Episode keywords:

Charities, social enterprises, cross-sector partnerships, serial co-founder, networking, relationships.

Episode description:

Ever dreamt of striking an audacious partnership, but held back because you thought it was too bold?

In this episode, we welcome Oli Barrett, a serial co-founder whose remarkable journey has seen him setting up impactful social purpose initiatives, from startups to collaborations with renowned global brands and governments. Oli’s story is a testament to the power of entrepreneurial spirit and innovative partnerships.

This episode is packed with practical advice and strategies for anyone looking to build partnerships and network effectively. Oli divulges his top tips for networking, which include making audacious moves like cold-calling some of the world’s leading ad agencies. He also shares wisdom on building credibility swiftly, crafting personalized emails, and setting triggers to avoid overwhelming people with information. This enlightening conversation is a must-listen for anyone aspiring to enhance their networking skills and bring their ideas to life.

But Oli doesn’t just build connections – he nurtures them. He shares his experiences of joining organizations, hosting events, and creating a network in various sectors. You’ll hear about his favourite techniques for maintaining professional relationships, including sending useful content and organizing gatherings. Plus, he sheds light on how to balance between different sectors and specialisms in a career while maintaining your network. Oli’s journey, insights, and lessons are a treasure trove of inspiration and practical guidance, sure to ignite ideas and strategies for addressing social challenges and realizing your vision.

Resources:

Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People

Build a Better Network, the 12 part audio course developed by Oli with guest contributors. Oli has kindly offered all listeners a 20% discount – use the code BABN20 – and there is also a scholarship scheme, which charities can take up to offer the course for free to their beneficiaries or you can access it if you find yourself out of work. E-mail the team at mail@olibarrett.com to take up the scholarship offer.

Episode transcript:

You can access the transcript for this episode here. It is AI generated and not 100% perfect but I think it is good enough to follow the conversation. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resource to manually make the corrections. 

Oli Barrett MBE – Connector, Co-Founder and Presenter

Oli Barrett is a serial co-founder who enjoys making useful connections between people and ideas. He created Tenner, the UK’s largest schools enterprise challenge, in which over 250,000 pupils have made money and made a difference in a month, starting with just ten pounds. He co-founded Volunteer It Yourself (VIY), the social venture, which has helped thousands of young people to fix their own youth clubs. He is also the founder of TOTS (Turn on the Subtitles), the children’s literacy campaign.

He co-founded The Rainmakers (an innovation and incubation company) in 2004, which continues to operate out of San Francisco. From 2008, he co-created and led eleven international trade missions (including WebMission and the Clean and Cool Mission), to help companies succeed overseas. In 2011, he co-founded StartUp Britain, launched by the British Prime Minister and funded by the private sector. The campaign led to the creation of PitchUp Britain (with John Lewis and Sainsbury’s) and PopUp Britain, with the opening of shops around the UK.

Oli can often be found chairing and hosting events including the flagship events for the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, The ScaleUp Institute, London Tech week and Silicon Valley Comes to the UK. He is also a regular interviewer (filmed and audio) for a range of clients. There’s more about Oli and his work Olibarrett.com, LinkedIn, Twitter,  Build a Better Network, and Turn On The Subtitles.