AJ is a serial entrepreneur and passionate student of startups.
After a decade of spending countless hours and money building companies, most of which failed, he went back to basics and surrounded himself with entrepreneurs decades further ahead of him.
He ran a deeply connected community of 400 entrepreneurs in the UK and realised how little he knew about the art and science of company building.
At this intersection of relationships and company building is where AJ has found the key to success.
If we don't understand people, we don't understand business.
But people are hard to understand....
Which is why this show exists!
scale with soul is a deep dive intro how the best entrepreneurs alive build and manage the relationships that lead to startup success.
No.1 Neuroscientist: The Problems With Goals (& What To Do Instead)
No.1 Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff shares the theory behind her book Tiny Experiments, which includes the problems with goals as we know them today. She is an entrepreneur, whose first startup failed after she left her comfortable job at Google, but now has a thriving content business, Ness Labs, alongside her research as a neuroscientist at Kings College London.We dove into a range of topics including...📖 Episode Chapters00:00 - Intro 00:58 - The 3 Problems With Goals 08:06 - Why You Should Use Metacognition 13:47 - How To Escape The Prison Of Over-Thinking 20:35 - Cognitive Scripts: The Sequel, The Crowdpleaser & The Epic 32:51 - Where Are We Drunk On The Illusion Of Certainty? 39:43 - How To Lead Through Change 43:13 - How 1 Tiny Experiment Can Change Your Life 50:30 - End Of Year Routine 54:56 - The Paradox Of Persistence 57:50 - How To Get Out Of A Mental Hole 01:11:21 - How Can We Support Anne-LaureIf you enjoyed this episode you'll probably love;One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesnerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558sWeWork Cofounder Breaks His 5-Year Silence (Exclusive)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62kFgnUrU0&t=1615s&pp=0gcJCTwKAYcqIYzv🪨 Resources:Episode summary doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KdMvHuOvSA-WCkRGWcF3-xZoGntx7PpMBGyHuxmbobI/edit?usp=sharingNess Labs: https://nesslabs.com/Ness Labs Annual Review Template (Google Slides): https://nesslabs.com/annual-review-templateNess Labs Annual Review Template (Notion): https://satisfying-melody-287.notion.site/Year-in-Review-Template-5b31d64596cf40f1b8d79e88fb24a280?source=copy_link👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building:https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/.
11 Dec 2025
Ex-COO of Monzo: What Collapses When You Scale Too Fast
Tom Foster Carter is the Ex-COO of Monzo and a serial entrepreneur. He joined Monzo as COO at Series A and helped them scale to become a £1 billion unicorn, before leaving to start his next startup Cherrypick. He's a startup and business weapon which you can tell through this interview where we cover... Episode Chapters:0:00 - 0:53 - Intro0:54 - 9:27 - Monzo: What broke as they scaled?9:28 - 18:55 - Hiring lessons - 30-1000 employees18:56 - 22:47 - Don’t set Values, set Operating Pinrciples22:48 - 41:01 - Speed as a habit; Kipchoge, not Bolt41:02 - 53:14 - Speed is a habit; Data not Debate53:15 - 58:58 - Pains of going from free to paid58:59 - 1:02:42 - How to spot shifts in the VC landscape1:02:35 - 1:09:05 - How has he developed as a leader1:09:06 - 1:15:25 - How are you kind in firing people?1:15:26 - 1:20:39 - Top lessons from Monzo & Curve1:20:40 - 1:24:54 - His secret sauce to startupsIf you liked this episode, you'll probably love;One Of Europe's Largest EdTech Exits - Busuu $436m | Bernhard Niesnerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRA3nboz9V0&t=1558sNick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Businesshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDJtTNTxvs👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building:https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/
19 Nov 2025
The Psychology Of Meaningful Marketing - Maya Moufarek
Maya Moufarek is a Full Stack meaningful marketing expert, with decades of experience from companies like Google, Amex, Not On The High Street, and then the company she was the founding CMO of, Pharmacy2U (which raised $300m and is the 3rd largest pharmacy in the UK).
How do we have to evolve as the company evolves? How do we think about our business' marketing from a high level? What biases do leaders suffer from the most? Expect to learn a lot about your psychology, meaningful marketing, startups and so much more in this podcast interview.
📖 Chapters:
00:53 - What got you here won't get you there
04:05 - The Problem With Founder-Problem Fit
09:39 - What Biases Do Founders Fall Prey To The Most?
11:28 - What's A Meaningful Company To You?
18:53 - How To Recognise Meaning
23:58 - Hoffman Process - How To Come Back To Yourself
27:20 - "I'm not good enough" vs Owning Our Differences
31:25 - Finding Your People (Mentors, Advisors)
35:24 - Strongest Limiting Beliefs In Female Founders
39:03 - How We Get In The Way Of Timing
42:29 - Maya's Evolution Of Her Relationship With Control
44:00 - Control: Masculine vs Feminine
48:24 - How To Give Feedback Well
01:01:56 - Meaningful Marketing
01:05:07 - How Should We Stay Aligned With Customers?
01:14:05 - Customer Interactions Post PMF
01:18:44 - The Core Of Business
If you enjoyed this, you'll probably love:
Nick Jenkins - The Marketing Secrets Behind The $Billion Business
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDJtTNTxvs
£100m CEO Superpowers & Shadow Sides - Aron Gelbard, Bloom & Wild
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c289plCAeDA&t=76s&pp=0gcJCQgKAYcqIYzv
👉 Subscribe on Youtube to be first to learn from world class, inspiring entrepreneurs
📧 Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content and timeless frameworks for company, culture and community building: https://scale-with-soul.kit.com/
Who has been a guest on The AJ Connection
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Emilie Vanpoperinghe
Will Pearson
Emmie Faust
Hector Hughes
Laura Fullerton
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
10,489
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
18 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
57
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
51
Contact The AJ Connection
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of The AJ Connection?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
