Careen Matthews from Humaneer discusses her journey in creating a transformative platform for HR professionals, emphasizing community feedback and strategic leadership in an interview.
17 Aug 2025
Foundations Ep05 - Matt Haynes from The Design Conference
Host Johan from Tension Studio interviews Matthew Haynes, founder of The Design Conference, about building an authentic community through vulnerability and storytelling.
16 Jul 2025
Foundations Ep04 - Kenny Alami from Not Operations
Kenny Alami from Not Operations explores AI's transformative potential in business and stresses streamlining operations, sharing insights on niching down for better client service in this interview.
24 Jun 2025
Foundations Ep03 - Anebi Agbo from Shipman
Anebi Agbo, founder and investor, discusses transitioning from a tech agency to growing a local service business, emphasizing support networks and applying tech skills to traditional sectors in an interview with Johan.
21 May 2025
Foundations Ep02 - Angela Catalan from Shepherd
In this episode, Johan speaks with Angela Catalan, co-founder of Shepherd, a platform helping startups hire fractional talent without the bloat. What started as a way to support new mums returning to work quickly turned into a broader mission to reshape how modern teams scale.
Angela shares how she bootstrapped Shepherd while freelancing, built the prototype herself on Webflow, and ditched time-wasting proposals in favour of async video intros. The conversation touches on AI, scrappy execution, and the challenge of balancing vision with action—especially when you're also raising a kid.
It’s a real look into what it takes to build something meaningful without a roadmap—and how staying open, scrappy, and persistent can pay off.
Find out more about Shepard at www.heyshepherd.com (http://www.heyshepherd.com/)
Connect with Angela on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/angcatalan (http://linkedin.com/in/angcatalan)
12 May 2025
Angela Catalan on Flexible Work & Fractional Talent - Foundations Ep02
In this conversation, Johan interviews Angela Catalan, co-founder of Shepard, a platform helping startups connect with top-tier fractional talent. Angela shares how her journey into flexible work began with motherhood and quickly evolved into building a marketplace for experienced operators looking for meaningful, part-time roles.
She unpacks the scrappy early days of prototyping Shepard, the challenges of bootstrapping while balancing multiple roles, and how she tests ideas before writing a single line of code. The conversation also touches on how she uses AI thoughtfully without getting caught in the hype, and what it means to build something people actually want—before the platform even exists.
Angela reflects on the importance of having a co-founder, the emotional resilience required to build something new, and why she believes the future of work is flexible, async, and driven by trust.
21 Apr 2025
Alex Solo on Tech x Law – Foundations Ep01
In this conversation, Johan interviews Alex Solo, co-founder of Sprintlaw, a legal tech company focused on making legal services accessible and affordable for small businesses. Alex shares the origin story of Sprint Law, the challenges faced by small businesses in accessing legal services, and how technology, particularly AI, is transforming the legal landscape. The discussion covers the importance of agile development, customer feedback, and prioritising tasks to enhance product offerings.
Alex also reflects on the lessons learned from scaling the business and shares insights on maintaining creativity amidst the demands of entrepreneurship.
Who has been a guest on Foundations by Tension Studio
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Careen Matthews
Matthew Haynes
Kenny Alami
Anebi Agbo
Podcast Authority Score: 2 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
3
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
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