The No.1 Podcast
For Bold Operators
Taking The Startup Leap
Your Hosts🎙️: Yvonne Bajela and Maria Rotilu
LATEST EPISODES
SABRINA DEL PRETE - CORE LABS
🚀✨ Conversations with Sabrina Del Prete on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️This week on The Startup Leap, we sit down with Sabrina Del Prete, Founder of KORE Labs—a pioneering company transforming how financial institutions design and launch digital products.🚀
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
MARTA KRUPINSKA - CUR8
🚀✨ Conversations with Marta Krupinska on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ In this week's episode of The Startup Leap, we have a conversation with Marta Krupinska, Co-founder of CUR8 – a groundbreaking climate tech company focused on carbon removal and tackling the $20bn climate emergency ✨
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
ED ROBINSON - STASH
🚀✨ Conversations with Ed Robinson on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ In this week's episode of The Startup Leap, we have a conversation with Ed Roinson, Co-founder and CEO of STASH – a wealth investment management app for the 99%! ✨
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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OLUWASEYI SOSANYA - GRAVITY SKETCH
🚀✨ Conversations with Olawaseyi Sosanya on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ In this week's episode of The Startup Leap, we have a conversation with Oluwaseyi Sosanya, Co-founder and CEO of @GravitySketch – a groundbreaking Augmented and Virtual Reality Tech startup shaking up the design world! ✨
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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LOUISE HILL - GOHENRY
🚀✨ Conversations with Tayo Bamiduro on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ This week, we feature Louise Hill, Co-founder of GoHenry, a fintech startup helping over 2M+ children learn money management. Louise shares her journey from Operator to Founder, GoHenry's go-to-market strategies, fundraising success, and its acquisition story.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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TAYO BAMIDURO - MAX
🚀✨ Conversations with Tayo Bamiduro on "The Startup Leap"!
Tayo Bamiduro building for Africa's $15bn Electric Vehicle Market.Join us on this refreshing episode, sharing valuable lessons from the journey to building technology infrastructure for the adoption of low emission vehicles in African logistics🚀�
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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JULIA COLLINS - PLANET FWD
🚀✨ Conversations with Julia Collins on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ This week we bring incredible story of Julia Collins 🌟 Four-Time entrepreneur, including one of a unicorn 🦄 Sharing lessons learned across her four startups. This episode is filled with depth of insights 💡 sharing the realities of building a company and it's a #mustwatch! 📺
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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RICHARD ROBINSON - ROBIN AI
🚀✨ Conversations with Richard on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ This week we bring incredible story of Richard Robinson Founder of RobinAI 🌟 Sharing gems from starting a legal AI startup and sharing lessons on how he took the leap.
This episode is filled with depth of insights💡 sharing the realities of building a company and it's a #mustwatch! 📺
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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SAMEH SALEH - MNZL
🚀✨ Conversations with Sameh Saleh on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ This week we’re excited to bring you the incredible story of Sameh Saleh, a two-time founder who’s taken his passion for building businesses to new heights. From founding a dating app that led to a major acquisition to launching the fintech startup MNZL, Sameh's journey is a masterclass in entrepreneurship 🌍
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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MICHELLE KENNEDY - PEANUT
🚀✨ Conversations with Michelle Kennedy on "The Startup Leap"!
🎙️ This week we’re thrilled to bring you the unstoppable Michelle Kennedy, the powerhouse founder behind Peanut—the app that’s transforming how women connect across all stages of their experience; Fertility, Pregnancy, Motherhood, Menopause, you name it!
With over 3 million users and counting, Michelle’s journey from lawyer to tech founder is nothing short of inspiring.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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ABOUT THE STARTUP LEAP
For Those Exploring The Leap to Entrepreneurship
A podcast for operators, builders and technology professionals, tapping into the experiences of bold founders who took the leap to starting their companies.
We navigate how the founders navigated the risk of the leap, decided on co-founders, found their first customers, investors, partners etc. Our conversations are real and raw.
Get ready for a fun discussion at least, and at best nuanced insights as you consider making the move to entrepreneur.
MEET YOUR HOSTS
YVONNE BAJELA
Yvonne is a Partner at LocalGlobe, EMEA’s leading seed-stage venture capital fund.
Prior to LocalGlobe she was a founding member of Impact X Capital and had invested over $200m in companies such as Revolut, Wise (previously Transferwise), Flutterwave and Marshmallow.
Previous roles include investment banking at Goldman Sachs and representation on the board of HarbourVest Global Private Equity.
Outside of investing, Yvonne is a mega foodie, a hiker, and, when she’s not in mum mode, she's reading financial reports for fun.
MARIA ROTILU
Maria is the Founding Partner at Openseed.VC - first investors of up to $150k in experienced operators as they start their technology companies in Europe & Africa.
An Operator turned Investor, Entrepreneur at Heart. Prior to investing, Maria scaled startups like Uber as Country Manager and Branch (AI/ML Neo bank for emerging markets), as General Manager to millions of users.
Prior to Openseed VC, she was one of two Fund Managers who built, invested and managed Octopus First Cheque Fund - a £10m Pan-European Fund. She has an MBA from University of Oxford, and a Computer Science Undergraduate degree and is a Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA, UK)
On lazy day, you’ll find Maria reading a book, watching a sci-fi TV show, cooking up a storm, or tinkering on some low-code workflow to avoid repetitive tasks.
ASK A QUESTION
Got a burning question you need answered by an experienced founder? We would love to answer one of your questions on a future episode 🎙️
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