Amardeep Parmar: 0:00

Welcome to a special episode where we give an insight into the future of the Lab podcast and how things are changing, why they're changing secrets behind some of the podcasting world. That means why we're taking this strategy and so much more. It's going to be a short and sharp episode, but there's some exciting news contained in this episode too. So I'm Ama Parmar, co-founder of the Ba HQ, and this podcast is powered by HSBC Innovation Banking. So let's jump straight into the meat. I'm not going to be a host of this podcast anymore. So how we're structured and I can explain why we're structured in this way is there are two podcast episodes a week, and this is a masterclass for any podcasters out there who ask me questions. Two podcasts a week that's extremely difficult to manage. I've done over 300 podcasts in the last three years. Basically, nobody does that, except for a very few handful of people. So two episodes a week. The Bay podcast comes out on Thursdays and that's the episode that's with founders who've raised at least 1 million or 5 million in revenue. The Lab podcast, which you're listening to right now, is with leaders, investors, people from the startup ecosystem who have valuable advice which can help early-stage founders like yourself, but maybe they're not founders themselves and these episodes are much more tactical. So Basic dea, who is a Bay podcast, is about inspiring incredible founder stories, and this podcast is more tactical and really gives insight into a particular topic. So if you go through the backlog of episodes through our website or through this YouTube channel, you can see the Lab podcast, which is the Black Backgrounds have these really detailed episodes about particular topics that you get a masterclass on.

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‍Amardeep Parmar: 1:43

So what's changing and why is it changing? So why am I no longer the host? So, as I said, I've done over 300 episodes now in three years. So by doing so many episodes, it means that there's a level of burnout I have right. So what I want to do is, if I can, if I'm only recording one a week instead, then I've got more attention, I've got more presence, I've got more time for other things, and it also means that the guests themselves, when they come on, they've got somebody who's young, hungry and maybe where I was a couple of years ago. And what it also means is that I've got now this massive network there's no point in pretending otherwise which means that a huge amount of people reach out to me through my DMs, through my emails come to our events, which means I I'm constantly meeting new people that I can't necessarily get on the podcast because I've got too many things going on.

Amardeep Parmar: 2:25

But we don't want to stop the lab podcast. We know it gives a lot of value. We're getting great feedback on it from all of you. So what we're doing instead? There's now going to be four new hosts for this podcast and I'll explain who they are in a moment.

Amardeep Parmar: 2:37

But there's a reason behind this, right, because with my level of experience, I can do these very easily, and what that means is that I turn up, I know I can talk to the guests, I can chat to them, I can get their level of feedback and get a level of comfort, and then I can frame them and direct them in the right way that I want in order to get the best value content for you. This is a difficult skill which is quite hard, and especially when you're doing it week in, week out, it's very difficult for me to expect anybody coming in to be able to maintain that level of consistency while also having the other priorities right, and the truth is we don't have a huge budget. I can't be paying some professional podcaster to be doing these episodes and what we can do instead is we can get early stage founders who have the benefit of being attached to our network, being attached to our brand, being able to get in touch with people and learning from people they might not have done otherwise because of the power of my network, and also learning and building their own brand for it too. So the idea I wanted to do as well is that obviously, I'm the host of this podcast and there's now 100, 600 episodes I've done.

Amardeep Parmar: 3:40

We want to make sure there's different voices coming in play as well, because the BAE HQ community isn't just about this. It's about so much more than that and there's so many incredible people along this journey that we also need to showcase and e able to, like, help their personal growth and help their businesses grow too. So when you think about it, if you're hosting of this podcast, think about what I've been able to do. I've been able to interview people with incredible backgrounds, to learn about expert topics with them, and also I get to chat some before and after. So if you think about what everything in this head is because a huge amount of valuable conversations I've had and which you can binge watch afterwards, but also part of the value is which isn't on camera. It's the bit I have before and after.

Amardeep Parmar: 4:20

The podcast is actually often what I learn the most, and I build the relationships that then enable us to do what we're able to do and able to go so quickly and for our brand to be as strong as it is and why people like HSBC Innovation Banking, who are a massive bank, to be able to support this, because they can see the caliber and the quality of people that we bring in, hiding away from the thing you want to know now, who are going to be the new hosts, and the idea is that there's about 24 weeks left of the year. Each of them are going to host six episodes each. Test out, see if they enjoy it, see if we like the content, see if their audience gets good feedback, and then we can make a plan for 2025 based on that. But the idea is low risk experiment. It's a great thing for anybody to do as a founder is you don't want to get somebody who's and then commit them for the long term at the beginning, right? Let's test people out, let's see how they do, let's see what's good for them, because if it's not right fit for us. It's probably also not right fit for them, but what we can do is test it out. If they enjoy it and they want to come back again and we love them, then we'll continue with that. Otherwise, I might find like actually they don't really enjoy it and they're too busy. And that's fine too. We hope you're enjoying the episode so far.

Amardeep Parmar: 5:32

We just want to give a quick shout out to our headline partners, HSBC Innovation Banking. One of the biggest challenges for so many startups is finding the right bank to support them, because you might start off and try to use a traditional bank, but they don't understand what you're doing. You're just talking to an AI assistant or you're talking to somebody who doesn't really understand what it is you've been trying to do. HSBC have got the team they've built out over years to make sure they understand what you're doing. They've got the deep sector expertise and they can help connect you with the right people to make your dreams come true. So if you want to learn more, check out hsbc innovation banking. com.

Amardeep Parmar: 6:07

So four hosts, and I'm going to do this in alphabetical order, so let me just write these down to make sure I do an alphabetical to make it fair and they all bring different things to the table. Okay, so first of all we have Anshika Arora, who's the founder of Eternity. So I believe I met her at a wedding show a couple of years ago now and she's been one of the people who've been a huge support for the BAE HQ behind the scenes and what I can tell is the way she interacts with people, the way she treats people, the way she asks questions. It's always been very good from the start and that mentality and that willingness to learn, that willingness to put themselves out there, she's just been very good along that journey and I can tell she's a talker, she speaks well, she's eloquent and also she really cares about what she's doing. She puts her heart and soul into it. So check out her business. It's a CRM business and it's at the early stages now where they're looking to expand. So that's why it's perfect for her to be a host of this podcast, because then she can hopefully learn from people a bit further ahead who can help her on her journey, and you'll also get to see it from your perspective of she's hosting this podcast now where they're in their few years' time.

Amardeep Parmar: 7:15

So the next two are also founders as well. So we have Mona Ahluwalia, who is building a company in stealth at the moment, so I'm not allowed to say what she's building, but again, she's somebody who's been a huge supporter of BAE HQ. She also had her own podcast beforehand and she's done many different things and she's a really good people person. So that's what her career was in before what she's doing today. So what we've seen from that is obviously from my perspective. I've been able to say how she interacts with people at events, how she treats people as well. And obviously every single person I'm picking here, I'm picking them based on how I've seen them interact with people, how I've seen them treat people, because I don't want to put somebody on this host and to be representing our brand if I didn't believe that they're good people. So the fact that they're all hosts means I'm putting my stamp and saying like, look, I believe in these people and I really believe they can do well. I believe they're going to grow and I'm excited to see what they come up with. So Mona is currently in stealth, so I can't say too much more.

Amardeep Parmar: 8:09

Third host is Nikita Ladva, who is the founder of the Naked Laundry. So it's a fashion brand that's been doing incredibly well. It's about sustainability. It's about doing things in the correct way. It's about being a brand that people can love and really have strong brand values as well. So she's been going for several years now. She's been bootstrapping, but she's looking to expand further and this is interesting. To transition to somebody who's been building a brand which is more of a lifestyle business to begin with, who's now looking at can I take these next steps, can I continue to grow? And you're going to be hearing questions from that perspective of somebody who's been doing well in business. Can she now go in a different direction and try to see if she can scale that business further? And that's been an exciting journey for you guys to watch. And also coming from a retail background means that it's a different experience to, say, tech founders, but many of the core principles behind the business are going to be fairly similar. So I hope you enjoy here episodes too.

Amardeep Parmar: 9:02

And then, finally, we have Tanya Agrawal, who's got a mixed background both in engineering and investing, so she's going to come to a different perspective because she's talked to so many founders and seen so many pitch checks and she'll be often talking to investors to get the real nitty gritty that you need, as an early stage founder, to understand about investing and what investors are looking for, how to make sure that you get that investment in that fundraising. And because she's been on the other side of the table, look at it from an investment perspective. She's going to really know the detailed questions because she's had so many questions from founders that she's going to bring that to the table and again, when we've got her involved she was very clear about that. She wants to really bring value to founders on that fundraising perspective. So really hope you enjoy all these episodes. They're all incredible people and I'm excited to see how they do and there's going to be a bit of.

Amardeep Parmar: 9:51

Obviously with me there's going to be a bit of this has been my baby right, so I'm going to be a bit micromanaging, probably, so sorry in advance if they're listening to this and and the idea is like, can we set them up and maybe they just do six episodes? Maybe they didn't do it next year, maybe things change next year. We're a startup, we're constantly growing, but we hope that they get a lot of value from these six episodes. We hope that you love them and you get to follow them, get to hear their journey and you get to support them too, because all they're doing great and they've all been a big support and big help to us. So that's the plan there, with the different hosting now, as we look at this, of why, why would I change the host? Right, if I've been doing this, if I've got the experience for find easy, why would I change those? So one of the things is is that obviously all four of them are women and this one becomes important to us.

Amardeep Parmar: 10:37

We need to diversify within the BAE HQ. I want to make sure I'm giving people different voices. So 46 of the podcast guests have been women. There's been more women on our panels and there have been men and this is another evolution of that. Right, it's the BAE HQ is a community of British Asian entrepreneurs. I want people to feel represented and that's going to take different forms over time and there could be there could be future male podcast hosts. There could be all different things in the future, because we're only in year two. We still haven't actually hit the year two yet. There's going to be so much more to come from us and obviously I'm going to be here. I'm going to be a key, integral part of the different content strategy and overlooking the different media brand we're doing.

Amardeep Parmar: 11:13

But the different voices you get to hear is important. That they come from different places and they come from different ideas. And you're not just hearing it through my lens, you're in question from other people's lenses too, and it's an experiment, right, we want this to hopefully see that you, you tell us, you tell us that you really love these hosts or you really love this person, you really love the way that they do it, and we can focus on them more in the future and in terms of strategy, right? So some of you might have heard of the test.

Amardeep Parmar: 11:41

So the bus test is the idea that if I was hit by a bus which isn't going to happen anytime soon, actually. Right now the BAE HQ would collapse, because I am very front and center of it and there's lots of things that only I know. And one of the difficulties is if I'm sick or if I need to take a break, but it's all dependent on me. That means I can't take holiday. That means I can't recover. I feel guilty about taking time away. So, by being bringing more people into the play and building their systems, building those processes. It enables us to have a more resilient future and also means that I get to be able to think longer term right, because maybe in a couple years time I don't want to do a podcast anymore.

Amardeep Parmar: 12:20

We want to continue the podcast using that office value. It enables me to evolve and adapt over time. And what we obviously have behind the scenes is we have the team, the incredible team, behind this podcast. So let me make sure I shout them out too. So Aamir is the Video Content Lead. Lou is the main Editor of the podcast. Saharah is our Executive Assistant.

Amardeep Parmar: 12:38

Over the year I've worked so hard with them to build them up, to build up their thought process, build understanding, so that for people who may potentially host the podcast is that they have the system already inbuilt. They just need to turn up and do the questions and do the recording and everything else is handled by us. And that's really important because this is part of our brand, the BAE HQ, and they're representing us, but they don't need to worry about any of the details and it makes their lives much easier, which means that they can show up, do the bit. That's fun because, honestly, the best, most fun part is the recording right. They can do the fun bits while we pick some of the other stuff, and then they get the benefits of that and also get the growth and personal stuff that comes with that too.

Amardeep Parmar: 13:17

So we've now built these systems out. We're testing the system, stress testing it. Can it work with our hosts? Do I need to make better instructions? Do I need to change the alignment? All these kind of different questions are going to come out and it's going to be.

Amardeep Parmar: 13:29

It's stressful you may be able to hear that my voice because I'm letting go of my baby but it's super important for us to not be so dependent on me in the long run, and I can wait until year five to do that, or I can start testing the waters now, learning from it, and it won't be perfect and there'll be different things that happen.

Amardeep Parmar: 13:46

But we've chosen four people to get going who have been great and we've built long-term relationships with. So all we can do is see what happens now and try our best. But but if you don't understand why these different changes are happening, those are different things and also the truth is I'm massively snowed under. You may realize this if you follow me on LinkedIn that I have a lot to deal with, and if we can elevate other people while also freeing up my time to do other things which hopefully make a bigger impact across our different sectors in terms of media, events and futures, that means that BAE HQ makes more of a difference, which is the whole point of this thing, really. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to subscribe. See you next time.

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