Dan Murray-Serter 🧠

Co-Founder of Heights I Angel Investor | Over 100 Startups I Follow For Daily Posts on Health, Business & Personal growth from UK’s #1 ranked health creator (apparently)

Serial entrepreneur and Angel investor in 100+ startups with over 10 years experience starting, scaling and failing multiple startups.

Co Founder of Heights - Europe's leading brain and gut health company.

I also started and help run Foundrs - A not for profit community of the best, most ambitious and compassionate founders in UK.

I recently stepped away from Leaders Media - A media company making the top business podcasts in Europe, Secret Leaders - at the top of the charts, to focus on much more important things with my time - being a dad to 2 awesome daughters.

Angel/Advisor

Beam (www.beam.org)
ATAI Life Sciences (https://www.atai.life)
Allplants (www.allplants.com)
Humanity (https://humanity.health)
BYP (www.byp-network.com)
Goss (https://www.goss.media)
Tribe VR (www.tribevr.io)
Thrift (www.wearethrift.com)
THIS (www.this.co)
The Sports Edit (www.thesportsedit.com)
Faction (www.factionskis.com)
Runway East (http://runwayea.st/)
London Union/Dinerama (http://londonunion.com/)
Neardesk (https://www2.neardesk.com/)


Tailored.to (https://tailored.to/)
Motivii (http://motivii.com/)
Earlybird (https://earlybird.fm/)
Upshot (http://www.upshotapp.co/)
Togethera (www.togethera.com)
Repairly (www.repairly.co.uk)
Zaboo (www.zabooapp.com)
Lissom (www.lissom.com)
Bloom (www.hellobloom.io)

Dan Murray

Too many leaders still fear being “outshined” by smarter people on their teams.

That’s backwards.

The best leaders don’t aim to be the smartest person in the room. They aim to build the smartest room possible.

Here’s the reality:

- A team full of people who only know what you know will never surpass you
- Hiring people smarter than you creates leverage, not competition
- Growth comes from surrounding yourself with people who stretch your thinking, challenge your assumptions, and bring ideas you’d never imagine

It takes humility to admit you don’t have all the answers. But humility isn’t weakness-it’s the foundation of strength.

I’ve learned the leaders who fear smarter colleagues usually struggle with ego. The leaders who thrive? They welcome it. Because they know:

- Smarter teammates = faster progress
- Different perspectives = fewer blind spots
- Bigger talent = bigger results

Stop guarding your title. Start curating your circle.

True leadership isn’t about being the brightest mind. It’s about creating the conditions where the brightest minds can do their best work-together.

If you want to grow, stop fearing smarter people. Start hiring them.

Question for you:
Do you intentionally surround yourself with people who outshine you in certain areas-or do you default to comfort?

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♻️ Repost this if you think it can help someone in your network!

🖐️ P.S Join my newsletter The Science Of Success where I break down stories and studies of success to teach you how to turn it from probability to predictability here: https://lnkd.in/d9TnkzdH

One thing I’ve learned after building multiple teams: the most valuable people are rarely the loudest.

They’re the ones who quietly upskill when no one’s watching.

You can’t teach that level of internal drive.
You can’t force someone to care about their growth more than the company requires.

That has to come from within.

And from a neuroscience perspective, people who self-educate build something incredibly powerful:
a plastic brain.

Every new skill, every book, every online course, it all strengthens their neural pathways for adaptability, problem - solving, and creative thinking.

Those traits compound.

They become faster learners.
Better decision-makers.
More resourceful under pressure.
And over time, they outgrow people who rely only on formal training.

When I hire, I look for curiosity.
Not credentials.
Not polished answers.
Curiosity.

Because someone who reads, experiments, builds, tinkers, or studies on their own time will eventually outpace almost everyone else.
They don’t wait to be told what to learn.
They choose it.

And that choice is what makes them dangerous, in the best way possible.

If you’re that person, keep going.
Even if no one notices right now.
Your effort is compounding quietly.
You’ll feel the gap before anyone else sees it.

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Follow me Dan Murray for more on habits and leadership.

♻️ Repost this if you think it can help someone in your network!

🖐️ P.S Join my newsletter The Science Of Success where I break down stories and studies of success to teach you how to turn it from probability to predictability here: https://lnkd.in/d9TnkzdH

100-year-old productivity hack. Still works. Still simple.

1918. Charles Schwab runs Bethlehem Steel. Hires productivity consultant Ivy Lee. Lee's offer: give me 15 minutes with each executive, pay me what it's worth in 3 months. 3 months later, Schwab writes a cheque for $25,000, equivalent to $400,000 today. The method was that effective.

The Ivy Lee Method. Five steps. At the end of each workday, write down the 6 most important tasks for tomorrow. Not 7, not 10, six. Rank them in order of true importance. Tomorrow morning, start with task 1, work until complete. Move to task 2, then 3, one at a time in order. Unfinished tasks move to tomorrow's list. Repeat daily.

Why 6 tasks? Forces prioritisation. With unlimited tasks, everything feels important, nothing gets done. Six is manageable, ambitious but achievable.

Why rank them? Most people work on whatever feels urgent or easy. Ranking forces you to confront true importance. Task 1 should be the thing that, if completed alone, makes tomorrow successful.

Why one task at a time? Multitasking is a myth. Task switching reduces productivity by 40%. Takes 23 minutes to regain focus after interruption. Doing one thing until complete equals deep work.

Why plan the night before? Decision fatigue compounds throughout the day. By 4pm, decision-making quality is 40% worse than 9am. Planning tonight means decisions made when not depleted. Wake up, no decision required, just execute task 1.

Six tasks, ranked, one at a time. Decide tonight, execute tomorrow.

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Follow me Dan Murray for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

The Ivy Lee Method 100-Year-Old Productivity Hack 

Opportunities rarely arrive directly.
They move through conversations you’re not in.
Decisions made without you present.
Rooms you never see.

That’s why who you build relationships with matters more than how loudly you promote yourself.

The people who open doors are the ones who trust you enough to bring your name up when it counts. Not because you asked. But because your character, consistency, and competence made it easy for them to do so.

This isn’t about networking harder.
It’s about being reliable.
Doing good work quietly.
Treating people well when there’s nothing to gain.

Reputation travels faster than resumes.
And long before opportunity finds you, it finds your name.

Choose your people carefully.
-------------------------------------------------

Follow me Dan Murray for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

Helping entrepreneurs use public speaking to build their brand | Public Speaking Coach | Author of Make It Count | Former COO and TEDxClapham Founder

Why is it, that some people get away with breaking every public speaking rule in the book, yet we still want to listen to what they’ve got to say? 

If there’s one thing I've learned working with some of the most successful leaders of our generation, it’s that there is a big difference between having an idea and being able to communicate it.

That is what turns big thinkers into thought leaders.

As a leader, speaking is an important part of your life. You’ve got to cast a vision, inspire your team, and influence stakeholders. Yet, so many have never paid any attention to the one tool that has the power to unlock even more. 

Your voice.

---

I've spent the last 10 years helping people like you unlock the true potential of your ideas so they get the credibility and respect they deserve.

Public speaking isn't something that's come naturally to me. I've had to hard work at it and have seen first-hand the power of being able to communicate ideas well. 

I've used public speaking to build a business from 4-250 people. Then I founded TEDxClapham and the talks I've worked on since have turned those who delivered them into the go-to people for their subject matter.

⚡️ 15 million views and counting 
⚡️ £310m+ raised  
⚡️ Government legislation changed

I'm brought in by organisations like Adobe, Bloomberg, WeTransfer, Mastercard and Amazon to do the same for them.

Your work is only as good as your ability to communicate it. The earlier you can start, the more impact you'll have.

---

Ways to work with me:   
🚀 Scale-up Founders (£20m+ valuation): Work with me 121
🎤 Solopreneurs, thought leaders and keynote speakers: Apply to join MicDrop
🧠 Organisations: Book me to deliver a workshop or keynote for your team

Enquire here: https://calendly.com/d/cp53-tkn-tm3

Alex Merry

You'll never say it exactly how you want (and that's ok). 

Accepting this is the difference between... 👇

❌ A talk that feels like a memory test
✅ A talk that fees like a conversation

This is why what you choose to do in the 5 minutes before your talk is so important.

It's what will help you get V3 as close as possible to V4. 

---

Instead of rehearsing our lines, we should be reminding ourselves: 

1. WHO we are doing this for 👥
↳ It's always about our audience, never about ourselves.

2. Why this message matters today 👇
↳ If it doesn’t feel urgent to us, it won’t to them.

3. HOW we want them to feel ❤️‍🔥
↳ Pin it down to a single emotion

4. What we want them to walk away with 💡
↳ Your message is their destination

and most importantly of all, that:

5. When we mess up 🤭
↳ It gives our audience a glimpse into who we really are. (And that is precious).

THIS is what clarity and confidence feel like.

If you're giving a presentation this week, you could do a lot worse than reminding yourself of just one of these things before you're passed the mic.

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♻️ Repost if you found this useful and follow Alex Merry for tips on how to communicate BIG ideas

If it wasn't for many of the people in this room, my business wouldn't have made it 18 months...👇

So when a text came through from Dan Murray few weeks back asking if I'd drop everything for two days to come and give a talk, I jumped at the opportunity.

In fact, I paid to be there.
Just like everyone else.

No special treatment for speakers. 
A very unpopular take these days - not every speaking op has to be transactional.

Why? 

Because generosity is at the heart of what it is to be a Foundr.

I count myself extremely lucky to be a member (not least because I'm punching and I probably wouldn't get in by today's selection criteria).

But also because my experience as a member has shaped so much of how we've built MicDrop. 

The values, the culture and the way we show up for each other - so much of it has come from watching Foundrs do it first.

So thank you Foundrs for everything - 7 years in and you're still showing me how it's done 🙏.

I'm taking to the stage at Ideas Fest Encore next Wednesday. The topic...?


Ideas that Land: Communication Secrets of the 1%. 

It's for anyone who's:
1. Fed up with speaking into the void 🔇
2. Realised their message has gone stale 🥱
3. Done with playing it safe 💡

I've spent the last decade studying communication outliers and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's a big difference between having a great idea and being able to communicate it. 

The 1%? 

They break every rule in the book.
It's why we can't stop listening.

In the session, I'll be sharing the fundamental principles that will change the way you communicate your ideas forever. So you can lead with: 

1. Original thinking 💡
2. Personality 🫶
3. Vision 🔮

The way you were always meant to.

---

MicDrop is hosting the Think Tank stage at Ideas Fest this year. 

This session is going to be the perfect warm up for some of the unbelievable thought leaders we'll be showcasing. 

The details: 
📆 Wednesday 18th March 11am-11pm
🗺️ Babel Beerhouse, King's Cross, London

If you haven't got your ticket yet (it's free), but you'd like to come along: https://lnkd.in/eCPdTiez

If you're already coming and would like to book into my session (I've been told spaces are already limited): https://lnkd.in/er3gSUBS

The fastest way to build trust with any audience is with 4 magic words...👇

'I got this wrong.'

And yet, most of us spend the opening sections of our talks, workshops, podcasts:

❌ Reeling off our achievements 
❌ Name-dropping clients
❌ Playing the status game

It's almost as if we're trying to convince ourselves as much as our audiences...

---

Credibility is a funny thing.

The more we try to impress an audience, the less impressive we appear. 

If the audience wasn't interested in what we have to say, they wouldn't be in the room - we've already got their good will. 

---

Ernesto Sirolli understood this - notice how he: 

𝟭.  𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 💬
↳  "Everything I do professionally, my whole life, has been shaped by 7 years working as a young man in Africa."

𝟮. 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 🎭
↳ 'Every single project we set up in Africa failed. I was distraught. At 21, I thought we Italians were good people doing good work. Instead, everything we touched, we killed.'

𝟯. 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮 '𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝗽, 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻' 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗰 📈📉
↳ The higher the expectation, the harder the fall.

𝟰. 𝗗𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 ⚡️
↳ And that's why it's so powerful.

𝟱. 𝗧𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲 🙂
↳ And it didn't diminish the important point he was trying to make - fun is a trojan horse. 

𝟲. 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 🍅
↳ A masterclass in physicality.

𝟳. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 🎯
↳ So we remember it.

---

Inspired by this clip, we've just opened the call for speakers for our next MicDrop member event: Rethink Talks.

The challenge? To share a moment you got it wrong and how it changed the way you think about your work.

12 speakers, 3 minutes each.
All talks professionally filmed and photographed.

Then we head to dinner with curated tables at local restaurants.  

---

MicDrop is my community for thought leaders who speak. Our doors will open again in June. Head to the bio to join the 12 others already on waitlist.   

P.s. Members: You have two days left to enter the speaker ballot!

1% communicators change the way people think and feel.

Here's how they do it...👇

Communication is a game of psychology. Our job is to: 

✅ Meet the audience where they're at. 
✅ Leave them somewhere that's useful and different.

I talked about this in my session at Ideas Fest Encore yesterday, but what I didn't talk about is the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

---

It's a cognitive bias that says: 'We think we understand the world 
far better than we actually do.'

High Confidence. Low competence.

And it maps out the exact journey that every audience needs to go on if you want to create change.

Here's how you can use the Dunning Kruger Effect to your advantage and create perspective-shifting presentations:

---

𝟭. 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 '𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱' 🤣
↳ By acknowledging their pre-existing beliefs and feelings (n.b. your audience isn't stupid, but isn't the phrase wonderful?!)

💬 '𝘐 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵...'

𝟮. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿 🤔
↳ By challenging their pre-conceptions,

💬 '𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵...'

𝟯. 𝗢𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 💡
↳ By sharing your vision/reframe

💬 '𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘹, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺.'* 

[A very overused AI phrase now, but a useful sentence structure for clarity on your audience's journey]

𝟰. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘂 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 🌅
↳ With stories that bring your ideas to life.

💬 'I want to share three examples to demonstrate this...'

---

Most people skip the first step. Often because:

1. They don't understand their audience well enough. 
2. It feels risky to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
3. They're too focused on what they want to say.

And they lose the audience before they've even begun.

---

It's why we've spent the last 3 months building a tool called The Audience Whisperer.

The goal? To help thought leaders get inside the heads of their next audience, so their ideas can land 🎯.

We're putting the final touches on it now.
A couple more weeks. 

It'll be free, but we're limiting the first release to a small group.

If you'd like to be one of them, comment shhh and I'll get you the details.

---

P.s. Thanks to Frankie James, Olivia Lane, Tirion (Tiz) Wilson and  everyone who came along to my session yesterday - it was great to meet you all 🙏

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