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.
From Start to Exit: A Tech Startup Story with ContentCal
Discover how Andy Lambert helped turn a manual content planning service into a fast-growing SaaS company that was eventually acquired by Adobe. In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Andy shares his journey from solving his own workflow problems to building ContentCal into a platform used by thousands. Learn how focus, feedback and content-led growth paved the way to success — and why solving real problems always comes before scaling.
From Big to Small: A Tech Startup Story with Inception Cyber
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Inception Cyber founder Bill Mann shares his journey from leading large-scale security organisations to launching his own AI-driven cybersecurity startup. He discusses the shift from corporate complexity to startup clarity, and how Inception is focused on solving real-world security problems for people, not just enterprises. With a mission to make cybersecurity simpler, smarter, and more human, this episode offers practical insights for founders building in high-stakes industries.
Business IS Personal: A Tech Startup Story with Syncro
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Synchro founder Yunsu Tang shares her journey of building a startup that prioritises intention, adaptability, and human connection. From carefully choosing the right co-founder to embracing remote work and flexible hours, Yunsu explains how her approach to business is deeply personal. She discusses the pivots that shaped Synchro’s direction, the value of integrating work and life, and the lessons learned from building across time zones, cultures, and moments of uncertainty.
Sales is Hard: A Tech Startup Story from Actualize
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Actualize founder and CTO Muhammed Shabreen shares the journey of building a developer-first learning platform and the tough lessons that came with go-to-market. Despite having a strong product, the team quickly realised that product alone was not enough. Muhammed talks about how they shifted focus from individual developers to engineering teams, reframed their messaging, and learned to treat sales as a continuous feedback loop. This episode is a must-listen for technical founders looking to navigate early-stage GTM with clarity and confidence.
It’s all about GTM: A Tech Startup Story from Cyberheals
In this episode of the Tech Startup Stories podcast, Cyberheals co-founder Mohammed Aadhil shares how his team turned deep customer discovery into a clear and effective go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Born out of frustration with the status quo of cybersecurity assessments, Cyberheals focuses on helping organisations move from one-off compliance reports to continuous, operational security improvements. Learn how they found product-market fit by staying close to the problem, prioritising real-world workflows, and building trust with early adopters.
Start With the Right Person - A Tech Startup Story with Fortyx Security
What happens when you prioritise the who before the what? In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Fortyx Security co-founder Parvez Alam Kazi shares how finding the right co-founder before even thinking about the product led to a stronger, more resilient startup. A must-listen for early-stage founders.