Finally - Season 2 of The Startup Game podcast is nearly here!! A fresh season has some fresh ideas, the main one being that we are moving to video as well as audio format. It gives you a chance to meet face to face with the great founders that I am speaking to, and we cover some really terrific topics, all helping other business owners realise they are not alone. The new season kicks off with the wonderful Nilanjana Sensarkar, Founder of @kraftgurus and the importance of having big dreams and little steps to get there. Our first episode has just been released on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts! Make sure you subscribe to be notified when the Game is back up and running :-) Watch now on: https://youtu.be/91elRbgnEEI?si=sSMUdCZe2eOP9lNV

There was an article last week saying that we have reached the point where bots and automated AI processes are now generating more traffic than humans - hardly surprising given that an AI transaction takes microseconds. While bots and automation certainly have a valuable contribution to make to small businesses (if only to allow for scaling without excessive costs before necessary), it looks to me like it is also changing the type of businesses that people are starting to build. While many embrace the AI revolution, many other businesses are creating what I call non-digital businesses. These are businesses whose offering is either to deliberately disconnect from the online world, or that they are creating something that has an essentially human element to it. The arts have been struggling to accommodate AI generated material but alongside this, people are starting to seek out human generated work, giving a value to the effort required and the fact that the idea was inspired through someone's lived experience. As technology seeks to build up material and content, quality is becoming more valuable than quantity. Humans are seeking out humans, and this is a beautiful thing.

Many of my conversations with founders start with the line "I know I have to ... " and then give me a list of things they have been told by social media and - depressingly - other advisers are the ONLY way for them to run their business. I can tell you now, that's just not true. Something that works for someone else, may not for you and your business. Equally there will be things that work for you that don't work for others. The point isn't to take the advice as gospel and a list of mandatory actions. Look at them as things you could possibly try - but if you don't want to, that's totally fine. Think about effort versus potential reward - there are of course some things that, if they work, could help you grow your business. But the effort of having to do them may still make it unnecessary for you - and we find other ways to achieve the same result. Your business means YOUR business - it should feel good running it, just as much as about making money.

It's one of the most common situations I am ever discussing with founders. They started the business, and they have customers who took the chance on them early on - but as they have got busier, these clients have become the most problematic. It is hard to raise their prices, it is difficult to get information from them, there seems to be a weird balance in the dynamic between them and the person. On one level, you know that you have outgrown them as a customer - what you can and want to offer is now beyond what they need. But, they took the chance when nobody else would - so surely you should make allowances for them? I understand that logic for sure - but where does it stop? How much should you continue to work with them if all you get back are complaints about your pricing, the service - everything? In the end, just as much as customers can outgrow us, so we can outgrow them - and that's okay. Having customers who last a period of time but then move on to others is far better - and healthier for everyone - than staying connected, only for the once good relationship to suffer.