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This is the final episode of Season One of Hyper Curious - we can’t believe it’s come to a close so soon - the last 7 weeks have flown by. In that time we’ve had our curiosity piqued in myriad ways by truly inspiring guests as they’ve opened up and allowed themselves to be vulnerable and share their curiosities.“As Brendon Burchard says: ‘high necessity is the emotional drive that makes great performance a must’. Then you go through pain and deep reflection and what you get is progress.”And it’s that progress we’ve been following each week as every one of our guests has imparted their pearls of wisdom to our fictional protagonist, Olivia. This final episode is an incredibly special one because it combines together all of the advice Olivia has been given and you’ll hopefully see that while Olivia may be fictional, her story is reflective of moments in all of our lives. Perhaps in seeing her story as a whole, you may find answers to your own curious questions. “Olivia’s adventure, her full story will be told in this episode as a celebration of the zest for life we all have inside of us. It can sometimes be dormant, but our curiosity has the power to awaken it.”Remember, always allow yourself to be led by curiosity, never from fear. Enjoy this episode and we hope it gives you some inspiration to follow your own curiosity. Until next time, ciao ciao. On today’s podcast: Beta’s a-ha moments in life and business The power of letting go Olivia ‘game’ reflections  Success is never linear

If you’re wondering if it’s too late in life to change vocation, today’s guest will show you it isn't. “I'm somebody who came to the games industry a little bit late. Even though I've been in it now for 20 years, I've always felt a little bit like an outsider looking in.”Maria Sayans has been helping games companies succeed in the digital space, build great brands, launch games and engage players for nearly two decades. Oh, and she’s the CEO of ustwo games - that’s not a bad achievement for an outsider!“Our vision is to bring what's meaningful about games to everyone - making beautiful games that touch the soul of millions of players.”In this latest episode of Hyper Curious, Maria shares her journey from consultancy to CEO, the soul searching she had to do to get her onto her current path and her advice for listeners just beginning to foray into marketing and the games industry. “I have so much hope for the industry and for what games can do for the world. Keep that positive spirit; I know everything is kind of falling apart around us but it really isn't. Humans have a lot more strength and positivity and hope in them than we often give them credit for.”On today’s podcast: How to find your path The mindset you need to work in the games industry Good questions lead you to good decisions The importance of education in order to build strategic thinking Why she’s curious about embodied cognition Why her superpower would be to make parenting easier Links: The Brain Science podcast Voices of VR podcast

From L’Oreal to DesignMyNight.com to Horseplay Ventures, Nick Telson has had quite the career to date, and he’s just getting started. Nick embodies what Hyper Curious is all about. Realising that a career trajectory at L’Oreal wasn’t for him, he was curious about following a different path and after a night out in New York City with his DMN co-founder Andrew Webster, he found his new direction. With just £500K angel funding they built DMN into a team of 60 and after a £25+ million exit in 2017, Nick now dedicates his time between investing in startups, giving back, writing a book and hosting Pitch Deck, an incredible podcast for founders and startups. For anyone starting out on their own entrepreneurial path or considering going down this route, Nick is someone worth listening to. He’s been there, done it and got the t-shirt. He poured blood, sweat and tears into DMN and for their grit and determination, he and Andrew were rewarded for their efforts. But he’s quick to point out that there is no silver bullet for success - you have to be prepared to pivot and go where you’re needed, not where you think you should be, and don’t believe that raising money is success - building a successful company is success.“Netflix shows and Amazon Prime shows about founders and startups romanticise everything, but at the end of the day if you're gonna be successful, a founder is really not romantic, it's just hard, hard work.”And when it all gets too much, take yourself out of the moment, says Nick. “Just remember that there's other stuff going on in the world. You know, a drink or catch up with close friends instantly washes away all the seeds of doubt in your head I find.”On today’s podcast: The startups that Nick invests in Taking the leap from the corporate world to entrepreneur The best founders are the ones really in their industry How to handle the entrepreneurial roller coaster Trust your gut, trust your instinct Nick’s advice to anyone thinking about becoming an entrepreneur Links: Horseplay ventures - a playground for startups Podcast - Pitch Deck Nick Telson

What throws two fingers up at the establishment more than an LGBTQ, black, woman investor? Meet Arlan Hamilton, Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital. Arlan’s a catalyst and a powerful soul seeking to make not just waves, but actual change in a very male dominated industry. Just 5 years ago, Arlan started a venture capital fund in the US while homeless. Today, her $10m boutique venture fund has invested in over 130 startups led by high potential, underrepresented, underestimated founders who are people of colour, women and/or LGBTQ.“For 35 years I had a lot of housing insecurity and a lot of financial issues. And then one day I decided I'm going to do something a little different. And that's where we are today.”In this incredibly honest and transparent episode, Arlan talks about her newly released book - It’s About Damn Time, how to build a strong sense of self and the difference between a dream and a calling, as well as why she advocates for being weird. But most importantly, she reveals why an audience of one needs to be enough for all of us. “Being weird is absolutely the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I would not have any of the things that I have today, except for family, which is wonderful, had I not been weird.”On today’s podcast: Why Arlan’s secret to bravery is a tolerance for risk How to filter available knowledge and advice Learn to understand and follow your instinct Why struggling is normal How to turn being weird into your power How to define the impact you want to make Links: https://www.itsaboutdamntime.com/ www.backstagecrowd.com

If you made it to the dizzy heights of Chief Business Officer of Google [X], you’d likely think you made it and be happy with your lot. Not Mo Gawdat. Mo IS former Chief Business Officer of Google [X], serial entrepreneur and author of “Solve for Happy: Engineering Your Path to Joy”, and he’s a seeker. He realised there is more to life to discover and he’s on a mission to make people happier.And you don’t need a therapist, a guru, a yoga teacher, a meditation guide and a wealth of ‘experts’ to help you reach happiness, says Mo, because there is a reliable, solid model you can follow - the equation for happiness. That’s right, Mo has come up with an equation to find happiness and that equation is very simple.“It's basically, if you look back at all of the moments in your life when you ever felt happy, you will realise that there was no common theme to what made you happy. Happiness is equal to or greater than the difference between the events of your life and your expectations of how life should be.”In fact, happiness is our default state - we’re all born happy, we just grow out of it. This is a fascinating episode with a truly inspirational person. On today’s podcast: The Supertramp song that triggered a change in his life The illusion of control Why life is a video game How to be present The happiness flowchart Links: https://www.solveforhappy.com/ https://www.onebillionhappy.org/

Do you have a deep self-awareness of who you are? Do you respect your boundaries? Do you know what makes you productive? What makes you happy? What makes you be the best you can be on a day to day basis? On today’s episode is Amy Landino, content creator, YouTuber, founder of multiple media companies and author of two books. Amy is on a mission to help people go after the life they want. “So I am a woman with a purpose of helping people go after the life that they want. To take control of the things that are controllable in their life.”If you want to know how to get out of your rut, how to accomplish things for yourself, not for the likes or praises of others, and most importantly how to define what you want and why you want it, listen to Amy share her many pearls of wisdom in this latest episode. It’s incredibly insightful, packed full of simple takeaways that everyone listening can easily implement, even just once a week, to make a huge difference to their lives. “Early on I learned the benefit of teaching somebody the benefit of what you provide, which is why when I introduce myself I say, ‘my name is Amy, my purpose is to help you go after the life you want’. We can get into the minutiae and the details of that later.”On today’s podcast: How she started down the entrepreneurial road Why running made her uncomfortable Her biggest a-ha moment Defining your why and knowing when you’ve nailed it How to go after the life you want Calendar blocking and setting boundaries Links: Gatluw House YouTube video - Master Calendar Blocking  Book - Good morning, Good life

Welcome to Hyper Curious, a place where we celebrate making change happen by following your curiosity. If you want to learn how leaders in multiple industries, including authors, founders and artists got to where they are, this is the podcast for you. In this inaugural episode we meet serial entrepreneur and founder of Beautystack, Sharmadean Reid MBE. Sharmadean is the perfect example of why you don’t have to be a specialist at something in order to be hugely successful. “There wasn’t an a-ha moment that made me change. I think like any good founding idea, I just saw a personal problem that I wanted to fix for myself, which is that I wanted to have a very specific nail design, and I couldn't figure out the place to get it done in a way that I wanted it done.”In fact, Sharmadean is a proud generalist or a multipotentialite (as the TED Talk speaker Emilie Wapnick defines), going from individual contributor to business leader to serial entrepreneur, and because of these changing roles, she understands the importance of revisiting your life narrative and the stories you tell to yourself when dealing with changes, because it’s all about finding balance. “Thinking about being optimistic or pessimistic about the future is not my method. I just understand that whatever goes up must come down. And once you've hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. So all I can do is focus on my path and my journey and my business and hope that that has an optimistic outlook.”Enjoy this dive into the mind of one of Britain’s leading female entrepreneurs.On today’s podcast: From individual contributor to business leader to serial entrepreneur How to balance the needs of the business vs her own needs The undue pressures women put on themselves Embrace being a generalist and a collector of interests Why she’s decided to commit to Beautystack for 10 years Why educational resources should be more gender equal The importance of writing your own narrative and finding a game you can win Links: Beautystack.co Sharmadeanreid.com LinkedIn - Sharmadean Reid MBE Range - David Epstein Emilie Wapnick - multipotentialite The Unpaid Labour of Female Founders

Introducing Hyper Curious, launching July 2020.For more information, visit: http://hypercurious.fm