The Naked Founder
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Podcast Overview
<p>The Naked Founder Podcast</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
3/29/2026
1 verified contact email on file for The Naked Founder
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Recent Episodes
July 6, 2026
Simon Swan: How I got Michael Vaughan to join my startup
Simon Swan is on track to create a one-man £1m+ startup, with a little help from former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan. Two-time founder Swan is the latest guest on The Naked Founder podcast and his second business, Uthful, is already profitable after less than six months. Uthful is a health supplement business and it’s a far cry from Swan’s previous enterprise, Manchester-based talent marketplace Hiring Hub. In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Simon discusses: How he persuaded cricket legend Michael Vaughan to become an investorGrowing a £1m business with just one member of staffChanging the face of the health supplement marketHow the idea for Uthful came to him on a bike rideThe importance of being authenticInspiring his childrenWhy he wants Uthful to be different from Hiring HubThe Naked Founder is a BusinessCloud podcast. It is sponsored by Financielle, the home of money for women, and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned. Chapters:00:00 – 14-Year Overnight Success, Then Going Again at 45: Meet Simon Swan01:06 – What He Wished He'd Known First Time Round02:28 – Calm on Top, Furiously Paddling Underneath03:16 – Cricket, Michael Vaughan & How Uthful Got Its First Investor04:22 – 24 Vitamins, One Drink: The Problem He Was Solving for Himself05:34 – Meeting Michael Vaughan06:22 – No Website, No Product — Just a Name and a Napkin Pitch07:05 – What Hiring Hub Actually Was (and Why He Hated Being Called a Recruiter)07:51 – Designing the Logo on His Honeymoon09:06 – Two People, One Office, One Phone — Fake It Til You Make It10:27 – The Lessons He Carried Out of Hiring Hub and Into Everything Since11:03 – Founder vs CEO: The Moment Hiring Hub Stopped Being His12:38 – Burn the Boats: Why He Had to Remove the Safety Net Completely14:05 – Gary Neville, Reinvention & Not Wanting One Thing to Define You Forever14:50 – Loving the Building Phase: Why Year 11 Felt Nothing Like Year One15:54 – The Apple Moment: Why Packaging and Brand Image Matter From Day One16:50 – Solo Founder, One Dog, No Office: Is This the Future of Startups?17:51 – Six Months Riding His Bike Across Spain, Waiting for the Idea to Come18:12 – Lying in Bed on GoDaddy: The Night Uthful Became Real20:01 – The Pub in the Peak District He Nearly Bought Instead21:02 – What Humans Will Still Value in a World Run by AI22:20 – Idea to First Sample in Eight Weeks: The Speed of Starting Now23:00 – His Advice to Anyone With an Idea: Just Test It First24:08 – Transparent Founder Content: Why He Posts the Bad Days Too24:53 – The Day Meta Stopped Working and 3,000 Boxes Came Back Wrong26:38 – Kids Watching Dad Build From Scratch: The Best Lesson He Can Give Them28:56 – Could Uthful Be a £100M Business? 30:06 – Has Founding a Business Made Him Unemployable? Probably, Yeah31:04 – The Hardest Part of Being a Solo Founder: Loneliness, and How He Beats It32:46 – Letter to His Younger Self33:29 – Never Too High, Never Too Low: The Emotional Steadiness That Defines Him33:50 – Happy Place: 140km on a Bike Through the Spanish Countryside
June 30, 2026
Tom Dunlop: Why founders should always be paranoid
Tom Dunlop turned his back on an Olympic dream to launch LegalTech Summize and said a degree of paranoia is healthy in business. Earlier this year, Summize raised £40m in a Series B investment round and has just acquired the key assets and staff from Seattle consultancy InnoLaw Group. After swapping a successful badminton career for a legal one, he became an in-house lawyer at AppSense, where he met high-profile entrepreneur Charles Sharland. While working as a lawyer, Dunlop recognised how technology could speed up legal processes, so he launched Summize, and Sharland became an early investor. In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Tom discusses: Why paranoia can be good in business How he turned his back on an Olympic dream How he struggled when he lost at badminton Why he can never forget his children's names The lessons he took from elite sport into high-performance business Raising $50m The difference in mindset between the UK and the US The Naked Founder is a BusinessCloud podcast. It is sponsored by Financielle, the home of money for women, and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned. Chapters 00:00 – Thinking Long-Term From Day One 02:45 – The Year or Two He Could Have Shaved Off Just by Planning Five Years Ahead 04:13 – Three Kids, Three Tattoos 04:29 – Europe's Number One Badminton Player 05:51 – Untouchable: The 15-Match Winning Run That Made Him "The Killer" 06:59 – Turning Down the Olympics for Law School: The Decision That Changed Everything 07:44 – Going From Invincible Junior to Getting Exposed by the Far East 09:13 – From Superstitious Socks to 1% Marginal Gains: What Sport Taught Him About Business 10:24 – ABCD: Codifying Culture So Every Employee Knows the Mission 11:55 – The Lesson in Being a Founder People Listen To 13:22 – Healthy Paranoia: Why You Should Never Feel Comfortable 13:55 – Office Tour 14:58 – The Elevator Pitch Booth (and the Original Pitch Line) 16:04 – One Team, One Board: Keeping Three Offices in Sync 17:00 – £1,000 a Month for the Best 1% Idea 17:37 – Meet the Nameless, Eyeless Office Giraffe 18:35 – The Gong, the Clocks & the Mural: Building Culture Through Physical Symbols 19:36 – Highlighting Contracts by Hand: How Summize Was Actually Born 21:45 – From Point Tool to Full Platform: What Summize Does Today 22:59 – Why San Diego Over LA or San Francisco: Choosing Offices on Culture, Not Just Cash 24:25 – 250 Pitches, Four Funding Rounds: What Investors Actually Back at Pre-Seed 27:06 – Hurt Money: Quitting His Job, Moving House & Having a Baby in the Same Month 29:08 – The Polish Badminton Players Who Had No Plan B — and Why That Stuck With Him 31:24 – Burn-and-Raise vs. Build It Right: The Philosophy Between Series A and B 33:52 – UK vs. US Founders: The Ceiling of Ambition Difference 35:42 – "Could You 10x?" — Why US and UK Investors Ask Completely Different Questions 37:00 – From Silicon Valley Podcasts to Trusting His Own Gut 39:24 – Letter to a Young Founder: Build Your Network, Raise Your Ceiling00:00 – Thinking Long-Term From Day One02:45 – The Year or Two He Could Have Shaved Off Just by Planning Five Years Ahead04:13 – Three Kids, Three Tattoos04:29 – Europe's Number One Badminton Player 05:51 – Untouchable: The 15-Match Winning Run That Made Him "The Killer"06:59 – Turning Down the Olympics for Law School: The Decision That Changed Everything07:44 – Going From Invincible Junior to Getting Exposed by the Far East09:13 – From Superstitious Socks to 1% Marginal Gains: What Sport Taught Him About Business10:24 – ABCD: Codifying Culture So Every Employee Knows the Mission11:55 – The Lesson in Being a Founder People Listen To13:22 – Healthy Paranoia: Why You Should Never Feel Comfortable13:55 – Office Tour14:58 – The Elevator Pitch Booth (and the Original Pitch Line)16:04 – One Team, One Board: Keeping Three Offices in Sync17:00 – £1,000 a Month for the Best 1% Idea 17:37 – Meet the Nameless, Eyeless Office Giraffe18:35 – The Gong, the Clocks & the M
June 23, 2026
Mark Stuart: Building a multi-million pound business with Dad
Mark Stuart is on a mission to make Stuart Energy Europe’s leading power generation business. He founded Stuart Energy in 2017 alongside his father Fred and brother Lee, and the company has been named in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work list for three consecutive years. But following in the footsteps of a successful parent comes with its own pressures. “You see great footballers that have sons that go into football and you’re never as good as your father,” he said. “There’s a bit of stigma attached to that.” In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Mark discusses Launching Stuart Energy with his dad Fred and brother Lee and working alongside his sister JaneWhy the company puts ‘family first, work second’The importance of bootstrapping a businessGrowing up with a ‘work or want’ mentalityStuart Energy’s unusual three-stage recruitment processThe Naked Founder is a BusinessCloud podcast. It is sponsored by Financielle, the home of money for women, and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
16 total episodes available
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- What is The Naked Founder?
<p>The Naked Founder Podcast</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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