Founder Friday

Canopy Community

Founder Friday Leveraging entrepreneurship as a tool for social mobility. That's the mission behind Canopy Community and the Founder Friday podcast. We believe talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn't. Too many people never start a business because they never see someone like themselves become a founder. They assume entrepreneurship belongs to people with different backgrounds, different education, different connections or different resources. We're here to change that. In each episode, host Stewart Noakes sits down with founders from around the world to uncover the stories that rarely make the headlines. Together they explore the uncertainty, resilience, failures, breakthroughs and defining moments that shape entrepreneurial journeys. These aren't polished success stories. They're honest conversations about building something from nothing. Our hope is simple. One story at a time, we want every listener to discover someone they can relate to and think: "If they can do it, maybe I can too." Because there isn't one route into entrepreneurship. - Founders come from cities and villages.- From universities and factories.- From boardrooms and bedrooms.- From privilege and from adversity. Some are parents. Some are students. Some are immigrants. Some start at 18, others at 68. Every journey is different, yet has similarities regardless of the origin. Every story matters. Every conversation helps widen the picture of what a founder looks like. Whether you're exploring your first idea, validating an MVP, finding customers, raising investment or simply wondering whether entrepreneurship could be part of your future, Founder Friday offers practical insights and authentic stories from people who are actively building. Produced by Canopy Community, one of Europe's leading startup communities, Founder Friday is part of a bigger mission: To leverage entrepreneurship as a tool for social mobility by making founders more visible, more relatable and more accessible to the next generation. Because changing one life doesn't always start with funding. Sometimes it starts with a story. And perhaps the next story you hear will be the one that changes yours. 🎙️ Follow Founder Friday for new episodes as they drop. 🌱 Learn more about Canopy Community: https://www.canopy.community/ 👋 Connect with Stewart Noakes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewartnoakes/ #FounderFriday #FirstTimeFounder #StartupFounder #Entrepreneurship #StartupCommunity #SocialMobility #Innovation #MVP #StartupJourney #FollowYourDreams #IfNotNowThenWhen #Tribe

Episodes

  1. Aug 21

    From Zero G Tests To Noise Free Meetings

    Send us Fan Mail We talk with Gianluca, CEO and co-founder of Metasonixx, about building acoustic privacy products that reduce noise while keeping light, transparency and airflow. We get into the real timeline of a university spin-out, the personal resilience required to survive cash flow lows, and why storytelling and theatre skills can make a technical founder stand out.  • what “acoustic privacy” means in offices, homes and hospitality  • turning university IP into a deep tech hardware product line  • the practical timeline from 2018 research to 2024 sales  • early hospital trials during lockdown and what clinicians cared about first  • learning the language of startups as a technical founder  • why entrepreneurship is learned by doing not just studying  • theatre, breathing and storytelling as founder communication tools  • pivoting from hospitals to offices and listening to customer reality  • cash flow pressure and the need to grow as a founder first  • advice for first-time founders on filtering unhelpful opinions Raise Angel Investment with ScribeSystematise and automate your fundraising with Angel investors in the UK Business banking with RevolutEasy business banking including Crypto treasury SeedlegalsThe go to platform for startup legals in UK and USA#TRIBEThe friends of Canopy membership groupDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show Canopy Community The place for founders, start ups and entrepreneurs. For more episodes, or to access coaching, events, advice, networks, education and more, visit… https://linktr.ee/CanopyCommunity

    From Zero G Tests To Noise Free Meetings
  2. Aug 14

    From Doctor Who VR To Teen Calm

    Send us Fan Mail We talk with Zilla Watson and Katie, the co-founders of Phase Space, about building a virtual reality tool that helps anxious teenagers feel calmer in minutes and why schools became the real place for impact. We share the messy, practical decisions behind evidence, funding, founder fit, and choosing a growth path that matches both ambition and real life.  • meeting through a competitive BBC VR commission and building trust through delivery  • founding Phase Space during Covid and shifting from “projects” to a real product  • using an Innovate UK research grant to build an evidence base and test safely  • learning that grant cash flow and paid-in-arrears timelines change fundraising needs  • finding product-market fit in schools through systematic pilots and clear use cases  • rolling out across Sutton secondary schools with NHS and university partners  • dividing founder strengths while protecting sustainability and avoiding burnout  • redefining success beyond headline VC rounds and “investability” narratives  • using AI tools to speed up customer research and positioning work  • choosing between revenue-led growth and investment-led hypergrowth  • handling conflicting advice by asking better questions and filtering by timing  Raise Angel Investment with ScribeSystematise and automate your fundraising with Angel investors in the UK Business banking with RevolutEasy business banking including Crypto treasury SeedlegalsThe go to platform for startup legals in UK and USADisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show Canopy Community The place for founders, start ups and entrepreneurs. For more episodes, or to access coaching, events, advice, networks, education and more, visit… https://linktr.ee/CanopyCommunity

    From Doctor Who VR To Teen Calm

About

Founder Friday Leveraging entrepreneurship as a tool for social mobility. That's the mission behind Canopy Community and the Founder Friday podcast. We believe talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn't. Too many people never start a business because they never see someone like themselves become a founder. They assume entrepreneurship belongs to people with different backgrounds, different education, different connections or different resources. We're here to change that. In each episode, host Stewart Noakes sits down with founders from around the world to uncover the stories that rarely make the headlines. Together they explore the uncertainty, resilience, failures, breakthroughs and defining moments that shape entrepreneurial journeys. These aren't polished success stories. They're honest conversations about building something from nothing. Our hope is simple. One story at a time, we want every listener to discover someone they can relate to and think: "If they can do it, maybe I can too." Because there isn't one route into entrepreneurship. - Founders come from cities and villages.- From universities and factories.- From boardrooms and bedrooms.- From privilege and from adversity. Some are parents. Some are students. Some are immigrants. Some start at 18, others at 68. Every journey is different, yet has similarities regardless of the origin. Every story matters. Every conversation helps widen the picture of what a founder looks like. Whether you're exploring your first idea, validating an MVP, finding customers, raising investment or simply wondering whether entrepreneurship could be part of your future, Founder Friday offers practical insights and authentic stories from people who are actively building. Produced by Canopy Community, one of Europe's leading startup communities, Founder Friday is part of a bigger mission: To leverage entrepreneurship as a tool for social mobility by making founders more visible, more relatable and more accessible to the next generation. Because changing one life doesn't always start with funding. Sometimes it starts with a story. And perhaps the next story you hear will be the one that changes yours. 🎙️ Follow Founder Friday for new episodes as they drop. 🌱 Learn more about Canopy Community: https://www.canopy.community/ 👋 Connect with Stewart Noakes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewartnoakes/ #FounderFriday #FirstTimeFounder #StartupFounder #Entrepreneurship #StartupCommunity #SocialMobility #Innovation #MVP #StartupJourney #FollowYourDreams #IfNotNowThenWhen #Tribe