Episodes

  • The Price is Wrong: Redesigning B2B SaaS Pricing Strategy with Roee Hartuv

    The Price is Wrong: Redesigning B2B SaaS Pricing Strategy with Roee Hartuv
    May 27 2026
    Most B2B software companies are leaving serious money on the table — not because the product isn't good enough, not because the sales team needs more training. It's the pricing strategy. It's not the number you choose, it's everything that comes before it. Roee Hartuv is the founder of Willingness to Pay, a consultancy that helps B2B SaaS companies redesign product pricing and packaging from first principles. His philosophy is simple: stop pricing the product, start pricing the customer. B2B SaaS pricing strategy is the silent revenue multiplier most founders ignore. Discover how value-based pricing and packaging can transform your go-to-market strategy. In this conversation, we get into: Why the actual price you charge is probably the least important pricing decision you'll makeHow the shift from SaaS to AI is destroying gross margins in ways most businesses aren't trackingWhat 'operational debt' looks like and why bad pricing makes it harder to manage renewalsWhy value selling as a sales methodology needs the right packaging to support itWhat the shift from seat-based to usage-based pricing means for finance, investors and customersWho's most likely to be getting pricing wrong Whether you're setting prices for the first time or running a mature product business that hasn't revisited its model in years, this episode will make you think differently. Connect with Roee: On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roeehartuv/ Willingness to Pay YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SaaSPricing/videos Chapters: 00:58 — What is Willingness to Pay, and why does the name matter?03:12 — When should a company start thinking seriously about pricing?03:58 — Is changing your pricing as risky as it feels?09:43 — What triggers companies to seek help with pricing?14:20 — Is there a "right" price — or is pricing always a moving target?18:14 — How AI is collapsing gross margins in real time20:32 — The pricing stack: packaging → metric → structure → number24:36 — Why value selling doesn't work without the right packaging28:27 — 5x revenue in 18 months: what actually changed?31:29 — The most counterintuitive thing about B2B pricing37:01 — The one thing to do if you're moving into AI -- Thanks for listening. Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    35 mins
  • Predicting Startup Success | Measuring Team Dynamics with Soma Pirityi

    Predicting Startup Success | Measuring Team Dynamics with Soma Pirityi
    May 13 2026

    We Invest In People is the oldest principle in venture capital. It's also, Soma Pirityi argues, the industry's longest-running paradox. 65% of startups fail due to team-related issues, not because they can't sell or find product market fit. So why can't we better measure, predict and guide startup teams to success?

    Soma is the founder of ETA Technologies, the Cambridge-based company that's on a mission to measure, model and inform team dynamics. They've analysed over 10,000 startup teams and built mathematical models to spot the patterns of success - and failure - and realised that the team is the soul of the company.

    In this episode, we get into the data behind startup failure, the sometimes counterintuitive dimensions of what makes a great founding team, and why the single most predictive factor in startup survival is something most founders have never heard of.

    Listen to find out:

    • Why VCs are beaten by a stock-picking algorithm when it comes to early-stage investing
    • What the team slide in a pitch deck actually tells investors
    • Why too much resilience can kill a company as surely as too little
    • What is the single most predictive factor in founding team survival
    • The one story that proves why ignoring a data model can cost you everything

    Chapters:

    • 0:00:54 — The founding paradox: investing in people you cannot measure
    • 0:04:07 — From VC to founder: what crossing the table teaches you
    • 0:05:59 — The negotiation nobody teaches founders
    • 0:09:17 — Building ETA and why Cambridge beat Silicon Valley
    • 0:12:35 — 65%: the startup killer nobody talks about
    • 0:16:00 — The lone genius myth and the teams behind the icons
    • 0:19:45 — Survivorship bias: why ETA studies failure, not success
    • 0:26:29 — The Big 20: what ETA actually measures
    • 0:32:37 — Synergistic support: the most predictive factor nobody has heard of
    • 0:35:50 — Jim Simons: the mathematician who changed finance
    • 0:41:12 — The death of the pitch deck
    • 0:44:50 — The Frankenstein moment: testing their own team

    Links:

    • ETA Technologies: https://eta-technologies.com/
    • Connect with Soma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soma-benedek-pirityi/

    Book recommendations:

    • Peter Thiel with Blake Masters 'Zero to One' https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9780753555200 (affiliate links)
    • Gregory Zuckerman 'The Man Who Solved the Market' (Biography of Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies) https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9780241309735
    • Ashlee Vance 'Elon Musk' https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9780753555644

    -- Thanks for listening.

    Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    41 mins
  • Thinking On Your Feet: Improv Skills for Business Growth with Neil Mullarkey

    Thinking On Your Feet: Improv Skills for Business Growth with Neil Mullarkey
    Apr 29 2026
    You couldn't make it up. But Neil Mullarkey does. He co-founded the World Famous Comedy Store Players with Mike Myers, appeared in the Austin Powers films, and has spent 40 years making things up in front of live audiences. For the last 27 years, he's been sharing those skills in boardrooms, with teams, and even with cybersecurity experts. In this episode, discover why thinking on your feet isn't a party trick - it's a critical business strategy for leaders managing complex teams and uncertain moments. His book In the Moment makes the case that the ability to listen, adapt, and build on what you're given isn't just good stagecraft. It's the most urgently needed skill in business. What's more, it's one that many teams and organisations struggle with. He argues, with warmth and hard‑won experience, that the same instincts that keep an improvised scene alive - listening, accepting an offer, and building on what’s been given - are the skills businesses desperately need to foster. In this conversation, I learn about Neil's journey into improv and we get into mistakes, blame, trust, failure, permission, laughter, silos, scripts, chaos, a soda syphon, and the surprising thing a room full of cardiologists taught Neil about improvising at the sharp end. Listen to find out: Why laughter matters and 'mistakes' are rich creative materialWhy the optimal team size is six, and what that has to do with improvWhat a cybersecurity crisis has in common with a night at the Comedy StoreWhat cardiologists told Neil that changed his mind about improv in businessWhy AI is making this deeply human skill more valuable, not less Links: Neil's book 'In the Moment': https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9781398610767 More about Neil and ImprovYourBusiness: https://neilmullarkey.com/ Connect with Neil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmullarkey/ A rare appearance by Neil with the Comedy Store Players on Sunday May 10th: https://www.comedystoreplayers.com/events/comedy-store-10052026 Chapters: 0:01:44 - More than a jolly: when to use improv and when not to 0:05:28 - How do you make it stick? 0:08:09 - Hackathons and the improv vs. structure tension 0:12:20 - The meetings chapter: tell, decide or implement? 0:13:21 - Permission, leaders and curating questions 0:15:08 - Origin story: from soda siphon to Comedy Store Players 0:19:32 - Confidence, failure and the improv stage 0:22:07 - Do you rehearse improvisation? 0:30:11 - What business pain does improv training address? 0:33:42 - Improv and cybersecurity crisis management 0:36:23 - The show must go on: mistakes, blame and Miles Davis 0:39:21 - Two pizza teams and the optimal team size 0:46:22 - Has anything changed in 27 years? AI and the human element 0:48:55 - Silos, shadowing and equifinality 0:53:05 - Improv or Best Practice? The cardiologists story -- Thanks for listening. Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    58 mins
  • The Podcast Industry Expert Without A Podcast | with Chris Stone

    The Podcast Industry Expert Without A Podcast | with Chris Stone
    Apr 14 2026
    Chris Stone has spent 13 years in the podcast industry, creating audio and video content for major UK publishers like The Telegraph, Evening Standard and New Statesman. He also writes the Podcast Strategy Weekly newsletter. But there's a twist: he doesn't have a podcast of his own. Why? Instead, he's launching Podcast Crew - a vetted marketplace solving a huge B2B gap in podcast production hiring. In this conversation, we explore why he chose to build infrastructure over personal brand, how podcasting fits into an overall content strategy, and how B2B leaders can apply this thinking to their own growth. Chris also challenges some of the most common assumptions podcasters hold: that social clips drive listeners, that video is for younger audiences, and that everyone who wants to grow their business should start a show. He also has a lot to say about where podcasting is heading - and why AI and podcasts are good news for live, in-person events. Listen to this episode to find out: Why someone who has spent 13 years making podcasts for a living - and now advising other podcasters - doesn't have one himselfThe question Chris asks every podcaster he meets, and why they often can't answer itWhat social clips from your podcast are actually forWhy AI and podcasts are good for another, more conventional, mediumThe dark web podcast Chris thinks everyone should hearWhy podcasts might be the most powerful community-building tool available right now Chapters: 03:10 – The Telegraph, Prince Harry, and Bryony Gordon's Mad World 04:45 – Building the New Statesman's podcast from a cupboard to 200k YouTube subscribers 07:47 – The three skills that make podcasting work 09:46 – Going off-the-cuff at the Labour Party conference 12:08 – Why Chris started writing Podcast Strategy Weekly 16:06 – Why a podcast producer deliberately doesn't have a podcast 20:04 – How B2B podcasts build trust (and why that matters more than reach) 21:30 – The case for video in podcasting 24:37 – What social clips are actually for (it's not what you think) 29:56 – Why hiring in podcasting is broken 32:11 – Building on Airtable and Softr with a developer from Upwork 34:18 – The podcast everyone should hear 38:05 – Three big opportunities in podcasting right now Links: Podcast Strategy Weekly: https://podcaststrategy.substack.com/Podcast Crew: https://www.podcastcrew.co.uk/Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisstonetv/Kill List podcast: search on any podcast app: https://wondery.com/shows/kill-list/ -- Thanks for listening. Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    39 mins
  • Is the software industry broken? Justin Megawarne of Megaslice

    Is the software industry broken? Justin Megawarne of Megaslice
    Mar 27 2026
    After growing up as a programmer, hating school, and being given a chance to follow his passion via an apprenticeship, Justin Megawarne is the co-founder of Megaslice, a technology consultancy with a difference. Justin progressed to consulting, software architecture and CTO roles. However, he became tired of seeing technically excellent work fail commercially. So, along with co-founder Mikal, he built Megaslice with a mission to let no good idea go to waste. In this episode, Justin argues that the tech industry is structurally set up to fail its clients - through broken billing models, misaligned incentives, and methodologies that function primarily as ways to transfer liability to the client. He makes the case for value pricing as the more ethical model, explains why the right quality in a founder isn't confidence but arrogance, and outlines his approach to shared risk and long-term client relationships. In this episode: What Nobel Prize-winning economics has to do with your software agencyWhy Hiring a Software Agency Is Like Buying a Used CarThe difference between outcomes and outputs — and why it mattersJust what is "the right level of arrogance" in a founder?The interview question Justin uses instead of a coding testWhy Megaslice says 'work from wherever it makes sense' to its teamWhy 'specialisation is for insects'The single most important thing founders tend to get backwards Links: More about Megaslice: https://megaslice.uk/ Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmegawarne/ Chapters: 0:01:06 - Megaslice and Justin's background 0:06:33 - The Lemon Market problem 0:10:41 - Time and materials, Agile, and broken industry incentives 0:13:42 - Interest alignment and giving clients what they need 0:16:33 - Qualifying clients — founder profile, arrogance, and capital 0:21:48 - Why organisations find software so difficult 0:26:14 - Why start a company — and how Megaslice has changed 0:28:27 - Hiring for intrinsic motivation — and the hi-vis jacket story 0:35:01 - The biggest thing founders get wrong 0:38:16 - Who inspires Justin — the crackpots of history -- Thanks for listening. Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    39 mins
  • Building a Business With Real Purpose: Kirsten Jack, founder of Uncommon

    Building a Business With Real Purpose: Kirsten Jack, founder of Uncommon
    Mar 18 2026

    How do you build and fund a business built around a mission that life-changing for your community but doesn’t represent a typical 10x opportunity for investors? Meet Kirsten Jack, founder of Uncommon, the online community where neurodivergent young people can connect, find their people, and build the support networks they need.

    At a crossroads in a her career, Kirsten did more than change jobs. She answered a call she’d felt since childhood. Diagnosed with autism in her teens, she was shaped by years of navigating organisations not built for her. When she became a parent she found that the world’s newfound openness to neurodivergence wasn't translating into real support. She found long waiting lists, a patchwork of under-funded groups, and families left to improvise. That frustration sparked Uncommon, an online community built because Kirsten refused to wait for someone else to act.

    Autism, ADHD, dyslexia and other types of neurodiversity aren’t rare. It affects somewhere between 10 and 15% of the population. However, many young people are undiagnosed (especially girls), and are navigating it without even knowing why things feel so hard. The scale of unmet need is significant, and it’s a gap that Uncommon exists to fill.

    Listen to This Episode to Learn:
    • How she funded the start of the business and absolute must-haves when seeking funding for a purpose-led business
    • How to design a product around your most vulnerable users from day one, and why they pivoted their community focus early on
    • The honest truth about grant funding that has conditions attached - and the NHS contract that taught Kirsten the hard way
    • How Kirsten manages the decision fatigue of being a solo founder - and the simple habit that changed things for her
    • What success actually looks like for a business built around purpose
    Chapters

    1:00 - Building Uncommon: A Safe Space for Neurodivergent Youth

    7:35 - Supporting Neurodivergent Employees in the Workplace

    12:21 - Decision-Making Strategies for Solo Founders

    14:20 - Building Early Support Systems for Youth Mental Health

    16:59 - Challenges Faced by Neurodivergent Students in Mainstream Schools

    19:22 - Supporting Neurodivergent Youth Through Flexible Online Programs

    23:43 - Targeted Fundraising and Impactful Business Models

    28:19 - Supporting Young People Through Clubs, Mentoring, and Fun

    33:59 - Empowering Youth Through Safe and Supportive Creative Spaces

    38:21 - Strategic Insights and Challenges in Educational Community Building

    42:09 - Transformative Impact of Uncommon on Youth and Families

    Links and Resources

    • Find out more about Uncommon: https://www.bemoreuncommon.com/

    • Read the testimonials from grateful parents: https://www.bemoreuncommon.com/testimonials

    • Connect with Kirsten on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-jack/

    -- Thanks for listening.

    Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    44 mins
  • Building Your Core Strength: Matt Hunt, The Protein Ball Company

    Building Your Core Strength: Matt Hunt, The Protein Ball Company
    Feb 24 2026
    While competitors race to scale by loading their products with emulsifiers, humectants and sweeteners - and call it health food - The Protein Ball Company has stayed stubbornly natural, and accepted slower but more sustainable growth. This is an episode about the hard yards of business: logistics, cash flow, risk, production decisions, export paperwork, and the instincts no degree or accelerator will teach you. The Protein Ball Company was born eleven years ago after Matt Hunt spotted the rise of protein snacking at an LA trade show. What began in a small unit with a single machine imported from India is now a multi-million pound business exporting to 14 countries, with listings in Caffe Nero, Black Sheep Coffee and Flying Coffee Bean, and a major UK supermarket listing in the pipeline. In this episode of Curious Business, Matt talks candidly about how Covid tanked their revenue from £4m to £1m overnight. He explains what kept the business alive, and why they’re committed to natural ingredients in a category dominated by the chemistry set - even when everyone told them they'd never scale if they didn't follow suit. Listen to this episode for some hard lessons about cashflow, hedging your bets, trusting your gut, and the fine margins of business: Why private label manufacturing isn't a compromise, and why having the right private label customers in place could just be what saves your businessHow Matt sizes a new market without paying for expensive data, and the simple test he runs to check his intuitionWhat a branding agency's "graveyard exercise" revealed about decisions they should have made years earlier - and how to apply it to your own business right nowThe state of the protein market and why he thinks the ultra-processed food reckoning will eventually prove him rightHow a business exporting to fourteen countries manages cash flow, liquidity and growth Links from the episode The Protein Ball Company: https://theproteinballco.com The Protein Ball Company on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/TheProteinBallCo/page/70CB4F6A-D02B-4652-9F25-4931F0329B0B Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthunt001/ Robot Foods and the rebrand: https://www.robot-food.com/work/the-protein-ball-co/ Books mentioned Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill (affiliate link) https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9781785042416 How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie (affiliate link) https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15792/9781785042409 Other episodes mentioned: Curious Business #12 with Ella McKay of Fatso: https://podcast.curiousbusiness.co.uk/e/ella-mckay-fatso-rebellious-branding/ Chapters 0:00:45 - Elevator pitch 0:01:09 - Why he started the business 0:02:06 - Why balls, not bars 0:03:44 - The main phases of growth over 11 years 0:05:32 - What does success actually look like? 0:07:10 - How the Caffe Nero listing came about 0:09:35 - Matt's background - the market, the olives, the degree 0:11:43 - Cash flow, hedging and keeping the business alive 0:12:37 - Why everything is in-house 0:13:41 - What Matt spends his time on 0:17:38 - Throwing some shade on the protein sector 0:20:42 - Trade shows as the engine of growth 0:22:45 - Why brand was deprioritised - and why it was time to rebrand 0:27:55 - New product development - certainty, failure and the kids' range 0:29:55 - Analytics vs. intuition 0:31:11 - Books, podcasts and the "turning the dials" idea 0:33:40 - Goals for the year ahead -- Thanks for listening. Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    36 mins
  • Vibe Coding For All? Nigel Jay Cooper on AI Software Development

    Vibe Coding For All? Nigel Jay Cooper on AI Software Development
    Feb 11 2026

    What happens when a professional writer who finds AI-generated content "quite horrific" decides to build an AI writing platform to help people show up more authentically on LinkedIn? With AI as his development team?

    Nigel Jay Cooper found himself in exactly that position. He'd spent a decade training professionals and teams in employee advocacy to create authentic LinkedIn content. He was also determined to fight the flood of ‘beige’ content generated by ChatGPT et al - thoughtless, generic posts lacking personality and spark.

    His first instinct was to fight against AI. But when everyone kept using it anyway, he realised he was fighting the wrong battle. The question wasn't whether people would use AI. The question was: can they use it in a way that reflects their personality, experience and humanity? So he set out to build Ghostart, even though he's not a software developer.

    Listen to this episode of Curious Business as Nigel shares how he built Ghostart over the past year, and discusses:

    • The beige content crisis: Why AI-generated LinkedIn posts are "soul destroying" and how people remove themselves from their own voice
    • Building with AI: Using different models for different purposes, learning through trial and error, and managing the "700,000 suggestions you didn't want" that the LLMs tend to spit out
    • The technical journey: From two aborted platform attempts to the approach that makes AI development productive and effective
    • The Beige-ometer: Training an AI writing coach in rhythm, emotion, and storytelling - not optimising to LinkedIn's algorithm
    • Why your beta test should make you feel ashamed: The essential advice that propelled the platform forward

    Chapters:

    0:01:06 - The Beige Content Problem

    0:04:27 - Who Ghost Art Serves

    0:09:10 - Building with AI - The Vibe Coding Reality

    0:11:47 - Tools and Techniques

    0:17:31 - Keeping AI Focused

    0:21:20 - The Hardest Parts to Build

    0:27:17 - The Beta Launch

    0:30:53 - What Users Actually Valued

    0:35:47 - Lessons and Success

    Links:

    More about Ghostart and try it free: https://ghostart.io

    Request a demo: https://ghostart.io/teams/demo

    Connect with Nigel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigeljaycooper/

    -- Thanks for listening.

    Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.
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    35 mins