The Founders Playbook
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
Nobody Buys an Algorithm:
The Hidden Bottleneck in the Energy Transition
Luke Cullen
Material Difference
People don’t buy a technology. They buy a product, and learning the difference is the whole game.
The energy transition runs on critical minerals, and right now there are not enough of them. The blocker is time
The average critical minerals project takes 18 years to go from first drill to operational mine, and Luke Cullen, founder of Material Difference, thinks that has to change. He is using machine learning to cut the drilling needed in half. He shares the move from Cambridge research to a funded startup in just 18 months.
A former mining industry professional turned Cambridge researcher, Luke, developed a method for reducing uncertainty in what lies underground using far less data. In the company’s first industry pilots, that meant roughly 50 per cent less drilling. In 18 months he has gone from postdoc to founder: joining Entrepreneur First, meeting his co-founder Gabriel Yoong, running four pilots, signing a first commercial agreement, and pitching nearly 200 VCs from a base in San Francisco.
This is an honest account of the gap between technology and product, why rejection is information, and why the standard Silicon Valley playbook only half applies to deep tech.
Listen to the Episodes
Real words from real journeys - outside Silicon Valley
"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 of 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
When we put our minds to it, we can actually make a big difference."
Lucy Hughes, Founder & COO MarinaTex
"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)
