£80k in week one… then the VAT bill hit.

Paddy McCubbin walked away from a cushy director role to co-launch WeDo Group with two friends.

Day-three revenues smashed £80,000, but a four-month wait for a VAT number froze the cash, and an impulse order of 40 adjustable desks soaked up the runway.

In this episode, we unpack the un-Instagrammable side of a “rocket-ship” start-up:

• The Hacker–Hippie–Hustler trio – why three very different co-founders trump going solo.
• HMRC limbo – billing clients you can’t invoice and the domino effect on cash-flow.
• Buying mistakes – the stand-up-desk fiasco & other ego-driven purchases.
• Keeping momentum – rapid-fire idea testing (and killing) inside a recruitment scale-up.
• Fractional firepower – hiring a part-time CFO and CMO before you think you can afford them.
• Authentic brand – flip-flops in a CFO pitch, paddle-board meetings and why “fake it till you make it” kills trust.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens after the champagne-spraying LinkedIn post, this is the real balance sheet.

Listen in for hard numbers, hard lessons, and a reminder that the fires you fight are often the ones you lit yourself.

After 25 years at a recruitment desk, Jo Major never planned to start until the 2020 social justice wave, which exposed a training gap no one was filling.

She left a trade-body role, ran six free beta programmes, and launched a modular ED&I course that took off during the 2021 boom. Then budgets froze, partners drifted, and Jo had to reinvent everything, while ditching alcohol and hiring a mindset coach.

What you’ll hear:

• Why did she build the whole brand before writing a single invoice?

• The 6-client, no-fee beta that generated her first paid testimonials.

• Pivoting from 6-week courses to 2-hour workshops when L&D cash dried up.

• Killing the “your worth = last month’s billings” habit from agency life.

• Sobriety, strength-training and a coach who reframed confidence.

• The partnership that cost a new Ltd, website and trademarks—then fizzled.

• Final lesson: sell the idea first; build the slides only after someone buys.

A candid playbook on staying relevant when the hype cycle vanishes.

Keith Langbo never planned to be a founder.

He grew up watching his dad spend 50 years in one company, started his own career at Deloitte, then became employee #5 (and eventually president) of a high-growth recruitment start-up.

In 2012 he quit, moved 900 miles, and launched Kellica—bootstrapped, no investors, no salary for six years.

What you’ll hear:

• 721 coffees in six months – the networking sprint that funded his first hires.
• Fail-forward culture – why Jeff & Bill (his first bosses) celebrated mistakes.
• Founder ≠ CEO – the very different skills that take you from 0-5 M vs 50 M.
• Moving to London and starting over: 456 cups of tea, 1st UK hire, zero office rent.
• Hiring lessons: fire faster, fill your gaps, culture > résumé.
• The longest dry spell: six years without a paycheck and how he kept going.
• Final advice: “If you can’t survive me telling you don’t do it, you’re not ready.”

Real talk on risk, resilience and why the fast now eat the slow.