Getting the Band Back Together: A Tech Startup Journey with AcademyAI
Andy Lambert, co-founder of AcademyAI, joins Natalie Binns on Tech Startup Stories to explore his return to entrepreneurship after ContentCal and Adobe, and discusses what it takes to build an AI company in a rapidly changing market.
Andy reflects on his choice to leave a familiar industry, rebuilding with a trusted founding team, and developing AcademyAI around the need for practical organisational AI capability. He also shares lessons from customer discovery, testing different markets and propositions, and resisting the temptation to become too certain too early.
The conversation explores the realities of building distribution from scratch, earning trust in a crowded AI market and finding a clear path towards product-market fit.
Don't Underestimate the Power of Time: A Tech Startup Journey with GAIO Tech
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns speaks with Sophie Carr, founder and CEO of GAIO Tech, about building a startup in the rapidly evolving world of generative AI.
Sophie shares her journey from early-stage failures and pivoting away from an EdTech startup, to identifying a new opportunity in Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO). Drawing on her background in SEO and content strategy, she explains how brands can influence AI-generated responses and why this represents a fundamental shift in digital visibility.
The conversation explores the realities of startup building, including the importance of resilience, finding the right co-founder, and learning when to pivot based on market signals. Sophie also breaks down her approach to scaling, why focusing on fewer, high-quality clients can outperform rapid growth, and how building a product-led business requires a different mindset from service-based work.
This episode is ideal for founders, marketers, and operators interested in AI, SEO, and the practical challenges of building a tech startup from the ground up.
No Clear Path: A Tech Startup Journey with Mantis Biotech
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns speaks with Georgia Witchel, founder and CEO of Mantis Biotech, about building a biotech infrastructure startup from the ground up and navigating the realities of early-stage growth.
Georgia shares how her early exposure to programming shaped her path into technology, and how her experience working in startups led her to identify a critical gap in the biotech space. Mantis Biotech was created to provide foundational software infrastructure for biomedical companies, an area often overlooked compared to more established industries.
The conversation explores the importance of early customer engagement, why cold outreach remains a powerful growth tool, and how Georgia balanced selling and building simultaneously to gain traction. She also reflects on the non-linear nature of startup growth, the challenges of execution, and the lessons learned from her journey through Y Combinator.
For founders, operators, and anyone interested in biotech startups or SaaS infrastructure, this episode offers practical insight into building a company from idea to early scale.