James Mitra on Season 14: Reflecting on 300+ episodes & what’s next for 40 Minute Mentor

0:04James Mitra:Welcome back to 40 Minute Mentor, the podcast on a mission to raise aspirations and inspire the next generation of category defining founders, all in just 40 minutes. This season has been truly one of my personal favorites. So I'd like to start by saying a massive thank you to all of you for listening, for the messages you've sent of encouragement, the feedback on the episodes, and for just being part of this incredible community. We've also been joined by some truly remarkable guests this season. From Claire Davenport, the COO at Multiverse, to Jeevan Suh Lennox, the first Chief People Officer, the Agentic AI Unicorn Writer, and Thomas Plantenga, the CEO of Vinted, one of Europe's most successful tech companies.

0:49James Mitra:We've also featured exited entrepreneurs like Asi Sharabi of Wonderbleed, Duncan Clark, who sold his business to Canva, where he now runs a European business and some incredible operators from Shimona Mehta, who scaled Shopify Plus in Europe, to Alan Cairns, the chief people officer of GoCardless and most recently, two incredible entrepreneurs, Merva Iqbal, the co-founder and CEO of Hived and Alexandra De Pledge MBE, who is a serial founder who is now at the very heart of government as an advisor to the chancellor to really help advocate for entrepreneurs. We also brought you two very special roundtable episodes with our people and talent predictions for 2026, featuring insights from our team here at JVM and our sister companies in the Amplified People Group Foundation Partners and Unleashed.

1:37James Mitra:Every single one of these conversations has brought something unique, whether that's lessons on co-founder dynamics, learning about the importance and power of delegation, or really diving into what high performance truly means. We talked about the realities of hyper-growth scaling, why diverse leaderships always win, and how to stay lean without compromising on ambition. And given the times we're living in, we of course talked a lot about AI and technology and how it's reshaping our businesses and teams. We also covered lots of other really useful topics too, like how to land your first board seat, and at a macro level, why the UK remains such a brilliant place for entrepreneurs.

2:16James Mitra:As special as Series 14 has been, it's really just a snapshot of how far 40 Minute Mental has come. What started as a small idea to make mentorship more accessible has now grown into a podcast of over 300 episodes, well over a million downloads. We've had so many messages from our audience who have landed their dream jobs in mission driven companies off the back of hearing one of our guests. Who have finally taken the leap into entrepreneurship because of the inspiring stories they've heard. or for many of you who have just taken confidence and mentorship from the incredible advice that our guests have given.

2:48James Mitra:For me personally, creating this podcast has been the biggest privilege and very much like an own MBA for myself as I've had the chance to listen and learn from some of the most impressive and generous leaders out there and I'm so grateful for every single one of those conversations. And as we look ahead, I'm also excited to share what's new for this show. After After all these years and many, many episodes, we're now ready for the next chapter of 40 Minute Mentor. Rest assured we're not going anywhere. We're certainly not stepping away from our mission to make mentorship more accessible and to inspire the next generation of category defining founders.

3:22James Mitra:But we are evolving. So in 2026, 40 Minute Mentor won't just be a podcast. It will become an in-person mentorship experience. Instead of weekly episodes, we'll be hosting regular live events where I'll continue to interview founders, investors, and operators, but you will also get the chance to ask your own questions and connect directly with peers afterwards. These sessions will still be recorded and shared on JBM's website and our 40 Minute Mentor YouTube channel, as well as LinkedIn, and you'll find links to both in the show notes. And I would thoroughly encourage you to follow or subscribe to make sure you're the first to find out about them.

3:57The 40 Minute Mentor team, which consists of our brilliant producer, Hannah, and amazing editor, Matt, are genuinely excited about this next evolution. And if you'd like to receive invitations to any of our upcoming 40 Minute Mentor events, then make sure you sign up for our newsletter in the show notes. We would love to see you there. That's everything from me now. Thank you so much to all the incredible guests that have taken the time to share their mentorship with us all. And thank you all so much for your support, for championing the show of the years and for being part of this very special journey.

4:28This isn't a goodbye. It's very much a see you soon in a slightly different format. Thank you so much for listening. and I really hope you'll all have a very happy, restful and peaceful holiday season and wish you all the very best for the year ahead. Here's to the next chapter of 14 Minute Mentor.