#33 Veridian Ventures - Dan Schonfeld and Marwan El-Hakim

Brett shares his life journey and experiences and discusses his background, starting as a personal trainer and opening his own gyms, dealing with twin babies with health issues, and his positive mindset and advice for others.Key TakeawaysBrett started his fitness career by opening his first gym in his early 20s.He faced challenges when his twin boys had health issues, but they were saved through medical intervention.The boys were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, which led Brett to have to change his career path.Brett emphasizes the importance of enjoying the little things in life and reflecting on the good.Helping others, even in small ways, can bring happiness and fulfillment.He encourages reaching out for help as people are generally willing to assist.Brett's advice is to be kind to oneself and to others and to offer strategies and support to those who need it.

This is a podcast aiming to provide positive messaging and inspiration for men, including guidance for the host's two young daughters. The guest, John Peck, discusses challenges faced in predominantly male environments, the importance of sensitivity, and the need for positive role models for men.Key TakeawaysThe podcast focuses on positive messaging and inspiration for men and aims to help those who need it, regardless of gender or background.John Peck highlights the challenge of balancing energy and sensitivity in predominantly male environments, such as the police and the Army.Male-female groups tend to have a more sensitive and different dynamic compared to all-male groups in discussions.There is a need for more positive role modeling and support networks for men in society.The conversation touches on the difficulty of understanding each other's experiences between men and women.The host's intention is to help men who aspire to be better by providing positive role models and combating negative behaviors.The guest's book, "How to Adventure: The Seven Seas to Success," is promoted.

Eduardo was trained under Ricardo Liborio, a legend in the BJJ (Brazilian Ju Jitsu) world.He now lives in Oslo and is helping to run Frontline Academy, which is a multi-location fight sports club in Norway that dominates in competition across Europe.I am a complete beginner whiter than white belt in Ju Jitsu but I love it and find the experience of training it fascinating because it goes beyond 'sport' and 'fitness' and challenges your ego, your resilience and your patience! Teta has been instrumental in helping me to learn this and I am so honoured he agreed to sit down and talk to me.We talk about the sport and his journey. We talk about passion and dedication.I loved the conversation and hope that you will enjoy it too.You can follow Eduardo on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/erios_tetabjj/If you're in Norway and want to try out BJJ or another fight sport then check out Frontline Academy here: https://www.frontlineacademy.no/You can find video version of the podcast here: https://youtu.be/YFXSQccOMl4

I met Dan and Marwan in business school way back in 2006!They have since founded Veridian Ventures to help angel investors to make smart decisions on early-stage companies. In the conversation, they offer some extremely valuable advice on both how to choose investments but also to start-ups looking to secure funding.Please like, subscribe, and review as appropriate!The video version of the conversation is here: https://youtu.be/NeBPuKtQnKwMore on Veridian Ventures:Veridian Ventures is an angel syndicate offering carefully curated investment opportunities to our network of Investor Members. Veridian’s partners invest in each opportunity introduced to Veridian’s Members.At Veridian they focus on innovative early-stage companies in the UK with strong growth and profit potential. Their steady flow of quality deals, combined with a methodical and thorough diligence process, enable us to identify superior investment opportunities.One of the core values of the Veridian partners is to challenge and support ambitious and talented entrepreneurs, helping them to turn their potential into results. Their partners draw from a wealth of expertise, connections and investment experience to help start-ups raise capital, develop growth strategies and navigate the challenges of a rapidly growing business.Websitehttp://www.veridianventures.co.uk

Hot off the back of winning a place in the "Top 50 women in Tech in Norway" I interviewed Lisa about her path, her insights into the startup world and investment.Please like, subscribe and review as appropriate.Video version of podcast is here:Transcript is here: https://tinyurl.com/5ejt3skkAbout Lisa: Serial entrepreneur, executive manager, and experienced international non-executive board member now crossing into the investment world to advise startups to get the right kind of capital to grow their companies. Her expertise is in scaling international software product development for B2B and B2C.Her experience spans large, complex, international technology projects that bring together business leaders, engineers, product teams and others, to rapidly implement best in class solutions. She has worked on products built for the North American, European, and Asian markets, with on the ground experience in Southeast and South Asia.Key moments:@5:20 – What is product management?@10:30 – what are start-ups actually doing?@16:30 – Lisa’s pathway – what part did luck play and what was deliberate?@35:00 – testing out Kickstarter at its early days and some great kickstarter advice@41:40 – How to handle the pressure of start-ups@47:00 - European start-up and entrepreneur scene versus silicon valley@51:00 - Has Silicon Valley lost its edge?@59:44 – Lisa outs herself as not a ‘fail’ believer 😉@01:07:00 Lisa talks about women in tech@01:17:22 – Yet more great advice regarding an early stage company from LisaTranscript here:

Fitness, motivation, jokes and a dog.. that's his strapline but Mark is in the process of amassing a diverse and engaged following. He posts videos about his fitness journey with his intended outcome being 'above average'.However, consistently achieving 'above average' has of course meant that he is now facing some challenges of being quite a bit more than 'above average' in certain things!So we cover his life, his journey and touch on some interesting points around inspiration (what it should mean to be inspired) and also mental health.To check out the video version of this podcast please click here (and feel free to like, subscribe etc etc!):  https://www.youtube.com/c/purenrg4life/To follow Mark's channel please subscribe here:  https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkLewisfitnessFollow him on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/marklewispics/Check out more about my Win Building podcast and journey here: https://win-building.com/

Dr. Giorgio Iemmolo - Polyglot and linguist - Transference of knowledge and applying diverse knowledge to businessYet another ex-colleague at EF Education First, Giorgio currently manages the academics for the non-english speaking language schools around the world. He spends his days switching between his multiple languages in order to operate as a truly global citizen.I hope you enjoy this episode.Please find Giorgio here if you want to connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giorgioiemmolo/Like and subscribe to the youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/VXL2Yu6tBOYThanks

Olav is an expert in education. He realised at an early age the benefit of changing habits and processes to enhance his educational experiences and fortunately for us, he then wrote about this.He has the best selling book "Super Student" and has recently released his latest book, co-authored with Barbara Oakley (one of the world's leading experts in education) "Learn Like a Pro".You can find Olav everywhere online but you should definitely check out his EDX course (free version is great too!) here: https://www.edx.org/course/llap?index=product&queryID=8aef48fc64d864320ab4f781e6b7bc25&position=1And go buy his books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=olav+schewe&crid=3OZ7ICKRWUJ7K&sprefix=olav+schewe%2Caps%2C105&ref=nb_sb_nossOur conversation was recorded walking through the beautiful Frogner Park in our hometown of Oslo, Norway. I didn't manage to capture any video footage so this video is simply stock footage of Oslo (enjoy!)

This week I talk in-person to Göran Winblad. He has a youtube channel dedicated to running, he is a video producer, a coach and an all-round great human! He has also (since recording!) become a father to twin girls! Subscribe to his youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/goranwinbladCheck out this conversation in video on my channel (and subscribe!) here: https://youtu.be/fUC-koL3Bm82:35 Göran introduces himself05:07 Göran’s competitive background and philosophy on ‘winning’11:04 How does a competitive nature play out in “normal” life?13:14 How does Göran target “success” in youtube?17:12 What has been the toughest part in your journey?25:00 Habits – Running every day32:30 Who are your biggest influencers?36:30 Finding balance40:10 How to get good at something42:00 How does one coach orienteering?45:45 Göran sneakily turns a question back at me!

Sandy Kusano - Human potential coachPlease check her out and support her work... she is awesome!Website: https://joyfuloptimist.com/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skusano/Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joyfuloptimistYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCugcbmtIQoeCejiwvW6KXQAlso please check out my website (you might already be here!) - https://win-building.com/and especially come support Mental Fitness Mondays - https://win-building.com/mental-fitness-mondays/Timestamps:@02:28 - Sandy introduces herself@05:35 - Her love of travel@08:49 - Why she got into coaching@13:11 Retraining your brain@19:23 How to avoid "freezing up"@26:28 What tools to use to help people understand themselves better@30:18 How to recognise when you're brain is being hijacked@31:38 Change "Why is this happening to me?" to "Why is this happening FOR me?"@37:43 "Fake it til you make it" discussion@41:23 Sandy's new podcast