This end-of-year episode is a moment to pause and reflect on some of our brilliant guest insights from the past 12 months – completely honest conversations about the entrepreneurial and leadership journey.

So many great insights – and we wish we had the room to include everyone. For this round-up episode, thank you to Bobby Dutton, Assim Ishaque, Zareen Roohi Ahmed, Emily Gill, Richard Barkey, Mindy Gibbins-Klein and Jenny Garrett for your gems and for making this episode a joy to put together.

From embracing imperfection and learning from mistakes, to knowing when to step back as a leader, their insights are a powerful reminder that business confidence is built over time, not overnight.

🙏 A huge thank you to ALL our guests this year for your brilliant contributions and insights including: Sandra Healy, Katharine Plunkett, Liz Sebag-Montefiore, Karl Pontau, Melitta Campbell, Dani Dufresne, Mark Goyder, Andrew Hill, Kate Handy, , Charles Skinner, Steve Ramona, Suvianna Grecu and David B Horne.

And thank you to everyone who’s listened and supported the podcast and also, to Charlotte Walter for her brilliant editing – and patience.

We’ll be back in 2026 with new guests sharing their stories and experiences ✨

Until then, you can catch up on all our 2025 episodes, including this highlights episode via Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts!

Trevor:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevormerriden/
Merriborn: https://merriborn.co.uk/
Email: trevor.merriden@merribornmedia.co.uk

This week on The Merri-Cast, I’m joined by the inspiring David B. Horne – founder of Add Then Multiply and Funding Focus.

In this episode, we explore his career, one that spans global finance, corporate leadership, and a mission to level the playing field for underrepresented founders.

From collecting newspaper payments as a boy in Canada to raising £60 million in funding for AIM-listed companies, David’s journey is full lessons and reflections for anyone starting and growing their business.

In this inspiring episode, David shares:
• How a paper round sparked his lifelong interest in business and finance.
• The story behind Add Then Multiply and his formula for helping entrepreneur’s scale.
• The shocking truth about funding inequality and what David is doing about it.
• The lessons he learned, both from successful exist – and ventures that didn’t go to plan.

David also talks about his two books, Add Then Multiply and Funded Female Founders, and how writing them gave him clarity, credibility, and a platform to advocate for fairer access to funding.

Tune in to hear David’s perspective on what it really takes to grow, scale, and sustain a business — and why the key to success is knowing when to let go.

David Horne:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-b-horne/
Add Then Multiply (Company): https://addthenmultiply.com/
Add Then Multiply (Book): Add Then Multiply: How small businesses can think like big businesses and achieve exponential growth
Funding Focus (Company): https://funding-focus.com/
Funded Female Founders (Book): Funded Female Founders: How to traverse the uneven playing field and secure funding to grow your business

Trevor:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevormerriden/
Merriborn: https://merriborn.co.uk/
Email: trevor.merriden@merribornmedia.co.uk

This week on The Merri-Cast, I’m delighted to be joined by Suvianna Grecu – Founder of AI for Change Foundation and DevCraft Agency, and a passionate advocate for ethical, inclusive and human-centred AI.

Suvianna’s career story is an interesting one. A law graduate turned serial entrepreneur, she first built DevCraft, creating custom AI chatbots, before realising that the conversation around AI needed to change.

Out of this realisation came AI for Change, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping individuals and organisations use AI responsibly and build trust through transparency and accountability.

In this episode, Suvianna shares her journey from law and logic to leadership and learning, the founding of a volunteer-led movement that’s now partnering with IBM and the European Commission and her mission to make AI a force for good and growth.

Key takeaways from the episode include:
• Trust is the ultimate currency in AI.
• Why ethics must sit at the centre of innovation.
• The challenges and rewards of building a global volunteer community.
• How to balance entrepreneurial energy with self-care and boundaries.
• The importance of pausing to reflect on what you’re trying to achieve.
• Balancing optimism with realism – “We overestimate what we can achieve in one year but underestimate what’s possible in five”

This is a refreshingly human conversation about purpose, passion and practical ethics in the age of AI.

Suvianna Grecu:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/suvianna-grecu
AI for Change Foundation: aifcf.org
DevCraft Agency: devcraftagency.com

Trevor:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevormerriden/
Merriborn: https://merriborn.co.uk/
Email: trevor.merriden@merribornmedia.co.uk