Building Your Founder Craft & Investing In Impact with Ian Hogarth, Co-Founder of Plural Platform

“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: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/  to find out more.    ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices