MyMentor Spotlight: Dylan Pugh

Dylan Pugh, UK Founder & Director of Pomodo, a sports and lifestyle podcast publisher, originally from Ammanford, now based in London

Embarking on an entrepreneurial journey...

Having started life off as a professional rugby player, I quickly realised that wasn’t going to be a long-term career for me, so transitioned into the business world and have worked in the digital media industry for 16 years. Having spent the last six- and-a-half years working at Spotify, in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic I decided to set-up my own sports podcast company called Pomodo, which I am now fully-focused on building into a big force in the podcast world!

This was the first time that I had started a business, so I really felt that I could benefit from the wisdom and experience of someone who'd been on the journey already. The appeal of a mentor to help me through the new challenges and processes was a big one. I had never had a formal mentor before, but with such a big life-changing leap ahead of me, I wanted to seek the help, guidance and advice of someone who had been there done that - and that could help guide me along this journey ahead.

Seeking and finding a mentor match...

I had been a member of GlobalWelsh for some time and aware of the new MyMentor programme so for me it was the obvious place to start looking. There are a lot of successful business people from Wales and I hoped that there could be someone well-suited to my needs. I was introduced to Dave Dean, a founder and owner of multiple businesses based in Wales. The appeal for me was that not all his businesses were successful - and he was very open and upfront about that - so there was an opportunity to learn from not only from his successes but from his mistakes and failures too. On the first online call with Dave, we got on very well - he is a very personable, down-to-earth and straight-talking character and clearly won’t just tell me what I want to hear - which I really appreciate. I wanted to be challenged. His background as a professional coach really helped too - in giving me clarity on my vision and being clear on why I was doing this.

Getting things off the ground...

Dave and I initially met every 2 weeks (virtually) for one hour. Things were moving so fast with my business and I was so involved in the day-to-day, that these sessions with Dave really helped me take a step-back, think of the wider picture, whilst also reminding me and advising me on some of the basic administrative aspects of a start-up. We now meet once a month, now that things are a bit more stable with the business. Some meetings are me telling him about my challenges and him helping me solve them. Sometimes, if I don’t have any particular challenges for him to help with, I just talk him through what we are doing and what our plans are and invite him to pick holes, question things and have an open chat - because he realises it is a lonely place being a new start-up founder (especially in lockdown!), so having someone to chat to is very valuable.

I would strongly recommend others to sign up for the MyMentor scheme - even if you are not about to go through a seismic change such as starting a new business. I’m sure there are many mentor schemes out there, but I didn’t know where to start - and having someone being endorsed and trusted by GlobalWelsh gives me the confidence that I am in good hands. Plus, having not lived in Wales for nearly 20 years now, it is nice to keep connected where possible.