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PODCAST

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia

stephaniemelodia

UK Top 20 Business Show for today’s entrepreneur. Hosted by UK Top 20 Female Founder, Stephanie Melodia, Strategy & Tragedy spotlights the most authentic & interesting founder stories - featuring the good, the bad, and the ugly of building a business. With the purpose to inspire and educate entrepreneurs, guests also include subject matter experts such as top business strategists, marketers, and investors to help arm founders with the knowledge to succeed in business.

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

49:38

FEMALE + FUNDED: £176k from just ONE LinkedIn post!...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/08/13

Olivia Parkes is the Founder & CEO of Persi, making fashion personalisation actually personal! With Persi, retailers can deliver highly personalised product recommendations based on what each customer owns, loves, and actually wears. In this interview, you'll hear about... 👗 The £176K post: How Olivia raised almost £200k from a single LinkedIn post for her female-first cap table 👗 Resilience amidst a triple pivot to SEIS disaster recovery 👗 Scrappy MVPs and non-technical founder

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60:05

Stuart Trevor, Founder of AllSaints: Starting,...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/08/06

Stuart Trevor is the founder of AllSaints, the high street brand he launched in 1994 and scaled to £15M turnover business & household brand name. Now, the fashion entrepreneur is on a mission to create the world’s most sustainable fashion brand, clothing brand that doesn't produce any clothes. Discover more here: https://stuarttrevor.com/ In this interview, Steph and Stuart cover: 🖤 His journey from fashion student to AllSaints founder 🖤 How creative constraints led to an *iconic* b...

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70:09

The Angel Investor: How a £10K mistake led to...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/07/30

Andy Ayim MBE is the founder of Angel Investing School, which has trained over 500 angels who have invested $5,000,000 globally, including the Black Angel Group's run out of Google's Black Network, which has invested over 3,500,000.0 in over 30 startups. Andy himself has personally invested in 17 startups, including Farmland, Patch, and Unplugged with 70% led by diverse founders. In this interview, you'll hear about... 💸 From Tottenham to Windsor Castle: Andy's incredible journey from a...

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53:43

Startup lawyer: Trisha Wing, SuLe | Company...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/07/23

Trisha Wing is the Co-Founder & CEO of SuLe (https://www.sule.io/), a first-of-its-kind legal platform supporting startups at every stage of their growth. SuLe is the smart legal hub that cuts legal costs 90%. Book a free call here: https://calendly.com/d/cq55-w8f-wsg/introductory-call?month=2025-07 In this interview, Steph and Trisha cover: 👩🏼‍⚖️ Jargon-free legal wisdom - from company ownership to IP 👩🏼‍⚖️ The most common legal traps to avoid 👩🏼‍⚖️ Managing co-founder partnerships

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51:20

Hector Hughes of Unplugged: Digitally detoxing the...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/07/16

Get £50 off your Unplugged stay: UPMSTEPHMELODIA50 Hector Hughes is the Co-Founder & CEO of Unplugged, the platform for digital detox cabins as featured in The Times, Cosmopolitan, The Telegraph, and Evening Standard with over 12,000 guests served to date. In this interview, you'll hear about: 🏕️ The benefits of digital minimalism 🏕️ Contrarian takes on the Lean Startup model 🏕️ Hector's transformational entrepreneur journey 🏕️ The importance of brand positioning (especially in our AI

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63:00

Business psychologist reveals: Why paying more WON'T...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/07/09

Claudia Gasson is a Business Psychologist & Talent Strategist at the psychology-backed culture consultancy, Bailey & French. She is also a seasoned recruiter and former founder, with her own talent consultancy, Ortus. In this interview, host Stephanie Melodia and Claudia cover: - Insights from 10+ years in recruitment (including the top reason people leave their jobs 👀) - The psychology of motivation and how to attract top talent - Practical tips on how employers can increase

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56:42

The Wellbeing Expert: In an AI world, it's time for...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/07/02

Steve Peralta is the Co-founder of Unmind, helping over 2.5M employees prioritise mental health and build cultures where people thrive. He is also a keynote speaker and coach, helping purpose-driven leaders bring out the best in themselves and their teams. Tune in to hear about: 👉 The moment that changed everything for Steve 👉 Why human-centred leadership is the way forward in an AI world 👉 Connecting mission-driven business with the pressures of VC Connect with Steve here:

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60:43

Founder-turned-VC: What Thomas Panton did next

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/06/25

Thomas Panton is a serial entrepreneur and now Venture Fellow at Endgame Capital, investing in early-stage 'climate-change-denier-proof' tech startups. In this interview, Steph and Thomas discuss: - What happened with the eco marketplace he co-founded, Canopey - The key lessons from Canopey's post-mortem - and how he's applying them to his new stealth startup - Co-founder alignment - red flags / green flags - and the best way to test them - How being a serial entrepreneur has helped him be ...

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47:13

On the brink of bankruptcy to Forbes 30U30 |...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/06/18

Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen is an award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author and TedX speaker. She's listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, and closing the gender investment gap with FemaleInvest by educating women on investing and personal finance through educational events, e-learning and strategic partnerships. In this interview, Steph and Anna cover: 💰 Why getting more women into investing helps *everyone* 💰 What makes women better investors and where they can start 💰 Anna-Sophie's

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54:35

Transform your business and change your life with...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/06/11

TW: Contains themes of mental health including depression and suicide. Founder of StoryCast®. Leadership Communication Expert. Global Keynote Speaker. Award-Winning Author of GLOW IN THE DARK 💡 Mark Leruste helps leaders harness the power of their stories to build trust and inspire action. He’s worked with the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Nike to communicate and connect in a way that resonates and drives real impact. His TED talk, ‘What they don’t tell you about entrepreneurship,’ has

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48:01

How we took on the fashion giants - and WON! The Cult...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/06/04

Nina Briance is the Founder & CEO of CULT MIA, the values-driven luxury fashion platform that retails conversation-starting, standout pieces with sustainability and minority-empowerment at its core. In this episode, Steph and Nina discuss: 🖤 The marketing mistake that taught Nina an unforgettable lesson 🖤 "Your network is your net worth" - the value of connections 🖤 How Nina took on the fashion giants - and won 🖤 The power of branding (and defending it to investors) 🖤 A spec...

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64:09

"My parents don't think I'm a *complete* bum now" |...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/05/28

Varun Bhanot is the Co-founder & CEO of MAGIC AI, the at-home personal fitness system crowned one of TIME's best inventions and featured in Sifted's top high-growth startups. In this interview, we replay the first time Steph & Varun sat down to record in 2023, and catch up at the 31:34 mark, on... 🪞 What's been the biggest game changer for MAGIC AI 🪞 What Varun has now learnt having fundraised more venture capital 🪞 Which growth marketing hack has helped them scale faster 🪞 How

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50:11

"Going VIRAL transformed my business!" Kim Innes,...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/05/21

Kim Innes Is the Founder & CEO of Humble Crumble - the country's most loved dessert that went viral! She is also a Forbes 30 under 30 winner of the Everywoman Scale Up award, and one of NatWest x Telegraph’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch. In this interview, Steph and Kim cover... 🧁 Kim's passion for baking and particular love of crumble 🧁 Applying 'The Lean Startup' principles to a food business 🧁 The near-misses and mistakes made along the way 🧁 How Humble Crumble unexpect...

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58:11

From £1M a year to £1M A WEEK! Super scaling with Sam...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/05/14

Meet the first female CEO of a city stockbroking firm; Sam Smith. Founder and ex-CEO of finnCap, Sam is now the Co-Founder of SuperScalers and no. 1 bestselling author of The Secret Sauce: How to SuperScale. In this interview, you'll hear about... 🚀 Taking finncap public on the London Stock Exchange during tumultuous times 🚀 Top growth levers to go from £1m turnover a year to £1m turnover a week! 🚀 Leadership pitfalls to avoid as you scale your businesses 🚀 Balancing a high-power...

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68:23

From 0 to Sephora: How Akash Mehta of Fable & Mane...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/05/07

Akash Mehta is the Forbes 30 under 30 CEO of Fable & Mane, an Ayurvedic-inspired hair brand, which he Co-Founded with his sister, Niki, making it the first Indian beauty brand co-founded by siblings. Akash harks from beauty & fashion household names including Burberry, Estée Lauder, and Dior, before launching his own business with Fable & Mane in 2019, now stocked in the likes of Sephora, Selfridges and Cult Beauty. Akash is also a wildlife Conservationist and Ambassador f...

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45:14

I was THIRTEEN when I started my first business! |...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/04/30

The right dev partner can make or break your product. AppUnite embeds with your team to build apps that scale. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3FHeCC0 Geoff Wright is the CTO of Tembo, but his path leading up to this position was anything but ordinary. Entrepreneurial as a kid, Geoff forged his own, alternative path. Instead of doing the usual by completing his studies, going to uni, and getting a job, Geoff realised he could make money doing what he loved... Of course, there were lots of less...

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43:22

From a £4 BILLION biz to investing in others: meet...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/04/23

The right dev partner can make or break your product. AppUnite embeds with your team to build apps that scale. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3FHeCC0 In this interview, Steph and Jeremy discuss... 💼 The serial entrepreneurship path that led to HomeServe 💼 Building it to a £4bn multinational and one of the biggest LSE IPOs 💼 His investment thesis for fundraising founders Fundraising? Get in touch here: https://middletonenterprises.com/contact/ Jeremy Middleton CBE co-founded HomeServe, a

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51:38

Meet Great British Entrepreneur of the Year: Karen...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/04/16

The right dev partner can make or break your product. AppUnite embeds with your team to build apps that scale. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3FHeCC0 Karen Barrett is the Founder & CEO of Unbiased, the leading B2B SaaS fintech platform that connects consumers with the best professionals and products for their financial needs. In this interview, Steph and Karen discuss... What it was like to win the GB Entrepreneur of the Year 🏆 Transitioning from working in the financial services in...

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82:30

From basketball rejections to making £1M+ with...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/04/09

Giuseppe Baidoo is the founder of Gusto Snacks - delicious, low calorie, high fibre apple crisps made from misshapen produce that’s not deemed pretty enough for the supermarkets. Giuseppe’s entrepreneurial journey features the classic tale of starting a bootstrapped project from his kitchen and turning it into a £1.2 million business now stocked in the likes of Selfridges and WHSmith. 🏀 What his career in basketball taught him about resilience 💪 Moving to the UK and overcoming obstacl...

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14:07

The Debrief: Cien Solon, LaunchLemonade | Oh, AI is...

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia ·

2025/04/08

Join Steph for this solo episode debriefing on last week's interview with Cien Solon of LaunchLemonade Get involved in the conversation: 🤍 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephmelodia/ 🤍 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniemelodia/ Don't forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share with a friend 🤗

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131 results

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