ScaleUp Radio
This week on ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt unpack two fascinating conversations with founders operating in completely different worlds — yet connected by one powerful idea: Business success still comes down to people. On one side is Bob Ferguson — city councilman, long-standing business owner, and leader of what he calls an “all-volunteer army” through his network marketing organisation in Fairfield, Iowa. On the other is Priyanka Rao — immigrant tech founder and creator of MicroInterns, an innovative platform connecting students with startups through short-term,...
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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 Priyanka Rao, founder of MicroInterns. Now if you’ve ever struggled with hiring or wondered whether CVs really tell the full story anymore, this one’s for you. With AI now writing CVs and even running interviews, there’s a growing question around trust in the hiring...
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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 Bob Ferguson. Bob brings a fascinating perspective on leadership - combining decades of experience in business, community building, and global networks - and at the heart of it all is one powerful idea: mental fitness. We explore why your effectiveness as a leader is shaped less...
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This episode is created with the use of AI In this ScaleUp Radio Shorts episode, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt unpack two recent interviews with very different leaders operating in very different sectors, yet facing strikingly similar scaling challenges. On one side, Paul Patras, a deep-tech founder translating complex AI into commercial value. On the other, Greg Baldwin, scaling a fast-growing operational business through practical, data-led leadership. This episode focuses on the practical shifts in thinking, communication, and leadership that enable businesses to move from complexity and...
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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 Greg Baldwin, Managing Director of Highway Traffic Management. Now this is a special one; because we’re revisiting Greg’s journey five years on to see what’s actually happened since our last conversation. And it’s a fascinating look at what real scaling looks like in...
info_outlineScaleUp 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 returning guest Rafmary for a live Q&A session recorded at our ScaleUp Club. This episode is structured a little differently and brings together three key elements. First, our latest AI Pulse update, where we explore how tools like Claude Co-Work are moving AI beyond content...
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In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by Paul Patras, co-founder of Net AI, a University of Edinburgh spin-out transforming how telecom networks manage energy and capacity. What started as deep academic research has evolved into a commercial AI engine helping telecom providers reduce energy costs by up to 35% - potentially saving tens of millions annually - without compromising service quality. This is a fascinating conversation about the realities of moving from research to revenue, the mindset shift required, and the challenges of scaling a highly technical innovation into...
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This episode is AI generated In this ScaleUp Radio Shorts edition, Kevin and Louise revisit two powerful conversations exploring one of the biggest constraints in scaling a business: people. Drawing insights from Mike Moorhouse and Anita Čavrag, this episode unpacks how leadership, culture, and self-awareness shape your ability to grow beyond the founder-led phase. This episode was produced with the aid of AI to help bring together key insights and actionable takeaways. 🔍 What You’ll Learn 1. Why People Are the Real Bottleneck Both guests highlight that while strategy and finance...
info_outlineScaleUp 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 Michael Moorhouse, a leadership expert and advisor who works with scaleup businesses to align their strategy, systems, and people for high performance. In this episode, Michael shares practical frameworks to help you break through one of the biggest scaling barriers — founder...
info_outlineScaleUp 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 Anita Čavrag, a leadership expert who specialises in helping founders overcome burnout and build high-performing, engaged teams. In this episode, Anita shares practical frameworks to help you make the critical shift from operator to leader — and why failing to do so is one of...
info_outlineAll the best ideas start over coffee at a coffee shop or maybe over a beer in the pub. And this is no exception.
Today I talk with Jane James who is the founder of Little Voices and they're a national award winning, franchised organisation that helps children to be the very best that they can and bring out the best in them through drama and singing.
In this conversation you won’t fail to notice how passionate the Jane is about her business. But like us all she's been through various ups and downs along the way.
Little Voices is all about empowering children to find their voice to succeed in life. So it's through music and drama, but it's much more than just about the music and drama itself.
We discuss all sorts of aspects around franchising why it might be a good thing to consider as a route to scaling, but we also discuss some of the challenges that Jane has had along her way - including the fact that Jane originally co founded the business with a partner, and they had a business divorce later on.
So lots of great learnings throughout this regardless of whether you're thinking about franchising or not. So let's go across to Jane and hear the rest of her story.
We spoke about franchising being a consideration in strategic planning for scaling up. If you’d like some tangible actions around developing a scalable business model, you might like to take our free 20 question strategy checker https://strategicthinking.scoreapp.com
Jane can be found here:
Resources:
Diary of a CEO - https://stevenbartlett.com/the-diary-of-a-ceo-podcast/
The Mid-Point with Gabby Logan - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-mid-point-with-gabby-logan/id1527545442
The School Run with Jane & Liv - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theschoolrun
Gmail - https://mail.google.com/
Google Tasks - https://support.google.com/tasks/answer/7675772?hl=en&ref_topic=7675628&sjid=5643080918397018839-EU
Google Drive - https://www.google.com/drive/
Xero - https://login.xero.com/
Trello - https://trello.com/