusive summary of a court case involving her previous startup, and a deep betrayal of trust. 📖 Chapters 00:00:00 - A letter to my younger self 00:06:54 - How trauma can shape your impact on the world 00:13:51 - Refining your 'why' 00:18:48 - ROI for investors when your mission isn't money driven 00:26:36 - The story of the previous startup and a betrayal of trust 00:37:53 - The court case - lessons in leadership 00:46:10 - Compartmentalising vs Bottling it up 00:50:33 - The art of transparency in a team 00:54:22 - Backing yourself in moments of crises 00:56:50 - The best process to dealing with a crisis 00:58:51 - The balancing of the masculinity and femininity 01:11:32 - How your identity evolves as a founder 01:16:52 - How to best support our partners and ourselves 01:27:52 - WEALTH - Women In Health 01:32:27 - What stamp do you want to leave on the world 01:34:42 - How we can support Devika If you enjoyed this episode, you might love these: WeWork Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s Dangerous (But Common) Startup Myths | Sho Sugihara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8eBlgYIVDg&t=2943s 👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs 📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/

    1h 37m
  8. 06/11/2025

    50 Founder Interviews. £100k Spent. 15 Hard Lessons. 1 Hour

    A 15-lesson reflection on £100k spent, 18 months, over 50 interviews with some world class entrepreneurs. This is a very open and honest look under the hood into what it takes to create a podcast business. I've been focusing on founder interviews because I wanted to learn what it takes to create a great company and build an audience at the same time. I definitely learned one of them.... the hard way. 📖 Chapters 0:00:00 - Intro 0:01:13 - Pret A Manger & Itsu Founder - Get To The Truth 0:05:29 - Sharmadean Reid - Build Networks Of Power 0:12:30 - Busuu Founder - Operationalise Your Culture 0:17:19 - Count the pennies, and the millions will count themselves 0:21:49 - WeWork Cofounder - What Does It Mean To Change The World? 0:28:11 - Don't go slow to go fast... just go 0:31:10 - Know what you're selling first 0:36:44 - Distribution is 50% of the game 0:39:46 - The cost of isolation is delusion 0:41:31 - The answer isn't pushing harder 0:43:32 - Financial Breakdown (My P&L) 0:48:38 - Don't build for the wrong reasons 0:51:05 - Question your foundations 0:53:12 - The Cognitive Dissonance Spiral 0:54:43 - The art of learning from others' experiences 0:56:10 - Failure Is The Cost Of Entry 0:57:22 - The future of this channel If you enjoyed any of the clips I shared, here are the whole interviews:Pret & Itsu Founder: The One Skill To Build £Billion Brandshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EYLLS_0xw&t=1205sCreate Your Networks Of Power | Sharmadean Reid MBEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyskAAx_P90&t=3243sOne Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558s From 80 VC Rejections To Rejecting VCs | Atilana Pinon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gK5uCJscFU&t=1852s WeWork's Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s Please subscribe and hit the bell icon to support the channel! Much love, AJ x

    1 hr

About

AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups. After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him. He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building. At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success. If we don't understand people, we don't understand business. But people are hard to understand.... Which is why this show exists! scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.