Meet Max Marchione, a remarkable entrepreneur who's already built a quarter-billion-dollar company before hitting his thirties. As president and co-founder of Superpower, Max has transformed his personal health struggles into a mission to democratize premium healthcare. After spending a decade battling chronic migraines and mysterious health issues that stumped over a dozen doctors, he discovered what he calls a "10x doctor" who changed everything. This experience sparked his belief that there's a massive gap between the healthcare available to billionaires like Jeff Bezos and what everyone else can access—and he's determined to close it using AI and technology.

What You'll Discover:

• Learn how Superpower's $42-per-month membership delivers concierge-level healthcare, including home nurse visits and 100+ blood biomarkers—five times more comprehensive than a typical annual physical
• Discover why Max believes AI doctors will soon outperform human physicians and how his company is already using artificial intelligence to create personalized health reports that make everything "click" for members
• Understand the fascinating shift in consumer behavior that made health the new status symbol, replacing traditional luxury goods as people seek to optimize their bodies and minds
• Explore Max's unconventional philosophy on building authentic personal brands, independent thinking, and why he believes most things around us are "four out of ten" when they could be perfect
• Uncover his bold vision for the future, including helping people get eight hours of sleep in just five hours and why he thinks energy healing will eventually become hard science

Max shares candid thoughts on everything from why healthcare brands should inspire the same love as Nike or Apple, to his advice for young people navigating an AI-disrupted job market. His approach to business centers on an empowering mindset: taking 100% responsibility while building something genuinely good for the world. Whether you're interested in the future of healthcare, entrepreneurship, or personal optimization, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on how technology can solve real human problems.

Tune in to hear how one young entrepreneur is revolutionizing healthcare by making the medicine of the elite accessible to everyone—and why his approach might just change how you think about your own health journey.

Connect with Max:

• LinkedIn

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• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

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Ruth Handcock OBE, CEO of Octopus Money, has identified a massive gap in the financial services industry that affects millions of people. While wealthy individuals can easily access personalized financial planning, and basic investment platforms serve those ready to dive in, there's virtually nothing for people who simply want help creating a plan for their money. In just over two years, Ruth's innovative approach has already helped 39,000 people build meaningful financial plans, proving there's enormous demand for accessible money guidance. Her company combines human coaches with smart technology to deliver personalized financial advice at a fraction of traditional costs, making comprehensive planning available to anyone regardless of their current wealth level.

What You'll Discover:

• Learn why having a financial plan is the single most important factor in building wealth, beyond even your age or income level
• Understand the unique hybrid model that uses human coaches for guidance while letting algorithms handle the regulated advice recommendations
• Discover why starting financial conversations with "hopes and dreams" rather than budgets creates dramatically different outcomes for people
• Explore the cultural taboos around money in the UK and how they compare to other countries, plus why most people think they're "below average" at managing money
• Uncover the step-by-step process that takes someone from financial confusion to a clear, actionable plan in just two coaching sessions

Ruth doesn't just talk theory – she walks through exactly how someone with £100,000 sitting in their ISA could create a plan to buy their first home within three years. She explains why traditional financial advisors won't work with anyone who has less than £250,000 in assets, and how her team is proving that comprehensive financial planning can be commercially viable for the mass market. The conversation covers everything from the rise of DIY investing among younger generations to the role AI might play in future financial advice, while Ruth shares her ambitious vision for solving society's looming retirement crisis.

Tune in to discover how Ruth is democratizing financial planning and why she believes the first paycheck moment could be the key to transforming people's entire financial futures. This episode will change how you think about money, planning, and what's actually possible when you have the right guidance at the right time.

Connect with Ruth:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

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£250M of cars! Meet Aidan Rushby, the CEO and co-founder who turned his fear of car dealership rejection into a £250 million business opportunity. After experiencing the anxiety of not knowing his car buying budget, Aidan spotted a massive gap in the UK's used car market where 7.5 million vehicles change hands annually. His solution? Carmoola, a direct-to-consumer car finance provider that puts the power back in customers' hands with instant decisions and virtual payment cards. What started as a personal frustration has evolved into a tech-driven lending platform that boasts a 94% customer satisfaction score while maintaining less than 1% default rates.

What You'll Learn:

• Discover why customers buying luxury brands like Mercedes and BMW are statistically more likely to default than those choosing practical Honda or Ford vehicles—and what this reveals about human psychology
• Learn how Carmoola's 7-question application process delivers instant lending decisions while using sophisticated AI models that combine credit data, open banking information, and behavioral analytics
• Understand the company's approach to responsible lending, including built-in speed bumps that prevent impulse purchases and why they deliberately reject 65% of applicants
• Explore the gamified customer experience that includes naming your car with old English names, earning rewards for good payment behavior, and even their quirky "Courtesy Dads" service for nervous car shoppers
• Uncover Carmoola's expansion plans beyond lending into insurance, warranties, and PCP products, plus how they're disrupting traditional dealer commission models that have been "ripping customers off"

From virtual cards that make customers feel like they're walking into dealerships with bags of cash, to using behavioral economics to nudge better financial decisions, this episode reveals how a 50-person company is taking on established players in a massive market. Aidan shares surprising data about customer segments, explains why being the actual lender (not just a broker) matters, and discusses the regulatory challenges of balancing speed with responsible lending.

Tune in to hear how personal experience, smart technology, and a focus on customer empowerment are reshaping car finance—plus stick around for Aidan's unexpected app recommendation that has nothing to do with cars but everything to do with building better habits.

Connect with Aidan:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

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What happens when a tech investor decides to revolutionize travel during a global pandemic? Meet Cat Jones, founder and CEO of Byway, who launched her flight-free travel company in 2020 while on maternity leave. Unlike traditional travel that treats the journey as a means to an end, Byway focuses on making the journey itself the destination—connecting travelers across Europe through trains, boats, and buses in carefully crafted multi-stop adventures. What started as a personal passion for overland travel has evolved into a rapidly growing business that's challenging how we think about holidays, combining sophisticated routing technology with deeply human customer service to create trips that customers describe as "magical."

In this episode, you'll:

• Discover how Byway's technology learns from human experts to create personalized routes that optimize for enjoyment rather than speed, and why it took 18 months before their system could beat human-planned trips
• Learn why WhatsApp support became their secret weapon—starting as a way for the founder to gather feedback but evolving into the most praised aspect of their service, with customers sharing holiday photos and building genuine connections with the support team
• Understand the psychology behind why customers are shifting from multiple short breaks to longer, more immersive journeys, and how this trend reflects a broader reaction against the pace of modern life
• Explore the infrastructure and policy challenges facing sustainable travel, from train systems designed for commuters rather than leisure travelers to government subsidies that artificially make flights cheaper than rail travel
• Uncover Byway's ambitious vision to make flight-free travel mainstream, including their expansion across Europe and North America, and how they're building both a brand and a movement that could reshape the entire travel industry

Cat's story reveals how combining technology with genuine human connection can create experiences that customers not only love but actively promote to friends and family. Her insights into customer behavior, the role of delight in business strategy, and the future of sustainable travel offer valuable lessons for anyone building consumer experiences in today's market.

Tune in to hear how one founder's belief that "if only we make it easy and tell people about it, more people will want to do it" is transforming an entire industry and inspiring travelers to rediscover the joy of the journey.

Connect with Cat:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

What happens when you combine a gorilla, Phil Collins, and chocolate marketing genius?

Phil Rumbol joins us to share the story behind one of advertising's most memorable campaigns. With an impressive career spanning from InBev's award-winning Stella Artois work to his groundbreaking tenure at Cadbury, Phil knows what it takes to build brands that stick. At Cadbury, he faced a critical challenge: the iconic chocolate brand had lost an entire generation of consumers, with anyone under 40 showing less affinity for the brand than their older counterparts. His solution? A seemingly random but strategically brilliant advert featuring a gorilla playing drums to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" – a campaign that would become a cultural phenomenon and demonstrate the power of emotional marketing over rational messaging.

Key topics you'll explore in this episode:

• Learn why brands live in consumers' minds, not in company boardrooms, and how this fundamental truth shapes successful marketing strategies

• Discover the six-month internal battle Phil fought to get the gorilla advert approved, including how he convinced risk-averse executives after a major product recall

• Understand how to measure brand building ROI using econometrics – a statistical modeling approach that only 20% of marketers use but can prove marketing impact over time

• Explore the balance between staying authentic while remaining relevant, and why brands need to work harder than ever to earn consumer attention in today's crowded marketplace

• Uncover practical advice for startup CMOs on building charismatic brands from scratch, including when to use agencies versus building internal marketing capabilities

Phil doesn't just tell war stories – he breaks down the strategic thinking behind seemingly creative decisions. From understanding that chocolate triggers actual endorphin releases to recognizing Cadbury's "Willy Wonka" brand essence, every choice was rooted in consumer psychology and business logic. He reveals why the song choice was everything, how early social media shaped their viral strategy, and what it really takes to shift from short-term sales activation to long-term brand building. Plus, he shares his current brand crush and explains why mathematical modeling should be every marketer's secret weapon.

Tune in to discover how one of advertising's most talked-about campaigns came together, and walk away with practical frameworks for building brands that people actually care about.

Connect with Phil:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

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Maxime Barbier’s journey is anything but typical. A serial entrepreneur from Paris, Maxime built his first business at just 22, later selling it to national television in France. But what came after was even more transformative. Faced with the question of “what's next?” after a successful exit, he took 100 coffees with 100 strangers - an experiment that reshaped his view of purpose, connection, and what people truly crave. This quest ultimately led to Timeleft, a social dining platform that has already brought half a million people together across 300 cities worldwide. In this episode of the Curious Customer podcast, Maxime shares the emotional, surprising, and sometimes messy path that led him to turn simple dinners into powerful social experiences.

“We are like a dating app who sell you love, but only give you first date.” — Maxime Barbier

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how a list of 100 personal dreams and 100 coffees with strangers sparked the birth of a global platform.
• Discover why Maxime believes loneliness isn’t the real problem - it’s a lack of meaningful, in-person connections.
• Understand how Timeleft’s unique group matching algorithm uses age, personality type, and even conversation dynamics to build strong social tables.
• Find out why Timeleft's users - whether in Tokyo, London, or São Paulo - keep returning not for love, but for authentic friendship and emotional connection.
• Hear how Maxime’s own father, facing post-accident isolation, found healing and friendship through the very platform his son created.

Tune in to hear how Maxime and the Timeleft team are proving that sharing a meal with strangers might just be one of the most meaningful things you do this week.

Connect with Maxime:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

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What happens when a young lawyer realizes that adult friendships are slowly fizzling out because time becomes a luxury? Neil Tanna found himself watching his social connections fade as the demands of professional life took over, and instead of accepting this as inevitable, he decided to build a solution.

As CEO and co-founder of Howbout, Neil has created something that's resonating powerfully with Gen Z – a social calendar app that's attracted 5 million users in just five years. Unlike traditional social media platforms that have become entertainment feeds filled with strangers and brands, Howbout brings the focus back to what really matters: your actual friends and the time you spend together. Neil's journey from frustrated lawyer to startup founder offers a fascinating look at how one person's personal pain point became a platform that's changing how an entire generation maintains their friendships.

“We have lowered the barrier of entry to maintaining friendships, which is why our platform is so powerful and it doesn't need to be performative.” – Neil Tanna

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how Neil identified the "Chief Friendship Officer" persona in every friend group and used this insight to solve the cold start problem that kills most social apps
• Discover why Gen Z is surprisingly comfortable sharing their private calendars with close friends, despite older generations' concerns about privacy
• Understand the clever growth hack involving Instagram meme pages that helped Howbout acquire their first 1,000 users without traditional advertising
• Explore how calendar data from 100 million user entries is being used to understand what Gen Z actually does with their time, from date night debriefs to Sunday planning sessions
• Uncover why Howbout's retention rates doubled after shifting focus from utility-first planning to social-first engagement, and what this means for the future of friendship apps

Neil's story challenges the assumption that successful social platforms need to be entertainment-focused or rely on performative content. Instead, Howbout proves that authenticity and genuine connection – even in small, private networks of 5-15 close friends – can drive massive engagement and growth. With ambitious plans to reach 40 million users by 2026, Neil's approach to building "a world where friendships never go on pause" offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in consumer social products and the evolving nature of digital relationships.

Tune in to hear how one lawyer's frustration with fading friendships became a social calendar revolution that's redefining how young people stay connected.

Connect with Neil:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

As the Founding Designer of Lovable, Nad Chishtie isn’t just building another web tool—he’s helping reimagine who gets to build software in the first place. With a mission to flip the 1% of people who can code into the 99% who can create, Lovable is already turning heads with its impressive $60M run rate in under a year. Nad brings years of product and design thinking to the table, but it’s his ability to blend deep technical abstraction with intuitive simplicity that truly sets him apart. In this episode, Nad opens up about the bold thinking behind Lovable, why friction isn’t always a bad thing in user experience, and how AI can be your toughest design critic—or your best creative partner.

“The way that we see things is that today less than 1% of the planet can create, deploy, and maintain full stack applications.” — Nad Chishtie

In this episode, you will:

• Learn why Lovable chose to build for a broad audience first—before narrowing in on specific user types.
• Discover how early user reactions helped shape key design decisions and why emotional responses like empowerment and speed became the team’s guiding compass.
• Understand how Nad uses AI not just to design faster but to think better—leveraging GPT as a critique board rather than a shortcut tool.
• Explore why the team has intentionally avoided complex onboarding and stuck with a simple chat interface to build anything.
• Hear how real users—from indie founders to romantic partners—are using Lovable to create everything from SaaS businesses to marriage proposals.

Tune in to hear how Nad and the team behind one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups are rethinking what it means to design, build, and launch in the age of AI. Whether you're a designer, founder, or just curious about the future of digital creation—this one’s worth a listen.

Connect with Nad:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!