Episódios
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The story of Amiqus, one of the fastest growing tech companies scaling up in Scotland.
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In this episode of #thetechentrepreneur Chris Rourke talks to us about his journey in founding UserVision over 20 years ago. Since then user experience has changed significantly alongside technology. We talk through :
Why MVP isn't focused on the right outcomes
Having a passion for solving problems
How good design can get out of control
The differences between delivering a product vs an experience
and much much more. -
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Phil Gripton from Waypoint Partners covering Unicorns, Growth & Mindset!
As well as :
🦄 Being part of a unicorn, online dating business & disruptive energy company
🎯 Working in the business to working on the business
🥋 Barriers to growth
🤾♂️ Getting the balance right between family, business and yourself
🗿 Quality of mind thinking & having the right mindset
A massive thank you to Phil for coming on the podcast!
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New #thetechentrepreneur episode now available📢
I was delighted to get the chance to talk with Cameron Johnston at Riixo® | Creators of the worlds first sport and injury recovery cuff, we talk over everything from Business Gateway, #investment, #olympics to #mentalhealth. -
In the latest episode of The Tech Entrepreneur, I talk with Evelyn McDonald about all things Scottish Edge. Her story of moving Scottish Edge into being a private organisation, how her amazing team were first brought together, why it's fundamental that we breed more start-ups and scale-ups here in Scotland.
Evelyn talks through some top tips for companies looking to apply to the competition and for people who would like to get involved to help the competition have much-needed funding and do more.
Take a look at the highlights here and then head over to our channel on Youtube for more (link in the comments).
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In this episode of The Tech Entrepreneur I talk to David Dillon who is the founder of a tipping platform called URocked.
We talk about his amazing story of starting up the business during some of the most difficult times, the rollercoaster of emotions involved in running a business and why having the passion to solve an issue facing many people across the globe was something he was drawn towards. -
In this episode of The Tech Entrepreneur we talk with Richard Simpson who is joint managing director at a creative agency based in Edinburgh called Tayburn.
Tayburn has been running over 40 years and in 2015 Richard stepped up with to lead the business with another member of the team. During this time much had changed in the creative agency market, leading Richard and his team to pivot the business to succeed. We talk about work-life balance, clients, recruitment and much more. -
In the latest episode of The Tech Entrepreneur, Phil Telfer finds out about how to manage change with Phil Telfer from Sharktower.
Sharktower produce software which helps businesses make more effective changes with better outcomes.
We learn more about the origins of the company and the plans for the future.
Find out more using the links below and enjoy the episode!
Quote:
"Our job is to help businesses deliver better outcomes with less surprises. Ultimately we're trying to help guide all types of business change from formal projects to change management to process procurement."
Guest bio:
Craig is the co-founder of Sharktower, and the company's Chief Technology & Product Officer.
He's racked up over 20 years of experience delivering projects and seeing too many of them fail unnecessarily along the way.
He describes himself as being 'obsessed' with tackling the waste in projects.Timestamps:
0047 - What is Sharktower?0230 - Why do some tech projects fail?0538 - When projects are successful but the implementation lets them down1348 - Why bigger teams can slow down delivery 1611 - More about Sharktower1856 - the power of sentiment2230 - The complexity of projects explained2419 - Sharktower future plansLinks:
ClearSky Logic: https://www.clearskylogic.com/
Sharktower: https://sharktower.com/
Check out previous episodes:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DFn4ZPaCDfxATpkmHwREaListenNotes:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-tech-entrepreneur-darren-auld-vKnFAbfa03E/Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xMzA0ODA5LnJzcw== -
In this episode of the Tech Entrepreneur podcast, Phil Telfer chats to James Ker Reid, CEO and Founder of Sales For Startups.
James comes from a B2B sales background and created Sales For Startups to offer help to founders lacking in sales and marketing experience.
We learn more about the business and the episode is jam packed with amazing tips and advice from James.Find out more using the links below and enjoy the episode!
Quote:
"I started Sales For Startups to help founders that are not from a sales and marketing background to build predictable sales operations, so all from value proposition to hiring and onboarding the right people and building those processes that can scale their company from one funding round to the next."
Guest bio:
James is CEO and Founder of Sales for Startups with over 10 years of experience in selling to global corporates both in the UK, Europe and in North America.
He has previously won the award of ‘Top 10 UK SaaS and Technology Sales Leader of The Year’.He has also co-written an Amazon bestselling book, Sales Genius #1 which was the number one title for Sales and Marketing and Business Development, beating the Wolf of Wall Street to #1.
00:43 James' background03:57 'The three typical mistakes'07:25 Techniques to shorten the sales cycle13:32 Mistakes when hiring sales and marketing roles19:33 The ideal sales team set-up25:36 Why you should document your decisions28:23 What James would do differently
Timestamps:Links:
ClearSky Logic: https://www.clearskylogic.com/
Sales For Startups: https://salesforstartups.co.uk/
Check out Previous episodes:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DFn4ZPaCDfxATpkmHwREaListenNotes:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-tech-entrepreneur-darren-auld-vKnFAbfa03E/Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xMzA0ODA5LnJzcw== -
In this episode of the Tech Entreprenuer podcast, Phil Telfer chats to Rachel Murphy, Chief Executive at Difrent and shortlisted for Business Woman of the Year 2021.
Rachel led big changes when she joined four years ago and she’ll tell us about Difrent’s journey during that time.
As a business in the healthcare space, Coronavirus was particularly significant, and Rachel tells us about the challenges and opportunities from the pandemic… which resulted in a personal letter of thanks from the Prime Minister.
We also hear about recent developments at Difrent and what Rachel things the future has in store.
Find out more using the links below and enjoy the episode!
Quote:
“It was never and will never be about just shipping some code - we really want to understand what the business problem is and work back from that and make sure we're delivering to that business challenge and therefore delivering an outcome.”
Guest bio:
Rachel Murphy is Chief Executive of Difrent, having previously spent 22 years as a manager at various public, private and consultancy organisations.
She spent a couple of years at the health regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and then a couple of years leading patient-facing transformation for the NHS.
Her motivation for building out Difrent was to create the company that she’d tried to find while she was working in healthcare.
Difrent design, deliver and often run services for Government and healthcare.
Timestamps:
0019 Podcast and guest introduction0050 Rachel’s background0215 The motivation behind Difrent0310 How Difrent deliver value rather than just software0507 How Rachel approaches the challenge of authority0905 What Difrent was like when she joined1213 How do you create a genuine culture?1558 Effect of Coronavirus on the business2300 Personal thanks from Boris Johnson2402 Things Rachel would do differently 2533 Future plans2604 Episode wrap-upLinks:
ClearSky Logic: https://www.clearskylogic.com/
Difrent: https://difrent.co.uk/
Check out Previous episodes:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DFn4ZPaCDfxATpkmHwREaListenNotes:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-tech-entrepreneur-darren-auld-vKnFAbfa03E/Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xMzA0ODA5LnJzcw== -
The Tech Entrepreneur
Guest: Farouk Alhassan
Episode Summary:
In this episode, we’ll be interviewing Farouk Alhassan, software engineer and co-founder of Senapt, the first dedicated Energy-As-A-Service platform.
We’ll learn about how we got started and what led him to the energy sector.
Farouk is going to share with us why apps, platforms, mindset, and data management practices need substantial innovation in the industry to benefit both consumers and suppliers.
In this episode, you’ll also learn about the importance of making sustainable energy financially accessible to all demographics and how Senapt is planning to achieve that.
We are going to talk about how Farouk manages his team and how their productive output can be so high even when in small numbers.
We’ll ask Farouk which advice he would give to his former self after all these years, and what he would like to change the most in the industry.
All the relevant links are listed below, enjoy the episode.
Quote
“ One thing that frustrates me in the energy sector is the fact that people think things have to be done in a certain way all the time. I came from outside the industry, so I had the freedom of
thought to think of things in a different way” Farouk Alhassan
Guest Bio:
Farouk Alhassan is the co-founder of Senapt, a UK-based Energy-As-A-Service Platform.
His company aims at enabling energy efficiency and sustainable lifestyles everywhere on the planet, lowering the cost for the consumers while retaining profitability for the suppliers.
Farouk moved to the UK in 2006 and started working as a software engineer.
He later moved to the finance sector and investment banking working for the likes of Goldman Sachs, furthering his career.
In 2016 his future to be Co-Founder inspired him to bring his solution and expertise to the energy sector where innovation was needed, and that’s how Senapt came to be.
Timestamps:
● 00:00 Podcast and guest Introduction
● 1:19 The idea behind Senapt
● 3:50 Outdated practices in the energy sector
● 5:43 Energy platform structure
● 8:29 Energy apps for customers
● 10:51 Senapt's challenges and operations
● 14:54 Data migration and integration issues
● 16:54 Senapt’s position in the market
● 18:57 The cost of serve
● 22:02 Farouk’s advice to his younger self
● 23:30 Building a team
● 25:23 Changes needed in the Energy Sector
Links:
ClearSky Logic:
https://www.clearskylogic.com/
Senapt:
https://www.senapt.co.uk/
Farouk Alhassan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/faroukalhassan/
Check out Previous episodes:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DFn4ZPaCDfxATpkmHwREa
ListenNotes:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-tech-entrepreneur-darren-auld-vKnFAbfa03E/
Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xMzA0O
DA5LnJzcw== -
In this episode, we’ll be interviewing Ian Parry, co-founder of Daisy rock and consultant in the energy sector.
We’ll learn about his career path and how different it was to work for big companies like British Gas as opposed to smaller startups.
Ian is going to share with us his perspective on how the industry has evolved throughout the years and how the growth in competition has shaped the sector.
In this episode, you’ll also learn what it’s like to work for Pure Planet and how some companies are moving on from call centers and providing a different customer support journey.
We are going to talk about the key ways to boost engagement through community and apps.
You’ll hear about the current challenges and trends in the industry and how quality data can help companies providing a better customer experience, leaving the friction behind.
All the relevant links are listed below, enjoy the episode.
Quote
“ As a customer, I just assume that you know how much I use. Why can’t I give permission from one energy supplier to another to give them my billing history? This helps them serve me better.” Ian Parry
Guest Bio:
Ian Parry is the co-founder of Daisy Rock, he has a long history as a consultant and leader in the energy sector.
He started his career working for British Gas for 13 years and later moved into consulting for companies such as Jaywing and Experian.
More recently he worked with Pure Planet, Social Energy, and Colorado Energy giving him a well-rounded perspective of the industry ranging from the big-six to Startups.
Timestamps:
● 00:20 Podcast and guest Introduction
● 00:49 Ian's career background
● 2:08 What has changed in the industry
● 4:24 Ian's experience with Pure Planet
● 8:20 Will Energy Companies have call centers in the future?
● 9:58 How to increase engagement
● 13:35 How data affects behavior
● 15:17 Community-based energy companies
● 16:20 The current trends in the industry
● 18:19 The current challenges in the industry
● 22:10 What are the changes needed in the sector?
● 24:34 Episode wrap-up
Links:
ClearSky Logic:
https://www.clearskylogic.com/
Daisy Rock Consulting:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/daisyrock/
Check out Previous episodes:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DFn4ZPaCDfxATpkmHwREa
ListenNotes:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-tech-entrepreneur-darren-auld-vKnFAbfa03E/
Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xMzA0ODA5LnJzcw== -
Episode Summary:
Today’s guest on TechEntrepreneur is Sarah Morgan, which is a performance and leadership coach and founder of Luceat-consulting.
Sarah’s business focuses on helping individuals and businesses to maximize their performance, processes, and technology. She also focuses on the mindset of the team or individual, addressing any self-limiting beliefs.
In this episode, we are going to discuss the importance of technology in the energy sector and talk about some examples of successful and unsuccessful tech solutions, and what we can learn from them.
Sarah is going to talk about how tech can help to provide a better client experience and why this is something that the energy sector desperately needs.
We are going to share some practical examples of how tech solutions can free people from tedious tasks, lower the risk of mistakes, and allow the workforce to focus on tasks better executed by humans.
Sarah is also going to give us her prediction on the future of energy and renewables and also share with us what changes she would like to see in the industry.
Enjoy the episode and we’d be happy if you could leave us a review.
Quotes
“The best situations are when, people who are currently doing things that are really tedious,
they will get bored and will make mistakes. Computers don't get bored, they don't make
mistakes. I think you have the ability to free people up and to allow them to make more
intelligent human-like decisions about things.” Phil Telfer
"The consumer is forgotten so regularly when it comes to technology, billing systems,
industry process, etc... it's all about the data around the consumption.
I think that customer-centricity is desperately needed" Sarah Morgan
Timestamps:
● 0:20 Episode introduction
● 1:02 Sarah's role and background
● 2:20 The importance of technology in the energy sector
● 4:00 Examples of bad uses of technology
● 5:16 Examples of good uses of technology
● 7:31 The positive changes enabled by tech
● 8:57 Using tech for tedious processes
● 10:16 Energy company VS tech company
● 15:12 The future of energy
● 18:47 Learning from other sectors
● 20:54 What would Sarah change in the energy sector?
● 21:40 Episode wrap-up
Links:
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Today’s guest on TechEntrepreneur is Ashley Tate , which is a serial entrepreneur founder of Mina, a company that provides EV charging solutions.
Ash’s business focuses on helping individuals and fleets simplifying the EV charging process and billing, making it a pleasant and efficient experience. Ash is going to talk about how he became an entrepreneur, left school at 16 years old, and started several successful businesses with little preparation but a lot of motivation and resilience.
We’re going to learn about the importance of recruiting, and why Ash chose to downsize his team overtime, preferring a small quality team with a strong culture. Ash is going to share with us his mindset when it comes to business plans, focus, and why he ultimately decided to turn the direction of his business after launch.
The solutions that Mina provides are addressing a crucial problem in the EV market, we are going to learn what these challenges are and how the company started. Ultimately Ash is going to share with us some advice for young entrepreneurs, his impressions on the EV market, and his vision for Mina’s future.
Enjoy the episode and we’d be happy if you could leave us a review.
Quotes"I think that's the entrepreneur mindset. They see a problem and they're like...we can solve this!
We'll just solve this other problem here too! And a lot of times you kind of forget the overheads
you're incurring." Darren Auld
"I think there is a fine balance to be had between, kind of being throwing things at people to
make it feel like a good culture and actually being a good culture." Ashley Tate
Timestamps:● 0:21 Episode introduction
● 1:05 Ash's background story
● 2:19 Ash's first business experience
● 4:53 Recruiting staff
● 7:24 Overthinking the business plan
● 8:44 The importance of hiring great people
● 15:26 How Mina started
● 17:45 Focus is the key
● 19:53 Future plans
● 20:54 Dealing with sales
● 22:49 The EV Market's expansion
● 24:39 Ash’s advice to past self
● 26:58 Episode wrap-up
Links:Brought to you by ClearSkyLogic, find out more at:
www.clearskylogic.com
Discover Mina, find out more at:
https://www.mina.energy/
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Today’s guest on The TechEntrepreneur podcast is Rob Eynon, Director at New Energy Consulting, a boutique consultancy that focuses on getting energy retailers to work better within the energy market.
He’ll talk about how he became a consultant and the challenges that are currently present in the industry.
We’ll learn about customer-facing portals and apps and the huge advantages that these bring, especially when seamlessly integrated.
Rob will share with us a couple of companies that are working in that direction and explain why improving the customer journey boosts loyalty and lowers acquisition costs.
Countries like Norway and Iceland are great examples of countries focused on energy innovation and we’ll talk about what we can learn from them.
Implementing new processes in companies can be challenging if the staff don’t fully trust them. We’ll talk about how to help prevent this from happening so that the switch from old to new processes can be smooth and frictionless.
Lastly, Rob will share with us the one thing he’d like to change the most in the energy sector and why.
Enjoy the episode and we’d be happy if you could leave us a review.
Quotes“ If I create a really good digital client-facing app or portal, then I can not only reduce contact calls into my call center, but I actually can charge a rate which isn’t necessarily there to go and fish for large numbers of clients. You’ve actually got something that is sustainable." Phil Telfer
"If you make life really easy for customers, then you can increase loyalty. Which reduces churn and the cost of acquisition in energy retail is such a high element of the margin. I don’t think anyone makes any money in Year One of supply.” Rob Eynon
Timestamps:
● 0:20 Host and Guest introduction
● 0:58 What is New Energy Consulting about?
● 2:26 Customer-facing apps/portals
● 4:14 Why should companies develop them?
● 5:30 Seamlessly integrated apps and hardware
● 7:49 Are any companies doing these integrations now?
● 11:56 Which countries are leading in energy innovation?
● 14:04 Why some inefficient processes remain even after innovation? ● 19:53 What single thing would Rob change in the energy sector?
● 22:54 Wrap up and goodbyes
Links:
Brought to you by ClearSkyLogic, find out more at: www.clearskylogic.com
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Episode Summary:
Today’s guest on TechEntrepreneur is Darren Auld, which is TechEntrepreneur’s host and one of the Founders at ClearSky. He’s going to tell his story and explain why he was drawn to Tech and the things he learned in his journey.
We’re going to learn about the challenges that come with running your own business, the
importance of learning, and the value of mentorships.
Darren will explain the kind of mindset typical of a great IT supplier, what he looks for when
recruiting and why he believes the focus of IT projects should be helping people. He will also share which advice he would give to his past self and what he would do differently.
We’re going talk about some of the current business leaders in innovation like Elon Musk and
Jeff Bezos and how their solution-driven models have succeeded in the market.
Enjoy the episode and we’d be happy if you could leave us a review.
Quotes
“There's a massive difference between a Dev that's just good at tech or a Dev that's good at
tech and good with people. Sometimes it's a detriment to be a rockstar at tech but not a good
team fit." Darren Auld
"If you look at government projects in IT they’re traditionally, at least the well-known ones...they cost millions of pounds, they’re often delivered late or not at all, and then they go over budget and people wonder why people would invest money in IT” Phil Telfer
Timestamps:
● 0:34 Guest introduction
● 1:13 Darren’s career highlights
● 3:04 Why did Darren start his own business?
● 5:01 The mindset behind IT solutions
● 5:54 Things learned at ClearSky
● 7:05 Facing adversity in business
● 8:17 The character of a good IT supplier
● 10:23 Recruiting
● 14:01 Mentorship in Business
● 16:56 Amazon’s success
● 18:56 Pieces of advice to past self
● 20:29 Wrap up and future episodes
Links:
Brought to you by ClearSkyLogic, find out more at:
www.clearskylogic.com -
Episode Summary:
Today’s topic on The Tech Entrepreneur is the UK energy market, how tech changes are affecting it and what that might mean for the future of energy in the UK!We’re going to discuss the importance of data in the industry and how the lack of information can affect profitability and put suppliers out of business in the long run.
Phil will explain how the smart meters can help to solve this problem and provide a better experience for the clientele, reducing friction for both suppliers and customers.
We’re going to learn about how the Electric-Vehicle Market will switch the focus from fossil fuels to electricity and how this will make people more aware of electricity costs.
Solutions like a peer-to-peer market could provide a more cost-effective way to access energy, the same way that Transferwise disrupted the currency exchange industry.
Ultimately we’re gonna examine the role of the government in this innovation process and how tech and entrepreneurship can help solve these issues faster given the right environment.
Enjoy the episode and we’d be happy if you could leave us a review.
Hosts Bio:The hosts Darren and Phil share their insights from years of experience building software for the energy utility sector. From complex energy billing systems, smart meter integration, to digital products like mobile apps. They’ve seen how the UK energy market sector evolved throughout the years and are here to discuss its future and current dynamics.
Quotes“Less than 20% of the customers provide reads on a regular basis for non-smart meters.And that's crazy because the whole energy supply business is based on the assumption that they'll get paid for the actual energy that is used." Darren Auld
"Entrepreneurship can move much more quickly and can solve problems that large organisations and government bodies can't solve because they're too big and they move too slowly.” Phil Telfer
Timestamps:● 0:21 Episode Introduction
● 1:12 The importance of Data in the UK energy market
● 3:19 Smart meters and their benefits
● 6:04 Energy Supplier rates changes
● 6:55 The role of friction in business models
● 9:48 How EV will change energy consumption
● 14:57 How different energy sources affect taxes
● 17:26 The peer-to-peer energy model of the future
● 20:36 The Government's role in regards to innovation
● 22:44 Ideas for future episodes
Links:Brought to you by ClearSkyLogic, find out more at:
www.clearskylogic.com
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Every business wants to do more! What happens when you need to scale up your software development projects ? Usually it means hiring a new team within your existing organisation or outsourcing to a software development agency.
In this episode we have Darren Auld and Phil Telfer are diving into their considerable experience, taking us through some of the pitfalls in outsourcing or insourcing product development. The episode covers the symptoms to look out for, what the root cause might be and some ways you can avoid running into similar issues. -
After a few months of intense recruitment at ClearSky, a difficult statistic has come up. Less than 20% of candidates for our roles are female. On this podcast we talk to Kimberley Holding & Tina Little who are senior members of the team at ClearSky currently recruiting, they share some of their experiences, advice and talk about ways we can combat this issue in the industry.
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In this episode Darren discusses the top 3 problems he see's holding businesses back which can be solved by Tech. Whether you own or work in a growing business you are certain to run into some of these problems so its well worth a listen.
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