The Founders Playbook
Unfiltered stories and tactical advice from the founders and investors building world-changing deep tech companies.
Real Stories. Real People. Not from Silicon Valley.
Hosted by Neil Marshall, Development Director at ChangeSchool
Forget the Silicon Valley playbook. This podcast features founders building world-changing deep tech companies right here in the UK – navigating different capital markets, different ecosystems, and different rules. Honest, in-depth conversations with the entrepreneurs proving that breakthrough innovation happens everywhere.
Drawn from over 10 years of working with entrepreneurs around the world, ChangeSchool goes beyond the headlines to explore the real challenges of building a venture outside the Valley.
Latest Episode Spotlight
Screaming into the Void
Dr. Peter Tinning
Founder & CEO, Northern Light Microscopy
Why can’t most life science researchers access the advanced microscopy tools that already exist? The technology is there. It has been for decades. But it’s too expensive, too complicated, and built for the wrong people.
Peter Tinning spent years as a physicist embedded in life science labs. Every time he moved on, the researchers he’d helped went back to hundred-year-old methods. That observation became Northern Light Microscopy - a company developing modular, affordable super-resolution imaging that works within existing lab workflows.
This episode is an honest account of the lab-to-launch journey. Peter shares what 140 customer interviews across three continents revealed, how he and co-founder Ralph Bauer navigated IP negotiations with Strathclyde, the patchwork of grant funding and founders’ money that got them out the door, and why the Silicon Valley playbook doesn’t translate to UK deep tech. Essential listening for any academic thinking about making the leap.
Listen to the Episodes
Real Words from Real Journeys - Outside Silicon Valley
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"Space is an area really for everyone and that's something I do want people to know, to understand. Anyone can have a future, anyone can have a career in space and do meaningful change.”
Sara Alao
Founder
Stars Edge
“We really want to get the best out of each battery. Make every battery count is what I say.”
Mahfuz Kamal,
CEO
RecoVolt
“We're challenging the 200-year-old needle-based technology with a novel, painless, and self-administered solution that can save lives and reduce health inequalities globally.”
Henry Dunne
Founder
Microneedle Solutions (MNS)
“When we put our minds to it, we can actually make a big difference.”
Lucy Hughes
Founder & COO
MarinaTex
The Founders Playbook
cuts through the noise
Hosted by ChangeSchool LDN, this is the definitive podcast for entrepreneurs and innovators taking breakthrough ideas from the lab to real-world impact. We go beyond the headlines to explore the play-by-play realities of building a deep tech venture, with a focus on university spin-outs and the emerging innovation scenes in the rest of the world outside Silicon Valley.
