Phill Burton is Co-CEO of Otto Car, a company quietly reshaping how London moves. Otto is now Europe’s largest provider of electric vehicles to private-hire drivers, helping over 20,000 drivers get on the road and accelerating the city’s transition to clean transport. Before Otto, Phil helped scale one of the UK’s great consumer success stories - Bloom & Wild - from £2m to £100m+ in revenue, leading across eight countries and every major function from Operations to Marketing. Today, he’s combining that experience with purpose, investing in ventures like Lune, Maeving, Climate X, and Shellworks, mentoring founders through Seedcamp, Tech Nation, and Carbon13, and proving that climate innovation and commercial success can go hand in hand. In this conversation, we dive into: What it takes to scale responsibly; How to build ventures that make systems better; Why purpose and profit don’t need to be opposites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Stephany is rethinking welfare for the 21st century. As Founder & CEO of Beam, Alex has built a platform that partners with 100+ government bodies to help thousands of people experiencing homelessness and long-term unemployment into stable homes and jobs. Combining expert caseworkers with smart AI software, Beam’s Magic Notes, is cutting admin for frontline staff and freeing them to do what they do best: supporting people. It’s why Beam has been named one of LinkedIn’s Top 15 UK Startups, with backing from the Mayor of London and some of the UK’s leading tech entrepreneurs. Now, Alex is scaling Magic Notes across the UK and US. Before Beam, Alex scaled JustPark as CEO, raising investment from Index Ventures and closing what was then the UK’s largest equity crowdfunding round. He’s also the author of The Business of Sharing and a mentor to the next wave of social entrepreneurs. His insights have been featured on the BBC, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and NPR, shaping the conversation on tech, homelessness, and social impact. This episode is about leadership, talent, and how to build companies that matter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined by Michelle Brown, a former teacher who has built one of the most impactful literacy platforms in the world. Michelle is the Founder & CEO of CommonLit, a free online reading program now reaching 30 million+ students across the U.S. and Latin America. Her journey began in the classroom, where she saw first-hand the barriers to literacy. What started as a small library of curated reading material has since grown into a global movement for open education.

Since founding CommonLit in 2014, Michelle has raised over $40 million from leading philanthropists and education innovators, been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic, and become a mentor to the next generation of edtech founders

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re joined by Sunny Patel, biomedical engineer, co-founder of VectorCam, and one of the driving forces behind a breakthrough that’s turning heads across global health and even on Bill Gates’s personal blog. Developed at Johns Hopkins, VectorCam is an AI-powered mosquito identification tool that works straight from a smartphone. It can tell you a mosquito’s species, sex, and even where it is in its reproductive cycle - vital intel for tackling diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika. Before VectorCam, this kind of surveillance needed a microscope and years of training. Now, thanks to Sunny and his team, tens of thousands of community health workers can do it in real time, helping health systems act faster and smarter. This conversation is the next in our series with our friends at Fast Forward.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we’re joined by Sayyeda Salam, a remarkable leader whose career has spanned humanitarian aid, international development, and philanthropy.

In September 2024, Sayyeda became Executive Director of Concern Worldwide (UK), bringing her wealth of experience to the fight against extreme poverty. Previously, as Director of Partnerships and Philanthropy at Save the Children, she secured £300m+ for children’s rights, building transformative collaborations with philanthropists, foundations, and the private sector. Her journey has taken her from Jordan and Lebanon to Egypt, Tanzania, and the Gulf; always with a focus on empowering local operations and partners across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Beyond her executive leadership, she also serves as a Trustee of the Refugee Council, underscoring her lifelong commitment to supporting marginalised communities. This episode is a powerful conversation about leadership, global development, and what it really takes to create systemic change for the world’s most vulnerable.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick Temple OBE is at the forefront of the UK’s social economy as CEO of the Social Investment Business. Nick leads an organisation backing charities and social enterprises with the capital and support they need to grow and thrive. His contributions were recognised last year when he was awarded an OBE for services to social enterprise. In this conversation, Nick shares his journey, his philosophy on what makes social investment work, and his vision for the future of the sector.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.