Today’s guest is naturally hyper curious - as a technology entrepreneur, angel investor and business advisor, Jess Butcher MBE has many strings to her bow. As the co-founder and CMO of Blippar from 2011-2015, Jess was at the helm during its ascent to become one of the global tech pioneers in the field of Augmented Reality.

Today, as one of the four recently appointed equality and human rights commissioners in the UK, Jess focuses her time and energy mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, and public speaking and writing about subjects she’s incredibly passionate about, such as women in tech, work-life balance, and polarisation within our culture and society.

“The most successful entrepreneurs aren't motivated by money per se, but by impact and the scale of the impact that they can have. And that typically correlates with huge success and huge wealth.”

In this episode of Hyper Curious, we discuss the dilemma that all entrepreneurs have to balance our drive for business impact, versus personal matters, why we women should stop apologising for our decisions, and the need for nuanced conversations in our highly polarised world.

“It's incredibly simplistic and binary, how we talk about women in the workplace. And much of the broader narrative around feminism is very, very binary.”

From building a big beautiful scrappy portfolio career, to co-founding Blippar, finding co-founders, to the self awareness needed to change roles within the organisation, and debunking unconscious gender bias:

“The best way to challenge stereotypes is simply to live beyond them and demonstrate you’re doing that - you are not that stereotype and bollocks to it, quite frankly.”

On today’s podcast:

• The superpower of a scrappy CV
• The Blippar journey
• Finding co-founders
• Why the broader narrative around feminism is binary
• Debunking unconscious bias

Links:

• Twitter: jessbutcher
• Instagram: jessbutchermbe
• LinkedIn: Jess Butcher
• Book - The Coddling of the American Mind
• Book - The Power Of Bad by John Tierney

When we spend over ⅓ of our week working, we need to be alive in what we do and do something that matters to us. Which is why Dominic Jackson founded Escape The City in 2010, with his former co-founder Rob Symington.

“It's out there for everyone and it's never been more accessible. There's really not much excuse these days to work for a cause that you don't believe in. So find that cause and be excited about it every day.”

In this latest episode, Dom talks about being lost in a large organisation and the process of leaving a corporate job to start your own business. Why our fear of failure increases as our business becomes more successful. And the very difficult moment when you have to break up with your co-founder and deal with all the emotions surrounding that.

“When you start a business it's like a marriage and you don't ever envisage what it would be like when it ends.”

Dom’s initial purpose with Escape The City was to build a platform to enable 1 million people in the corporate world to transition into fulfilling work. He hasn’t reached this goal yet, but his journey is well underway.

“There are so many people out there who are working in jobs that they don't like or working for organisations that are really not making the world a better place.”

From the motivation for founding Escape The City, to what drives Dom to get out of bed each morning, to how he sees the working world shifting, how he inspires his team, and going it alone. Don’t miss this incredibly emotional conversation with a very hyper curious entrepreneur.

On today’s podcast:

• The genesis of Escape The City
• Chasing for impact, not money
• Why his biggest fear is failure
• Moving on from breaking up with a co-founder
• Inspiring his team

Links:

• https://www.escapethecity.org/

Today’s hyper curious guest is a British entrepreneur, investor in wellbeing products and philanthropist with an amazing track record of delivering accelerated growth: Lara Morgan. Lara is a self-described straight talking, no-nonsense entrepreneur.

“I want to lead a full life, which means that ultimately, I'm curious about everything and I'm constantly learning and that provides endless entertainment and opportunity.”

Lara started her first business, Pacific Direct, at the age of 23 and 17 years later, she sold 99% of her shares for £20 million. A mother of three girls, she's actively engaged with various global nonprofits as a board member or advisor.

“You've got to enjoy the journey because the journey is relentless. It's brutal. There are some days you feel like crying, but that's okay, it always gets better the next day.”

In this episode, Lara discusses why difficult decisions regarding team members are a must so that you can grow a world class business; the key practice she applies when it comes to hiring salespeople; and the importance of the power of the choices we all have everyday when waking up in the morning:

“My dad gave me a huge gift, he used to say: which side of the bed did you get out of? And what he's saying there is - you've got a choice, right, get out of bed cheerful because who knows what the world is going to offer you.”

On today’s podcast:

• Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard
• How she defines success
• The crossover between sport and business
• Teach your kids to be tougher
• Use enthusiasm to overcome fear
• Set bigger goals

Links:

• Twitter: @IamLaraMorgan
• LinkedIn: Lara Morgan
• Scentered
• Yogi Bare
• Global Amenities Direct
• KitBrix
• Gate8 World
• Coppa Feel
• Book - More Balls Than Most Juggling Kit