VIB : Very Important Business

Founder Diaries: The Book that Wasn't There (Holiday Break Ep 1/2)

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:32:00 GMT

Carl and Emily are heading off for the summer - no guest interviews this week - but there's just enough time for Founder Diaries before they go.

Carl managed to embarrass himself on a sales call - by asking a series of confident questions about a very interesting book he'd spotted in their video call background. There was just one problem with the book..

Emily spent two to three days locked in a room reviewing Bluebella collections and loved getting back to the creative core of the business. But it raised an interesting discussion around context-switching as a founder.

Plus - a first listen at what's coming in September: bootstrapping legend Daniel van Binsbergen, AI agent burnout, and the context-switching epidemic nobody is talking about yet.

All delivered with the usual promise to never. Ever. Take ourselves too seriously.

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The Exit That Broke Him: Founder Burnout | Mark McDermott

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 05:48:00 GMT

It should have been a dream exit. Mark McDermott closed the PE deal after ten years building ScreenCloud. Company sold. Cash in the bank. But he didn't celebrate. Didn't socialise. Barely left the house for six months. This is the exit that burned him out and nearly broke him - but does he have any regrets?

Carl and Emily are joined by Mark - co-founder and CEO of ScreenCloud, a global digital signage platform - to find out what the exit process actually does to you. The answer: investment bank hacked on signing day, funds nearly diverted. Trump's Liberation Day tariffs hit mid-deal. KPMG surfaces a bogus $20 million tax hole. Then you close. And you realise you've been running on fumes for months.

They dig into the coping strategies that weren't really coping, what "the weight of the cap table" means when other people's futures are sitting on your shoulders, and whether Mark would trade 50% of the deal price for a process that didn't break him.

Emily also shares the moment she realised she'd been lying to her fiancé on their engagement holiday - sneaking out to check emails, telling him she was getting drinks. Overwork or addiction? You can decide.

Plus Carl discusses the AI SaaS-pocalypse in Founder Diaries and why everyone needs an MCP server. Your listener stories, and the usual promise to never. Ever. Take ourselves too seriously.

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Why You're Networking Wrong | Pete Ward

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT

How do you get in front of the people who really matter - and generate solid opportunities in the process? Plus how our guest made a CEO cry.

Carl and Emily are joined by Pete Ward - co-founder of The ICE Network for Entrepreneurs and CEO of Humanity, the longevity health tech app - to get into the real art of power networking - and why you're doing it wrong.

They dig into: the one counterintuitive hack for getting time with any speaker at any conference (or just do what Emily does and stalk them to their hotel) the origin story of ICE (opportunity born from tragedy) and the eye-gazing ceremony Pete ran in a high-stakes meeting - where a global executive broke down mid-session and transformed the entire meeting into something far more wonderful.

Also: can Pete survive our real-world networking dilemmas quiz - the bathroom encounter, the graceful 15-minute exit, the 1am dance-floor gambit? Plus your listener stories, Founder Fails, and Emily drops hints about a secret new project in the Bluebella universe. She can describe the feeling. Just not what it is.

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Founder Diaries: Projections in times of Trump Chaos | Product Market Fit SaaS Fundamentals

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Carl and Emily step back from the interview chair for an honest check-in on their own businesses. Emily is trying to forecast through the noise of Trump tariffs - when one man's mood can move your top line overnight, the numbers stop looking like a business plan and start looking like astrology.

Carl is six months into ThreadHound, his new SaaS business, picking up early customers - but starting to worry that saying yes to everyone could be the beginning of a very familiar mistake. His prescription: go back to the Lean Business Canvas.

And we couldn't resist sharing an early clip from next week: Pete Ward, co-founder of the ICE Network, on how to break into a room full of people and actually get in front of the person you really want to meet.

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The Truth About Hiring | Anouk Agussol

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT

How do you hire the best people - and then make sure that they stick around?

Finding the right people is tough. Spotting the wrong ones before it's too late is tougher. Do you hire for culture or for skillset? What makes for a good (and a dreadful) interview?

Carl and Emily are joined by Anouk Agussol - co-founder and US CEO of Foundation Partners, where she helps companies on both sides of the Atlantic sort out their people problems - to get into the challenge every founder faces when building their team.

They dig into: which roles are really the hardest to fill, how you interview well in the age of AI, and the worst hires they've ever made. We also hear about the wild stories of the company founder who discovered an employee using deepfakes to carry on not two but FIVE jobs at once.

Also — can Anouk tell the difference between a real job applicant and an AI-generated one? Plus, your stories, Founder Diaries, and the usual promise to never. Ever. Take ourselves too seriously.

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The Truth About Business Awards | Rajeeb Dey MBE

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Business awards — are they worth the bother? ...genuinely useful for your startup, or just pay-to-play with a nicer trophy? And what's it actually like to receive an MBE? Carl and Emily are joined by Rajeeb Dey MBE - serial entrepreneur (Learnerbly, Hutora) and, as it happens, winner of one of the biggest gongs going.

They get into the serious stuff: whether awards actually build a business. And then the questions that really matter: how do you actually get an MBE, and did he meet the King?

Also - Founder Fails: the story of a terrible accident at a VC pitch meeting, Founder Diaries, Listener Feedback, and more - all with the usual promise to never. Ever. Take ourselves too seriously.

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VIB - Series 1 Trailer

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 07:40:59 GMT

The Very Important Business Podcast. Every week, two founders give you the unvarnished truth about what it's really like running a business. With Carl Partridge - broadcaster and two-time tech founder, and Emily Bendell - founder and CEO of Bluebella.

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