49 - Can Music Festivals Regenerate Land? Mobilising Thousands to Repair Water Cycles, and How to Build a Regenerative Company - Nathan Stranart, Ten Lives Festival

In this episode, Rob Wreglesworth sits down with Nathan Stranart, co-founder of Ten Lives Festival, a bold new “regenerative festival” movement aiming to tackle land degradation and desertification by pairing hands-on restoration work with music, joy, and community.Nathan explains how Ten Lives formed as a founder collective (not a solo hero story), why governance and “relationship to profit” matter more than most founders think, and how festivals can become a scalable vehicle for behaviour change rather than just entertainment. They dive into alternative investment models (steward ownership, capped returns, climate dividends), the idea of scaling like a tree rather than a rocket, and why Ten Lives is fundamentally an education project that trains local guides and future festival builders.If you care about regeneration, systems thinking, and building mission-led ventures without falling into the usual VC traps, this one goes deep in the best way.Topics covered:Regenerative festivals, community-led entrepreneurship, systems thinking, post-growth business design, scaling impact, eco-anxiety and purpose, alternative finance models, and building movements people actually want to join.To back the project and secure a ticket to the first edition of Ten Live click here https://www.ulule.com/ten-lives-regenerative-festival/Learn more about Ten Lives here. If you have any ideas for future guests drop me a direct message on Instagram or Linkedin

A special Christmas bonus episode ahead of the official relaunch of This Might Just Work: Ideas for a Tired Planet in January.Rob chats with filmmaker James Dawson, director of Derek vs Derek, a documentary built around an unlikely pairing: two neighbouring farmers with very different views on what the countryside is for. On one side is Derek Gow, a maverick rewilder in Devon digging ponds, reintroducing species, and letting nature get noisy again. Over the hedge is Derek Banbury, an arable farmer focused on food production, tight margins, and the reality of making a living from the land.They disagree, sometimes spectacularly (wild boar and beavers included), but they do not hate each other. Which makes this film feel like a rare thing: a genuinely human conversation in a polarised debate.Support the film’s crowdfunder and learn more at derekvsdereck.com.

After a short break, we’re back, and we’ve decided it’s time to take the next big step for No Longer Known.In this episode we talk about why we’re launching our first ever Beta Drop, how we’ll choose the species and artist, and what we’ll be testing behind the scenes — from finding sustainable suppliers to designing the perfect unboxing experience.We also chat about New York Climate Week, what businesses are finally getting right about nature, and how local artists can bring endangered species stories to life.It’s a mix of updates, reflection, and a bit of chaos (plus Matt’s t-shirt price quiz).Listen in if you want to follow the journey of building a planet-positive fashion brand from scratch — and maybe help us choose the species for our first tee.👉 Join the launch list at NoLongerKnown.com

In this episode, I sit down with Sylvain, co-founder of Mosaic Earth, to unpack his journey from the world of energy strategy to creating a nature tech company tackling one of the hardest problems out there: making ecological data collection accessible, affordable, and trustworthy.We talk about:🌱 The parallels between raising a newborn and raising a startup.📊 Why site-level ecological data is the missing piece for scaling nature-positive action.🤝 How to bridge the gap between ecologists, corporates, and big tech.🚀 What it means to “build the plane while flying it” in a fast-moving Nature Tech space.💡 Practical advice for conservationists and ecologists who want to start companies of their own.Sylvain also shares Mosaic Earth’s long-term vision: empowering communities worldwide to become custodians of local biodiversity with the help of AI and smart data tools.Whether you’re an aspiring founder, an ecologist curious about tech, or just someone excited about the future of nature-positive business, this conversation is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.👉 Learn more about Mosaic Earth at mosaic.earth👉 Join the Ecopreneur Collective newsletter for more founder stories: ecopreneurcollective.substack.com/

Sleep-deprived founders, a teething baby, and a mission to make conservation fashionable. In this episode of Startup Diaries, we share lessons from testing short-form content strategies, Matt’s “endangered species Top Trumps,” and why rare frogs and giant fungi might make it onto our t-shirts.Follow the messy, funny reality of building No Longer Known, the planet-positive fashion brand turning species scarcity into cultural conversation.📬 Join the Ecopreneur Collective: https://ecopreneurcollective.substack.com🦋 Sign up for the No Longer Known launch list: https://nolongerknown.com

This week I’m joined by Jon Conradi, founder of Wild Mosaic, a nature startup on a mission to make rewilding something everyone can be part of, not just landowners or ecologists.Jon’s journey into entrepreneurship is one I think a lot of aspiring ecopreneurs will relate to. He didn’t start out in conservation or business. In fact, for a long time he completely switched off from environmental news. But through a mix of rediscovering wonder, a career shake-up, and a push from the Year Here programme, he slowly built an idea that turned into a real business and a hopeful vision of what rewilding can be.In this conversation, we talk about:What made Jon feel like an outsider in the nature world (and why that became his strength)How he turned redundancy + new parenthood into a startup launchpadWhat rewilding has taught him about building businesses differentlyThe hard truths about funding, identity shifts, and learning to sell your missionWhether you're working on your own planet-positive idea or still figuring out where to start, Jon's honest, thoughtful reflections will give you something to hold onto and hopefully, a nudge to take your next step.🔗 Learn more or get involved:🌱 wildmosaic.eco📬 Contact Jon directly: [email protected]📚 Book mentioned: How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell🎧 Bonus reading: Jon’s blog on the 3 Horizons model📷 Also worth following his journey on LinkedInAnd if you enjoy this episode, don't forget to share it with someone else trying to build something meaningful. This one’s all about starting small, thinking big, and staying human.Do head to www.nolongerknown.com to find out what I am building too.

In this episode, we go deep on two big questions every early-stage founder faces:👉 How do you build a real community (not just an audience)?👉 And how far should you go in chasing the perfect product — even if it’s made of banana fibre?Matt shares insights from the Future Fabrics Expo - where pineapple, kelp, and even alpaca fibres were on display — and we wrestle with the pros and cons of pushing for perfection in sustainable fashion. Rob introduces the "Founding 50" concept and explains why Discord might just be our next big step.We also talk:🧵 What even is a "launch" when you’re building in public?💬 Discord vs. WhatsApp vs. Instagram — which is best for community?🎯 The 1,000 True Fans theory and how we’re applying it🧠 Growing without relying solely on ads (hello, podcast swaps 👋)🎉 A surprise birthday nature quiz for Matt👇 Join the movement:🌍 Sign up to the launch list → https://www.nolongerknown.com💬 Drop us a message → [email protected]📣 Share this podcast with someone building a sustainable venture

In this episode, Emily Power shares her honest, inspiring journey from a corporate career at Microsoft to founding Oceanmade, a regenerative business with global ambitions. We explore how seaweed could be the most underrated material in the climate fight - not just for oceans, but for land too.We also cover:Why the first version of Oceanmade (the "green Amazon") failed and what Emily learnedThe gardening eureka moment that changed everythingWhy plastic plant pots are a hidden environmental problemHow to build a product without being an expert and why that can be an advantageThe challenge of marketing to real customers, not just eco-enthusiastsThe land and sea benefits of seaweed from soil health to carbon sequestrationWhy building in public with imperfect products might be your startup's secret weaponThis episode is packed with lessons for aspiring founders, regenerative thinkers, and anyone ready to turn anxiety into action.🔗 Learn more:🌿 Oceanmade → https://oceanmade.co🌊 Follow Emily → https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilybpower/📬 Planet-positive founder's newsletter: The Ecopreneur Collective → https://robwreg.substack.com/subscribe🧵 Follow the startup journey at → https://www.nolongerknown.com

In this episode, Rob and Matt dive into the real-world challenges of trying to build a mission-driven startup in the margins of day jobs, family commitments, and, well… life. From navigating sleepless nights with a baby to the admin hell of blocked Instagram ad accounts, they reflect on how easy it is to lose momentum — and how they’re trying to get it back.They unpack what’s been working (and what hasn’t) in their marketing experiments, the psychology of going full-time vs. staying part-time, and the tricky balance between polish and authenticity when building an audience.If you’ve ever tried to build something meaningful on the side and felt stretched thin, this one’s for you.💡 Mentioned in this episode:Why low-fi content sometimes converts better than polished adsCreating a marketing funnel that actually worksUsing resistance as a signpost, not a roadblockRob’s favourite quote from The War of ArtWhy YouTube might be NLK’s long game👉 Learn more about No Longer Known at nolongerknown.com📬 Join The Ecopreneur Collective newsletter: robwreg.substack.comFollow on instagram: @robwreg @nlk_clothing @nlk_matt

What if the key to restoring nature lies in uncovering the past?In this episode, I’m joined by Iris Kramer, founder of ArchAI and Forbes 30 Under 30 scientist-turned-startup-CEO, who’s pioneering the use of AI and LiDAR to rediscover lost landscapes, from medieval furrows to ancient orchards and turn them into assets for nature recovery.We talk about:How Iris went from archaeology to AI entrepreneurshipWhy historic maps and burial mounds matter for modern biodiversityWhat it's like bootstrapping a deeptech startup without VCHer vision for a national (and global) “map of the past” to guide future regenerationIt’s a fascinating story of tech, nature, and startup grit — and a must-listen for anyone building at the intersection of climate, data, and land use.To learn more about ArchAI head to www.archai.io🌱 Subscribe to my newsletter for more founder stories + tools for building planet-positive businesses: The Ecopreneur Collective🧵 Follow my own journey building a regenerative clothing brand at: www.nolongerknown.com