The Startup Leap Podcast

In this special episode we dive into the journeys of two exceptional entrepreneurs: Riham Satti, an Oxford Neuroscientist turned founder of MeVitae an AI startup bringing fairness to the workplace, and Dhiraj Mukherjee, co-founder of Shazam, one of the world's first music recognition apps, 2billion downloads, acquired by Apple for $400m+ in 2018.

Hosted by Maria and Yvonne, this episode explores the trials, triumphs, and learnings o...

In this episode, we hear from Dare Okodjou, founder of Onafriq, Africa’s largest digital payments network, formerly MFS Africa. 500 million wallets across 42 countries, over $300m raised in funding. This episode is drenched in depth of experience. Perfect for founders whether early or later in their journey.

Dare shares his entrepreneurial journey from working at MTN Group, leading mobile money innovations, to founding Onafriq in 20...

Join us in this compelling episode as we sit down with Josh Sandler, co-founder of Lori and Founder and CEO of TruTax.

Josh shares his transformative journey from building Lori, an on-demand logistics and trucking company in East Africa, to founding TruTax, a venture leveraging AI to optimize tax compliance. Learn about his entrepreneurial lessons, personal growth, and the critical mistakes that shaped his path.

Dive into his refle...

Join us for an insightful conversation with Victor, the founder and CEO of Raenest, as he shares his inspiring journey from a self-taught software developer in Nigeria to leading a pioneering Fintech company powering remote African workers, that recently raised a $10M Series A round led by QED.

Discover how Victor's background in engineering and his unique perspective on the challenges faced by Africa's remote workforce led to the c...

Join us in this episode of Startup Leap as we sit down with Ida Tin, co-founder and chairwoman of Clue, a revolutionary women's health app that has empowered over 10 million users worldwide.

Ida shares her extraordinary journey from a struggling entrepreneur with no coding skills to building a groundbreaking company in the $60 billion femtech industry.

Discover how Ida turned her frustrations with outdated family planning methods i...

In this episode, experienced entrepreneurs share insightful advice they would give to their younger selves. They emphasize trusting your instincts, asking for help, believing in yourself, and the importance of small, achievable goals.

Real-world experiences highlight the significance of resilience, execution over strategy, and the importance of maintaining personal well-being while navigating the challenging journey of building a b...

In this episode of The Startup Leap, we dive into the fascinating journey of Abu Addae, the founder and CEO of LifeCheq. Abu transitioned from a senior role in financial risk management to creating a disruptive startup focused on personalized financial planning for the South African market.

Learn about the challenges he faced, the decisions that shaped LifeCheck, and the eventual pivot from a consumer-centric model to a B2B platform...

In this episode of Startup Leap, we dive into the critical topic of dilution and how it impacts founders.

Learn from the experiences of legends like Steve Jobs and Travis Kalanick, who both lost control of their companies due to dilution. We'll break down the concept with a simple example and offer strategic advice for founders facing dilution dilemmas.

Gain insights on how to protect your equity and board control, and explore non-...

In this insightful episode, Ivan shares his incredible journey from medical school with aspirations of becoming a surgeon, to interning at DeepMind, and ultimately founding a transformative healthcare company, Suvera.

Ivan outlines the challenges he faced in shifting from founder to CEO, the importance of unlearning and relearning, and his strategic focus on leveraging data science in medicine. He talks about the crucial decision to...

In this episode of the Startup Leap, Yvonne and Maria sit down with Timbo, the founder of OkHi, a startup rethinking smart addressing for emerging markets.

Despite 90% of the world being covered by Google Maps, four billion people lack a formal addressing system.

Timbo details his journey from working at Google to experiencing firsthand the massive addressing issues in Africa, which led him to launch OkHi. He discusses the challeng...

In this episode of Startup Leap, hosts Yvonne and Maria dive deep into critical considerations for startup founders focusing on equity allocation and cap table management.

The episode covers insights on how to strategically allocate early equity with co-founders, advisors, and employees, including tips on vesting schedules and cliffs.

They share expert advice on raising the right amount of capital at the appropriate time and negoti...

In this episode, Nadia Odunayo, CEO and founder of The StoryGraph, discusses her journey from investment banking to founding a disruptive book tracking technology company through bootstrapping instead of venture capital.

Nadia shares insights into her bootstrapping philosophy, avoiding venture capital, validating product ideas, and building a dedicated user community and building incredibly lean -- with over 4 million users, StoryG...

Join hosts Maria and Yvonne on the Startup Leap Podcast as they dive deep into the inspiring journey of Olugbenga Agboola, popularly known as “GB” Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, Africa's leading fintech company making African payments seamless.

Discover how Flutterwave scaled to become one of Africa's most valued startups, operating in over 30 markets, processing over $31billion in transactions and serving almost a million busines...

In this episode of the Startup Leap Podcast, hosts Yvonne and Maria explore the five critical mistakes first-time founders often make.

Drawing from their extensive experience evaluating and investing in startups across Europe and Africa and previous guest episodes, they share valuable insights on founder-market fit, building with customers, focusing on distribution and sales, strategizing fundraising, and managing co-founder relati...

In this exciting episode of the Startup Leap Podcast, Hosts, Maria and Yvonne chat with Eshita Kabra-Davies, the visionary founder of the award-winning app By Rotation on her journey building technology for the world’s largest shared wardrobe.

Eshita shares her journey from corporate finance to entrepreneurship, inspired by a life-changing honeymoon to India.

Learn how By Rotation is reshaping fashion consumption, promoting sustainab...

Thinking about VC funding for your startup? Before you make the leap, ask yourself these 5 crucial questions to see if venture capital is the right move for your business.

In this video, you'll discover:

1. Is your business scalable enough for VCs?
2. Do you need rapid growth or steady profits?
3. Are you ready to give up equity and control?
4. Can you handle the pressure of scaling fast?
5. Have you explored alternative funding options?

Ventur...

In this episode of the Startup Leap Podcast, hosts Maria and Yvonne discuss one of the most pivotal steps in launching a startup: finding the right co-founder.

They highlight various ways, both traditional and unconventional, that successful founders have met their co-founders from their experience assessing over 6k startups, investing in £200m+ and investing in over 80+ startups.

This includes leveraging personal networks, attendi...

In this episode, we share 10+ go-to-market strategies from experienced founders we’ve spoken to on The Startup Leap who have collectively raised over $1bn+ in venture funding.

Bring out your note apps and notepads for this one, it's filled with time-tested startup launch wisdom.

Learn how to build a solid and PROVEN GTM strategy that drives customer acquisition, revenue growth, and product-market fit, helping you from idea to launch...

You asked, we delivered! Here's a re-run of our mind-blowing chat with Sait Cham. Even if you’ve heard it before, you’ll catch new gems on the second listen!

Key Insights:

• Starting from scratch to leading in logistics tech
• Key takeaways on resilience and leadership
• The benefits of focusing on unit economics early
• Practical insights on scaling for profitability

Connect with Sait Cham, Hutch and Pimento on LinkedIn and Instagram: ...