The Dating App Founder | 8M members | Bootstrapped startup with a team of 50+ | Co-founder & COO of Inner Circle | Follow for insights on business, leadership and relationships

Co-founder of dating app Inner Circle — a global community where people with similar lifestyles meet. No games. No endless swiping. Just real people, genuinely worth dating.

Built from the ground up without external funding, Inner Circle now connects over 8 million people across the world, through shared lifestyles, intentional design and a belief that opposites don’t attract.

Currently every 4 seconds 2 people meet through Inner Circle.

keen to meet your match?
try the app with code MK2024 for a month of premium access.

Follow me for honest insights about work, life and love.

Looking for stars to join the team, check out the careers page: www.about.theinnercircle.co/careers. 

About me: 
I believe no strategy is better than its execution. 
My scope includes:
🏆 Hiring and developing winning teams 
✅ Alignment and execution driven by OKRs
🚀 Marketing that drives growth with ROI
🥾 Data to accelerate experiments that move the needle
🍸 Advisor and angel

In 2025, I stepped back into marketing as COO CMO. Content is the most powerful lever for any brand, so I started posting here to understand what makes it tick, share my learnings and lead my team better.

Michael Krayenhoff

Reminder for managers:

Your new hire’s failure is your failure.

One of the biggest mistakes companies make...
is not setting new hires up for success.

You can’t expect people to “hit the ground running”...
if you never put them in the race.

If they fail in their first 3 months,
it’s not their fault.
It’s yours.

Because great onboarding isn’t just a process.


It’s training.
It’s preparation.
It’s sharing knowledge.
It’s building relationships.
It’s learning what good looks like.

Managers don’t just hire talent...
they shape it.

Set people up to win,
and they’ll make your whole team stronger.

♻ Repost to remind others that leadership starts with day one.
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on business, leadership and careers

People won’t remember what you said,

But they will remember how you treated them.

The best leaders don’t just manage tasks,

They connect with people.

And empathy is their most powerful tool.

✅ It’s how you earn trust.
✅ Diffuse conflict.
✅ Build loyalty.

And lead with heart, not ego.

Here are 15 Ways to Lead With Empathy:
(That Your Team Won’t Forget)

1/ Flex when life gets messy
↳ Be adaptable and offer options when life takes over.

2/ Listen to what isn’t being said
↳ Watch body language, mood shifts, and what’s left out.

3/ Make it safe to say “I don’t know”
↳ Reward curiosity and remove fear from learning.

4/ Stay steady when emotions run high
↳ Help to stabilize uncertainty and guide people back to the goal..

5/ Give people grace when they make mistakes
↳ Use errors as coaching moments, not moments for judgment.

6/ Ask “How can I support you?” and mean it
↳ Let them define what support looks like. Then step up.

7/ Lead with transparency in hard moments
↳ Share context honestly. Don’t leave people in the dark.

8/ Give feedback that grows, not shames
↳ Be direct, but kind. Critique behaviors, not people.

9/ Ask them how they’re really feeling
↳ Go beyond work and show you’re invested enough to listen.

10/ Listen without fixing or finishing
↳ Don’t rush to solve, but give people room to learn and grow.

11/ Support the person, not just the performer
↳ Check in when they struggle not just when they shine.

12/ Model positive boundaries and respect theirs
↳ Don’t glorify burnout, but lead with respect and boundaries..

13/ Make space for quieter voices
↳ Invite input early rather than letting the loudest dominate. 

14/ Act before they have to ask
↳ Anticipate needs and pay attention to signals.

15/ Praise progress, not just perfection
↳ Recognize the progress people make - not just the end result.

16/ Defend people when they’re not in the room
↳ Speak up when it counts. Loyalty is leadership.

17/ Speak to their potential, not just performance
↳ Reflect back the future you see in them regularly.

Let me know below 👇 

♻ Repost this to help your network.
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on business, leadership and careers.

Power moves get tasks done.
Care moves people forward.
That’s the real scoreboard of leadership.

But it’s also the part most leaders overlook.

They chase performance.
Defend their image.
Micromanage the process.

But legacy doesn’t live in your CV.
It lives in the people who have worked beside you.

Want to build the kind of leadership people remember?
Start with these 10: 

1/ Protect people’s energy
↳ Respect workload. Notice burnout. Make space to breathe.

2/ Listen with intent
↳ Not to fix. Not to reply. Just to truly understand.

3/ Notice quiet effort
↳ The loudest voice isn’t always the one carrying the weight.

4/ Remove the ego
↳ The team wins when credit is shared and blame is absorbed.

5/ Be the same person every day
↳ Stability builds trust. Emotional swings erode it.

6/ Give trust early
↳ Ownership starts when people feel believed in.

7/ Ask better questions
↳ Good leadership isn’t about answers, it’s about curiosity.

8/ Celebrate progress, not perfection
↳ Consistency matters more than flawless performance.

9/ Step in before things break
↳ Don’t wait for a mess to show leadership. Prevent it.

10/ Grow people quietly
↳ No micromanaging. No spotlight. Just steady belief and stretch.

Because in the end,

No one talks about your job title.
They talk about how they felt under your leadership.

Seen.
Safe.
Trusted.
Stretched.

That’s the legacy people carry.

Which one of these do you wish more leaders practiced?
Drop your thoughts below 👇

♻ Repost to raise the bar for leadership.
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on business, leadership and careers.

Founder of Warner Bros. backed studio, Bright Little Labs ⚡️ Author of Agent Asha spy books ⚡️ Kids ⚡️ Coding ⚡️ AI ⚡️ Entrepreneurship ⚡️ Really good stories

I'm Sophie Deen, founder of Bright Little Labs, author of the award-winning Agent Asha children's book series, and advisor on UK AI and technology policy.

Backed by Warner Bros Discovery, Bright Little Labs is a children's media studio focused on essential 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, digital literacy, and creative problem-solving. Our flagship spy series, Agent Asha, follows an 11-year-old super-hacker working for the Children's Spy Agency, whose motto  - ‘Think for Yourself, Question Everything – underlies my educational philosophy.

I've led initiatives with the UK's Department for Education and Google, introducing the computing curriculum to primary schools nationwide, and previously directed strategy at two deep tech startups—one now part of Cisco, the other listed on the Stock Exchange.

Recognised as Creative Industries Entrepreneur of the Year and regularly featured among Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in UK IT, I deliver international keynotes and workshops on raising future-ready children, being a creative entrepreneur and responsible technology use.

I'm passionate about empowering kids to become creators, not just consumers, of their world and the technology that shapes it. If that interests you too, please get in touch or learn more at sophiedeen.com.

Sophie Deen

The world needs 44 million more teachers by 2030. Google’s solution?

I just read Google’s 28-page paper on AI in education.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁:

Global test scores have fallen for 2 decades

272m children still have no school access

Most countries run on a fraction of US education funding

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀:

𝟭. 𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀.

❌ It won't revolutionise learning overnight
❌ It can't solve inequality on its own

𝟮. 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵

The question isn’t AI vs teachers
It’s how to free them to do the job they signed up for.
Not admin, grading or bureaucracy. 
Inspiring, connecting, guiding thinking.

𝟯. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

Test AI against real learning science.
Not just “does it get the answer right?”
But: “does it manage cognitive load, deepen metacognition, and adapt to the learner?”

𝟯. 𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

❓Is the power of tutoring about connection or content?

❓ How do balance AI supporting thinking vs replacing it?

❓ How do we stop AI supercharing the top 5% only?

❓ What do we teach when we don’t know what jobs will exist?

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀

Faster answers and better exam grades aren't better education.

Especially if we're testing for learning by rote.

And not testing for life skills.

Which are only getting more and more important in the future.

So yes, AI is very exciting in education.

But it depends on our global/national education goals - otherwise we're moving faster to the wrong destination.

Swipe for the highlights of Google report 👉

What do you think: will AI help education, or hollow it out? Comment below, I read every one 👇

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

Warner Bros-backed founder | Serial innovator | AI, tech & education | Former DfE/Google advisor on UK computing curriculum | Award-winning kids author

AI in education

Parenting today comes with a new kind of panic...

We know more than any generation before us.

There are books, podcasts, reels experts, frameworks.

Great, right?

But sometimes the more I learn, the more I worry:

❌ “Have I already messed this up?” 
❌ “Is it too late to undo this?”

So I LOVED learning about science behind repair.

Attachment researchers call it
“𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿”.

We don’t need to be perfect parents.

We just need to know what to do when we mess up.

Studies show it’s the repair that builds secure attachment:

✅ Naming what happened
✅ Taking responsibility
✅ Reconnecting

And it’s never too late to do that (phew!)

Tiny shifts in how we respond can rewire safety, trust and connection.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿
(even if it’s years later)

1️⃣ Notice the “I wish I’d done that differently” feeling
→ That pang is your repair cue.
→ It can be 10 minutes or 10 years ago.

2️⃣ Open the moment
→ “I’ve been thinking about something that happened…”
→ Name what happened, simply.
→ No “but you…” type caveats

3️⃣ Take responsibility
→ “That wasn’t OK.”
→ “You didn’t deserve that.”
→ “This was my mistake, not yours.”

4️⃣ Validate their feelings
→ “It makes sense if that felt scary / unfair.”
→ “You weren’t too sensitive.”
→ “Your feelings made sense.”

5️⃣ Reconnect and look ahead
→ “I’m working on doing this differently.”
→ “Next time I’ll pause instead of shouting.”

If you feel like you’ve stayed on the wrong train too long,

you can still get off at the next stop.

Start where you are.

Name the moment.

Reconnect.

Your child doesn’t need a perfect parent.

They need a parent who keeps coming back.

👇 How do you repair? Comment below

🍰 If this resonated, share it with a parent who’s trying their best.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

PS. If you’re interested to learn more, look up Ed Tronick’s work on “rupture and repair” and Dan Siegel’s 4 S’s of secure attachment (Safe, Seen, Soothed, Secure).

The UK curriculum just changed for the first time in a decade.

Here’s the version parents actually need.

TLDR:
➔ Media literacy added in primary
➔ EBacc scrapped
➔ New oracy framework introduced
➔ AI guidance promised, but years away

I’ve broken the update down into:
– what’s genuinely new
– what’s missing
– and what it means for our kids growing up in an AI world.

Swipe for the breakdown 👉 

And let me know what you think...

Does this feel like the right direction for the next decade of education?

🍰 If this helped, share it with a parent or educator.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

The New UK Curriculum

You will never detect AI in homework. 
Full stop.

All 'detectors' are unreliable, beatable, and fundamentally doomed.

Schools must assume any take-home work can (and will) use AI.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗷 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 

Former OpenAI researcher 

𝗛𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸

𝗪𝗵𝘆?

1️⃣ Schools will never reliably detect AI in homework.

2️⃣ AI detectors “don’t work” and are “doomed to fail.”

3️⃣ Google’s Gemini Nano Banana Pro can now solve exam questions on the page itself - diagrams, doodles, handwriting and all.

4️⃣ So grading needs to move back into classrooms, where teachers can monitor students.

5️⃣ Let kids use AI at home, but ensure they can still think without it.

6️⃣ AI is like a calculator: powerful, fast, but still needs human verification.

7️⃣ Evaluation needs range: no-tools tests, open-book tests, AI-assisted tasks, all of it.

AI is sprinting ahead while schools are standing still.

𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀:

𝟭. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗜
𝟮. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶

This shift is coming whether we’re ready or not.

👉 Swipe for the 7 shifts schools can’t ignore.

What do you think, should schools embrace AI or restrict it? Comment below 👇


🍰 If you found this useful, share with other parents in your network 

Save this post for later!

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

Kids should use AI for homework

A friend asked me what skill matters most for her 8-year-old's future.

Not coding.
Not Mandarin.
Not even critical thinking.
(I don't say that lightly!)

It's the ability to teach themselves anything.

Knowledge is NOT dead.

AI isn’t a magic fix for everything.

But it *has* put an entire universe of knowledge at our fingertips.

The bottleneck isn’t access to information anymore.

It's curiosity.
It's knowing how to ask questions.
It's wanting to figure things out.

Formal education will matter less and less.
Self-education will matter more and more.

Our job isn't to teach your child everything.

It's to help them become the kind of person who teaches themselves.

👉 Swipe for 5 tried and tested ways to raise kids who can teach themselves.

🍰 If this resonated, share it to help parents in your network

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

5 ways to raise kids who teach themselves

Australia just did what every parent wishes their government would do...

They've banned under-16s from social media.

Or as they describe it - "behavioural cocaine"

The video below is the transcript from the Minister for Communications.

It explains the thinking behind the decision.

A few lines stood out to me:

➜ Teen addiction wasn’t a bug. 
➜ It was a design feature.
➜ 7/10 Aussie kids are being harmed online
➜ Jonathan Haidt called this “the most important child-safety law of the internet age.”

The best bit is this - 

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗴𝘂𝘆.

"𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘄" 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵, 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 "𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗼"

👇 What do you think? Do you want to the Government to ban it? Comment below.

🍰 If you found this useful, share with other parents and educators in your network 

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

The future is going to feel stranger than any of us expect. Here are 47 reasons why.

Greg Isenberg just dropped his predictions for 2026, and they’re sharp, strange, unsettling and weirdly plausible...

- Instant new eps of your fave show based on your mood
- Entire media companies run autonomously
- “AI-free” becoming the new luxury label
- Analog objects as the ultimate status symbol
- Keyboards retiring

👉 Swipe for the full breakdown. 

👇 What do you think will happen with AI next year? Comment below.

🍰 If you found this useful, share with others in your network 

And if you don't already, follow Greg Isenberg and sign up to his newsletter - it's great.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

47 AI Predictions for 2026

The most underrated skill for Gen Alpha?

Rational optimism.

Kids today see a constant feed of crisis.

Their world looks chaotic, hopeless, out of control.

And obviously - I don't have a crystal ball.
Maybe things are getting worse - 
Maybe they're not....
That's not what this post is about.

What we do know:

Only 15% of Gen Z call their mental health 'excellent'.

A decade ago it was 52%.

(Gallup, 2023)

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼?

Teach them:
1. That problems have solutions.
2. That humans work it out.

Matt Ridley calls this rational optimism.

👉 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟱 𝗸𝗶𝗱-𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸.

Things you can talk about at home, at any age, so your children can feel hopeful and focus on problems vs being totally overwhelmed by the news etc.

👇 Are your kids optimistic? What do you notice? Share below?

🍰 If this helped, share it with a parent or educator.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

The Radical Optimist - Kids Edition

Childhood is changing in one subtle but massive way....

My toddler:

- Chats to people in shops

- Holds strangers’ hands on the bus

- Waits excitedly for our rubbish collectors on a Wednesday

These aren’t small moments.

They’re how she learns 

✔️ language
✔️boundaries
✔️ empathy
✔️confidence.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝘆.

But we're designing a world that's efficient, automated, and incredibly convenient - and also quieter, more transactional, surprisingly low in real humans.

In the not too distant future, this might be normal:

~ No shop assistants. 
~ No receptionists. 
~ Automated deliveries. 
~ AI and robots at almost every touchpoint.

𝗜𝗳 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁?

And what rises in its place?

It's something we need to start talking about.

👉 Swipe for 5 ways this shift could shape the next generation

🍰 If you found this useful, share with other parents and educators in your network 

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

Human interaction is becoming elite

Your child won't naturally lift others up.

But they can learn.

We tell kids to share,
be kind,
help others shine.

But as anyone with a toddler knows
it's not automatic.
Collaboration is a skill.

And the research is pretty clear on how to teach it.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:

1. Model it yourself
2. Give tiny shared-goal tasks
3. Teach the micro-skills of helping
4. Praise the action, not the trait
5. Reflect on lifting others up 

👉 Swipe for the 7 science-backed ways to raise kids who lift others up.

👇 What's worked for you? Comment below.

🍰 If this helped, share it with a parent or educator.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

I'm Sophie Deen, I write about raising 21st-century kids and creative entrepreneurship. Sign up for my newsletter at www.sophiedeen.com

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The Battle

Michael Krayenhoff

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Engagements

Likes

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