Episode #254 - I’ve Learnt To Support My Staff, Even If They’re Leaving The Company - with Mike Dunn
Release Date: 06/23/2023
Episode #558 - From Unicorn Ambition to Creative Freedom – Lessons from Two ScaleUp Journeys
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, hosts Kevin Brent and Granger Forson dive into the powerful contrast and surprising common ground between two visionary founders: Lilia Stoyanov, CFO and Founder of HR-tech and fintech platform TFY, and Virtyt Pula, Creative Lead of boutique creative collective TOML. Though their sectors, business models, and goals couldn’t be more different, both leaders share an innovative approach to building remote-first, talent-led organisations that challenge conventional ideas about scaling. 🔑 In this episode, you'll learn: How Lilia scaled TFY to...
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Episode #557 - From PR Pioneer to Portfolio Career; Value-Based Growth and Lasting Legacy - with Andrew Bloch
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, I’m joined by Andrew Bloch – one of the UK’s most influential voices in the PR and marketing space. Best known as the co-founder of Frank PR and now the founder of a boutique consultancy, Andrew shares the story of building, scaling, exiting, and reinventing a business around his strengths and values. We explore his fascinating career arc – from growing Frank into one of the UK’s leading agencies, to selling it, buying it back, and eventually transitioning it to employee ownership. Andrew now operates a portfolio career that combines M&A...
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Episode #556 - Turning the Spam Filter on its Head: A Privacy-First Approach with Sentrya - with Claudiu Cogalniceanu
ScaleUp Radio
On this episode of ScaleUp Radio, I’m joined by Claudiu Cogalniceanu, the solo founder behind Sentrya, a revolutionary new approach to email protection. What makes Claudiu’s story so remarkable isn’t just the tech, though that’s impressive, but the journey. He built the first version of Sentrya in under a month while working as an Uber driver, launched it on Product Hunt, and grew to over 450 users in 25+ countries using organic Reddit marketing alone. Sentrya flips the traditional spam filter model: instead of trying to detect spam, it creates a clean list of approved senders and...
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Episode #555 - What if your business could scale globally with just 25 people — and no external funding? - with Lilia Stoyanov
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, I’m joined by Lilia Stoyanov, the CEO and cofounder of TFY (Transformify Ltd), a bootstrapped, AI-powered global workforce management platform. TFY enables businesses to hire, onboard and pay contractors in 184+ countries – all from one platform. And it’s not just another HR tool — it’s a human-centred, AI-powered engine that automates compliance and payments, so finance and HR teams can focus on strategic growth. In this episode, we cover: How TFY achieved 90% profit growth in 2024 with zero external investment The three-phase scaling strategy that...
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Episode #554 - From Neurosurgeon to $200M Founder
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Granger Forson unpack the remarkable ScaleUp journey of Dr. Mark Kotter, a neurosurgeon, stem cell biologist, and founder of Bit Bio, a deep-tech biotech company that’s raised over $200 million and scaled to 200+ people. It’s a story that starts with clinical frustration and leads to a cutting-edge company using AI to literally reprogram cells. But beyond the science lies a business story that any entrepreneur can learn from, full of lessons on leadership, values, team alignment, and the bumpy road of scale. 💡 Episode...
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Episode #553 - Flipping The Traditional Agency Model On It’s Head - with Virtyt Pula
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, I’m joined by Virtyt Pula, the founder of TOML, a talent-first creative agency that’s reimagining how creative work gets done. Instead of a traditional in-house model, TOML operates as a global creative collective, blending a tight-knit core team with a flexible international network of creative specialists. Founded in 2015, TOML was built to challenge agency norms, and when the pandemic hit, its remote-first model went from being questioned by clients to becoming its biggest asset. We cover three key areas in this conversation: The Business, how TOML...
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Episode #552 - ScaleUp Club Special: Scaling Deep Tech - with Mark Kotter
ScaleUp Radio
In this exclusive ScaleUp Club session, Kevin Brent sits down with Dr Mark Kotter, the visionary neurosurgeon and founder of Bit Bio, a revolutionary deep tech company transforming how we produce human cells at scale. Bit Bio has raised over £250 million, and what started as academic frustration with the limits of regenerative medicine has become a game-changing platform for industrial-scale cell production. But it hasn’t been an easy ride. From a near-collapse caused by co-founder misalignment to pioneering an intensive, values-driven hiring process, Mark shares a raw and honest look at...
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Episode #551 - ScaleUp Radio Shorts: The Engineer and The Artist – Balancing Structure with Spirit in Scale-Ups
ScaleUp Radio
This week on ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin and Granger reflect on two standout interviews that bring together the worlds of engineering precision and artistic expression in leadership. On one side, we have Jono Taylor, a grounded product design engineer scaling his service-based business with a flexible freelance model. On the other, Nigel Hughes, a ballet-trained serial entrepreneur helping leaders inspire from within. Despite their wildly different backgrounds, both guests shared strikingly similar insights around resilience, team dynamics, and the importance of values in scaling. 💡 In this...
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Episode #550 - From Performer to Purpose-Driven Leader: Vision, Inspiration & Personal Discovery - with Nigel Hughes
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 Nigel Hughes, a former professional performer turned leadership advisor and founder of Outstanding Global. Nigel’s journey is anything but ordinary. At just 13 years old, he chose ballet over the Marines — a decision that marked the beginning of a 20-year career on stage...
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Episode #549 - Designing Products That Change Lives, Innovation, Resilience and Radical Teamwork - with Jono Taylor
ScaleUp Radio
Hi, I’m Granger Forson find me at or connect on and in this episode of ScaleUp Radio we dive deep into the world of product design engineering with Jono Taylor, founder of Relay Industries. Jono has spent ten years building a business that brings breakthrough physical products to life, helping solve real-world problems in medical, industrial, scientific and connected technology sectors. From life-saving blood pumps and IoT telematics hardware to quantum physics instrumentation, Relay Industries stands out by combining creativity with deep manufacturing...
info_outlineToday I had the pleasure to interview Mike Dunn on ScaleUp Radio. Mike founded the Excel TM group and they're a telemarketing company in the construction sector. I love that they have specialised down into a niche and you'll hear some of the ways that that brings them a competitive advantage over general telemarketing companies.
I'd really like you to listen to this episode. Mike's very open and honest about some of the things that didn't go too well as well as some of the things that went well. He's had the situation where they did scale up to 22 people and then they had to drop back and regroup if you like and then and then go again. There's a lot of powerful messages in how he talks about this and definitely worth listening to.
I love his answer to my question around what legacy do you want to leave I think and I recommend you listen out for this.
So some great conversation, quite a lot of it around the people side of things, but listen out for some of the lessons around the cash side of scaling his business and the lessons that he's learned
So I won't spoil it any more, let’s go straight across and listen to Mike for the rest of his story.
Mike can be found here:
linkedin.com/in/mike-dunn-b3033358
07946 767634
https://www.instagram.com/mike.dunn_/
Resources:
Taking Care of Business by Paul Cheetham-Karcz - https://www.waterstones.com/book/taking-care-of-business/paul-cheetham-karcz/9781912587193
Taking Care of Business Podcast - https://www.sedulo.co.uk/podcasts/taking-care-of-business/
Deep Work by Cal Newport - https://www.waterstones.com/book/deep-work/cal-newport/9780349411903
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie - https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/dale-carnegie/9780091906818
Diary of a CEO - https://stevenbartlett.com/the-diary-of-a-ceo-podcast/
The Secret Leaders Podcast - https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes
Startup Podcast - https://gimletmedia.com/shows/startup
MyCoach - https://mycoachapp.io/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/