EP 57 – Starting a Business During the Pandemic, Personal Branding, and Sobriety w/ Ivor Stratford
In this episode of The 1% Better Recruitment Podcast, I’m joined by Ivor Stratford, Co-Founder of Morpheus, a recruitment firm specialising in early-stage, VC/PE-backed tech businesses with a strong focus on AI and machine learning. We dig into the reality of starting a recruitment business in March 2020 at the height of the pandemic, scaling during the post-COVID boom, and then having to rebuild when the tech market crashed. From mistakes made while growing too fast, to the cultural and sales foundations needed to survive downturns, Ivor shares raw lessons every recruiter and founder needs to hear. We also dive into the power of personal branding (including why Ivor posts on TikTok about sobriety), the misconceptions of post-COVID recruiters, and how going alcohol-free completely reshaped his life, leadership, and business. This is a practical and unfiltered conversation about resilience, culture, and doing the hard things that actually make recruiters and founders better. We cover: ✅ The reality of launching a recruitment firm in a pandemic ✅ Why 2021’s boom left many recruiters with false confidence ✅ How to rebuild a business “built on sand” ✅ The danger of dependency culture & why sales still matters ✅ Post-COVID recruiters vs pre-COVID recruiters (and what’s changed) ✅ Why credibility comes from questioning, not quick wins ✅ The role of KPIs, culture & over-communication in growth ✅ How personal branding on TikTok opened new opportunities ✅ Sobriety, discipline & the hidden impact on leadership Whether you’re a recruiter trying to navigate today’s market, or a founder scaling your business for the long term, this episode is packed with lessons you won’t hear in most recruitment podcasts. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro & welcome 01:20 – Ivor’s background & founding Morpheus in March 2020 03:25 – Launching during the pandemic & early challenges 05:40 – The post-COVID boom and “business built on sand” 09:30 – Why 2022 was their hardest year 12:50 – Tech hiring boom & bust explained 15:10 – Post-COVID recruiters vs pre-COVID recruiters 18:00 – Narrow markets vs going global 21:00 – Should you say yes to every client/job? 23:00 – Location mistakes & building culture 28:00 – Pivoting to sustainable foundations 32:00 – Why over-communicating & KPIs matter 34:30 – Activity vs results – credibility counts 39:40 – Why questioning is 90–100% of recruitment 42:20 – How to structure calls without sounding robotic 45:30 – Learning from mistakes & recruiter development 48:10 – Building a personal brand on TikTok 52:40 – Imposter syndrome, speaking & saying yes 57:30 – The dark side of alcohol & why Ivor went sober 01:04:00 – The first year without drinking 01:08:30 – Fitness, running & new habits 01:12:00 – Friendships, relationships & new energy 01:15:00 – Inspiring others to go alcohol-free 01:16:20 – Final question: how recruiters can get 1% better Connect with Ivor Stratford 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivorstratford/ Connect with Charles Kyriakou 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleskyriakou1/ 🔗 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@charles.kyriakou 🔗 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-better-recruitment-podcast/id1775201502 🔗 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46LjJfwLJ5MxzTQWqogOBN 🔗 LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7244346543967731712 👇 Enjoyed this? Like, comment & subscribe — and share it with someone who needs to hear it.
