10 Years From £50 In The Bank To Multi-Million Pound Turnover - with Charlotte Melia
Release Date: 02/24/2023
Episode #591: Mastering the CEO–COO Dynamic - with Diane Mentzer
ScaleUp Radio
Welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today’s episode I’m joined by Diane Mentzer, an expert in the CEO–COO dynamic and how leadership teams can unlock the next stage of growth. If you’ve ever felt like your business has hit a ceiling; where growth slows, complexity increases, and everything still seems to depend on you; then this episode is for you....
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Episode #590 - ScaleUp Radio Short - Quarter 1 2026 Review Special
ScaleUp Radio
What can we learn from our latest 90 days of ScaleUp journeys? In this special ScaleUp Radio Shorts episode, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt step back and reflect on the standout lessons from an incredible line-up of founders, CEOs, and investors interviewed in Q1 2026. From simplifying strategy to navigating resilience, embracing AI disruption, and building high-performing teams, this episode distils three months of conversations into a powerful, practical masterclass for scaling businesses. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure what to prioritise next, this episode will help you...
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Episode #589 - Eat What You Love, Do What You Love, And Make It Sustainable - with Hannah Lanel
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today's episode I’m joined by Hannah Lanel, founder of The Fore; a business on a mission to disrupt the diet and fitness industry by focusing on long-term, sustainable wellbeing rather than quick fixes. In this conversation, we explore three key areas. First, Hannah shares how The Fore works as a holistic...
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Episode #588 - ScaleUp Club - Focus, AI Multipliers and The Checklist Advantage with Victor Carpio
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others’ experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today’s episode we are doing something slightly different. This episode was recorded live during one of our ScaleUp Club sessions, where we bring together founders and leadership teams to explore the real challenges of scaling a business. The session included our regular AI Pulse update, a live Q&A...
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Episode #587 - ScaleUp Shorts - Scaling isn't about choosing between numbers or people
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt dive into two seemingly contrasting, but ultimately aligned, scaling philosophies from recent guests Jeremy Middleton and John Hibbs. On the surface, one is a data-driven investor focused on predictable growth and cash flow. The other is a people-first founder measuring culture, wellbeing, and connection. But the real insight? 👉 You cannot scale what you do not measure. This episode unpacks why both financial discipline and people metrics are essential if you want to build a resilient, scalable business. What...
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Episode #586 - From University Dismissal To A Realisation That You Need To Measure What Matters For Success
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today's episode I’m joined by John Hibbs, founder of Coefficient, a platform designed to help leaders measure the human side of their business — things like culture, psychological safety and engagement. In this conversation John explains why so many businesses track revenue and profit but struggle to...
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Episode #585 - From Near Failure to FTSE 100: The Power of Predictable Revenue - with Jeremy Middleton
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Jeremy Middleton. Jeremy is best known as one of the early backers of HomeServe, a business that grew from a struggling plumbing service into a FTSE-100 company before its eventual acquisition. Today he leads Middleton Enterprises, investing in profitable founder-led businesses and helping them scale from around £500k profit to £5m and beyond. This episode explores the real lessons behind scaling successfully: pivoting business models, building predictable revenue, hiring the right people and...
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Episode #584 - ScaleUp Radio Short - Strategy Over Hope: What Three Founders Teach Us About Scaling Smarter
ScaleUp Radio
In this special ScaleUp Radio Shorts episode, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt distil some of the most powerful insights from three recent interviews with founders working at the cutting edge of marketing, AI, and business growth. Featuring lessons from Andreas Voniatis, Benjie Hughes, and Serge Nguele, the discussion explores what really drives successful scaleups and where many businesses go wrong when trying to grow. While each founder operates in a different space, a common theme runs through all three conversations: clarity of strategy beats blind activity every time. From diagnosing...
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Episode #583 - Digital Diagnosis Before Ad Spend – with Serge Nguele
ScaleUp Radio
What happens when a former medical student applies diagnostic thinking to marketing? In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by Serge Nguile, founder of Your PPC Doctor, a PPC and digital strategy agency built around one powerful idea: diagnose before you prescribe. Serge shares his fascinating journey from medical studies in Ukraine to becoming a PPC Director, and ultimately launching his own agency after redundancy. He also opens up about founder burnout, mindset shifts, and why purpose now sits at the heart of his business model. As always, our discussion is structured in...
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Episode #582 - AI Search Is Rewriting the Rules. Are You Still Playing the Old Game? - with Andreas Voniatis
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent sits down with Andreas Voniatis, founder of Artios.io, to explore what might be the biggest shift in search since Google began. Traditional SEO as we know it is fading. AI search is changing how content is discovered, prioritised, and rewarded. And Andreas saw it coming early. In fact, Artios built its own Large Language Model back in 2019; years before ChatGPT entered the mainstream. This conversation dives into: Why traditional SEO is becoming a back-office function Why most AI content strategies are fundamentally flawed What “information...
info_outlineI had the pleasure today to talk with Charlotte Melia on ScaleUp Radio. Charlotte is the co founder of Dazzle and fIzz and they are an entertainment event organiser but with a big difference and you'll really hear that as you listen to Charlotte.
She reached her first million within about five years and she's now got 17 full time employees and 25 part time. Her first international event was for the Dubai royal family with ice sculptures in the desert. And she's managed to secure two rounds of investment from VC and from angels and will be looking for more.
Charlotte has also managed to challenge and overcome some of the perceptions around two women founders, in an industry that is sometimes perceived as a little bit of a cottage industry. She clearly had to stand out and really make her case for funding and she gives a lot of great advice on how you might go about doing that.
Carlotte is also very clear on why she is building the business. So listen out for her reasons around that. And also some neat thinking around intellectual property around licencing, also thoughts around becoming a preferred supplier with your target groups in Charlotte's case five star hotels.
So lots of really good things here. All sorts of areas covered. In the beginning we talk a bit about the cash side of things and if you'd like to level up your thinking on your cash habits, then why not take our ScoreApp - the link is here - https://kevin-qrtokieu.scoreapp.com - and will only take you a few minutes and might give you some really useful ideas.
So let's go over to Charlotte for her story.
Charlotte can be found here:
linkedin.com/in/charlotte-melia-4553a296
Resources
Traction by Gino Wickman - https://www.waterstones.com/book/traction/gino-wickman/9781936661831
Dwen - https://dwen.com/en-us/
Xero - https://dwen.com/en-us/
Capsule CRM - https://capsulecrm.com
Connecteam - https://connecteam.com
G:Drivev - https://drive.google.com
Eric - https://www.meet-eric.com/