More founder-led conversations at MentorBusiness.com.
Starting a new business often looks simple from the outside: an idea, a website, a plan, and the belief that people will support it once they understand the value. But new founders quickly discover the real challenge is knowing where to place their attention when funding, proof, marketing, criticism, and time are all pulling in different directions.
In this episode of the Mentor Business Podcast,
Dr Lewis Haydon speaks with Moshesh Reid about the challenges founders often do not think about when starting a new business. This is not about startup motivation. It is about building something meaningful while facing the realities of funding, exposure, technical development, partnerships, and getting people to understand the problem.
Moshesh Reid is the founder of LearnAnyJob.com, a platform being developed to help businesses offer work experience, job shadowing, workshops, taster sessions, and informal learning opportunities. His work focuses on helping people explore career options through direct experience, while giving businesses a different way to discover talent beyond CVs, interviews, and qualifications.
Together, this conversation examines the pressure of building while working full-time, the frustration of needing proof before support is available, and the hidden cost of accelerator programmes, pitching events, business plans, and repeated advice when they do not lead to real progress.
This is a serious conversation about starting a new business, founder attention, funding pressure, partnerships, marketing, human connection, and building proof in the real world.
Takeaways:
- New founders must think carefully about where their attention goes.
- A strong idea still needs real-world proof.
- Funding can become difficult before traction exists. Accelerator programmes do not always create progress. Business plans can become a cycle of delay.
- Criticism can be used to improve the business.
- Partnerships may solve problems money cannot.
- Marketing and exposure can change the funding conversation.
- Human skills still matter in an AI-driven economy.
- Starting a business tests the founder before it tests the market.
Chapters:
00:00 What new founders should think about before starting
01:38 Building LearnAnyJob.com while working full-time
04:31 The reality of trying to access startup funding
06:35 Why investors ask for traction before funding
08:39 The gap between advice and practical support
10:28 Where startup support can become frustrating
12:07 Turning lived experience into a business problem
14:28 Moving an idea from thought into action
17:55 Handling criticism when challenging an existing system
23:28 Improving the business instead of proving the idea
26:48 Why empathy and human skills matter in 2026
32:11 AI, emotional intelligence, and the future of work
36:44 The real constraint holding the business back
37:52 Building through partnerships when funding is limited
40:50 What founders should think about earlier
43:50 The future vision for LearnAnyJob.com
48:37 Whether the real issue is funding, marketing, or both
Keywords:
starting a new business, new founder challenges, startup funding, early stage founder, business proof, founder attention, accelerator programmes, business partnerships, startup marketing, work experience platform, AI and human skills, founder pressure, real-world validation, business ownership, LearnAnyJob.com
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