Episode #558 - From Unicorn Ambition to Creative Freedom – Lessons from Two ScaleUp Journeys
Release Date: 01/09/2026
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...
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Episode #581 - ScaleUp Club: Take Control of Your Week - with Ryan Slaney
ScaleUp Radio
This ScaleUp Radio episode is a ScaleUp Club special — recorded live in February — and it’s packed with practical ideas you can apply immediately. Kevin Brent opens with the month’s theme: gaining control of your week, moving away from reactive firefighting and towards deliberate, high-value leadership time. You’ll hear a simple framework to help you protect the work that really moves the business forward, rather than letting your diary become “a democracy”. Then we switch gears into a short AI Pulse update from Paul Rhodes, founder of Green Gorilla Software, who shares a...
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Episode #580 - Scaling a Personal Brand Without Becoming the Bottleneck
- with Benjie 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 Benjie Hughes, founder of Hopeless Marketing. Benjie works with B2B service businesses turning over between one and thirty million pounds who feel stuck, plateaued or unclear about their positioning. His philosophy is simple but powerful; hope is not a strategy. Most businesses...
info_outlineIn 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 manage 350,000 contractors across 184 countries with a core team of just 25
- Why Virtyt rejected the idea of a physical agency HQ and built a fully remote creative collective serving top-tier clients
- The importance of clarity of vision, and how it shapes everything from team structure to decision-making
- How both founders are redefining leadership, from managing your ego to embracing “business therapy”
- The very different but equally compelling growth philosophies: automation for scale vs. curation for quality
🎯 The one key thing:
Clarity of vision is everything. Whether you’re building a unicorn or crafting a lifestyle business, your growth strategy must match your purpose.
🎁 Try Smart90 Lite, free during testing!
We’re looking for a few founders to test our new AI-powered Smart90 Lite app, designed to help you stay accountable and execute your goals in just minutes a day. It’s free while we’re testing, and your feedback will help shape the final version.
📩 Email kevin@biz-smart.co.uk for early access.
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This episode is created with AI