Will AI Kill The Non-Technical Founder? | Barney Hussey-Yeo, Cleo

From state-school beginnings in Sheffield to building one of Europe’s leading consumer AI companies, Cleo’s Barney Hussey-Yeo has spent the last decade redefining how people interact with money. We sat down with Barney to discuss his journey from data scientist to founder, the evolution of AI assistants, and what it takes to build a profitable, mission-driven fintech with personality. https://web.meetcleo.com/ Timestamps: 0:00 — Barney's journey into entrepreneurship 3:18 — Entrepreneur First as an accelerator 4:55 — Early ambition, risk taking and self-belief 7:06 — Why personal finance and AI assistants was the right bet 9:33 — Making chatbots work before ChatGPT existed 14:31 — How Cleo stays fast at 400 people 19:42 — How Cleo’s technology has evolved over 10 years 25:40 — What’s new in Cleo today (voice, reasoning, agents) 30:45 — Being a technical CEO 33:27 — Why consumer AI is underfunded 35:15 — The next big thing for Cleo 38:00 — The scale and impact of Cleo today Listen and subscribe on all podcast platforms – Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3bee... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/19e... Find and follow us – Website: https://www.balderton.com & https://wellbeing.balderton.com/ LinkedIn:   / balderton