40 Minute Mentor

In recent weeks we have been having lots of conversations with candidates who are concerned about the impact the current economic climate will have had on their careers. If this has been on your mind too, then today’s episode is perfect for you. That’s because our 40 Minute Mentor today is Amir Nooriala, whose story will both inspire and reassure you. He has proved through his career that no matter what the circumstances are, there are always opportunities, if you’re willing to put in the work. Amir is the Chief Commercial Officer at Callsign, a leading fraud detection, authorisation & authentication company. Although he now is a highly respected FinTech executive, he started his tech career in Silicon Valley at a very challenging time - just as the dot com bubble burst. Since then, Amir’s journey took him back to the UK and has seen him work in consulting and Banking, before pivoting into in the fast-paced world of FinTech at the Unicorn Oaknorth. Alongside his impressive CV, something that we really admire about Amir is the fact that he is also incredibly passionate about promoting social mobility. Alongside his full-time job, Amir is a trustee of Making the Leap and the UK Social Mobility Awards.  Alongside that, we take a trip back through Amir’s colourful career to date, where he shares some fantastic insights, including: His top career tips for navigating through uncertain economic times, and his personal lessons from bouncing back from both redundancy and a demotion. How you can tailor your CV and identify your transferable skills to break into the competitive FinTech sector, even if you have no direct experience and a limited network. Plus, Amir’s entrepreneurial and productivity secrets and how he has successfully balanced all of his commitments over the years which have included full-on executive roles, advisory work, side hustles and 3 kids! Amir is a fantastic person as well as a super impressive leader and this conversation couldn’t have come at a better time given everything that is going on in the world. His journey has so much to teach us all about resilience, perseverance and staying positive when times are tough. No matter what stage of your career you’re in, we know you’ll get a lot of value and confidence from listening to Amir’s life lessons. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about Amir, check out his LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirnooriala/ If you’d like to find out more about Callsign, you can have a look at their website - https://www.callsign.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode features the incredible Shefali Roy, COO and CCO at TrueLayer. Shefali started her career in financial services, working across the Australasian market, before moving to London to get her Master’s degree in Economic History at LSE. Shefali decided to stay in London and joined Goldman Sachs before moving out of Financial Services and into the world of Tech. Since then she’s gone on to work for a whole range of leading Tech companies including global tech giant Apple, FinTech trailblazer Stripe and most recently, the leading tech company TrueLayer. In this conversation, Shefali shares some really interesting insights from her experience of building a successful tech career in the Compliance and Risk space, including: What initially got her into compliance, and why this underrated sector could offer you a great opportunity to build a fantastic tech career. What she learned from working across regions and across industries. Including her move into Tech and what it was really like to work at Apple. And what a typical day as the COO and CCO at TrueLayer looks like and how the team have adapted and changed in the face of COVID-19. Shefali shares so many great insights in this episode and goes into detail on how she tackled those big and important career decisions over the years to help you, if you’re considering a career change. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about Shefali, check out her LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shefaliroy/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Moving on to a different career path will always be a daunting prospect and it can be difficult to know how best to approach it. We regularly hear from candidates who are looking to make the shift and aren’t always sure where to start. And equally, from clients, unsure about taking a risk on someone with a different or out of the ordinary background. If you’re in this position, then you’re going to love today’s episode as our guest tells you all about his remarkable career change. Chris Severson has never been one to shy away from risk. Having started his career in the US Marine Corps as a TOPGUN fighter pilot, he took his adventurous approach into his post military career, successfully making the switch into leadership roles in the corporate and start up worlds. Chris has held senior positions across Barclays, Atlas Mara, Digicel and most recently at PMI, and has lived in the USA, the Middle East, Switzerland and the Caribbean. As Chris explains in today’s episode, making a career change is going to be hard work, no matter your background, but building a great network is the key to success. During our conversation we elaborate further on the power of networking and dig deeper into how leveraging your innate capabilities can help you as a leader. Some of the topics we discussed, include: His experience of transitioning from a high pressure and disciplined military career into the private sector. Plus, how his background as a Marine taught him to be an enthusiastic leader and communicator. The importance of networking when changing careers and how best to ‘find your tribe’ and build good relationships online and offline. And his advice for building a high performing team. From hiring people smarter than himself, to his favourite interview question - it’s certainly one that might catch you off guard! Chris has been a candidate, client and friend of JBM, as well as a personal inspiration to James throughout his career. He is an amazing and charismatic leader, so it was fascinating to dig deeper into his diverse and exciting career journey. We're sure you’re all going to really enjoy this one – especially any of you who are fans of the movie Top Gun! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about Chris, check out his LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisseverson1/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to careers, there’s so many more options out there than there used to be even 5 years ago. Speaking to clients and candidates day in and out, we hear so many different stories of how people have got to where they are, the route they took and the different paths that people follow. The days of getting a university degree, joining a graduate scheme and staying with one company for 10-15 years are long gone. With rising university fees and increasing opportunity we’re seeing many companies starting to offer apprenticeships to enable talented young people to follow an alternative path to reach the career they want. At the forefront of this major shift across education and employment is today’s 40 Minute Mentor – the amazing Sophie Adelman, Co-Founder and president of WhiteHat. While Sophie has a very successful academic background herself, she saw her acceptance into Cambridge as a lucky break and in some ways an unfair advantage over all the equally talented people who for whatever reason didn’t get the same opportunity. As Sophie explains in today’s episode, this helped her shape her mission in life to create access to opportunities for everyone, no matter the background, social status or upbringing.  That’s where the idea for WhiteHat came from. Sophie and her co-founder Euan launched WhiteHat – a tech start-up building an outstanding alternative to the traditional university route – to level the playing field and open opportunities to work with great companies to more people, rather than a small selected pool of talent from well-known universities. Sophie’s passion for creating equal opportunities, changing the way the university system works and topics, such as social mobility is truly inspiring. In today’s conversation, we dig deeper into a whole host of topics, including:   The problems Sophie sees with the university sector and how her own experience has shaped her vision to change it. Why she founded WhiteHat and her experience of starting and growing her mission-driven business from just herself and Euan to a team of 140 people. And her experience of raising $16m Series A funding in 2019 and her advice for others looking to emulate her success. If you’re interested in working for a mission-driven start-up like WhiteHat, or you're a leader looking at diversifying your talent pool, or you're considering whether to go to university - you’re going to love this conversation. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about Sophie, check out his LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-adelman1/ If you want to find out more about WhiteHat, you can have a look at their website - https://whitehat.org.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're really excited to bring you this special bonus episode of the 40 Minute Mentor with one of the most well-known figures in FinTech – the awesome David M. Brear, CEO of 11:FS. 11:FS are made up of some of the greatest minds in FinTech who are working to build and launch next-generation digital propositions for some of the biggest financial institutions in the world. In just 4 years they have achieved some incredible results as a challenger consultancy, whilst also launching one of the top business podcasts in the UK. Their strapline alone – Digital banking is only 1% finished – gives you a flavour of their drive to challenge the status quo and disrupt the industry. As a fellow podcast host and passionate sports fan, David and James had a lot to talk about! We have admired 11:FS for a long time so it was a real honour to sit down with David to find out more about his own career path and hear first-hand the incredible journey that 11:FS have been on. Meeting him in person didn’t disappoint and, in the episode, we cover some really exciting topics, including: How David’s initial plans to become a professional Basketballer were curtailed by injury and how he ended working up in Banking during the Financial Crisis His incredible journey with 11:FS and how they’ve carved their own path, creating a multi-faceted business full of incredible talent and amazing clients – all without any external funding And what company culture means to him and how his love for sports has shaped the way 11:FS have grown their own high-performing team David is such a down to earth and refreshingly honest leader, who was so easy to talk to. This episode is filled to the brim with great advice, particularly for those of you working in consulting or Fintech. Whether you’re a junior consultant looking to advance your career or a founder yourself – David goes into detail on the secrets that have helped him succeed and the lessons he’s learned along the way. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about David M Brear, check out his LinkedIn profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbrear/  If you want to find out more about 11:FS you can have a look at their website –  https://11fs.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The word ‘inspiring’ gets thrown around a lot when discussing entrepreneurs and business owners. However, with today’s guest, we can’t think of a more accurate or deserving description. Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is the incredible Catherine Wines, co-founder of WorldRemit. WorldRemit is a mission-driven online money transfer service that allows people to send money to friends and family living abroad. WorldRemit is one of the most successful and fastest growing Fintechs in the UK, with a worth of almost $1bn, employing over 700 people and serving 4 million customers across 150 countries. Catherine is one of the most high profile female leaders in Fintech so it came as a real shock to the industry when she was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer in 2018. Despite the shock of this and the ensuing treatment she has had to go through, she has remained incredibly positive and active throughout. She continues to support WorldRemit’s as a Non-Exec Director whilst also mentoring and advising a number of other start up founders (including fellow 40 Minute Mentor guest, Alex Stephany of Beam). Since her diagnosis, she’s paved the way for firms to improve the way they support employees living and working with cancer. We go into detail on this in today’s show and Catherine shares some great advice for anyone out there either living with, or supporting a loved one or colleague with, cancer. In today’s conversation you’ll hear about a number of interesting topics, including: • Why Catherine set up WorldRemit and how she has grown the business from a small start up to a team of over 700 employees across 6 continents. • Her philosophy on living with cancer and how she is happy to talk about it in order to raise awareness and change perceptions about it • Plus, her thoughts on the importance of mentorship, championing women in tech and why she got involved with Beam, the tech for good start up that helps homeless people get back in to work and off the street. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with Catherine about her many achievements and hearing her unique and uplifting approach to life. She truly is an inspiration and is certainly a great reminder to live life to the fullest, and without regret. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about Catherine, check out her LinkedIn profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-wines-8060b26/ If you want to find out more about WorldRemit you can have a look at their website – https://www.worldremit.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest and our first 40 Minute Mentor of 2020 is the brilliant Ben Sanders, who is the MD for Europe at the Tech Scale Up Pollen. Pollen, formerly known as Verve, is one of the top 10 fastest growing UK scale-ups and a global leader in word-of-mouth sales in the live entertainment and travel industries. As MD for Europe, Ben leads a team of over 100 people, and he has played a key role in the growth of their marketplace, which has been turbo charged by a recent £70m Series C Funding round. Ben started his career in Consulting at Bain & Company where he spent just under 5 years before pivoting into Fintech in 2014 with Worldpay. He was subsequently headhunted by the UK Digital Bank Pockit as COO in 2016, despite having no previous COO experience, and in that time achieved significant successes – scaling the team to over 70 people and winning multiple awards. Ben has achieved some very impressive feats during his career, and it was great to get a chance to talk to him about his diverse experience so far (which has also included spending time as a Nightclub promoter) and share his advice for others who want to do the same. Some of the highlights from our chat include: • Why Ben made the move from Consulting into Fintech and how he was able to adapt so quickly and achieve so much in a such a short time frame • How Ben successfully made the jump into being a COO, and the lessons he learned from his time at Pockit, as well as his advice for others looking to make a step change in their own careers • And finally, Ben’s guidance for building and leading high performing teams and his thoughts on the importance of getting culture right Having talked to a lot of candidates who want to make the move from Consulting into Fintech, it was fascinating to hear Ben’s experience and get his candid advice for people looking to make the same move that he did. Ben is one of the nicest and most impressive people I know in Tech. He was open and honest during our conversation and he shared some fantastic insights that I’m delighted to be able to share with you in this episode. I hope you’ll get as much out of it as I did. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk. If you want to find out more about Ben check out his LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-sanders-b280716/ If you want to find out more about Pollen you can have a look at their website - https://pollen.co/uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode I get to talk to a guest who has been described as “one of the UK’s most hotly-tipped young entrepreneurs”: co-founder and CEO of Fanbytes, Timothy Armoo. Timothy started his first ever business at the tender age of 14 and sold his second business at just 17. In 2017 Timothy and his co-founder, Ambrose, started the ‘Gen Z’ focused advertising agency, Fanbytes. Fanbytes specialises in helping brands reach the ‘Gen Z’ audience through popular social media channels like Snapchat and TikTok. Using their specially developed algorithm they search out the future stars of social media and connect them with global brands to create impactful campaigns. Their unique approach has drawn a high-profile client base and they’ve already worked with some of the world’s biggest brand names such as Apple Music, Warner Brothers, Deliveroo and Universal. Since launching the business they’ve grown rapidly, and Timothy and Ambrose now lead an award-winning team of 30. Helping their clients make an impact with Gen Z buyers. In today’s interview we cover some really interesting topics; going all the way from Timothy’s teenage years starting his first business through to how he’s growing and scaling a team working with global brands. During our conversation you’ll hear about: How Timothy began Fanbytes while still studying at University and how he balanced his studies with launching the business. The challenges he faced convincing brands to work with Fanbytes in the early days and his advice for other entrepreneurs looking to carve their way in a new niche. And his thoughts on the importance of culture and how he’s managed to maintain and develop Fanbytes unique culture while rapidly scaling the business. I really enjoyed speaking to Timothy and it was so inspiring to hear how much he’s accomplished as such a young age. He is clearly incredibly passionate about what he does and is a truly inspiring individual to talk to. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk. If you want to find out more about Timothy check out his LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyarmoo/  If you want to find out more about Fanbytes you can have a look at their website - https://fanbytes.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest and your Mentor for the next 40 minutes is the ever so inspiring author of “The Business of Sharing” and Founder and CEO of Beam – Alex Stephany. Having started his career as a lawyer, living and working all over the world, Alex decided to join the tech startup JustPark as their COO in 2011. Alex was promoted to CEO at the end of 2012 and let the business to close the largest start up equity crowdfunding raise in history. Following his success with JustPark, where he remains a board advisor to this day, Alex ventured out on his own and started Beam - the world’s first crowdfunding platform that helps homeless people to train up and get back into work. Beam’s growing community of supporters have made a total of 17,000 donations, helping over 50 people find stable employment in a position that will provide a living wage. Beam hasn’t grown unnoticed, winning lots of plaudits in the press and it has won many awards, including being named by The Guardian as one of the most important social tech innovations of 2018. I loved finding out more about Beam and Alex’s diverse experiences. In our conversation, we talked about many different aspects of his career, including: The skills that helped Alex switch from working as a lawyer to a high-growth tech startup and the challenges he faced in the early days of JustPark How he became a thought leader on the sharing economy and how this led him to write and publish his book, “The Business of Sharing” (which involved him interviewing some very high profile people, which we discuss during our chat) And also his ideas on how everyone can get involved in the sharing economy and how we can find long-term solutions for the homelessness problem, including ways to get involved with his amazing business Beam Alex’s passion for using technology to connect people who want to help, with people who need help, is both inspiring and contagious. I am so glad I get to share our conversation with you and I hope you’ll be as inspired as I was after hearing Alex’s story. If you want to find out more about Alex you can check out her LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstephany/ If you want to find out more about Beam you can have a look at their website - https://beam.org/ We’re always keen to get feedback so if you have any thoughts once you’ve listened to this interview, just drop me an email at james@jbmc.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode of the 40 Minute Mentor is another bonus episode which was recorded live at our JBM drinks event in September. We run these events every quarter, to bring together clients and candidates who have helped us spread the word about JBM and to thank them for all their help and support. These events are always great fun and give our network a chance to get to know some of the great business leaders that we get to work with. Our special guest on the night and your 40 Minute Mentor today is the brilliant Pippa Lamb, Partner at Sweet Capital. Pippa has had a fascinating career so far. After graduating from the University of Oxford, she joined the Global Equity Strategy Team at J.P. Morgan where she spent 5 years before leaving to pursue her MBA at Harvard Business School as a Fulbright scholar. Following her MBA experience, she decided to take a different course and moved into the VC world, joining Sweet Capital – the investment fund established by the founders of King.com. She climbed quickly and earlier this year was promoted to Partner across their London and LA offices. I really enjoyed my interview with Pippa and there’s some great advice in here for anyone considering a bold career move. Be it pursing an MBA, moving into venture capital or taking a step out to do something else. We cover a whole range of topics in this one, including: How Pippa landed the role at Sweet Capital and her advice for anyone looking to move into the world of VC Why Pippa left banking to undertake her MBA and the key questions that she would recommend asking yourself when deciding whether an MBA is the right choice for you And her advice to start ups, and what she looks for in founders and companies that are pitching to her in her role at Sweet Capital It was great to sit down with Pippa and hear her advice on some of the hot topics that we regularly get asked about by our candidates. If you’re thinking about doing an MBA, looking to move into VC or want to learn how your business can secure its next round of investment, you’re going to love this conversation! If you want to find out more about Pippa you can check out her LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pippalamb/ If you want to find out more about Sweet Capital you can have a look at their website - https://sweetcapital.com/ We’re always keen to get feedback so if you have any thoughts once you’ve listened to this interview, just drop me an email at james@jbmc.co.uk Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in this episode are our guest's own opinion and do not represent any entity with which they've been, are now, or will be affiliated in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices