In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Steve Flavell, co-CEO of LoopUp, to hear how a company once known for improving conference calls became a global force in cloud telephony. LoopUp began in 2003 with a mission to make conference calls less frustrating, growing steadily for more than a decade before going public on the London Stock Exchange in 2016. When the pandemic hit, their core business vanished almost overnight as platforms like Teams and Zoom took over the world.

Rather than giving up, Steve and his team made a bold pivot. They transformed LoopUp from a conferencing specialist into a global provider of cloud telephony for Microsoft Teams. Today, the company delivers enterprise voice services across 136 countries and proudly calls itself the world’s most multinational telco. Steve explains how this shift helps multinational businesses simplify operations by replacing dozens of regional telecom providers with a single unified system. With one contract, one support model, and one management portal, LoopUp allows companies to manage telephony the same way they already manage Teams globally.

We also talk about the wider transformation of the telecom industry. Legacy phone systems are being replaced by cloud infrastructure that integrates directly into the platforms people use every day. Steve shares what that change means for businesses seeking efficiency, scalability, and control.

Our conversation isn’t only about technology; it’s about leadership. Steve opens up about the lessons he’s learned through both highs and setbacks, from staying persistent during tough times to keeping honest communication flowing across the team. He also reflects on the strength of his long partnership with fellow co-founder Michael Hughes. For anyone building through uncertainty or leading through change, Steve’s journey is a powerful reminder that adaptability and openness are key to lasting success.

What if you could accelerate your startup’s growth with the combined power of AI, targeted mentorship, and a connected community? In this episode of Startup Builders and Backers, I speak with serial entrepreneur, investor, and technologist Paul Pluschkell, the founder of StartupOS, to unpack how their Launchpad platform is reshaping the way early-stage companies find their footing and scale.

Paul shares lessons from his own entrepreneurial journey and explains how StartupOS helps founders refine their pitch decks, reach product-market fit, and assemble strong teams. We discuss how AI-powered tools can streamline investor readiness, surface strategic insights, and guide decision-making in ways that were previously out of reach for most startups.

The conversation also explores the importance of surrounding founders with the right ecosystem — one that blends mentorship, investor access, and collaborative networks — and how accelerators, enterprises, and even universities can plug into the StartupOS model. Paul offers his view on where the venture space is heading over the next year and what that means for early-stage founders looking to break through.

If you are building a startup and want practical, tech-driven ways to move faster, this episode is a blueprint for how AI and community can work together to drive growth.

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In this raw and deeply human conversation, I sit down with Yael Daniely, a seasoned startup psychologist, co-founder, therapist, and founder of one of the world’s only clinical practices dedicated to the emotional well-being of startup leaders.

Yael joins me from Israel in the middle of a war zone, where the urgency of her message becomes even more profound. Together, we explore what founders rarely talk about publicly: emotional fatigue, burnout, the silent strain on co-founder relationships, and the psychological toll of building a startup when your identity is wrapped up in its success or failure.

Drawing from her work with over 400 founders and leadership teams around the world, Yael breaks down:

• Why startup life often mimics survival mode and how to manage it
• The unconscious emotional drivers behind decision-making and leadership fatigue
• How dysfunctional co-founder dynamics quietly derail 65% of startups
• Why psychological contracts matter as much as shareholder agreements
• The overlooked link between childhood experience and startup behavior
• What founder burnout really looks like and how to recover from it holistically

As Yael puts it, “High-growth startups require high-growth founders.” This episode is an honest, moving reflection on what it really takes to survive and thrive as a startup leader, especially during times of extreme uncertainty.