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40 Minute MentorAuthor: JBM, James Mitra
40 Minute Mentor is on a mission to raise aspirations and inspire the next generation of category-defining Founders, through powerful career stories and inspirational mentorship. From purpose-led Founders to Olympic champions; learn first-hand from todays successful leaders on what it takes to be brilliant, all in just 40 minutes. 40 Minute Mentor is one of the UKs top Business and Careers podcasts and can be found on all popular podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts and Stitcher. Language: en Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Going back to zero - what it really takes to reinvent a business from the inside with Sujata Bhatia (ex-Monzo COO & Index Ventures)
Episode 314
Tuesday, 4 August, 2026
In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Sujata Bhatia, former COO of Monzo and Executive in Residence at Index Ventures, for an honest conversation about what it actually takes to step into a business at its toughest moment and rebuild it from the inside. Sujata joined Monzo in 2020, when the company was burning £10 million a month, had seen its founder step back, and hadn't shipped a new product in nearly a year. Over five years, she helped take it from a loss-making challenger bank with 3 million customers to a profitable business with over 11 million. In this episode, we dive into the real story of refounding Monzo, the momentum killers that quietly slow scaling companies down, why she believes going back into founder mode is increasingly relevant for any business navigating AI, and why setting out to hire a COO is almost always the wrong starting point. Episode Chapters: ➡️ Sujata’s career story & why she joined Monzo [01:50] ➡️ Defining what ‘winning’ looks like [03:00] ➡️ Going back into Founder mode [08:00] ➡️ Hiring, raising the bar and knowing when to move on [18:40] ➡️ The COO role & what makes it actually work [27:30] Enjoyed this episode?Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review.
