Designing for Little Joy, Big Impact (with Zareen Ali, COGS AI)

Faster.Fairer.Science. - with Ivy Cavendish (TooWrite)

In this episode of The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs, uMe speaks with Ivy Cavendish, founder of TooWrite, a venture that aims to make scientific writing faster, fairer, and more accessible for researchers. What began with one deeply felt moment, watching her partner struggle to write up important scientific work, became a startup that helped researchers move past the blank page and get their ideas out into the world. Not long after the product launched, TooWrite was acquired by Springer Nature. We talk about: * The lived experience that sparked the idea for TwoWrite * Early paper prototypes, fast feedback loops and organic product spread * Why accessibility made the product better for everyone * The difference between falling in love with the problem rather than the solution * What Ivy learned about feedback, first-time founding and investor conversations * Burnout, clinical exhaustion, and the moment she realised something had gone wrong * How she thinks about reflection, resilience and building without being consumed by the venture It’s a conversation about experimentation, accessibility, founder wellbeing and the value of staying close to the people you’re building for. If you’re interested in impact ventures, startup learning, and what it really looks like to build something that does good and does well, this one is for you. — Episode Links • TooWrite: https://www.tswrevolution.com [https://www.tswrevolution.com] • Ivy Cavendish on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivy-cavendish-8a14261a5/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivy-cavendish-8a14261a5/] — The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs podcast is brought to you by HumanityAssist - supporting founders building ventures that help humanity thrive: https://www.humanityassist.com [https://humanityassist.com] — Hosted by Umesh (uMe) Pandya https://www.linkedin.com/in/umeshpandya/ Original podcast music by Nimz — #founders #startups #entrepreneurship #socialimpact #innovation

Rethinking the Default - with Anna and Paul Moynihan (TaskHer)

In this episode of The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs, uMe speaks with Anna and Paul Moynihan, co-founders of TaskHer, a platform connecting homeowners with tradeswomen. What starts as a small, everyday moment opens up into something much bigger. Anna shares the experience that sparked the idea: trying to get work done at home, doing all the outreach, and then being overlooked when tradespeople arrived. It’s the kind of moment that’s easy to brush off, but it reveals something about the default assumptions baked into how things work. From there, we explore how that moment turned into a venture. Anna and Paul talk about the early days of TaskHer, validating demand through simple experiments, building trust with a community that had good reason to be sceptical, and designing a product that works for both sides of a marketplace. There’s a strong thread throughout on staying close to reality: listening to customers, learning from tradeswomen, and iterating based on what actually happens, not what you expect to happen. We also get into the experience of building itself. From deciding what to focus on (and what to let go of), to navigating uncertainty, and the emotional reality of running a startup, including the challenge of not tying your self-worth to what’s happening in the business on any given day. There’s also a wider theme running through this conversation around defaults. What we assume. What we don’t question. And what happens when you introduce another option? If you’re building an impact venture, or thinking about it, this is a thoughtful, grounded conversation on where ideas come from, how they evolve, and what it takes to keep going. — Episode Links • TaskHer: https://taskher.co.uk [https://taskher.co.uk] • Anna Moynihan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prmoynihan/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/prmoynihan/] • Paul Moynihan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-moynihan/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-moynihan/] — The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs podcast is brought to you by HumanityAssist [https://www.humanityassist.com] - supporting founders building ventures that help humanity thrive. — Hosted by Umesh (uMe) Pandya https://www.linkedin.com/in/umeshpandya/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/umeshpandya/] Original podcast music by Nimz

Designing for Little Joy, Big Impact (with Zareen Ali, COGS AI)

In this episode of The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs, uMe speaks with Zareen Ali, CEO and co-founder of COGS AI, about building mental health technology for neurodivergent people and why “joy” became a core design principle. Zareen shares the founder journey behind COGS AI, including how early listening and user research shaped what to build, what surprised them once the product was in the real world, and how a small “daily affirmations” feature (built simply to bring delight) became one of the most engaged-with parts of the product. We also explore responsible experimentation in a public-sector context and the realities of supporting people on long waiting lists. If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show and leave a rating it helps more people discover these conversations. Episode Links • COGS AI: https://cogs-ai.com [https://cogs-ai.com/] • Zareen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zazali/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zazali/] The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs podcast is brought to you by HumanityAssist, which supports entrepreneurs building ventures that help humanity thrive through founder conversations, reflective frameworks, and practical tools. HumanityAssist: ⁠⁠https://humanityassist.com⁠⁠ Hosted by Umesh (uMe) Pandya. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/umeshpandya/] Original podcast music by Nimz.

Introducing The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs

A podcast about founders, entrepreneurship, and building impact ventures that tackle real-world challenges. In The Reflective Impact Entrepreneurs, host Umesh (uMe) Pandya speaks with founders navigating uncertainty, experimentation, and growth as they build companies aiming to create meaningful change. The podcast is brought to you by HumanityAssist, supporting entrepreneurs building ventures that help humanity thrive through founder conversations, reflective frameworks, and practical tools. Learn more: https://humanityassist.com [https://humanityassist.com/] Original podcast music by Nimz.