Bitten by the Startup Bug: A Tech Startup Story with Petscreening
When John Bradford set out to solve one problem in his own property portfolio, he had no idea he was about to build a category-defining SaaS company used across millions of rental homes in the United States. In this episode, John shares how a single dog-bite incident led to the creation of Petscreening, why he bootstrapped the entire journey, and how he grew it into a platform that now supports landlords, residents, and pet owners across multiple housing sectors.
We explore the early days of building the MVP, why he hid his involvement from his own employees to get honest feedback, and how scrappy trade-show hustle landed him a major breakthrough client. John also dives into leadership, culture, scaling challenges, and the unexpected impact of political experience on navigating regulation.
From building a dog-friendly office inside an old textile mill to launching the nationwide FIDO Score and FIDO Alert programmes, this is a candid and energetic look into how vision, grit, and a love of pets turned a simple idea into a transformative industry standard.
Focusing on the Small Wins: A Tech Startup Story with PocketTrainer
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, we speak with PocketTrainer founder Janos Laszlo about building a product rooted in real human behaviour. We explore why small wins matter more than big milestones, how early users shaped the product, and why staying close to the customer’s daily challenges became the foundation of PocketTrainer’s growth. A detailed look at how discipline, iteration and empathy can guide a bootstrapped startup forward.
Growing a Mission Led Startup: A Tech Startup Story from Niyo Labs
In this episode, we explore how Oyinkansola Adebayo built Niyo Labs into a mission led tech company transforming access to skills, opportunity, and economic mobility. From early community roots to a scalable gamified learning platform, Oyin shares the realities of growing with purpose, navigating challenges, and staying true to the people she serves. A powerful and honest look at what it means to build a startup that puts impact at the centre.
From Google to Founder: A Tech Startup Story with Warmly,
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Max Greenwald, CEO and founder of Warmly, shares his journey from Google software engineer to building an AI agent platform that's transforming how sales and marketing teams collaborate. In this episode, Max reveals why he left big tech to solve his own sales and marketing challenges, how intent data helps identify warm leads before they know about you, and why aligning teams around funnel stages instead of channels eliminates attribution wars. He also discusses his open-close framework for iterating on messaging, why he only hires scrappy startup people who move fast and break things, and his advice for anyone stuck in corporate dreaming of building their own business.
From Cracked Guitars to Customer Experience: A Tech Startup Story with BluStream
Ken Rapp, CEO of BluStream, reveals how a cracked guitar led to building a SaaS platform that transforms the post-purchase customer experience. In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Ken shares why the gap between delivery and customer delight is the biggest missed opportunity in e-commerce, how BluStream helps brands achieve 90% customer retention through product-focused messaging, and what it took to pivot from IoT hardware to a pure SaaS model after ten years. Learn why validating problems with 50+ customers before building, choosing long-term investors over quick wins, and organizing teams around six-month goals instead of rigid job descriptions are essential lessons for tech founders navigating the uncertain journey from startup to scale.
Social Impact as Startup Fuel: A Tech Startup Story with Serene
Savannah Price, CEO and founder of Serene, shares her journey from professional show jumper to fintech founder, building an AI platform that helps banks and financial institutions identify and support vulnerable customers. In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Savannah discusses how a family mental health crisis led her to discover patterns in bank statement data that became the foundation for Serene, why pairing social impact with regulatory compliance opened doors that doing good alone couldn't, and the reality of navigating co-founder breakups, fundraising as a female founder, and the extreme emotional highs and lows of startup life. Learn how vulnerability affects 40-60% of customers, making it a mass market opportunity rather than a niche concern, and why purpose-driven founders need to find the commercial hook to turn social missions into sustainable businesses.
The Scary Task of Helping 350,000: A Tech Startup Story with Oprising
In episode 9 of Tech Startup Stories, Michelle Coombs, founder of Oprising, shares her journey from MSP consultant to SaaS founder, explaining how she built a platform with 380 assessment questions and 1,400 pre-built actions to help managed service providers optimize their operations. Michelle discusses bootstrapping her MVP with a £10K grant from the Greater Things program, balancing product development with running her consultancy and single parenthood, and setting an ambitious goal to help 350,000 people in tech by 2032 through scalable technology rather than one-on-one consulting.
The Reluctant Founder: A Tech Startup Story with Complyance
Richa Kaul never planned to be a founder, but when she spotted a gap in enterprise security compliance technology, everything changed. In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, the Complyance CEO shares how she raised funding like an American founder in the UK market, what it means to truly validate a product before scaling it, and why she waited three years before investing in marketing. From embedding herself in client processes to choosing investors based on people over prestige, Richa offers candid insights on building in a crowded cybersecurity space, navigating fundraising as a female founder, and why sometimes the best businesses start without a grand plan. If you've ever wondered whether to bootstrap or raise venture capital, how to stand out in competitive markets, or what it takes to walk the walk before talking the talk, this conversation delivers practical wisdom from someone who's living it.
Trading Job Security for Startup Risk: A Tech Startup Story with Nexum Pensions
João Cabral left a steady salary to build Nexum Pensions around a simple idea. Let pension contributions follow the person, not the employer. In this episode we talk through the moment he chose risk over comfort, why multiple small pots still frustrate people who change jobs, and how Nexum keeps things easy for HR and payroll. We cover the first pilots, the early product choices that removed friction, and a go to market plan that works with providers while speaking directly to employers. It is a clear look at moving from employee to owner with focus, discipline and a problem worth solving. Listen in for practical lessons you can apply today.
Having the Energy for the Long Game: A Tech Startup Story with Adelan
“Having the Energy for the Long Game: A Tech Startup Story with Adelan” explores how Dr Michaela Kendall has led Adelan from fuel cell research to a scalable commercial business. The episode focuses on selecting the first market you can win, building a resilient supply chain, and standing up the first factory to hit price points that drive adoption. We discuss how to move from prototype economics to volume economics, how to frame customer value around total cost of ownership and reliability, and how to time demand generation so capacity can deliver. Dr Kendall shares funding realities for UK cleantech, the trade-offs between manufacturing in Britain and the United States, and the leadership habits that keep a deep tech company moving through long cycles. This conversation is practical for founders and operators in climate tech, energy, and industrial hardware who want clear guidance on turning science into repeatable value propositions, aligning operations and buyers to reduce unit cost, and scaling with financial discipline while staying close to the customer.
LinkedIn-Led Growth: A Tech Startup Story with LandingRabbit
Season 2 of Tech Startup Stories features Toni Hopponen, founder of LandingRabbit. He explains how LinkedIn became central to his go-to-market strategy, why founder visibility can outperform cold outreach, and what it takes to build a scalable SaaS product in the fast-moving AI era.
Creating the Right Business Environment: A Tech Startup Journey with Visionary Farms
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories Podcast, Elena Boos, founder of Visionary Farms, reveals how she is rethinking office spaces by bringing nature indoors with smart plant technology. Discover her journey from vertical farming to building a hardware startup focused on well-being, sustainability, and innovation.
The Fun of Starting Again: A Tech Startup Story with SlashExperts
Season 2 of Tech Startup Stories continues with Braydan Young, co-founder of SlashExperts. Discover why he thrives in the chaos of early-stage startups, the lessons he’s carrying into his third venture, and how SlashExperts is reinventing B2B sales with trust, peer-to-peer proof, and smarter scaling.
Product-First Growth: A Tech Startup Story with Konnect Insights
Season 2 of Tech Startup Stories features Sameer Narkar, founder of Konnect Insights. Discover how a bootstrapped SaaS platform grew into a global customer experience hub by putting product first, embracing continuous learning, and driving innovation with AI, integrations, and omnichannel growth.
The Human Side of AI: A Tech Startup Story with Inicio AI
Season 2 of Tech Startup Stories opens with Rachel Curtis, CEO of Inicio AI. Discover how she’s building AI with empathy to support vulnerable customers in financial services, the lessons of moving from corporate leader to founder, and why innovation must balance accessibility and responsibility.
From Idea to Exit - Season One Reflections: Tech Startup Stories Podcast
Explore the highlights of season one of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, where host Natalie Binns reflects on 25 interviews with B2B startup founders. Discover lessons in passion, resilience, co-founder dynamics, and founder-market fit — plus a look ahead to season two.
Mentors Make It Possible: A Tech Startup Story with Autelo
Discover how James Ker-Reid, solo founder of Autelo, turned a painful client loss into a bold new product. In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, he shares how mentorship, deep customer research, and a hands-on beta programme helped him pivot from consultancy to product. Learn about bootstrapping, finding product-market fit, and building with intention, not hype.
Hitting the Right Target: A Tech Startup Story with Fuzey
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories Podcast, Fuzey co-founder Alex Boyce shares how the team sharpened its customer focus by paying close attention to real user behaviour. Originally built for solo professionals, Fuzey began gaining traction with small service teams who found value in the platform’s simple tools for communication, bookings, and payments. This episode explores how refining the ideal customer profile helped Fuzey reposition without rebuilding, and why consistent listening is one of the most powerful tools in any founder’s kit.
Building a Solid Foundation: A Tech Startup Journey with innDex
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories Podcast, co-founders George Smithies and Aaron Vousden share the blueprint behind innDex, a construction tech company built on years of industry experience and a solid foundation of friendship. From modernising slow and manual site inductions to scaling a suite of tools now used across 18 countries, the duo explain how they moved from hands-on frustrations, to building a product that serves the people who actually use it. Ideal listening for founders, field-based teams, and anyone interested in practical innovation within the built environment.
Being Customer-Obsessed: A Tech Startup Story with BackEngine
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Eli Portnoy, founder of BackEngine, shares how losing touch with customers during previous startup journeys inspired him to build a platform that puts customer feedback back at the heart of product development. From scaling pains to regaining proximity, Eli explores why customer obsession is more than a slogan, and how BackEngine helps teams listen, act and build with greater clarity and speed. Ideal for startup founders, product leaders and teams scaling fast.