🤖 We're talking all things Robotics and AI with VCs Joseph Krause and Brannon Jones from AlleyCorp! Dive into the future of technology as we discuss how hardware can keep up with software, why most people are missing the point of driverless cars, what future human augmentation will look like, and whether all-out scaling of AI models at the expense of efficiency is the right approach. 🧐

We answer your burning questions - will I ever have JARVIS in my home? When can I get my own humanoid assistant? In this exclusive interview, Joseph and Brannon share their unparalleled insights into robotics, including from which industries they expect to see the big winners emerge 💪

📺 Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to the Startup Blueprint Podcast for exclusive interviews with industry leaders! 🤝 🚀

🔗 About AlleyCorp: https://alleycorp.com/

🔗 Connect with Joseph: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephfkrause/

🔗 Connect with Brannon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brannon-jones-487aa592/

🔗 Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

💡 Join us on the Startup Blueprint Podcast as we delve into the inspiring journey of Jane, the founder of Ops Lab. Explore the reasons behind why Jane jumped ship from a startup to start her business, discover her secret sauce, and gain insights into the psychology of successful founders.

🔗 Connect with Jane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-davydiuk-b85046168/

🔗 Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

🌱 Join Nadav Steinmetz, Founder & CEO of Climate First accelerator and Nomea climate tech fund, as he delves into the world of Climate Tech and the future of climate investing. Discover insights into why climate tech is gaining traction, how to identify promising startups, the role of batteries in the green revolution, and more!

🔗 Connect with Nadav: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadav-steinmetz-38bb9518b/

🔗 Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

🌐 Nadav's Businesses: https://climatefirst.vc/ | https://nomeainvestments.com/

Olu Taiwo is founder and CEO of Solideon, which 3D prints for the space industry!

3D printing allows for AI-optimised design, speedy iteration, and limitless personalisation 💪 Olu's vision is to be the "AWS of manufacturing" by upending the historically slow-moving and capital-intensive industry.

Olu has great stories about how he got his first startup funding, his lessons from the titans of the Space Industry at Virgin Orbit & RocketLab, the difficulties that comes with being a hardware founder, solving the problems of the space supply chain, and following his lifelong passion for space & manufacturing.

"If you're building a company on Earth, you're inherently a space company!" 🛰

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Olu's startup: https://solideon.com/

Follow Olu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oluseun-taiwo-44b97910b/

Follow James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Stuart Pearce is an award winning sales trainer from the UK. From the words of his own website “Stuart has spent over 20 years training and coaching people and is currently the UK Enterprise Awards 'Sales Trainer of the Year'. He has trained people and teams across the globe from Hong Kong to Manchester and everywhere in between.” 🌍

His wealth of experience in sales leads him to drop tons of valuable insights - how many times should you follow up? When is the right time to let a lead go? Where is the hidden value in your sales pipeline? Why are you losing leads? 🤔

These questions and many more are explored in this episode and it’s a treat to hear them through Stuart’s straight shooting and fun delivery. 💥

Find Stuart here: https://thesalestrainer.uk/

Dr Ben Miles is a physicist, entrepreneur, startup investor and educational YouTuber (with over 100k subs) 🧬

**Key highlights of our convo: how scientists can be entrepreneurs, the downsides of too much technological progress, the eternal promise of nuclear fusion, how VCs should pivot into Deep Tech, and how to find your life's purpose!

Ben's YouTube:  @DrBenMiles 

Spin Up Science: https://www.spin-up.science/

Science Angel Syndicate: https://www.scienceangelsyndicate.com/

Connect with Ben here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbenmiles/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Raja Skogland drops top advice on - how to build your network from nothing, how to conduct customer interviews, how to sell your company's vision, fundraising strategies, and what "pre-totyping" is.

Raja broke free from the corporate lifestyle as an ex-private banker in Switzerland to become a founder & VC investor 💰

A big personality with an online presence to match, she currently helps startups, scale-ups, and SMBs access the expertise and network they need - check out her newsletter: https://rajaskogland.substack.com/

Raja's VC firm: https://www.thevisionaryvc.com/

Connect with Raja: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajaskogland/

Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

Rajeshwar is passionate climate advocate and entrepreneur, having founded green streaming service Zero-Carbon, battery research company High-LES, and climate community 42hacks. 🌱 He offers top insights into how we can reverse the current climate crisis.

In episode 55 we cover - his climate startups, why different geographies need different climate solutions, localized & tailored climate solutions, the problems with resource-hungry data centers, global water shortages, climate solutions for the global south, the AI hype cycle and its implications, the future energy mix, climate policy from governments, the POV of the climate investor, the current state of the battery industry, battery supply chains, battery geopolitics, and what keeps Rajeshwar personally motivated.

Please like & subscribe to the Startup Blueprint Podcast for more exclusive interviews! 🚀

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Rajeshwar's companies:

https://zero-carbon.de/

https://batchurajeshwer763.wixsite./highles

https://www.42hacks.com/

Connect with Rajeshwar here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bachu-rajeshwar/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Steve Bookbinder joins us from New York on this episode! Steve is a multi-book selling author with decades of experience in sales! He has done OVER 5000 workshops. He unleashes a unique perspective on sales. 👀

Steve starts with the view that sales is a social process - knowing more people in a business and having deep rapport with prospects is a sure fire way to win champions of your product. 🏆

He then hits us with the reality - if your prospect hasn’t even put your name in their calendar as a next step then what makes you think they’re gonna buy from you? Always book next steps in and have a roadmap to securing the sale. ✅

Find out more such as “what do most salespeople do to make their lives harder??” (The clue: sell too much). There’s a reason this episode is one of our longest to date! Tune in. 📡

Connect with Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbookbinder

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155

Find Steve’s most recent book here: https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Echo_Selling.html?id=oXgCzwEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

Amos is Founder & CEO of Dovetail Finance - empowering the financial sector to invest in net zero by modelling the impact of climate change on every company. 🌱

Amos' fascinating background is in financial crime journalism, before working at Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies, teaching himself to code, and taking an eye-opening trip to America 🇺🇸

We then discuss: how he founded his startup Dovetail Finance, how he found a co-founder, how he got his first customers, his passion for climate action, the pitfalls of climate change modelling, the threat of greenwashing, the pros & cons of the ESG spectrum, the role policy plays in climate action, UK vs US mentality towards startups & funding, climate solutions for developing countries, climate as an investment opportunity, the space sector, nuclear power, the philosophy of entrepreneurship, the Theranos debacle, managing ego, advice for startup founders, and Amos' must-read books.

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Dovetail Finance: https://www.dovetail.finance/

Connect with Amos here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amos-wittenberg-88838b40/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Petra joins Suraj on this episode. Petra started her journey at leading sales roles at enterprises such as IBM, and Microsoft where she was a Corporate Sales Manager and Sales Director. She is also on the board of a Managers Association for Young Managers of Slovenia. But most importantly she has recently started her own Sales Coaching business working with a range of startups. 🎯

Petra talks to us about the importance of niching down your value proposition to nail the exact target market you want to sell to. An example we discuss is people who want to lose weight - but what for? Losing weight FOR a holiday. This directs sales branding and prospect profiling to a granular level. 🔬

She also speaks about how regionality can also not only effect product demand but also how your sales approach could vary based on cultural differences around the world. 🌏

Knowing how your customers feel and what motivate them as people - not as a company - is critical. She stresses the importance of empathy in sales. People sell to people they like. 😊

All these and much, much more are laid out by Petra. Listen in for more! 🎧

Connect with Petra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petra-wagner-0b45254

Find Petra’s website: https://petrasalesbooster.com/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155

Listen to more of our podcasts here: www.thestartupblueprint.com

Umesh Sharma joins Suraj this episode. Umesh has a history in sales starting in some of India’s startups in the early 2000s working himself up to a wealth of experience in sales and moving to enterprise sales. He has led sales teams all over India. 🇮🇳

Umesh drops his knowledge on what it takes to run a startup sales team and target customers with varying perspectives such as aiming an early stage product at prospect profiles with a willingness to experiment. 🧪

He later talks about the various perspectives that decision makers within an organisation will have from an enterprise sales angle. 📐

The conversation moves onto how to structure a sales process with all the mayhem and chaos going on. The key being in identifying high urgency vs high importance task and properly planning ones day, quarter, and year within the businesses goals. 🥅

Connect with Umesh here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/us0

Connect with Suraj here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4...

Listen to more of our episodes: https://www.thestartupblueprint.com

How to automate the world? You need Robotics 🤖

Abe Murray, General Partner at AlleyCorp Robotics, invests in early-stage companies that are making all our lives easier and propelling humanity forward 🌍

We lift the lid on robotics, covering: Abe's background working on a fishing boat, his time at Google, his approach to life, his purpose & passions, his lesson from Paul Graham, his love for practical building, how we can automate warehouses, the robot hype cycle (and where we are on it), whether robots of the future will be specialised or all-purpose, the real-world uses of robots today including medical devices and agriculture, whether he's bullish on robot butlers, and his conversation with Brett Adcock.

We then delve into: Whether robots should be given human characteristics, humanisation of robots, full stack robotics, the commoditisation of AI models, the AI hype cycle, how anyone can get started in robotics, and advice for founders. 💪

Abe's Investments: https://alleycorp.com/verticals/robotics/ Abe's Substack: https://abemurray.substack.com/

Connect with Abe here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abrahammurray/ Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

What is the Future of Clean Energy? 🌱

Marcus Clover is a venture capitalist and hydrogen engineer, co-founder of Energy Revolution Ventures (ERV). He and his team invest in green technology startups powering the energy revolution, centred around electrochemistry - including hydrogen, energy storage, carbon capture, and advanced materials. These DeepTech solutions will drive breakthroughs in clean energy, wean the world off fossil fuels, and help us avoid a climate disaster.

We discuss: Marcus' diverse experience, his passion for DeepTech, how he's going back to the roots of venture capital, his venture fund Energy Revolution Ventures (ERV), his venture builder Prosemino, why now is the time for green hydrogen, what electrochemistry is and how it will change the energy sector, green hydrogen infrastructure, green hydrogen use cases, green hydrogen storage & distribution, electrolysis & electrolysers, the role of nuclear power, providing energy solutions to impoverished nations, the most promising new electrochemistry technology, green energy startups, and advice for first-time DeepTech founders.

Learn about Energy Revolution Ventures' mission: https://er-v.io/

Connect with Marcus here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-clover-47b463a7/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/ 

Ever wondered how to become better at finding and qualifying leads? What the key metrics you should be measuring and analysing when assessing your sales performance? And generally how to boost your revenue by building a more robust sales pipeline? Look no further!

This Sales Series episode is a run-through of the life and work of a senior SDR (Sales Development Representative) with Ryan Lundberg from LULA.

Ryan has deep experience at the 'top of the funnel' where he is responsible for finding quality leads that have a higher likelihood to convert and become paying customers. He breaks down the stages of the sales pipeline from an SDR's perspective, the math and psychology of cold calls, and how salespeople can use their own calls and technology to improve not only themselves but also their team's ability.

The latter half of the interview centered around a fascinating discussion on how to approach sales calls - Ryan's view is that the biggest mistake people make with Sales is overthinking! 🤔 Listen for more insights!

Connect with Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlundberg/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

Startup Blueprint: https://thestartupblueprint.com/podcast

Green Hydrogen = hydrogen made from renewable resources ♻️

Why isn't green hydrogen everywhere? Because making green hydrogen is still expensive 💰 

Koji Muto is CEO of Ki Hydrogen, who are slashing the cost of making green hydrogen dramatically by reducing the energy needed by up to 75%. Listen in to hear how exactly they achieve this remarkable and innovative feat 👉

Koji & James discuss: how Ki Hydrogen is making green hydrogen, how to reduce the energy required when making green hydrogen, why licensing out your technology can be a good idea as a deep tech founder, the future of hydrogen including infrastructure and storage, and why making green hydrogen is such a pressing issue.

We also cover: Koji's background in oil & gas, working with nuclear power and small modular reactors (SMRs), the carbon capture and direct air capture (DAC) opportunity, Koji's experience at startup accelerators, and why it's useful for technical founders to do an MBA.

More on Ki Hydrogen: https://ki-hydrogen.com/

Connect with Koji here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kojimuto/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Sandeep Shekhar is a sales coach at Sprinto with over 18 years of experience in sales. His passion and understanding of structuring conversations help his students all throughout the pipeline.

Sandeep talks to Suraj about various nuanced conversational techniques to structure questions and handle objections. A discussion around positioning during various parts of the sales pipeline from setting the tone when cold calling all the way to handling objections and closing.

Connect with Sandeep: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeep-shekhar-3737b24/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

Startup Blueprint: https://thestartupblueprint.com/podcast

Denis is Founder of Space Ambition and a DeepTech investor at I2BF Global Ventures, focussing on startups digitally transforming boring and unsexy industries. 🤖 

Denis also does a huge amount of work around the wider startup consultancy arena, looking to inspire the next generation of DeepTech founders and VCs 🚀 

His space origin story: while working in banking, he was approached to invest in an asteroid mining company, rekindling his childhood wonder for spaceflight, sci-fi and the cosmos - and he hasn't looked back since! 🛰 

Denis and James discuss: Denis' love for space, how to invest in the space sector, exciting moonshot SpaceTech on the horizon, SpaceTech low-hanging fruit, hardware investing, how most software is becoming commoditised, how to ride the AI wave, and a call-to-action for aspiring DeepTech entrepreneurs 💪 

His inspirational piece of advice: don't forget your dreams, follow your childhood passions! 🙌 

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Explore Denis' Projects here: SpaceTech Advisory: spaceambition.org

SpaceTech Blog: https://spaceambition.substack.com/

Ask VC: askvc.org

Connect with Denis here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-kalyshkin-b634592a/

Connect with James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

LaSean Smith has worked at Amazon, Microsoft, is currently a private investor & operator, and loves to produce movies - in his own words, he likes to taste the "buffet of life".

LaSean breaks down: the lesson we can learn from comedians, how to get constant startup ideas, how to validate these ideas, the 3 ways to approach being a founder, the indicators of entrepreneurial success, the future of AI, how AI will change education, how to incorporate automation into your startup, the value of the creator economy, why you need to grow an audience online, and the skills you'll need for the future of work. 

LaSean's investments: https://cagr.com/

Connect with LaSean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laseansmith/

Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/

Connect with Suraj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraj-t-4a9630155/

How can we change the world for the better? 🌍 Dr. Micol Chiesa Churchill and Dr. Chris de Koning recently launched Planet Positive Lab - a climate accelerator building world-leading climate startups in the Oxford ecosystem!

James sits down with the two heads of Planet Positive Lab, discussing: what skills the two guests each bring to the accelerator, what a good climate accelerator looks like, the state of the accelerator landscape, how accelerators can add value, where most accelerators lack, the Oxford University ecosystem, and the need for a specialised climate startup accelerator.

In the second half we cover the profile of a successful founder, what makes a good climate tech investment, the top climate trends, the hardware vs software debate, geographical considerations in climate, how to boost the Global South, the dangers of greenwashing, how to stop corporates from greenwashing, and why being a founder is harder than you think - plus a call to action for any current or wannabe climate entrepreneurs!

Change the Planet Here 🌍: https://www.planetpositivelab.com/

Connect with Micol: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-micol-chiesa-churchill-b7390035/

Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiaan-de-koning-phd-8171835b/

Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bannon/