Episode 18 - Hacking Luck, Making Founders with Stephanie Melodia
Stephanie Melodia brings more than a decade in the startup trenches to this conversation about why luck beats effort, why the more risk you take the luckier you get, and why founders should only take advice from people who have played the game. From screen printing T-shirts in the basement of an art school on Lanzarote to landing in London with no degree, no connections, and £900 a month, then building an award-winning marketing consultancy that served roughly 100 startups, Steph traces how hustle carried her a long way and then hit a ceiling.
Today she is Entrepreneur in Residence and MBA Advisor at Oneday, a keynote speaker whose signature talk Hacking Luck turns Nobel Prize-winning research into eight practical principles, host of the UK Top 20 business show Strategy & Tragedy, and a longtime VC scout for Ada Ventures. Her route from illustration to marketing to mentoring gives her a rare double exposure as founder and founder coach, the self-described professional big sister to the next generation. Essential listening for early stage founders, aspiring EIRs, and anyone rethinking what still gives humans an edge in the age of AI.
Chapters:
[00:00:00] Opening: The More Risk I Take, the Luckier I Get
[00:01:01] Oneday Colleagues Reunited: Meet Steph
[00:04:31] Screen Printing in the Art School Basement
[00:10:59] Lanzarote to London on £900 a Month
[00:17:26] Talent, Effort, or Luck?
[00:21:23] Craving Certainty and the AI Reset
[00:25:42] The More Risk You Take, the Luckier You Get
[00:28:49] Catching Waves: Players, Not Spectators
[00:34:38] Discovering the Entrepreneur in Residence
[00:37:48] The Professional Big Sister
[00:40:14] How Hacking Luck Became a Framework
[00:48:23] Eight Principles from Agency to Zagging
[00:51:53] Storytelling as a Superpower
[00:56:37] Sapiens: Why Storytelling Built Humanity
[01:00:37] When Luck Turns: The Cancelled Keynote
[01:07:39] EIR Live Exclusive: Rapper's Delight
[01:10:05] Connect with Steph
Key Takeaways:
- It is not the harder you work, the luckier you get. It is the more risk you take. Entrepreneurs' edge is the stomach to do what others will not, so ask yourself what risk you can take today, big or small.
- Effort beats talent, and luck beats effort. Kahneman's research shows luck has far more bearing on outcomes than we admit, because we crave certainty and control.
- Luck has eight learnable components. Four mindset principles (agency, openness, optimism, resilience) and four actions (risk, visibility, network, zagging) form a practical A to Z anyone can audit.
- Take advice from players, not spectators. Entrepreneurship is a contact sport, and mentors, programs, and coaches earn trust only if they have run the play themselves.
- Storytelling is the original competitive edge. From Sapiens to the keynote stage, the capacity to imagine and communicate is why humans are here and how founders move people.
Notable Quotes:
[00:26:09] "It's not the harder I work, the luckier I get. It's the more risk I take, the luckier I get." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:21:01] "Luck has much more of a bearing on our success or failure than we like to think." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:33:18] "You've got to be working with someone who's done it before, who has been a player on the field and not just a spectator of the sport." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:31:00] "I truly believe entrepreneurship is a contact sport. You have to be in the game." - Terrance Orr
[01:06:20] "It doesn't serve me to wallow, to complain. What serves me is to redirect my energy, redirect my focus, is to practice that optimism." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:26:09] "It's not the harder I work, the luckier I get. It's the more risk I take, the luckier I get." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:21:01] "Luck has much more of a bearing on our success or failure than we like to think." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:33:18] "You've got to be working with someone who's done it before, who has been a player on the field and not just a spectator of the sport." - Stephanie Melodia
[00:31:00] "I truly believe entrepreneurship is a contact sport. You have to be in the game." - Terrance Orr
[01:06:20] "It doesn't serve me to wallow, to complain. What serves me is to redirect my energy, redirect my focus, is to practice that optimism." - Stephanie Melodia
Organizations & Resources Mentioned:
Oneday: https://www.oneday.com
Ada Ventures: https://www.adaventures.com
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/
Daniel Kahneman: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/kahneman/facts/
Richard Wiseman, The Luck Factor: https://richardwiseman.com
SCARF Model, NeuroLeadership Institute: https://neuroleadership.com
Overton Window: https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow
Oneday: https://www.oneday.com
Ada Ventures: https://www.adaventures.com
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/
Daniel Kahneman: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/kahneman/facts/
Richard Wiseman, The Luck Factor: https://richardwiseman.com
SCARF Model, NeuroLeadership Institute: https://neuroleadership.com
Overton Window: https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow
🔗 Connect with Stephanie Melodia:
▪️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephmelodia-keynotespeaker/
▪️ Website: https://www.stephaniemelodia.com
▪️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephmelodia
🔗 Connect with EIR Live
▪️ Terrance Orr on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/terranceorr
▪️ Ilya Tabakh on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ilyatabakh
▪️ Website: eir.live
▪️ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/eirlive
▪️ YouTube: youtube.com/@EIRLive
▪️ X/Twitter: twitter.com/EIRLive_show
▪️ Suggest Guest - https://forms.gle/FQrBHoM3sU18gF3y8
▪️ Terrance Orr on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/terranceorr
▪️ Ilya Tabakh on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ilyatabakh
▪️ Website: eir.live
▪️ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/eirlive
▪️ YouTube: youtube.com/@EIRLive
▪️ X/Twitter: twitter.com/EIRLive_show
▪️ Suggest Guest - https://forms.gle/FQrBHoM3sU18gF3y8
🎧 Listen to the Episode:
▪️ YouTube: https://youtu.be/1vkcSPRN4W0
▪️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eir-live/id1767045066
▪️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2TBj8ZLbHQMnaeK6dOh23P
▪️ All Platforms: https://podcast.eir.live
▪️ YouTube: https://youtu.be/1vkcSPRN4W0
▪️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eir-live/id1767045066
▪️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2TBj8ZLbHQMnaeK6dOh23P
▪️ All Platforms: https://podcast.eir.live
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join us as we explore the real stories behind entrepreneurship in residence!
- (00:00) - Opening: The More Risk I Take, the Luckier I Get
- (01:01) - Oneday Colleagues Reunited: Meet Steph
- (04:31) - Screen Printing in the Art School Basement
- (10:59) - Lanzarote to London on £900 a Month
- (17:26) - Talent, Effort, or Luck?
- (21:23) - Craving Certainty and the AI Reset
- (25:42) - The More Risk You Take, the Luckier You Get
- (28:49) - Catching Waves: Players, Not Spectators
- (34:38) - Discovering the Entrepreneur in Residence
- (37:48) - The Professional Big Sister
- (40:14) - How Hacking Luck Became a Framework
- (48:23) - Eight Principles from Agency to Zagging
- (51:53) - Storytelling as a Superpower
- (56:37) - Sapiens: Why Storytelling Built Humanity
- (01:00:37) - When Luck Turns: The Cancelled Keynote
- (01:07:39) - EIR Live Exclusive: Rapper's Delight
- (01:10:05) - Connect with Steph
Creators and Guests
Host
Ilya Tabakh
Infrastructure Innovation Strategist | Building the Future of AI & Energy Systems | Co-host @ EIR Live & Powering the AI Stack 🎙️
Host
Terrance Orr
EIR & Fractional Executive | Strategic Advisor | Founder-CEO Coach | Ecosystem Builder | Co-Host, EIR Live🎙️
Guest
Stephanie Melodia
As ex-CEO of the award-winning marketing consultancy, Stephanie Melodia is ranked as one of the UK's Most Influential Female Founders. With expertise in entrepreneurship, Stephanie hosts the UK Top 20 Business Show; advises MBA students in Entrepreneurship, and works 1:1 with a few select scale-up clients. Her eye-opening signature topic, Hacking Luck features research-backed insights, real-world stories, plus unique frameworks & formulas to stack the odds in our favour. Trusted by global brands like Soho House, Qatar Airways, WeTransfer, Harvey Nash Group, and international conferences like Web Summit, TechBBQ, and Women in Tech, Stephanie brings a special kind of energy to her bold keynotes and dynamic workshops. Her talks on innovation, resilience, and creativity have been described as "pithy, positive and insightful" by Oli Barrett MBE, "engaging, informative, and insightful" by Rupert Englander of WeTransfer, and "engaging, professional, and talented" by Elissa Karakalla of Web Summit. She has a combined social media following of 20,000.
