BusinessEntrepreneurship

The Startup Blender

Ucha Vekua

The Startup Blender podcast is a platform that shines the light to exceptional individuals working in the startup field, and gives them an opportunity to share their stories and inspire others.

Founders, VCs, tech journalists, copywriters, software engineers – everyone from the beautiful world of tech is welcome to tell us about their everyday lives, challenges, and stories behind their successful careers.

The goal is to share experiences and talk about the different aspects of startup life.

This project is brought to you by Startup Adventures.

Executive producer: Ucha Vekua

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20 episodes
Avg 34 min
English

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S1 · E71
June 8 · 50 min
Founder x VC Face-off: Finding the Common Ground. Latitude59 Special Episode. Meet Kaspar & Maria. #71
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! This is a special episode directly from the Podcast Stage of Latitude59. We sat down one founder and one VC and asked them their points of view on different stages of building a startup – fundraising, hiring, growth, etc. Guests: Kaspar Tiri, the Founder of ReadyPlayerMe. Maria Piotrowska, the Senior Associate at VentureFriends. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E70
June 1 · 34 min
Getting Companies Achieve Operational Excellence. Meet Gero From Trinode Systems. #70
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guests is Gero Mekk, the co-founder of Trinode Systems. Trinode Systems is part of Time2Scale accelerator, which is a nine-month international scale-up program designed for ambitious technology ventures from Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E69
June 1 · 34 min
Turning Calls Into Business Opportunities. Meet Rafi and Johannes From Qallio. #69
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guests are Rafi Mohammad and Johannes Gontrum, the founders of Qallio. Qallio is part of Time2Scale accelerator, which is a nine-month international scale-up program designed for ambitious technology ventures from Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E68
May 25 · 44 min
Giving Companies Their Time 2 Scale. Meet Hira and Jelena From the Estonian Business School. #68
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guests are Hira Wajahat Malik and Jelena Žovnikova, the program managers of the Time2Scale program. It is a nine-month international scale-up program designed for ambitious technology ventures from Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. The program supports companies with existing market traction in expanding internationally and achieving sustainable growth.Participation is free for selected companies. Check out more details here, and apply here. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E67
May 11 · 34 min
Building Valencia’s Entrepreneurial Powerhouse for Weekend. Meet Oki From the Netherlands. #67
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest, Oki Alexander, is the lead organizer of the Startup Weekend Valencia – place where participants can think, work, and build like a startup within a weekend. In this episode, we spoke about the entrepreneurial vibes in Valencia, main objectives of this event, and the overall impact that different types of startup activities have on the whole local community. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E66
April 21 · 33 min
Amplifying the Voice of Builders With HackEurope – Meet Geoffrey Duan From the US. #66
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest, Geoffrey, is the main organizer and a creative force behind HackEurope – the Europe’s largest student hackathon that took place in Dublin, Paris, and Stockholm at the same time. In this episode, we spoke about his motivation behind orchestrating this event, the craziest ideas developed there, and the biggest challenges behind putting together Hack Europe. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E65
Dec 23, 2025 · 14 min
Providing Platform for Builders to Shine – Meet Ignas From Lithuania. #65
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest, Ignas Genevičius, is the co-founder of Basedspace which is a community of early-stage founders, offering not only a workspace but an environment designed for learning, collaboration, and growth. In this episode, we spoke about their founding story, future objectives, and discussed some of the coolest ideas that are being built from their hacker space. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E64
Nov 27, 2025 · 39 min
Spreading Startup Vibes Worldwide in a Matter of a Weekend – Meet Franck From France. #64
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest, Franck Nouyrigat, is the co-founder of Startup Weekend event series, which gives wanna be entrepreneurs the first taste of startup life. In this episode, we spoke about his startup journey, early days of Startup Weekend, and drew parallels between old ways to build companies vs new with AI developments. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E64
Sep 22, 2025 · 7 min
Inspiring the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs in Estonia at Techstars Startup Weekend Tallinn. Bonus Episode
Welcome to the Startup Blender podcast! Today we are discussing all about the process and outcomes of organizing the very first Techstars Startup Weekend Hackathon in Tallinn. 👉 Check out the full article: https://medium.com/startup-adventures-international/techstars-startup-weekend-tallinn-went-boom-fc11c3d2b055 👉 Check out the video overview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqjaFTWGmE8 👉 Follow us to register to the next hackathon: https://luma.com/startupadventures Let us know what you think!
S63 · E63
Sep 12, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Making Dreaming in EU Cool Again With Anomalie Space – Meet Adil From Morocco. #63
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest, Adil, is the founder and creator of Anomalie Space. Think of it as a home for tech – where the dreamers, makers, creators, and builders of our age come together to build some cool stuff. In this episode, we spoke about his startup journey, passion for building, and the vision he is trying to execute with Anomalie Space. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E62
Aug 11, 2025 · 28 min
Why Is LinkedIn So Weird Nowadays – Meet Anna Margret from Iceland. #62
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is the founder of Altso communications agency and Herferd marketing news outlet, Anna Margrét Gunnarsdóttir. In this episode, we discuss all about the current trends of LinkedIn, the role of AI in accelerating content production on this platform, and the actual benefits that LinkedIn brings to its daily users. PS. This episode is a special Startup Investigation series from the Iceland Innovation Week. ⁠⁠Check out the full article here⁠⁠.
S1 · E61
Jul 21, 2025 · 18 min
Can We Actually Build a Startup Without a “Groundbreaking” AI Feature in 2025 – Meet Amy From Canada. #61
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is an Investor Partnerships manager at Georgian VC. In this episode, we investigate the trend of startups nowadays feeling "forced" to talk about their groundbreaking AI-features, even if they don't have one. I was particularly interested in the VC point of view to understand where this pressure and the new industry standard is coming from. Enjoy! PS. This episode is a special Startup Investigation series from the Iceland Innovation Week. ⁠Check out the full article here⁠.
S1 · E60
Jun 10, 2025 · 17 min
How to Spot AI-Generated Content Like a Pro – Meet Isaac From the US. #60
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is a science writer at Gizmodo, Isaac Schultz. In this episode, we investigate the trend of online creators massively producing AI-generated content and sharing them with their audiences. We talk about how AI tools have changed the way folks produce content on the internet, the biggest problems and challenges we’re facing because of the mass adoption of LLMs, and key differences between human-written authentic content vs AI-generated articles. Enjoy! PS. This episode is a special Startup Investigation series from the Iceland Innovation Week. Check out the full article here.
S1 · E58
May 12, 2025 · 31 min
Promoting an Innovative Spirit of Icelandic Startup Ecosystem – Meet Melkorka From Iceland. #59
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest if the co-founder and Creative Director of Iceland Innovation Week, Melkorka Sigríour. This week, we’ll be going to the Reykjavik-based startup festival that stands out with its unique program, interesting concepts, and cherry-picked group of people that come together to celebrate innovation in the country. To tell you more about the festival and its unique vibes, we sat down with Melkorka, who shared all about the expectations from this year’s event. Enjoy!
S1 · E58
Mar 4, 2025 · 43 min
Exploring the New Ways of Achieving Location Independence – Meet Niluka From the UK. #58
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is Niluka Kavanagh, the Founder of ImagineThat - The Business School for Nomadic Entrepreneurs. After graduating from Oxford University, Niluka started her career in consulting at KPMG UK in London, working with global brands including Tesco, Mastercard and The London Stock Exchange. Nearly 5 years later, she wanted more and decided to embark on an experiment - is it possible to work for yourself and work from anywhere? During this time, Niluka worked on 2 of her own businesses fully remote while living across the world, including Valencia, Lisbon, Chiang Mai, Istanbul and Da Nang. She saw that it is possible to work for herself and have location freedom - and saw other professionals like her wanting to do the same, but not knowing how to begin a location-independent business. This led her to create ImagineThat, which helps people start their own high-profit online coaching, consulting or services business. Spaces are open now to join the Academy: https://www.imaginethatclub.com/academy Subscribe for updates: https://beacons.ai/imaginethatclub Join the free community: https://imaginethatclub.circle.so/ Follow Niluka on Linkedin, Instagram and YouTube @breakingboundarieswithniluka.
S1 · E56
Jan 29, 2025 · 59 min
Bringing the Big-Brand Marketing Knowledge to the Little Guys – Meet Simon From the UK. #57
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is Simon Vincent, a creative and curious marketer with more than 15 years of experience working with big brands on ideating and executing their marketing strategies. Founder of X-CMO & KAIAKO.AI In today's episode, we spoke about all things marketing, key differences between working with big brands and startups, and of course I had to ask him all about his startup life and adventures. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E56
Dec 16, 2024 · 21 min
Assisting Founders and VCs to Tap Into the Right Audiences – Meet Ivelina From the US. #56
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest Ivelina Dineva, the founder of everythingstartups.com, which aims to help founders and VCs build brand authority and attract the right opportunities. In today's episode we spoke about Ivelina's startup story, challenges of building a media agency from scratch, tips for founders to get started with content marketing.
S1 · E55
Nov 28, 2024 · 38 min
Building an App for Reducing Stress Levels as Much as Deep Meditation – Meet Markus From Finland. #55
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is Markus Pesonen, the founder and CEO of ⁠Olo App⁠, which is a science-backed audio journey application designed for instant relief from stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue. In today's episode, we spoke about the founder story of Olo, challenges along the way of sustainable growth, and how he implements his music background into the art of building a startup. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E54
Sep 17, 2024 · 48 min
Assisting Startups to Get Recognition They Deserve – Meet Julija From Lithuania. #54
Welcome to the Startup Blender Podcast! Our today's guest is Julija (JJ) Jegorova, founder of London-based Black Unicorn PR, brings 14 years of international PR experience to late seed-Series B European tech startups and VCs to elevate their visibility in the media. In today's episode, we spoke about the early days of her career, challenges that came with building the Black Unicorn PR from scratch, and lessons about PR she learned along the way. Enjoy & let us know what you think!
S1 · E55
Jul 17, 2024 · 21 min
Exploring the Heart of Tech at TNW – Insights to the Dutch Startup Ecosystem. Bonus Episode
Welcome to the Startup Blender podcast! This is a special episode from the Next Web conference 2024. Event with tons of inspiring sessions and panel discussions going together. The vibe was magical, and I wanted to tell you all about it in this podcast episode. So, I went around the venue and interviewed different people, asking about their experience at TNW 2024. Enjoy & let us know what you think!

Showing 1–20 of 20 episodes