The Engine - Founders Stories

ADHD, Hustle, and Building a £60M Recruitment Business With Guy Walker

In this Founder Stories episode, Guy Walker (CEO of Talentia Group) discusses why he’s invited onto many podcasts, what topics he avoids, and his wide portfolio of startups and investments alongside his core education and public sector recruitment business. He explains how he manages time through strong delegation and by focusing on sales, relationships, and problem-solving, and reflects on being memorable and candid. Guy recounts early hustles for money, a work-experience break into IT at 15, moving into hospitality, a failed bar investment, and a record-setting recruitment career before his mother’s rapid death from pancreatic cancer reshaped his priorities and led him to start Dovetail from a spare bedroom with £15,000. He covers ADHD as a work “superpower” with downsides, scaling through COVID via client partnership, recent health changes, a passion for supporting young people, and advice for founders on loving the work, hard effort, and building a strong network. 00:00 High Energy Intro 00:33 Why Guy Gets Invited 02:05 What He Does Today 04:18 Time Management Secrets 08:41 Early Hustles and Money 11:03 Work Experience Matters 15:04 From IT to Recruitment 20:01 ADHD as Superpower 24:04 Letting Go of Sales Dopamine 29:03 Starting a Business for Real 31:35 Startup Reality Check 32:39 Bootstrapping Costs Systems 33:58 Runway Risk Planning 34:40 Scaling To 60 Million 35:41 COVID Partnership Playbook 37:23 Behind The Scenes Culture 39:03 Health Over Hustle 43:03 Running Travel Routine 46:40 Help Young People 51:41 Happiness Maximum Challenge 54:45 Dreams Exit Impact Fund 01:00:08 Founder Advice Closing

OLIO Co-Founder Tessa Clarke on Fighting Food Waste, Profit with Purpose, and Building a Mission-Obsessed Team

In this Founder Stories episode, Tessa Clarke, co-founder and CEO of OLIO, explains how her farm upbringing and a moving-day experience sparked the idea for a hyper-local app that helps neighbors give away surplus food and household items. She shares key facts about food waste - one third of food globally is wasted, food waste would be the third-largest emitter if a country, and in the UK 60% occurs in homes versus 2% in supermarkets - and describes OLIO’s scale: 9 million users globally, 5 million in the UK, with about £5m of free food and £1–2m of household items shared monthly in the UK. Clarke discusses OLIO’s remote-first team of ~40, hiring for mission obsession and values, fundraising lessons, handling restructures humanely, her co-founder partnership with Sacha, and her advocacy for B Corp, the Better Business Act, and Stop Ecocide, plus a forthcoming “Simple Swaps” book. 00:00 Meet Tessa Clark 00:55 Mission Beyond OLIO 02:48 Origin Story Spark 04:23 Food Waste Wake Up 06:02 How OLIO Works 07:42 Scale and Growth Engine 11:08 Farm Skills to Founder 13:00 Education and Expectations 16:43 Team Size and Remote First 18:59 Hiring for Mission Obsession 23:21 Surviving the Rollercoaster 25:03 Founder Pay and Burn Rate 27:34 Fundraising and Runway 30:18 Restructuring with Respect 34:37 Co-Founder Dynamic 36:03 Dividing Responsibilities 40:30 Founder Visibility Strategy 42:13 Profit With Purpose 46:09 B Corp Better Business 51:53 Life Design Habits 54:32 Simple Swaps Book 58:23 Future Plans Expansion 01:05:32 Closing And Contact

Building Fearless, Founder-Led Growth & The Unconventional Path with Dominic McGregor

In this episode, the host speaks with Dominic McGregor, founder of Fearless Adventures, about what he’s building now and the experiences that shaped him. Dominic explains Fearless as an investment-and-support business that helps founders scale through three areas: people (via an academy and talent pool), funding (investing in companies), and marketing (with an emphasis on founders articulating the brand story). He discusses when founder-led sales is helpful versus limiting, and why early personal branding can pigeonhole service businesses. Dominic shares his upbringing in York, moving to private school, a long friendship with Sam, and how a lack of crippling failure contributed to confidence. He reflects on Social Chain’s early traction making trends, his relationship with alcohol and sobriety, and his goals to expand youth opportunity through apprenticeships while being a good dad. 00:00 Confidence at 19 00:27 Meet Dominic McGregor 02:15 What Fearless Does 04:22 People Funding Marketing 07:47 Founder Led Sales Stages 11:38 Freelancer Versus Business 14:53 Childhood and York 16:59 Private School Shift 19:16 Granddad Work Ethic 21:54 No Inner Doubt 27:47 Dropping Out Safety Net 30:27 Unconventional Paths 33:23 Early Social Chain Milestones 34:44 Naming Social Chain 35:19 Building Authentic Community 36:59 Proving Viral Power 39:55 Alcohol and Coping Patterns 43:19 Sobriety and Mental Tools 46:13 Healthy Relationship Check 50:38 Fail Fast and Growth Pressure 52:06 Changing Environment to Quit 56:02 Youth Opportunity Mission 58:23 Parenting and Screen Time 01:03:42 Next Chapter and Wrap Up

Scaling Passion: Building a Multi-Sport Empire With Asher Smith & Jack Pearce

How do you turn a shared passion for sport into a rapidly scaling business that reaches thousands of children every week? In this episode of Founder Stories, Donna Owen sits down with Asher Smith and Jack Pearce, the co-founders of The Athlete Group. From their early days as teenage sports coaches to building a multi-brand organization, Asher and Jack share the raw reality of scaling a service-based business while staying true to their core mission: finding the right sport for every child. They dive into the "machinery" behind their partnership, discussing how they transitioned from being "on the tools" as coaches to becoming strategic leaders. They also explore the importance of diverse sports exposure, the challenges of hiring the right team, and why having a "blue hexagon" mindset is key to their success. In this episode, you’ll learn: * The "Find Your Sport" Philosophy: Why exposing children to a wide variety of activities is more important than early specialization. * Transitioning from Coach to Founder: The difficult journey of stepping away from the daily delivery to focus on scaling the business. * The Power of Partnership: How Asher and Jack balance their different strengths to drive The Athlete Group forward. * Building a Culture: The challenges of recruitment in the sports education sector and finding staff who share the "Athlete" DNA. * Beyond Football: Why offering everything from tennis to dodgeball creates a more inclusive and successful business model. 🕒 Timestamps: * 00:00 – Finding the sport every child loves. * 00:20 – Introducing Asher Smith & Jack Pearce: Co-founders of The Athlete Group. * 05:15 – The early days: From teenage coaches to business partners. * 12:40 – The "Find Your Sport" mission and why it drives everything. * 22:10 – The pivot: Moving from "coaching" to "running a business." * 30:35 – Recruitment & Culture: Finding the right people for the "blue hexagon." * 42:15 – Advice for young entrepreneurs starting in the service sector. * 46:40 – Where to find The Athlete Group and how to join the movement.

Inventing an Industry: 20 Years of B2B Marketing Secrets with Joel Harrison

In this episode of Founder Stories, Joel Harrison discusses launching B2B Marketing in 2004 to fill a gap in the marketing media that largely ignored business-to-business marketing, and how the company helped shape an ecosystem where agencies and marketers now identify as B2B. He explains the evolution from a print magazine (which stopped publishing a few years ago) to Propolis, a peer-to-peer advisory platform serving major brands, alongside flagship events like Ignite, the Global ABM Conference, and the B2B Marketing Awards, while noting he has stepped back operationally but remains a co-owner and board director. Joel shares his background in journalism and publishing, family influences in marketing, and how his mother’s cancer prompted him to pursue what mattered. He advises startups to clarify brand and customer pain points, leverage founders/CEOs as authentic ambassadors, and persist through volatility, embracing pivots as reality diverges from plans. 00:00 Life Is Short Mindset 00:36 Founder Stories Intro 02:02 Why B2B Marketing Existed 03:38 Building The B2B Ecosystem 04:51 B2B vs B2C Buying 07:13 Marketing Maturity In Startups 08:48 From Magazine To Propolis 10:52 Joel Early Career Origins 12:39 Why Marketing Became The Topic 15:06 Becoming A Founder At 30 16:23 Cancer Catalyst And Legacy 17:51 Founders Are Not One Type 19:26 Choosing the Leap 20:01 The 28-29 Sweet Spot 21:30 Content Not for Everyone 23:09 Stop Spray and Pray 25:02 Founder Led Trust 26:00 Formats and Authenticity 27:53 Stepping Back as Founder 30:21 New Chapter After Exit 31:04 Where to Follow Joel 33:06 Life Balance and Ambition 34:57 Advice for Early Founders 35:23 Keep Going and Pivot 37:13 Closing Thanks and Future