Ft Start-up Stories

Alex Klein tells Jonathan Moules about his ambition to transform attitudes to computing with his kit to help people of all ages make their own and write the programmes to go with them.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Geoff Watts and Julia Fowler co-founded EDITED, an innovative tech company that brings data analysis to the retail industry, nearly a decade ago. They tell Jonathan Moules that the toughest problem they've faced was when they hired someone who wasn't a team player.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Twenty years ago, Chetan Dube left the world of academia, at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, to pursue a career in business. He tells Jonathan Moules what inspired the move.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michelle You, co-founder of the music ticketing and concert discovery platform Songkick, tells Jonathan Moules about the fun of creating a business, and the sense of failure she felt after the company was acquired by Time Warner.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Peter Mühlmann’s mum had some bad experiences making her first purchases online in 2007, he decided there must be a way to guide consumers to businesses they could trust. The result was Trustpilot.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sarah Murray’s mobile alarm and tracking technology company faced an early setback when a government contract she’d been pinning her hopes on fell through. She tells Jonathan Moules how she dealt with the disappointment and bounced back.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Marcin Kleczynski’s interest in computer software was sparked at the age of 14 when a battle to remove a virus from his home computer brought him into contact with the world of cyber geeks. He teamed up with some of them to provide a free service, later turning their ‘freemium’ model into a lucrative global business, Malwarebytes.Picture credit: Alpana Aras  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Julie Deane set up the Cambridge Satchel Company as a way of financing her children's education, but its rapid success attracted outside investors and the venture took a direction that made her feel uncomfortable. She tells Jonathan Moules how she regained her confidence and took back control.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you are trying to fill a gap in the market and a very conservative industry tells you it can’t be done, then go for it because there is “massive opportunity and the sky’s the limit”, iZettle’s Jacob de Geer tells Jonathan Moules  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dale Murray co-founded Omega Logic, which provided an electronic solution for mobile phone top-ups just as mobile phone use in the UK was becoming widespread. Timing played a big role in the success of the company, but it was ultimately her networking skills that saved the business  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We’re back. Start-up Stories is returning with a new set of entrepreneurs sharing their insights about the joys and challenges of starting a business.So look out for our first episode in series five - from Monday June 4  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Philipp Bock set out to solve one of the biggest problems faced by consumer businesses in Latin America - the lack of a localised cross border payments infrastructure.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Glenn Keys and Andrew Walker were childhood friends who'd both served in the army and run businesses. Eventually they found a way to pool their resources, creating a company that provides tailored healthcare solutions in 12 countries from the UK to Africa, East Timor and Iraq.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeff Raider has helped pioneer a high quality, low cost model for selling consumer products like glasses and razors online. He tells Jonathan Moules how he did it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A crowded train journey home after a Chicago baseball game provided the inspiration for Katie Hill-Gottesman's Commuter Ads business, as she tells Jonathan Moules  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bernard Liautaud's startup was the first French company to go public in the US back in the 1990s. He describes how he steered the company from idea to exit and now advises other European companies hoping to take the same route.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Slack co-founder Cal Henderson and his collaborator Stewart Butterfield started out with the aim of creating a successful video game but ended up doing something completely different.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Emily Brooke wanted to help solve the worst problem faced by urban cyclists - safety. She tells Jonathan Moules how she went about it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Will Dean tells Jonathan Moules how a legal challenge acted as a catalyst for the growth of his extreme sports business Tough Mudder.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh imagined a product for fixing things that would help end the global throw-away culture. She tells Jonathan Moules how she turned her idea from a fun concept into a reality.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.