Real Talk. Real Lessons.
From Founders Who
Took The Startup Leap
Your Hosts🎙️: Yvonne Bajela and Maria Rotilu
LATEST EPISODES
Ida Tin - Clue
🚀✨ Conversations with Ida on "The Startup Leap"
Behind every great tech movement is a founder who didn’t wait for permission. Ida Tin, founder of Clue and coiner of “FemTech,” turned personal frustration into a $60B industry. This week’s Startup Leap episode is your tactical blueprint for scaling with heart—and ethics. Tune in if you’ve got an idea that keeps haunting you. That might be your calling.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Yvonne Bajela and Maria Rotilu
🚀✨ Conversations with Yvonne and Maria on "The Startup Leap"
In this week's episode, we asked founders: "What would you tell your past self?" It isn’t just about hustle culture—it’s about real founder insight that could spare you burnout, bad hires, or a branding identity crisis. Whether you’re about to launch or trying to recover from launch regret, this is the insight you didn’t know you needed.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Abu Addae - LifeCheq
🚀✨ Conversations with Abu on "The Startup Leap"
What happens when a corporate high-flyer swaps spreadsheets for startups? You get Abu Addae—and a fintech platform that’s changing lives. In this episode, Yvonne and Maria dissect the moments that made him jump ship and what it took to stay afloat. Not your average founder story. This one comes with actuarial tables, philosophy, and a lot of grit.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Maria Rotilu and Yvonne Bajela
🚀✨ Conversations with Maria and Yvonne on "The Startup Leap"
Raising capital is an exciting milestone, but many founders don’t realize they’re also giving away something far more valuable—control. Equity dilution isn’t just about smaller ownership percentages; it’s about losing decision-making power, voting rights, and even your ability to shape the future of your company. Without the right safeguards, investors and board members could slowly take over. In this episode, we uncover the hidden dangers of dilution, real-world examples of founders who lost control, and actionable strategies to protect your leadership role.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Ivan Beckley, Suvera
🚀✨ Conversations with Ivan on "The Startup Leap"
From med school to AI innovation! Ivan Beckley’s journey proves that sometimes the best way to heal the system is to change it from the ground up. In this episode, the brilliant founder of Suvera shares his insights on shifting from reactive to proactive care, the power of AI in medicine, and what it really takes to lead a health tech startup.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Timbo Drayson, OkHi
🚀✨ Conversations with Timbo on "The Startup Leap"
How do you convince the world to care about a problem they don’t even know exists? Timbo Drayson, ex-Google Maps Product Manager, took on the impossible challenge of mapping the unaddressed. He built OkHi from scratch, navigating market creation, product validation, and the art of storytelling.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Yvonne Bajela and Maria Rotilu
🚀✨ Conversations with Yvonne and Maria on "The Startup Leap"
Equity mistakes aren’t just small missteps—they can define the entire future of your startup. From Richard Branson’s costly buy-back to Mark Zuckerberg’s genius equity structuring, founders have learned the hard way. In this Startup Leap episode, Yvonne and Maria unpack the biggest founder equity blunders and how to avoid them.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Nadia Odunayo, StoryGraph
🚀✨ Conversations with Nadia on "The Startup Leap"
Building a startup without investor funding isn’t the typical path, but for Nadia Odunayo, it was the right one. As the founder of The StoryGraph, she transformed a side project into one of the most popular book-tracking platforms—without relying on VC money, without a large team, and without waiting for permission. In this episode, she shares the strategic decisions that kept her business sustainable, and how she bootstrapped her way to success,
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave
🚀✨ Conversations with GB on "The Startup Leap"
On this episode of The Startup Leap, join Maria and Yvonne as they dive deep into the inspiring journey of Olugbenga Agboola, popularly known as “GB” Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, Africa's leading fintech company making African payments seamless.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
Maria Rotilu and Yvonne Bajela
🚀✨ Conversations with Maria and Yvonne on "The Startup Leap"
On this episode of The Startup Leap, Maria and Yvonne talk about the 5 biggest mistakes that turn promising startups into cautionary tales. First-time founders often get caught up in big visions and bold ideas—but without the right foundation, even the best concepts won’t survive.
New episodes every Tuesday! ✨
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.
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