“There’s a very long list of these iconic companies that actually weren’t started by first time Founders.”
In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Ian Hogarth, a hugely accomplished Entrepreneur, Angel Investor and Co-Founder of Plural Platform, an exciting new early-stage platform dedicated to investing in Europe’s next generation of tech companies with global ambitions.
If you’ve been listening to 40 Minute Mentor for a while, you may recognise Ian’s name from a previous episode, in which we were joined by one of his former Songkick Co-Founders, Michelle You.
Ian served as Songkick’s CEO for 8 years, scaling the business to $100m in sales and 120 employees, before eventually exiting to Warner Music Group.
It was such a privilege to have Ian join us on the podcast and share so much great mentorship, including:
➡️ How he found his passion for creating something new [05:09]
➡️ How this passion led him to create Songkick [08:16]
➡️ The many lessons he learned as a first time CEO and why external mentorship was such a crucial part of his journey [11:09]
➡️ Why you shouldn’t hire people who can’t be replaced and why some hires can completely change your business [14:29]
➡️ How his experience with loss influenced his decision to step away from Songkick and the important lessons this has taught him [19:13]
➡️ Why he jumped back in the Founder seat and the mission behind Plural [24:42]
➡️ Why Plural isn’t following a VC model and what changes it’ll drive in Europe [28:16]
➡️ What it really takes to be an incredible Founder [32:52]
➡️ The types of businesses he’s personally looking to invest in [36:44]
➡️ His advice for any diverse Founders looking for investment and the importance of mapping out the investors you’re going to approach [38:48]
➡️ Plural’s north star and the plan to get there [40:58]
⛳ Helpful links:
➡️ More about Ian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhogarth/
➡️ More about Plural Platform: https://pluralplatform.com/
➡️ Songkick Co-Founder, Michelle You’s episode: https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/from-exiting-songkick-to-tackling-the-climate-crisis-with-supercriticals-michelle-you/
💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:
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