A Game of Luck?: A Tech Startup Journey with ZenRise
In Season 4 Episode 2 of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns speaks with serial entrepreneur Vincent, founder of ZenRise, about building businesses, learning to let go, and adapting to the rapidly changing world of AI.
Vincent’s entrepreneurial journey spans video games, board game publishing and technology. After building a video game company to 100 employees, launching and selling Everyday I Play, and growing Lucky Duck Games to 70 employees and $20 million in annual revenue, he turned his attention to a new challenge: helping businesses use AI to launch, market and grow more effectively.
ZenRise is an AI-driven growth and marketing platform designed for founders who can build products with AI but may not have the expertise to understand their audience, create marketing campaigns or distribute their products effectively.
In this episode, Vincent shares lessons on entrepreneurship, finding product-market fit, identifying the right ideal customer profile, testing new ideas, using AI to accelerate business growth, and knowing when to let go of an idea that is not working.
You’ll also hear why Vincent believes AI will make creation faster and cheaper, but make marketing, distribution and understanding customers more important than ever.
Listen to the full episode to hear how a serial entrepreneur is approaching his next chapter and building ZenRise for the AI era.
Turning an Industry on its Head: A Tech Startup Journey with PressWhisper
In Season 4 Episode 1 of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns speaks with serial founder Jim Edmonson, founder of PressWhisper, about challenging the traditional PR model and making PR more accessible to founders. Jim shares how his own frustration with expensive PR agencies led him to build a different approach, using rapid prototyping, customer feedback and technology to help businesses connect with relevant journalists.
From identifying the problem and testing the first prototype to discovering PressWhisper’s ideal customer profile through real users, Jim explains what he has learned from building multiple businesses, experiencing both success and failure, and working alongside a technical co-founder. He also discusses why founders should question traditional approaches, how AI is changing the way products can be built, and why PR still matters in an increasingly digital world.
Discover Jim Edmonson’s startup journey, his approach to product development and customer discovery, and how PressWhisper is giving founders more control over their PR and media strategy.
Keeping up with the Speed of AI: A Tech Startup Journey with BackEngine
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns reconnects with Eli Portnoy, founder and CEO of BackEngine, to explore how the company has evolved over the past year while navigating the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence and enterprise software.
BackEngine helps organisations integrate AI into existing business workflows, enabling teams to automate processes, improve productivity, and unlock greater value from emerging AI technologies. Eli shares how advances in generative AI have reshaped both customer expectations and software development, requiring startups to adapt faster than ever before while remaining focused on solving meaningful business problems.
The conversation explores AI adoption, enterprise software, startup growth, product strategy, customer experience, change management, and the future of AI-powered business tools. Eli also reflects on why successful AI implementation depends as much on people and organisational change as it does on technology itself.
This episode is ideal for startup founders, SaaS leaders, product managers, AI professionals, and anyone interested in the future of enterprise software and artificial intelligence.
Sacrificing for Growth: A Tech Startup Journey with Passionfruit
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns reconnects with Aditya Jain, co-founder and CEO of Passionfruit, to explore how the company has evolved over the past year while operating at the intersection of AI, marketing, and search.
Passionfruit helps businesses improve visibility across AI search engines, traditional search, paid media, and emerging discovery channels, while also developing AI-powered marketing tools that help teams automate workflows and scale more effectively. Aditya shares how the business exceeded growth expectations, remained profitable, and transformed insights from its services business into Oz, an AI-native platform designed to support modern marketing teams.
The conversation explores AI marketing trends, startup growth, product development, founder leadership, profitability, and the challenges of building in a market that changes almost weekly. Aditya also reflects on the importance of staying close to customers, adapting quickly to industry shifts, and balancing innovation with sustainable business growth.
This episode is ideal for startup founders, marketers, SaaS leaders, AI professionals, and anyone interested in building businesses within rapidly evolving industries.
The Right Channels: A Tech Startup Journey with Overe
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns reconnects with Paul Barnes, founder and CEO of Overe, to discuss the realities of scaling a cybersecurity startup over the last 12 months and the lessons learned while building within the Microsoft 365 security ecosystem.
Overe is a cybersecurity platform focused on continuous assurance and identity security for Microsoft 365 environments, helping managed service providers and enterprises improve visibility, reduce security risk, and automate complex policy analysis that would traditionally require extensive consultancy work.
Paul shares how the company evolved from focusing primarily on product-market fit to building stronger revenue foundations through channel partnerships, international expansion, and refined customer qualification strategies. The conversation explores the complexities of selling new cybersecurity technologies through distributors, the challenges of balancing enterprise opportunities with a focused ICP, and how AI and lean operations are helping the business scale more efficiently.
This episode is ideal for startup founders, cybersecurity professionals, MSPs, SaaS leaders, and anyone interested in channel-led growth, product strategy, and building sustainable technology businesses.
Beyond the Tech: A Tech Startup Journey with Bytespark.ai
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns reconnects with Dr Ali Raza, founder and CEO of ByteSpark.ai, to explore how the business has evolved over the past year through product pivots, AI innovation, and the realities of scaling a startup in a rapidly changing market.
ByteSpark.ai is an AI-driven recruitment and decision intelligence platform designed to help organisations identify stronger candidates, improve hiring accuracy, and make better people decisions through behavioural and contextual analysis rather than outdated keyword filtering systems.
Dr Ali Raza shares the lessons learned from navigating product-market fit, repositioning the business model, and building trust-based partnerships while operating in a challenging regional and economic environment. The conversation also explores the development of Persona, ByteSpark.ai’s behavioural assessment and decision intelligence platform, which helps organisations evaluate leadership fit, team compatibility, and long-term hiring potential.
This episode is ideal for startup founders, HR leaders, recruiters, AI professionals, and anyone interested in recruitment technology, behavioural intelligence, and the future of AI-assisted hiring.
Creating a legacy: A Tech Startup Journey with Alhena
In this episode of Tech Startup Stories, Natalie Binns speaks with Ashu Dubey, founder and CEO of Alhena, about building an AI-driven platform in one of the most competitive and rapidly evolving sectors in technology.
Ashu shares his journey from early startup experience to launching Alhena, highlighting key lessons around monetisation, product-market fit, and navigating pivots. The conversation explores how Alhena evolved from supporting online communities to powering e-commerce growth through conversational AI, product discovery, and customer engagement.
The episode also examines the challenges of building in a crowded AI landscape, where differentiation is difficult and customer expectations are constantly shifting. Ashu discusses how focusing on real outcomes, rather than features, has helped position Alhena as a platform that drives both efficiency and revenue.
For founders, SaaS operators, and those building in AI or e-commerce, this episode offers practical insight into scaling a product, identifying market opportunities, and executing with clarity in a fast-moving environment.