WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.859 Welcome to the Innovation Conversation, a podcast 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:05.360 about innovators, both in business and real life. 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:08.419 Hosted by myself, Ricardo Rescual and Harry McCona. 00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:11.660 This podcast is sponsored by OpenExperts .com. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.140 OpenExperts is a place to go if you're looking 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:16.300 to talk with top experts from around the world. 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:20.879 That is Open -Experts .com. This podcast is also 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.539 sponsored by StartupNetworks .co .uk. Startup 00:00:24.539 --> 00:00:26.820 Networks, it's an online forum where you can 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:28.739 find all the resources you need to learn your 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:31.449 startup. from grants to investors to tips and 00:00:31.449 --> 00:00:33.270 tricks and how to be successful when you start. 00:00:35.350 --> 00:00:38.549 Today, with Babita Devi, a coach and a mentor. 00:00:39.770 --> 00:00:42.149 Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Innovation 00:00:42.149 --> 00:00:44.570 Conversation. Today, we are joined by Babita 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:48.049 Devi. Hi, Ricardo. Thank you for having me. It's 00:00:48.049 --> 00:00:50.070 our pleasure. Babita, would you like to introduce 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:51.689 yourself to our audience? Because I know you 00:00:51.689 --> 00:00:53.789 quite well by now, but would you please introduce 00:00:53.789 --> 00:00:55.789 yourself to the audience? Yes, I would love to. 00:00:55.869 --> 00:00:59.219 So my name is Babita Devi. I'm a growth coach. 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:02.820 I help organizations that want to grow both their 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:06.120 business and themselves, the founder of the company 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:09.640 at the same time. Awesome. But I know you actually 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:11.879 do a lot of work with a lot of startups, right? 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:13.920 So can you tell us a bit more about the type 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.920 of work you develop on that? Yeah, so I do work 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.420 through lots of different organizations who've 00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:21.659 got various accelerators and programs set up. 00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:23.900 So for example, here at the University of Cambridge, 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:27.090 I work on the Accelerate program. which has been 00:01:27.090 --> 00:01:29.450 going for about 10 years now we've had about 00:01:29.450 --> 00:01:32.450 350 companies go through that program but in 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:34.849 any term we normally have about 65 businesses 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:37.489 and so I work as a coach on that program and 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:40.090 that really there's founders there everything 00:01:40.090 --> 00:01:42.549 from having a great idea all the way through 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:46.269 to people that want to do a series a round that's 00:01:46.269 --> 00:01:48.890 that full spectrum. Apart from that I'm also 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:52.049 a mentor for Barclays Evil Labs across all of 00:01:52.049 --> 00:01:56.480 their centres in the UK. And I mentor for an 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:59.379 organization called Raising Starts, which is 00:01:59.379 --> 00:02:01.799 a science and technology hub out of Belgrade. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:07.680 In addition to that, I sit on the board of Global 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.860 Entrepreneurs Network. That's a huge network 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:12.840 connecting entrepreneurs across 200 countries. 00:02:13.419 --> 00:02:17.080 And I sit on the board of some early stage tech 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:21.639 companies as well. So a games company, a global 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:25.960 online school, and also a growth mindset for 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:29.300 children organization as well. And then I am 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:31.240 a mentor for the masters in entrepreneurship 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:34.300 students at the university here. So I do a lot 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:37.159 of different things and I have my own accelerator 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:39.699 that I run as well. But in essence, it's all 00:02:39.699 --> 00:02:43.500 the same stuff, which is really coaching and 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:46.259 mentoring business owners to help them through 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:49.759 growth of their company and themselves. I still 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.830 cannot believe we managed to find you. extremely 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:57.650 busy. Thank you so much for that. Oh, you're 00:02:57.650 --> 00:03:00.349 welcome. I wanted to ask, you know, all these 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:02.210 things you do and all these organizations you 00:03:02.210 --> 00:03:05.270 work with, which one is the one that, let them 00:03:05.270 --> 00:03:07.310 rephrase that, which one is your favorite? But 00:03:07.310 --> 00:03:09.430 which one is the one that really gets you up 00:03:09.430 --> 00:03:10.990 in the morning and say, you know, I love doing 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:14.349 this. This is a bit out of the question. Yeah, 00:03:14.349 --> 00:03:16.650 I mean, that's a hard question to answer only 00:03:16.650 --> 00:03:19.430 because all of those organizations that I just 00:03:19.430 --> 00:03:21.960 mentioned. I'm doing the same thing with all 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.860 of them, whether it's the university, whether 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:27.520 it's through my own accelerator, whether it's 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:31.479 even doing the event that we did with you guys 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:35.060 last week. In essence, it's all the same stuff. 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:39.060 So I'm really lucky in that I get to do what 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:42.240 I love every single day and get paid to do that. 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:45.800 But it wasn't always like that. So I definitely 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:48.979 have had a business that was out of alignment 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:52.120 with who I am. and that really partly led to 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.280 the Alignment Accelerator because I am a huge 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:58.500 believer that actually there is something that 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:01.259 everybody loves doing and if there's, you know, 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:04.280 if you've got, I often talk about the golden 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.039 triangle, purpose, passion, and the third piece, 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.479 profit, and if you have something that you, you 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:11.419 know, you're driven by purpose and something 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:14.759 you're very passionate about, Without profit, 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:17.100 it's just a hobby. But if there's money to be 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.519 made there and that's sustainable, then there's 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:21.420 a huge, you know, generally that's where people 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:26.000 find their joy. So, yeah, I think it's one of 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.959 those questions that I think if I was to think 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:30.579 about it, all of the clients I work with give 00:04:30.579 --> 00:04:34.600 me scope for that level of creativity and being 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:36.420 able to make a difference to the people I work 00:04:36.420 --> 00:04:41.579 with. How did you get started in all this? Oh, 00:04:41.579 --> 00:04:44.879 yes. My background is all in strategic marketing, 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:47.480 business development and commercialization. So 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:50.399 I started off in the tech space. Can you believe, 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.420 actually, I was involved in setting up the very 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:56.480 first computer superstore in the UK before it 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.439 got bought out by PC World and then Curry. So, 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.720 yeah, so I've got a background, started in tech, 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.420 went from desktops to ERP solutions. So I went 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:09.819 from selling computers to selling software services 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:12.620 around the mark of about a million pounds a deal 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.500 at that point. And then from there, I went into 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:20.800 optics and heading up a regional team, a marketing 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.040 team. And then in 2004, when I moved to Australia, 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:26.500 I decided to set up my own marketing consultancy. 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:30.199 And I'm a huge believer that marketing is really 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:32.639 the heartbeat of every business. So I ended up 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:35.560 often working with the business owners because 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:40.399 of my approach to marketing. And what transpired 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.699 was that actually because marketing cuts across 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.680 every part of the business that work working 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:51.660 with the actual managers and the leaders resulted 00:05:51.660 --> 00:05:55.040 in really me stepping into a coaching role and 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.300 mentoring role a little bit by accident. And 00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:01.399 then from there, I ended up transitioning a lot 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:03.579 of the work that I was doing into coaching and 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:07.060 mentoring. It's quite an eclectic background, 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.019 I would say, right? Because you went from one 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:11.500 vertical to another vertical, but then they actually 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:13.100 gave you the resources to do what you do right 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:19.379 now. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, even more than 00:06:19.379 --> 00:06:22.100 that. So my second company was the one that was 00:06:22.100 --> 00:06:25.180 completely out of alignment with who I am. I 00:06:25.180 --> 00:06:29.199 decided... I moved around a lot and after Australia 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.439 I came back to the Midlands then moved to Oxford 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:35.420 and now live in Cambridge and my poor daughter 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:38.860 who now is 24 ended up going to six different 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:42.459 schools and I decided that I was going to create 00:06:42.459 --> 00:06:44.680 a better way for parents to be able to communicate 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:47.519 with each other and that's when often I say to 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.639 people I created WhatsApp before WhatsApp because 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:51.699 in essence that's what I created WhatsApp for 00:06:51.699 --> 00:06:54.300 people to be able to connect and speak with each 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:56.560 other rather than trying to find out who's got 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.720 the class, you know, the Excel spreadsheet with 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:00.759 all the parents' details on or who the class 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:02.480 rep is. I thought wouldn't it be great to have 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.879 just an easy way to connect. And so, yeah, I 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:06.779 spent some time developing that product. I spent 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:09.720 time learning how to code, learning how to manage 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.139 developers, learning how to use Jira, learning 00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:15.660 how to raise investment. And that was a tough 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:18.620 time because really I'd spotted an opportunity 00:07:18.620 --> 00:07:21.560 that I was excited about because I needed the 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:23.720 product. And so it came from a very personal 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:27.019 need, but creating a tech company was completely 00:07:27.019 --> 00:07:30.779 the wrong thing for me to do. And after going 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:33.579 on that journey, I decided that actually there 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:37.360 must be so many people who spot an opportunity 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:41.180 and decide they're going to do something. And 00:07:41.180 --> 00:07:43.420 absolutely there was, I could have made that 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.019 work, but I needed guidance coaching along that 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:48.000 journey. I think just thinking let's just set 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.879 up a tech company without having proper support. 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:54.709 was a really difficult thing to do. So I decided 00:07:54.709 --> 00:07:56.970 to close that business and focus on coaching 00:07:56.970 --> 00:07:59.750 and medicine. But none of that was wasted, none 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:01.810 of that time or that effort or energy, because 00:08:01.810 --> 00:08:04.689 what it allows me to do now is to really help 00:08:04.689 --> 00:08:07.329 business owners by understanding some of the 00:08:07.329 --> 00:08:09.069 challenges that they might be going through. 00:08:10.329 --> 00:08:12.430 And you know, the entrepreneur's journey is tough. 00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:16.970 It's one of the most difficult things to do. 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:18.629 And if you don't have the right support in place, 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:22.870 it can get really challenging. You often mention 00:08:22.870 --> 00:08:25.889 being aligned with who you are and with the building. 00:08:27.629 --> 00:08:29.930 So what advice would you give to a young entrepreneur 00:08:29.930 --> 00:08:33.289 or someone who's just getting started? Yeah, 00:08:33.490 --> 00:08:36.110 I think, you know, like I said, the journey's 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:38.149 tough. And if you're not loving what you're doing 00:08:38.149 --> 00:08:40.889 every day, that's a waste of a day. So what I 00:08:40.889 --> 00:08:46.269 would say is... You have an opportunity to really 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:48.309 create something that you're passionate about. 00:08:48.889 --> 00:08:50.789 It can't just be passion. There has to be market 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:53.889 opportunity and all of that stuff. And aligning 00:08:53.889 --> 00:08:56.269 what you have with what the market needs, product 00:08:56.269 --> 00:08:59.649 market fit is a super important piece. In fact, 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:03.669 I shared a post on LinkedIn yesterday. trying 00:09:03.669 --> 00:09:06.850 to get people to focus on one product, one market, 00:09:07.129 --> 00:09:09.110 one route to market, and that's it. Just perfect 00:09:09.110 --> 00:09:11.870 that in the early days, especially as you're 00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:15.570 going from zero to that first million. And in 00:09:15.570 --> 00:09:20.009 particular, focusing on what I often see with 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:22.039 founders and entrepreneurs is that you know, 00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:24.779 they want to jump into that early majority way 00:09:24.779 --> 00:09:27.799 too quickly. So just to focus on just the early 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:30.120 adopters, your early adopters will tell you everything 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:32.179 you need to know before you can get to that early 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:36.519 majority. And so creating a business that's, 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:38.799 you know, you're excited about it. You know, 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:40.720 you want to get out of bed and start working 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.039 on and something maybe that here's a question. 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:47.980 Would you work on that business if it didn't? 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.299 pay the bills. Is that something that you could 00:09:50.299 --> 00:09:53.000 be equally passionate about? Now, don't ever 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:55.799 fall into the trap of thinking you need to, you 00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:57.600 know, just follow your purpose and your passion 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:01.100 without making sure it's profitable. But that's 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.120 a really good indicator. And then what you do 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:06.259 is you find a way to make sure that you can actually 00:10:06.259 --> 00:10:08.799 generate income from that idea and make sure 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:11.440 it's sustainable and has a potential for growth. 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.960 All these entrepreneurs in me, you often tell 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:17.539 who's going to be successful in that. Is there 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:19.000 something that it can just speed by? You know 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:20.700 what? That person's got to be super successful. 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:24.519 That one, I'm not so sure about. Yeah, it's very 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:26.639 easy. I want to say it's easy for me to start. 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:29.360 And I'll tell you why. The drive comes from a 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:35.200 different place. People who I've seen go on and 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:38.600 become successful. I mean, okay, let's face it. 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:41.539 Sometimes it's a lucky break. But these people 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:45.240 are unstoppable. And that's what I mean by you 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:47.740 have to be driven from the inside when it comes 00:10:47.740 --> 00:10:50.399 to really, this journey is tough. And I think 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:55.080 if you're not driven by that, it's the fire in 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:57.600 your belly has to come from more than just pounds 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:00.639 on the revenue that you can generate. And I think 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.360 that is a big part of it. Sometimes I see founders 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.940 who are driven, who are opportunistic, let's 00:11:06.940 --> 00:11:08.840 say that, and there's nothing wrong with that. 00:11:08.899 --> 00:11:11.299 This is not a criticism of those people. And 00:11:11.299 --> 00:11:13.860 many people do well, right? I mean, the pandemic's 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:17.320 a perfect example of many companies that were 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:20.500 able to take advantage of opportunities left, 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:22.659 right, and center. But a lot of those companies 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:27.340 are not around today. And so if you have something 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:29.700 that you are very passionate about, that you 00:11:29.700 --> 00:11:32.759 believe in, and that makes a difference to other 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:36.120 people, product, service, the smallest things. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:38.779 The niche the more niche the better I always 00:11:38.779 --> 00:11:42.820 say and so if you have that type of idea Then 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:46.539 and and you you believe in it even when everybody 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:48.600 else around you doesn't believe in it and you 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:53.659 believe in it then that's the making of Successful 00:11:53.659 --> 00:11:55.779 companies and I've seen that happen time and 00:11:55.779 --> 00:11:59.179 again So okay, but but if I'm if I'm the founder 00:11:59.179 --> 00:12:01.100 and I have that idea that no one else surrounds 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:03.899 me believes in it How can I tell I'm not going 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:06.460 crazy in the next year? Persevering my idea. 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:09.200 What validation can I get from the outside world 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.960 if no one else around believes in that? How do 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:15.200 I get that? So you get validation from the market 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:19.240 So don't be under the illusion that people around 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.740 you your circle will understand necessarily Your 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:25.360 product or idea what you need to do is understand 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:28.299 from the market Whether there's validation in 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:30.960 your idea and there's another level of complexity 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:34.740 to that in that you might have a great idea that 00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:37.779 the market needs, but if you have an inability 00:12:37.779 --> 00:12:40.700 to communicate that effectively and the market 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:43.259 doesn't understand, then that's also going to 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:45.419 hold you back. So it's about more than just, 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:47.779 you know, you can have the best idea in the world, 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:50.360 but unless you're able to clearly articulate 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:53.620 it to your market at the right time. So if you 00:12:53.620 --> 00:12:55.919 think about the events that you're running, you 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.080 know, for example, with getting founders together 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:02.259 and giving them an opportunity to pitch their 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:05.639 ideas, that really is attracting a certain type 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:08.879 of entrepreneur who's very early in their journey, 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.299 always preparing to do a raise. If you pitch 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:16.820 that same event to somebody who's doing a Series 00:13:16.820 --> 00:13:19.970 A, it would it would fall flat they wouldn't 00:13:19.970 --> 00:13:21.950 be interested so this is really about understanding 00:13:21.950 --> 00:13:24.710 okay what does the market need what sort of environment 00:13:24.710 --> 00:13:27.049 do they need in order that they can actually 00:13:27.049 --> 00:13:29.070 share their message with the world for the last 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:30.409 part if you think about what you're doing is 00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:32.289 you're giving people the confidence to stand 00:13:32.289 --> 00:13:35.690 up and do their elevator pitch and there aren't 00:13:35.690 --> 00:13:38.750 many forums that create that type of environment 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:41.480 which is why What you've seen is this whole snowball 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:44.019 effect where people are wanting to be on stage 00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:46.860 and have the opportunity to do that in a relatively 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:49.320 safe space. That's the other thing. So it's about 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:51.000 really understanding, you know, what is it the 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:52.659 market needs and how do we correct the right 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:55.340 environment in order to be able to support that? 00:13:55.539 --> 00:13:57.059 What's the one piece of advice you always give 00:13:57.059 --> 00:13:59.019 to all entrepreneurs? What's the one thing you 00:13:59.019 --> 00:14:01.000 keep on saying time and time again? It feels 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.759 like they never listen. What's the one thing 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:06.559 you keep on saying? Yeah, so I'm a huge believer 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:10.649 that Your business is a vehicle for your personal 00:14:10.649 --> 00:14:14.049 growth Everybody creates their companies and 00:14:14.049 --> 00:14:16.470 I've seen this many times because they're looking 00:14:16.470 --> 00:14:18.250 for something they're looking for they're on 00:14:18.250 --> 00:14:24.309 their own journey of growth and and that is great 00:14:24.309 --> 00:14:28.009 and The whole time the business serves you in 00:14:28.009 --> 00:14:31.370 that way You're excited the day that that stops 00:14:31.370 --> 00:14:34.049 happening is generally when that statistic of 00:14:34.049 --> 00:14:36.289 50 % of companies don't survive beyond the first 00:14:36.289 --> 00:14:38.360 five years That's generally what's happening. 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:42.419 People get bored, not lose interest, shiny new 00:14:42.419 --> 00:14:43.919 objects syndrome, there's something better to 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.820 go after. It's too hard. There's many reasons, 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:49.019 but ultimately it's because the business isn't 00:14:49.019 --> 00:14:51.679 really serving you that way. But the flip side 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:54.980 is also true. Your business is an entity that 00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:58.500 needs something from you. So understand what 00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:01.919 you're looking for from your company, but also 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:04.720 understand what does it need from you in order 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.440 to survive. And the two, separate. You are not 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.519 your business and in the beginning whilst founders 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.799 can become at one with their business, the moment 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:16.379 they create that separation is where they are 00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:19.700 able to start to make strategic decisions on 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.419 how they need to show up and what the business 00:15:22.419 --> 00:15:24.460 needs from them as well. You think it's hard 00:15:24.460 --> 00:15:30.750 to raise money right now? Yeah, and I think it's 00:15:30.750 --> 00:15:34.629 hard and there's definitely certain sectors that 00:15:34.629 --> 00:15:40.409 are getting more investment than others. And 00:15:40.409 --> 00:15:42.429 it's regional as well. That's the other thing, 00:15:42.549 --> 00:15:45.149 right? So nowhere to go to get the money is a 00:15:45.149 --> 00:15:47.570 really big part of it. So for example, Cambridge 00:15:47.570 --> 00:15:50.929 East of England, we're investing a lot here in, 00:15:51.590 --> 00:15:53.570 actually historically there was a lot of investment 00:15:53.570 --> 00:15:56.029 going into pharma, med tech, there's a lot going 00:15:56.029 --> 00:15:59.149 into AI here, deep tech. So you have to think 00:15:59.149 --> 00:16:01.610 strategically around where to go to get that 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:05.389 investment and look carefully at the type of 00:16:05.389 --> 00:16:08.029 organizations that that investor might be interested 00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:10.470 in as well. Otherwise, you can spend a lot of 00:16:10.470 --> 00:16:13.409 time knocking on the wrong doors. But yeah, it's 00:16:13.409 --> 00:16:16.350 I mean, look, it's always tough to raise investment. 00:16:17.049 --> 00:16:19.970 You know, one of the big things that investors 00:16:19.970 --> 00:16:24.139 look for when it comes to investment is The team, 00:16:24.500 --> 00:16:27.259 right? They want to, because ultimately, somebody 00:16:27.259 --> 00:16:29.539 could have the best idea in the world, but unless 00:16:29.539 --> 00:16:32.840 they've got the right team to execute that, then 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:35.539 that's always going to be high risk. You could 00:16:35.539 --> 00:16:38.639 have an exceptional team with an average idea, 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:42.240 and they'll do well. So people is a really big 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.139 part. And if you are looking for investment, 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:47.139 based on how much you're looking for, always 00:16:47.139 --> 00:16:49.379 be mindful that it needs to be more than just 00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:51.840 you. The team needs to be bigger than just one 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:55.200 sole founder. because once I'll find that equals 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.299 high risk. Is there any, you know, magical one 00:16:58.299 --> 00:17:01.679 or magic wand that you can go and then magically 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:03.820 fix this? Is there like a super easy solution 00:17:03.820 --> 00:17:05.920 for raising investment or not? It's all about, 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:07.799 you know, getting the numbers and making those 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.900 connections. I think the deck is important and 00:17:11.900 --> 00:17:16.180 people don't always fully understand the objective 00:17:16.180 --> 00:17:19.779 of what the deck is for. The deck, that initial 00:17:19.779 --> 00:17:26.000 deck has one single purpose. And that is to get 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.140 you a meeting. So you don't have to disclose 00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:31.400 every single piece of information in a deck. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.180 The deck is about wetting somebody's appetite 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:36.420 so that they want to have a meeting with you. 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.619 And I think sometimes people get all caught up 00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:42.279 in trying to have everything in a deck. So that 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:45.519 generally puts people off. The other piece as 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:48.880 well is don't understand the addressable market 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.309 for sure. but make sure there's a direct link 00:17:53.309 --> 00:17:57.309 between the market you're trying to address and 00:17:57.309 --> 00:18:00.490 how much money you're asking for. So if you're 00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:03.390 saying you know the market's worth millions and 00:18:03.390 --> 00:18:05.789 I need a hundred thousand pounds well there's 00:18:05.789 --> 00:18:08.230 clearly a disconnect between what you're trying 00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:12.130 to do the addressable market and the investment 00:18:12.130 --> 00:18:14.490 you're putting into your business of that size 00:18:14.490 --> 00:18:16.269 in order to make sure that you can address that 00:18:16.269 --> 00:18:21.519 market so Go after reasonable and realistic targets 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:24.900 and make sure that the the ask that you have 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:28.319 in your deck Reflects how much of them but what 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:31.019 percentage of the market you can address? And 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:33.059 if there's a disconnect there that sometimes 00:18:33.059 --> 00:18:36.079 comes across as a you know that the founder maybe 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:39.099 isn't Knowledgeable enough about what's needed 00:18:39.099 --> 00:18:42.119 to to capture that that term that market place 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:45.730 What advice would you see often errors do? rejection, 00:18:46.049 --> 00:18:47.789 because what often happens is you talk to a lot 00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:50.210 of investors, some will say no, well most of 00:18:50.210 --> 00:18:51.710 them will say no. So how do you deal with that? 00:18:51.990 --> 00:18:54.970 Is there any advice you can give them? Yeah, 00:18:55.150 --> 00:18:58.490 look, it's a numbers game, right? So you've got 00:18:58.490 --> 00:19:00.990 to get the rejections to get, you know, one person 00:19:00.990 --> 00:19:04.950 to say yes. The most important piece is understand 00:19:04.950 --> 00:19:08.170 a couple of things. First of all, any time you 00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:12.990 pitch, anyone that listens to you can potentially 00:19:12.990 --> 00:19:16.759 become a salesperson for you. That requires you 00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:19.940 to be able to clearly articulate exactly what 00:19:19.940 --> 00:19:24.220 your value proposition is. But if you can, even 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:26.660 with a potential investor sat across the desk 00:19:26.660 --> 00:19:28.960 from you, who then says to you, actually, this 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:30.779 isn't the sort of thing that we normally invest 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:34.039 in, then the question is, well, do you know any 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.160 other investor that might be interested in investing 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.200 in this? Because investors know investors, right? 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:41.099 But so there's a couple of things. It's always 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:44.150 asked. So whoever you speak to, If they can't 00:19:44.150 --> 00:19:46.250 help you ask them, can they introduce you to 00:19:46.250 --> 00:19:49.410 someone who can? And then secondly is make sure 00:19:49.410 --> 00:19:52.970 that any opportunity you have is always recruit 00:19:52.970 --> 00:19:57.230 yourselves to communicate your value proposition 00:19:57.230 --> 00:19:59.529 in a way that somebody else can then go on and 00:19:59.529 --> 00:20:01.670 talk about what you do. Do you find that, for 00:20:01.670 --> 00:20:04.269 example, I'm going to talk about the events because 00:20:04.269 --> 00:20:07.289 we met due to the events, how important is actually 00:20:07.289 --> 00:20:14.880 going out to events and networking? It's very 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:16.700 relevant, and I'll tell you why for a number 00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:19.140 of reasons. First of all, the same thing as what 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:21.099 I just said, right? So you have the opportunity 00:20:21.099 --> 00:20:23.079 to pitch what you're doing to other people, and 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:25.059 then they can go on and talk about it. The number 00:20:25.059 --> 00:20:26.779 of times that I've come away from an event and 00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:28.559 I'm like, oh, I know this company that's doing 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.880 this and this and this, and LinkedIn makes it 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:32.900 pretty easy to connect with people as well. So 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:36.720 for sure, that's a big part of it. The second 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.259 part, I think, is an interesting one in that 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:42.150 the second point is interesting in that. The 00:20:42.150 --> 00:20:46.410 more you articulate what you're doing, you also 00:20:46.410 --> 00:20:50.529 are reinforcing it to yourself. And you need 00:20:50.529 --> 00:20:52.769 to hear that, especially in the early days. It's 00:20:52.769 --> 00:20:56.069 not just about sharing, sitting within your own 00:20:56.069 --> 00:20:57.289 four walls and thinking, okay, how do I make 00:20:57.289 --> 00:21:00.049 this work? You need to be out in the marketplace 00:21:00.049 --> 00:21:04.309 and sharing your ideas with people. And almost 00:21:04.309 --> 00:21:06.829 like you're looking for that validation back 00:21:06.829 --> 00:21:08.650 from people that they understand what you're 00:21:08.650 --> 00:21:11.859 talking about. And so that piece I think is super 00:21:11.859 --> 00:21:14.619 important and can only really be achieved through 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:17.099 going out and networking. And then the third 00:21:17.099 --> 00:21:19.240 piece is that the more you're out there, the 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:21.500 more you're able to spread the message, spread 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:23.940 the news, you know, connect with people. And 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:27.000 sometimes, you know, it's not always about making 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:28.819 sure that you meet with investors. You might 00:21:28.819 --> 00:21:30.799 meet with a strategic partner. You might meet 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.220 with somebody who's faced a similar challenge 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:35.160 to what you're facing and they've addressed it 00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:40.660 in a certain way. For founders, I would say networking 00:21:40.660 --> 00:21:44.720 is super important. The course you run, it's 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.619 already run. What type of companies do you run? 00:21:48.019 --> 00:21:50.980 Is it mostly early stage companies? It's been 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:54.440 a real mixture. It's designed for early stage 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.880 companies. It's not designed for... Although 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.240 I work with founders who have done series A runs, 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.240 but that's more one -to -one. The program is 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:05.730 based on seven -step process, which is... As 00:22:05.730 --> 00:22:08.150 I said earlier, that very first step is about 00:22:08.150 --> 00:22:10.150 separating the founder from the business. But 00:22:10.150 --> 00:22:12.690 then I take them through different elements of 00:22:12.690 --> 00:22:14.990 growth for themselves and their company. So to 00:22:14.990 --> 00:22:19.269 give you an example, if you think about pricing, 00:22:19.910 --> 00:22:23.089 so one of the steps is all around pricing. And 00:22:23.089 --> 00:22:27.250 when people think about pricing strategies, the 00:22:27.250 --> 00:22:29.950 traditional way to look at that is bottom up 00:22:29.950 --> 00:22:32.829 and top down. So let's take our cost and let's 00:22:32.829 --> 00:22:34.410 put a margin on that, and that's the price that 00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:36.430 we can use. Or we could look at it top down, 00:22:36.470 --> 00:22:38.390 what's the real value we're providing to the 00:22:38.390 --> 00:22:40.009 market place and therefore what does that price 00:22:40.009 --> 00:22:44.349 look like? However, all of that then, that's 00:22:44.349 --> 00:22:46.789 the external part when I talk about the business 00:22:46.789 --> 00:22:49.549 side. If I then look at the internal, what's 00:22:49.549 --> 00:22:52.069 going on internally for a founder, and this is 00:22:52.069 --> 00:22:54.589 why I talk about Parallel Glass, the founder 00:22:54.589 --> 00:22:56.690 and the business. What's going on internally 00:22:56.690 --> 00:22:59.289 for the founder is that they are determining 00:22:59.289 --> 00:23:03.789 the pricing strategy which is based on their 00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:07.170 relationship with money. So quite often, a founder 00:23:07.170 --> 00:23:10.410 will look at pricing from a very internal perspective 00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:14.430 based on how they feel about money. And so with 00:23:14.430 --> 00:23:16.150 every single one of these steps, what I do is 00:23:16.150 --> 00:23:19.029 I take people through these elements of how to 00:23:19.029 --> 00:23:21.130 separate yourself from the company, but then 00:23:21.130 --> 00:23:25.410 how do you look at branding? What's the company 00:23:25.410 --> 00:23:27.369 brand? What's the personal brand is another great 00:23:27.369 --> 00:23:29.430 one because people quite often have imposter 00:23:29.430 --> 00:23:31.710 syndrome around that and don't want to be the 00:23:31.710 --> 00:23:34.759 base of the company. I've got some ways of helping 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.200 people to step out of that, and then we go on 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.119 and look at how to promote effectively, because 00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:43.960 in essence, I've said to people that nobody wants 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:46.460 what you're selling. You really have to get your 00:23:46.460 --> 00:23:48.140 head around that. They don't want what you're 00:23:48.140 --> 00:23:51.079 selling. What they want is the outcome. They 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:53.039 want the outcome, and therefore, how do you communicate 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.680 that effectively? So the seven steps is really 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:58.299 designed around everything from organization 00:23:58.299 --> 00:24:01.960 structure to an extension of the four P's and 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:04.980 we go on. But the final step is all about growth 00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:07.680 because that comes back to this principle of 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.559 actually the reason you created your company 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:14.039 in the first place was for growth. So the real 00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:15.839 question that matters in all of this is that 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:18.950 did you grow? what decisions are you making in 00:24:18.950 --> 00:24:21.009 your business for your personal growth and actually 00:24:21.009 --> 00:24:22.990 then if you look at the external strategy within 00:24:22.990 --> 00:24:24.829 that the business strategy is about the ripple 00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:27.450 effect because when you're growing you're able 00:24:27.450 --> 00:24:30.690 to have a much bigger ripple effect and so yeah 00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:34.950 that's that program is really what I've been 00:24:34.950 --> 00:24:39.009 working on since in fact it came from I was asked 00:24:39.009 --> 00:24:40.950 to put together a presentation for International 00:24:40.950 --> 00:24:43.529 Women's Day for the University of Suffolk this 00:24:43.529 --> 00:24:45.690 last year, but the year before that. And it was 00:24:45.690 --> 00:24:47.549 the first time I sat down and I went through 00:24:47.549 --> 00:24:49.069 my diary and I thought, wouldn't it be great 00:24:49.069 --> 00:24:52.849 to share a data point around how many companies 00:24:52.849 --> 00:24:56.730 I've worked with over just 12 months. And so 00:24:56.730 --> 00:24:59.309 I went through my diary and I counted how many 00:24:59.309 --> 00:25:02.289 coaching and mentoring, how many companies I'd 00:25:02.289 --> 00:25:04.829 worked with on coaching and mentoring just in 00:25:04.829 --> 00:25:08.569 those 12 months. And it was 109 companies. And 00:25:08.569 --> 00:25:13.259 I knew it was a lot for 109 over 12 months. So 00:25:13.259 --> 00:25:15.980 then I spent the summer going through that data 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:19.420 and working out why is it that some companies 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:23.819 progress really quickly and some companies take 00:25:23.819 --> 00:25:26.099 a bit longer. And Barclays, you know, Barclays, 00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:29.500 for example, they do, they get feedback on every 00:25:29.500 --> 00:25:31.480 single one of my sessions from who I've been 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:34.069 mentoring. And, you know, they often give me 00:25:34.069 --> 00:25:36.069 feedback saying, you know, you're one of our 00:25:36.069 --> 00:25:38.250 top mentors and, you know, but I was thinking, 00:25:38.630 --> 00:25:41.630 why isn't every company progressing at the same 00:25:41.630 --> 00:25:45.509 rate? And what I found was that sometimes the 00:25:45.509 --> 00:25:50.430 business owner can get all caught up in personal 00:25:50.430 --> 00:25:54.450 development and stuck in the loop of perfection 00:25:54.450 --> 00:25:58.029 to the point that they... They're kind of hiding 00:25:58.029 --> 00:25:59.869 behind that when it comes to doing something 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:02.410 in the business or the opposite can also be true. 00:26:02.829 --> 00:26:06.369 So they're really clear on how to grow the company. 00:26:06.509 --> 00:26:08.589 They know exactly what strategies to go out with, 00:26:09.009 --> 00:26:12.190 but they are getting in the way of that. So unless 00:26:12.190 --> 00:26:15.230 you have the two in parallel, it's very hard 00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:17.410 for a company to get to that next level of success. 00:26:17.710 --> 00:26:20.650 So really understanding, okay, where am I at 00:26:20.650 --> 00:26:23.910 and where's the business at as two separate entities. 00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:27.730 is a big part. So that summer is when I decided 00:26:27.730 --> 00:26:30.549 to build the program, the Alignment Accelerator. 00:26:30.890 --> 00:26:35.190 And then since then, I've also written the first 00:26:35.190 --> 00:26:38.670 draft of my book, which is called Alignment When 00:26:38.670 --> 00:26:40.869 You Grow Your Business Growth, which again is 00:26:40.869 --> 00:26:43.690 based on the program as well. And by the end 00:26:43.690 --> 00:26:45.710 of when people go through that book, I've been 00:26:45.710 --> 00:26:49.960 really mindful to make sure that people actually 00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:52.819 have something tangible that they can use after 00:26:52.819 --> 00:26:54.599 going through the books. I've created a business 00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:57.279 blueprint, which people can, when they go through 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:00.299 each chapter, they can do the exercises. And 00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:03.819 then by the end of it, they can actually have 00:27:03.819 --> 00:27:07.140 something tangible to use and see how much they've 00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:09.460 grown. Because even growth happens in cycles. 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:12.680 So as you're going from zero to one million, 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:14.640 you'll go through a level of growth. But as you 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:17.599 go from one to 10, you'll also go through a level 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.349 of growth. So that whole journey is fascinating 00:27:21.349 --> 00:27:24.089 as Fand has gone through that. So how do you 00:27:24.089 --> 00:27:27.369 get out of your own way? So getting out of your 00:27:27.369 --> 00:27:30.750 own way can be a lot to do with programming, 00:27:30.970 --> 00:27:33.849 a lot to do with the environment in which you 00:27:33.849 --> 00:27:38.390 grew up. It can also be a lot to do with, when 00:27:38.390 --> 00:27:40.630 I say environment, I'm talking really about, 00:27:40.630 --> 00:27:43.849 you know, were your parents entrepreneurs? And 00:27:43.849 --> 00:27:48.920 sometimes I see that founders who had successful 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:53.059 entrepreneurial parents can get stuck in this 00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:55.799 loop of fear as well because they're afraid to 00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:58.039 make decisions because they might get it wrong. 00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:01.079 And so they have to be right every day, every 00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:03.680 time. So for example, with my own background, 00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:07.980 my dad was a serial entrepreneur, so he tried 00:28:07.980 --> 00:28:12.259 many businesses. failed at many businesses. And 00:28:12.259 --> 00:28:14.960 what that taught me was resilience. So I have 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:19.019 no problem at all trying something because what's 00:28:19.019 --> 00:28:20.920 the worst that happens? You fail, you get back 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:24.400 up and you carry on. But many people are afraid 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:27.299 to do that because they haven't seen what failure 00:28:27.299 --> 00:28:32.119 even looks like. So when you're operating your 00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:34.940 company and making decisions for the business 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:38.759 from that place and not making a decision because 00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.900 you might fail. or not making a decision because 00:28:41.900 --> 00:28:44.200 you don't have enough data to prove that it's 00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:46.059 the right decision because it has to be right. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:50.799 That holds people back. So on a level, I'm really 00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:53.099 talking about an inner child that can get in 00:28:53.099 --> 00:28:57.640 the way of a business person, but so many founders 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:00.180 operate in that way. In fact, I'll give you an 00:29:00.180 --> 00:29:02.420 example. There was a lady who I started working 00:29:02.420 --> 00:29:04.259 with 18 months ago. I'm actually on her board 00:29:04.259 --> 00:29:06.339 now, but when I first started working with her 00:29:06.339 --> 00:29:08.940 18 months ago, That very first mentoring session 00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:11.359 I had with her, her name's Carol. The very first 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:13.839 session, she won't mind me talking about this, 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:16.220 by the way, because I've talked about her and 00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:17.680 I've got her permission and I've spoken about 00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:21.539 her in the past. So she, in that first session, 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:26.319 she turned up and she had honestly recorded the 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:29.059 biggest asset list of any company I've ever worked 00:29:29.059 --> 00:29:31.589 with. So she, you know, she was sharing, I've 00:29:31.589 --> 00:29:33.509 got, you know, this is the company that's got 00:29:33.509 --> 00:29:36.769 the product Growth Mindset for children. So she'd 00:29:36.769 --> 00:29:39.369 created published books, she had online games, 00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:42.029 she had board games, everything that you would 00:29:42.029 --> 00:29:44.609 think of. And really well done and all based 00:29:44.609 --> 00:29:47.029 around this concept of a yeti that couldn't rule. 00:29:47.930 --> 00:29:49.829 And she was teaching children about Growth Mindset. 00:29:49.869 --> 00:29:52.690 She herself had been a teacher and a counselor, 00:29:52.730 --> 00:29:55.670 and then she was an entrepreneur, or is an entrepreneur. 00:29:57.079 --> 00:29:59.000 And she shared with me, she said, you know, I 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:01.920 have like so many great tools and the feedback 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:04.539 is always amazing and the schools love it and 00:30:04.539 --> 00:30:07.000 everybody loves it. And I said to her, you know, 00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:08.599 so what's the problem? And she said, well, the 00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:12.359 problem is, is that I can't, I can't get revenue 00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:14.200 to the next level. I'm struggling with growth. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:16.819 And this is quite often a big challenge that 00:30:16.819 --> 00:30:21.400 many founders face anyway. And when we dug deeper 00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:24.680 into, okay, so what's holding you back from growing 00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:29.119 the company and the team? And in that conversation, 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.799 she said, oh, I know what I need to do. I need 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:36.240 to hire more people, but I need to be in control 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.200 of what's happening. And so straight away, it 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:43.380 was clear that there was a huge element of control. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:47.500 And that's not unusual as well. So what we then 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:50.359 needed to do was unpack where is that coming 00:30:50.359 --> 00:30:52.779 from? So what transpired was that when she was 00:30:52.779 --> 00:30:57.950 14 years old, She was a primary carer for her 00:30:57.950 --> 00:31:00.509 mom who was ill, her dad had, her mom had MS, 00:31:00.630 --> 00:31:02.170 her dad had a heart condition and she had two 00:31:02.170 --> 00:31:04.529 younger siblings. So she was a primary carer. 00:31:04.970 --> 00:31:07.250 And so, but the only way that she could manage 00:31:07.250 --> 00:31:09.970 all of that was through this level of control. 00:31:10.589 --> 00:31:12.369 And so what was happening in the business was 00:31:12.369 --> 00:31:13.950 that she was trying to grow the business. She 00:31:13.950 --> 00:31:15.789 was getting overwhelmed with everything that 00:31:15.789 --> 00:31:18.410 needed to go on, but she needed to have complete 00:31:18.410 --> 00:31:21.650 control. And the minute that she realized that, 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:24.599 And she recognized that, oh, OK, that's where 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:26.900 I'm making that decision around control from. 00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:29.759 She was able to let go of it. And then since 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:32.339 then, she's gone and done great things. And she's 00:31:32.339 --> 00:31:35.359 got a product at the V &A in Dundee. And she's 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:38.160 in conversations with the BBC. And she's developing 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:42.420 a digital character for the Yeti. And the schools 00:31:42.420 --> 00:31:44.660 have been super excited and have taken it up. 00:31:44.660 --> 00:31:46.950 She's just announced. who's working with the 00:31:46.950 --> 00:31:49.609 charity a few weeks ago, and hugely taken off. 00:31:50.109 --> 00:31:54.509 And really, so that's a great example of where 00:31:54.509 --> 00:31:58.730 without even realizing it sometimes, we can have, 00:31:59.490 --> 00:32:02.089 I'll call it the inner child, but it's really 00:32:02.089 --> 00:32:05.390 a subconscious behavior that can take over and 00:32:05.390 --> 00:32:07.630 start making business decisions for us. Is there 00:32:07.630 --> 00:32:10.950 a way for us to fight that before it's too late? 00:32:11.470 --> 00:32:13.549 As an entrepreneur, is there a way for us to 00:32:13.549 --> 00:32:15.250 just ask a couple questions and say, you know 00:32:15.250 --> 00:32:18.420 what? I keep on finding the same issues time 00:32:18.420 --> 00:32:20.240 and time again and it's probably because it is 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:22.700 and I need to get some more help to get to the 00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:26.319 next stage. Is there like a way of finding that 00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:30.160 for everyone or is it really a process? It might 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:32.920 happen, some people might not have it. So do 00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:35.799 you mean in terms of like recognizing that there's 00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.900 something holding you back? Recognizing that 00:32:38.900 --> 00:32:40.420 there's something holding you back, like for 00:32:40.420 --> 00:32:44.190 example you're talking about this lady and Because 00:32:44.190 --> 00:32:46.190 of the conversation you had with her, she was 00:32:46.190 --> 00:32:47.690 able to recognize, actually it comes from my 00:32:47.690 --> 00:32:49.589 background, it comes from the experience I had 00:32:49.589 --> 00:32:51.809 as a teenager with my parents and my family. 00:32:52.329 --> 00:32:54.490 That's why she needed all this control. But is 00:32:54.490 --> 00:32:56.630 there a way for people to recognize that all 00:32:56.630 --> 00:32:58.250 by themselves or do you think they always have 00:32:58.250 --> 00:33:01.150 to start all over? Working with a, I mean, no, 00:33:01.569 --> 00:33:03.750 working with a culture, a mentor is going to 00:33:03.750 --> 00:33:06.470 get you to that place faster. If it's something 00:33:06.470 --> 00:33:08.650 that you want to do on your own, there are ways 00:33:08.650 --> 00:33:12.589 that you can do that. So for example, I encourage 00:33:12.589 --> 00:33:14.990 journaling for people. And when I say journaling, 00:33:15.230 --> 00:33:19.049 I'm talking about very specifically writing down 00:33:19.049 --> 00:33:21.630 questions and answers. So you can definitely 00:33:21.630 --> 00:33:24.430 start to ask yourself a question around, okay, 00:33:25.369 --> 00:33:27.309 what's holding me back from growing my company? 00:33:27.390 --> 00:33:29.250 And you've got the answer to that. And then you 00:33:29.250 --> 00:33:31.089 ask the next question and write the next answer. 00:33:31.250 --> 00:33:33.890 And if you go through a journaling exercise and 00:33:33.890 --> 00:33:37.109 write out journaling and do it for at least 20 00:33:37.109 --> 00:33:39.609 minutes, and then you go back and you read what 00:33:39.609 --> 00:33:43.190 you've written, What you'll notice is that at 00:33:43.190 --> 00:33:46.390 some point, and it's normally kind of halfway 00:33:46.390 --> 00:33:48.670 or two -thirds of the way through what you've 00:33:48.670 --> 00:33:51.049 written, that you drop out of your head. and 00:33:51.049 --> 00:33:53.089 into your heart state. What you're really looking 00:33:53.089 --> 00:33:55.930 for is not the logical reason why you're making 00:33:55.930 --> 00:33:59.089 decisions. You're looking for some of these patterns 00:33:59.089 --> 00:34:01.930 and behaviors as to why there might be an underlying 00:34:01.930 --> 00:34:05.069 belief system around why you're making certain 00:34:05.069 --> 00:34:07.869 choices and certain decisions. So definitely 00:34:07.869 --> 00:34:09.769 when you're making decisions, you can always 00:34:09.769 --> 00:34:12.710 ask yourself, okay, is this the right decision 00:34:12.710 --> 00:34:15.050 and where's the thought process coming from? 00:34:15.730 --> 00:34:19.739 It's a relatively hard thing. to do unless you 00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:22.260 do something like a journaling exercise or if 00:34:22.260 --> 00:34:25.880 you're able to speak to somebody and get them 00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:28.099 to ask you the right questions and asking the 00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:30.679 right questions is really about unpacking where 00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:33.780 decision making is actually coming from. I often 00:34:33.780 --> 00:34:35.739 when I did my coaching and mentoring sessions 00:34:35.739 --> 00:34:39.300 anyone who's ever worked with me in that very 00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:44.260 first session I spend half of that session understanding 00:34:44.260 --> 00:34:48.719 someone's childhood because Just by understanding 00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:51.360 that, I can really unpack quickly what might 00:34:51.360 --> 00:34:54.019 be holding somebody back in their company. And 00:34:54.019 --> 00:34:56.300 also, it gives me a lot of insights into why 00:34:56.300 --> 00:34:58.159 they're creating the business that they're creating. 00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:00.900 And founders don't always necessarily make those 00:35:00.900 --> 00:35:03.900 two connections. So, in fact, I had this last 00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:07.780 week with somebody where you explained, and he 00:35:07.780 --> 00:35:09.719 was very left -brained. So when I say left -brained, 00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:12.539 very, you know, he'd come to the session very 00:35:12.539 --> 00:35:16.570 prepared. thought process around why he was creating 00:35:16.570 --> 00:35:18.989 the business he was creating, went through and 00:35:18.989 --> 00:35:21.489 presented the argument as to why this was a much 00:35:21.489 --> 00:35:24.650 needed service that he was developing. And then 00:35:24.650 --> 00:35:28.289 when we went back to his childhood, what we realized, 00:35:28.489 --> 00:35:31.429 what he realized was that this is the product 00:35:31.429 --> 00:35:34.170 that he wanted as a child. This is something 00:35:34.170 --> 00:35:37.469 that he wanted as a child and something that 00:35:37.469 --> 00:35:40.010 he thinks would have made a big difference to 00:35:40.010 --> 00:35:44.769 him growing up. There's so much of how we show 00:35:44.769 --> 00:35:47.730 up and what we want to do which is driven From 00:35:47.730 --> 00:35:51.550 the inside that we don't always Recognize until 00:35:51.550 --> 00:35:55.030 we do that piece of work It's a it's a bit like 00:35:55.030 --> 00:35:58.730 so I quite often Give people a values exercise 00:35:58.730 --> 00:36:01.030 to do. Have you ever done a values exercise to 00:36:01.030 --> 00:36:05.170 understand your own values? No, okay. Okay. So 00:36:05.170 --> 00:36:08.849 Values is is super important because they play 00:36:08.849 --> 00:36:11.110 out in how you show up in your business all the 00:36:11.110 --> 00:36:15.519 time So a really simple one to do is if you imagine 00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:20.559 you've got, if you draw a chart on the horizontal 00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:24.300 axis, you plot your age. So you go from age zero 00:36:24.300 --> 00:36:27.940 up to about the age of 17 or 18. And on the vertical 00:36:27.940 --> 00:36:30.679 you plot emotion. So at the bottom you have sadness 00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:33.739 and at the top you have your memories. All your 00:36:33.739 --> 00:36:35.519 childhood memories up to about the age of 17 00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:39.420 or 18. So you're plotting. the lows and the highs 00:36:39.420 --> 00:36:42.360 and anything of significance that you can remember. 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.179 And when you look back at that and when you look 00:36:45.179 --> 00:36:48.380 at the low points what you'll recognise is that 00:36:48.380 --> 00:36:51.659 actually those low points form part of your value 00:36:51.659 --> 00:36:54.820 system. Sometimes the highs but mostly the lows. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:58.400 And so if you go through those what you'll start 00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:01.679 to see is any significant life events form part 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:05.809 of what becomes a non -negotiable for you. without 00:37:05.809 --> 00:37:09.250 you even realizing it. So I'll give you an example 00:37:09.250 --> 00:37:11.730 of how this plays out in business. So for me, 00:37:11.730 --> 00:37:15.030 because of a childhood incident, people often 00:37:15.030 --> 00:37:18.449 say, you know, one of my core values is honesty. 00:37:18.650 --> 00:37:21.489 But for me, it really is because I had a childhood 00:37:21.489 --> 00:37:26.550 incident where that was compromised. And so the 00:37:26.550 --> 00:37:28.449 example I wanted to share about how that plays 00:37:28.449 --> 00:37:31.670 out in business is I was working with a copywriter 00:37:31.670 --> 00:37:33.929 who was working for me and another business at 00:37:33.929 --> 00:37:37.460 the same time. And I asked if she would be able 00:37:37.460 --> 00:37:39.699 to just do some copy for me one of the afternoons. 00:37:39.739 --> 00:37:41.320 And she said, oh, yeah, no problem. I can do 00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:43.679 that for you because I've got time this afternoon. 00:37:43.800 --> 00:37:45.000 And I said, well, I thought you were working 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:47.219 for the other businesses this afternoon. And 00:37:47.219 --> 00:37:50.860 she said, oh, I'll just tell her I'm sick. And 00:37:50.860 --> 00:37:53.380 so, and now some people might look at that and 00:37:53.380 --> 00:37:55.840 think, oh, she values my company more than the 00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:58.380 other company. And isn't that lovely? But actually, 00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:01.460 after that, I couldn't actually work with her. 00:38:02.490 --> 00:38:04.809 she was probably doing something that she thought 00:38:04.809 --> 00:38:07.750 was, oh, it's okay because, you know, for whatever 00:38:07.750 --> 00:38:10.849 reason, she made the decision to, you know, that 00:38:10.849 --> 00:38:14.309 was her choice. But for me, it became a point 00:38:14.309 --> 00:38:16.269 where actually there was just a hit of a wall 00:38:16.269 --> 00:38:20.650 with working with her. And so for that, having 00:38:20.650 --> 00:38:23.210 that level of awareness about yourself and where 00:38:23.210 --> 00:38:27.469 decisions might be coming from in your business 00:38:27.469 --> 00:38:29.670 is super important for founders and entrepreneurs. 00:38:29.980 --> 00:38:33.059 And so that values exercise, it's so, so simple 00:38:33.059 --> 00:38:36.659 to do. And it's hugely powerful, but it really 00:38:36.659 --> 00:38:39.820 does help you to unpack a lot about how you're 00:38:39.820 --> 00:38:43.260 showing up in your company. So becoming an entrepreneur 00:38:43.260 --> 00:38:47.000 is not so much about being a successful business 00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:49.579 owner. It's more about the journey, isn't it? 00:38:49.639 --> 00:38:52.619 It's more about the realization that you do certain 00:38:52.619 --> 00:38:56.469 things because of your past, your values. it's 00:38:56.469 --> 00:38:58.449 because you want to implement some change in 00:38:58.449 --> 00:38:59.750 the world because of everything that happened 00:38:59.750 --> 00:39:01.670 to you and you want to make it a better place. 00:39:01.969 --> 00:39:04.369 So it really comes after that, doesn't it? It 00:39:04.369 --> 00:39:08.110 does. And here's the thing, is that any entrepreneur 00:39:08.110 --> 00:39:11.349 who thinks that they're going to be happy when 00:39:11.349 --> 00:39:15.230 they hit their first million, their first five 00:39:15.230 --> 00:39:21.449 million, that point in time is so small because 00:39:21.449 --> 00:39:24.159 the minute you hit that, The minute you hit a 00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:26.079 million, you'll be thinking, how do I make five? 00:39:26.579 --> 00:39:27.800 The minute you hit five, you'll be thinking, 00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:32.619 how do I make 10? So that chase is ongoing. So 00:39:32.619 --> 00:39:36.460 that's like never fulfilling, right? But the 00:39:36.460 --> 00:39:40.320 most important part of that is, how did you get 00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:42.380 there? What was that journey like that you took 00:39:42.380 --> 00:39:45.900 to get to a certain place? You know, people often, 00:39:46.300 --> 00:39:49.800 when they are successful, if you talk to any 00:39:49.800 --> 00:39:52.869 successful business person and you say, watch 00:39:52.869 --> 00:39:56.650 your recollection of good times in your business. 00:39:57.010 --> 00:39:59.010 They'll always talk about the good old times 00:39:59.010 --> 00:40:01.449 when they had the struggle because everything 00:40:01.449 --> 00:40:04.469 is about the journey. It's about, okay, what 00:40:04.469 --> 00:40:07.590 did I have to do to get here? And that's really 00:40:07.590 --> 00:40:10.309 what brings fulfillment is that level of growth 00:40:10.309 --> 00:40:15.090 brings fulfillment. Yes, work hard and get to 00:40:15.090 --> 00:40:17.829 a place where your business is successful, but 00:40:17.829 --> 00:40:20.329 don't think that when you get to a specific point 00:40:20.329 --> 00:40:23.880 in time, that you're going to feel any differently 00:40:23.880 --> 00:40:27.000 to how you feel in the need to that point in 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:29.900 time. So be mindful of how you're showing up 00:40:29.900 --> 00:40:32.340 every day rather than thinking I'm going to feel 00:40:32.340 --> 00:40:35.900 differently at a specific point in time. So it 00:40:35.900 --> 00:40:38.179 really is all about the journey, is it? It's 00:40:38.179 --> 00:40:40.599 all about connections and making people, well, 00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:41.860 connections to the people you meet, obviously, 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:44.719 but also the transformation you go through inside, 00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:47.340 right? Because if you're just seeing currency, 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:49.500 it's not going to make a difference, is it? I 00:40:49.500 --> 00:40:54.090 mean, you might not. Yeah and you know look there's 00:40:54.090 --> 00:40:56.150 all sorts of data around you know when you hit 00:40:56.150 --> 00:40:59.150 a certain income level then the other big one 00:40:59.150 --> 00:41:02.969 I guess with this is that being able to yeah 00:41:02.969 --> 00:41:05.849 hitting certain income levels requires you to 00:41:05.849 --> 00:41:08.150 be able to deal with a certain level of problems 00:41:08.150 --> 00:41:11.190 because everything comes every size of business 00:41:11.190 --> 00:41:13.809 comes with a different set of challenges and 00:41:13.809 --> 00:41:17.940 so The journey is really about building you as 00:41:17.940 --> 00:41:19.840 an individual, building resilience and getting 00:41:19.840 --> 00:41:21.719 you to a point where you're able to go through 00:41:21.719 --> 00:41:25.360 that next level of growth as well. So that whole 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:30.500 process of there's a level when people go through 00:41:30.500 --> 00:41:32.260 growth, there's a level of detachment that needs 00:41:32.260 --> 00:41:34.480 to take place as well. You know, there's a whole 00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:36.219 level of separation that we talked about earlier. 00:41:36.239 --> 00:41:40.139 So there's many layers to this. And recognizing 00:41:40.139 --> 00:41:42.599 why you've created your business in the first 00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:47.079 place is the big, big part of what will ultimately 00:41:47.079 --> 00:41:49.880 then help you shape how you want that to unfold 00:41:49.880 --> 00:41:52.599 going into the future. I think there's many people 00:41:52.599 --> 00:41:56.000 who think that actually I just want a successful 00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:58.280 business. But what's your definition of success? 00:41:58.699 --> 00:42:03.079 Does success mean freedom of time for you? Does 00:42:03.079 --> 00:42:05.360 it mean freedom of money? And if it is money, 00:42:05.460 --> 00:42:07.739 what does that actually look like? Would it make 00:42:07.739 --> 00:42:09.639 a difference to you if you had 10 million or 00:42:09.639 --> 00:42:12.360 50 million in the bank? you know, what does that 00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:16.079 look like? And by the way, you can also have 00:42:16.079 --> 00:42:19.000 a level of resistance to money as well, right? 00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:20.460 This is one of the things to talk about in the 00:42:20.460 --> 00:42:24.119 Alignment Accelerator, which is, you know, what 00:42:24.119 --> 00:42:26.159 was your experience of growing up with money? 00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:29.300 Like, did money cause problems in your household? 00:42:29.400 --> 00:42:32.000 And therefore, actually, you think you want money, 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:34.440 but actually, you don't really want money because 00:42:34.440 --> 00:42:36.639 it's like, you know, there's all sorts of, you 00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:38.900 know, who am I? If I'm the person with the money, 00:42:38.940 --> 00:42:41.679 am I, you know, You might have had somebody who 00:42:41.679 --> 00:42:45.099 was disliked in your family circle growing up 00:42:45.099 --> 00:42:46.760 who had a lot of money and everybody didn't like 00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:49.739 that person and therefore are you subconsciously 00:42:49.739 --> 00:42:51.460 deciding that actually I don't really want money? 00:42:51.780 --> 00:42:53.579 I'm saying I want it but actually I don't really 00:42:53.579 --> 00:42:57.119 want it. And all of that unpacking takes place 00:42:57.119 --> 00:43:01.199 on this journey of entrepreneurship. The real 00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:05.679 question is how much do you want to grow? So 00:43:05.679 --> 00:43:09.360 before you look that up and until your book comes 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:11.300 out, which I'm very much looking forward to reading, 00:43:11.980 --> 00:43:13.900 which books would you recommend to someone? Just 00:43:13.900 --> 00:43:15.639 listening to your entire conversation right now, 00:43:15.900 --> 00:43:17.480 which ones would you say, you know, pick up this 00:43:17.480 --> 00:43:22.679 book? It's amazing. Yeah, one of my all -time 00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:24.579 favourites is Never Split the Difference, I think 00:43:24.579 --> 00:43:27.340 which many people have read now. I mean, the 00:43:27.340 --> 00:43:30.159 classic is obviously Simon Sinek's book, but 00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:32.000 I'm trying to think what else I could recommend 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:34.199 that maybe most people wouldn't have heard of. 00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:36.809 I actually haven't read it. Never Split the Difference. 00:43:36.989 --> 00:43:39.829 So I'm gonna add it to my list right now. Oh, 00:43:40.130 --> 00:43:42.969 you're gonna love that. It's full of really, 00:43:43.010 --> 00:43:46.369 yeah, it's all about negotiation. It's a fantastic 00:43:46.369 --> 00:43:48.230 book. So there you go. Okay, so I would say Never 00:43:48.230 --> 00:43:49.909 Split the Difference. That's my all -time favourite. 00:43:50.489 --> 00:43:53.289 Which one are you reading right now? So at the 00:43:53.289 --> 00:43:58.210 moment, I'm actually hooked to Stephen Bartlett's 00:43:58.210 --> 00:44:01.869 podcasts. Okay. Yes, I'm all about the podcast 00:44:01.869 --> 00:44:03.389 at the moment to kind of go through a bit of 00:44:03.389 --> 00:44:06.469 a phase. I definitely spend a lot of time in 00:44:06.469 --> 00:44:09.989 personal development and especially there's a 00:44:09.989 --> 00:44:12.190 lot in the space of personal development which 00:44:12.190 --> 00:44:15.329 is starting to unfold as we start to understand 00:44:15.329 --> 00:44:17.710 a lot more about the behavior, understand a lot 00:44:17.710 --> 00:44:20.340 more about how the brain functions. and all of 00:44:20.340 --> 00:44:22.340 that stuff is fascinating. But yes, I would say 00:44:22.340 --> 00:44:27.639 Dari, the CEO, is the thing that... So not the 00:44:27.639 --> 00:44:30.139 innovation conversation, it's just... Oh, absolutely, 00:44:30.500 --> 00:44:34.099 and that, and that, for sure, for sure. Well, 00:44:34.099 --> 00:44:35.880 it has been going on for two years, so it has 00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:39.219 like a leg up on us. We're picking it up slowly. 00:44:40.519 --> 00:44:42.780 They're absolutely lovely. If people want to 00:44:42.780 --> 00:44:45.260 reach out to you and contact you, how can you 00:44:45.260 --> 00:44:48.869 do so? So the easiest way is on LinkedIn. So 00:44:48.869 --> 00:44:51.650 if you look for my name Bobita Devi on LinkedIn 00:44:51.650 --> 00:44:56.389 and also I have a website which again is mynamebobitadevi 00:44:56.389 --> 00:44:58.570 .com so definitely can reach out through that 00:44:58.570 --> 00:45:00.409 as well. Thank you so much for your time. Thank 00:45:00.409 --> 00:45:03.510 you Ricardo. This podcast is also sponsored by 00:45:03.510 --> 00:45:06.869 startupnetworks .co .uk. Startup networks it's 00:45:06.869 --> 00:45:09.530 an online forum where you can find all the resources 00:45:09.530 --> 00:45:11.969 you need to run your startup. From grants to 00:45:11.969 --> 00:45:14.349 investors to tips and tricks and how to be successful 00:45:14.349 --> 00:45:16.849 in your startup. This podcast is sponsored by 00:45:16.849 --> 00:45:19.829 OpenExperts .com. OpenExperts is the place to 00:45:19.829 --> 00:45:21.929 go if you're looking to talk with top experts 00:45:21.929 --> 00:45:25.449 from around the world. That is Open -Experts 00:45:25.449 --> 00:45:25.909 .com.