40 Minute Mentor JBM, James Mitra

“Had I continued along my path, I could have a very successful private and NHS GP practice. I could be earning multiples of what I’m allowing myself to earn right now. The stability that I can provide for my family is, quite frankly, limited.” 

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Dr Rupy Aujla, Founder of The Doctor’s Kitchen and best selling cookbook author. 

Rupy is a trained medical doctor turned startup Founder - a path that was never really part of his plan. 

If you haven’t come across The Doctor’s Kitchen yet, you might recognise Rupy from his cookbooks, his popular podcast, or seen him featured on TV shows across the BBC, ITV or Channel 4. 

It was a huge honour to have him join us on 40 Minute Mentor and candidly talk to us about his experience as a doctor, what led to The Doctor’s Kitchen, the startup lessons he had to learn quickly and lots of easy to follow advice for all of us to eat healthier and better. 

Episode chapters: 
➡️ Rupy’s upbringing and his parents wanting him to go into business [04:05]   
➡️ Finding his love for medicine [07:25] 
➡️ The accidental business that became The Doctor’s Kitchen [10:10] 
➡️ Dealing with imposter syndrome [12:43] 
➡️ Transferable skills from medicine to business [15:10] 
➡️ The Doctor’s Kitchen App [17:55] 
➡️ Podcast recommendation: Strategy & Tragedy [20:13] 
➡️ The Doctor’s Kitchen impact to date [21:50] 
➡️ Pivots & bootstrapping everything [25:20] 
➡️ Why entrepreneurship should be simple [29:00] 
➡️ What a truly well-balanced diet looks like [34:35] 
➡️ Audience question: Learning about food in schools [41:50] 


⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ Connect with Rupy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupy-aujla?originalSubdomain=uk 
➡️ Check out The Doctor’s Kitchen: https://thedoctorskitchen.com/ 

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“Fundraising can be exhausting, so it’s really important to spend time with the right people who just won’t waste your time [...], pay attention and ask the right questions.” 
Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Avion Gray, Co-Founder and CEO of Belong, a new wealth-building platform. 
Avion started her career in investment banking, before working as Head of Product & Commercialisation at industry-leading POS systems and merchant service provider Clover, where she oversaw the launch and expansion of the business in the US and across Europe. 
Following her deep drive to do something that she could bring every aspect of her being to, Avion is now building Belong, together with Co-Founder and behavioural economist, Samantha Rosenberg. 
Having only recently come out of stealth, Avion and Samantha have already built incredible traction in the market, including having raised the largest pre-seed round ever raised by female Founders in Europe. 
We unpack all that and much more in today’s episode. 

Episode chapters: 
➡️ Avion’s upbringing & education being the biggest equaliser [03:57] 
➡️ Finding her entrepreneurial spirit [07:00] 
➡️ Career foundations [09:00] 
➡️ Clover’s expansion to the US and Europe [11:30] 
➡️ Taking the leap into entrepreneurship [14:20] 
➡️ The paradox of wealth [16:40] 
➡️ More about Belong [18:32] 
➡️ Nick Hungerford’s mentorship [24:18] 
➡️ The sacrifice for entrepreneurship [29:07] 
➡️ Raising the biggest pre-seed round in Europe [32:23] 
➡️ Practical advice for wealth building [37:40] 
➡️ Audience Question: How would you describe Belong’s culture? [41:42] 

⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ Connect with Avion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aviongray/?originalSubdomain=uk 
➡️ Find our more about Belong: https://www.be-long.co/

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“[Having bootstrapped] we get to control our destiny, we can move as quickly as we want and we can go where we want and don’t have to be accountable.” 
Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Gurinder Dhillon, Founder of Otto Car, London’s largest community of PCO drivers and Europe’s largest provider of electric vehicles to private-hire drivers.  
Having recently partnered with Gurinder and Otto Car to deliver a very exciting search for them, it was extra special to sit down with Gurinder and find out more about his incredible journey with Otto Car - from one Toyota Prius in a West London garage to one of the fastest growing startups in Europe…all completely bootstrapped. 
In amongst the shared ups and downs of scaling a bootstrapped business, Gurinder shares invaluable advice for anyone thinking of starting their own entrepreneurial journey. 

Episode chapters: 
➡️ The cost of entrepreneurship [04:18] 
➡️ Gurinder’s upbringing and route into entrepreneurship [07:16] 
➡️ Early startup experience [09:40] 
➡️ Eternal optimism & navigating failure [13:06] 
➡️ Otto Car’s origin story [14:32] 
➡️ Losing 75% of revenue in one day - Otto Car’s pivot [17:44] 
➡️ Advice on pivoting [19:14] 
➡️ Building a business around love [23:22] 
➡️ Gurinder’s vision for the future [26:00] 
➡️ The benefits & reality behind bootstrapping [28:12] 
➡️ Hiring advice [30:30] 
➡️ Audience question: What would you do if you wouldn’t have followed the entrepreneurial route? [37:00] 

⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ Connect with Gurinder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurinder-dhillon/ 
➡️ Find our more about Otto Car: https://ottocar.co.uk/ 

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“There are days when you wake up and think ‘this is it - we’re going to be the next Google’ and then you wake up the next morning and feel like it’s all over and you’re going to fail.” 

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is former VC investor turned serial entrepreneur, Greg Marsh. 

Following his time as an investor with Index Ventures, Greg went to build pioneering luxury accommodation marketplace, onefinestay, which became a global success with over 700 people and an exit via acquisition by Accor Hotel in 2016 - a deal worth more than $200m. 

But it didn’t take long for Greg to throw himself back in the Founder seat. 

In today’s episode, we discuss his career to date in detail, plus find out more about his latest venture, Nous - the smarter way to save on household bills. 

Episode chapters: 
➡️ Growing up in west London and finding his call as an entrepreneur [03:08] 
➡️ Becoming an Investor [04:37] 
➡️ The origins of onefinestay [10:11] 
➡️ Underestimating the difficulty of scaling a business [11:26] 
➡️ The collaborative nature of entrepreneurship [13:43] 
➡️ Building a support network around you [16:33] 
➡️ The emotional rollercoaster of being a Founder [18:46] 
➡️ Taking hiring seriously [21:12] 
➡️ Why Greg jumped back into the Founder seat [24:59] 
➡️ More about Nous [29:26] 
➡️ Building traction in a difficult market [34:56] 
➡️ Advantages of being a second time Founder [37:23] 
➡️ Audience Question: What practical advice do you have for making your money work harder in difficult times? [42:34] 

⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ Connect with Greg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmarsh/ 
➡️ Check out Nous: https://www.nous.co/ 

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️
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“Entrepreneurship feels like a process of torture sometimes because no matter how hard you try and how much you work and how many evenings or weekends that you sacrifice, you’re still only at the very bottom of the hill.” 

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Deirdre O’Neill, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial & Legal Officer at women’s health startup, Hertility. 

With a background in corporate law and VC law, Deirdre took the leap into entrepreneurship in 2019, alongside twin sister Dr Helen O’Neill and Dr Natalie Getreu. 

Since then, the three Co-Founders and their team have been revolutionising the future of reproductive healthcare, by pioneering unique diagnostic testing. 

In this episode, we get a full behind-the-scenes look into their build so far and where the future might take them… 

Episode chapters: 
➡️ Growing up in Cork [07:30] 
➡️ Why she feels more like a lawyer now than ever before [10:33] 
➡️ Hertility’s origin story [13:14] 
➡️ Breaking into a heavily regulated space [18:30] 
➡️ Normalising talking about fertility & women’s health [20:27] 
➡️ Fundraising & why crowdfunding is a great option [23:11] 
➡️ Leaning into pregnancy as a Founder [29:05] 
➡️ Why the best talent is focusing on purpose [31:52] 
➡️ Are you choosing a steamboat or a speedboat? [33:15] 
➡️ Hertility’s team culture [35:23] 
➡️ Audience Question: How do you navigate conflict with your Co-Founder and twin sister [40:13] 

⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ Connect with Deirdre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdre-o-neill-a8bb6a14/ 
➡️ Check out Hertility: https://hertilityhealth.com/ 

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️
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“If we’re not seeing outcomes, we need more visibility. Does visibility mean someone being physically in front of you? Probably not.” 

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Natasha Ratanshi-Stein, the Founder of Surfboard - the next generation planning tools for customer service teams. 

Before building Surfboard, Natasha spent several years as an Operator and Investor, including her roles as Principal at Piton Capital and Chief of Staff at Bulb. 

We had a fascinating chat with Natasha, exploring her unique career journey and her mission to make work more human with Surfboard. 

Episode chapters: 
➡️ Her upbringing in Canada [03:56] 
➡️ Moving into VC [05:34] 
➡️ Why she wishes she had Operator experience before moving into VC [11:02] 
➡️ Becoming Chief of Staff at Bulb [12:45] 
➡️ Advice for aspiring Chiefs of Staff [16:33] 
➡️ When to hire a Chief of Staff [20:02] 
➡️ More about Surfboard [22:15] 
➡️ Getting customer traction early [30:00] 
➡️ Flexible working [34:16] 
➡️ Audience question: What are your future aspirations with Surfboard? [39:50] 

⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ Connect with Natasha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-ratanshi-stein-%F0%9F%8F%84%F0%9F%8F%BC%E2%80%8D%E2%99%80%EF%B8%8F-69333723/ 
➡️ Check out Surfboard: https://teamsurfboard.com/ 

⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️
Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm 

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