What happens when a tiny Irish town gets taken over by a futuristic drone delivery trial? Is hot curry whizzing overhead dangerous? And how much is this business model worth to a five-year-old?

We’ve just published the very first episode of The Sifted Podcast, where we speak to Sifted reporters about their favourite startup stories — and interview the founders who built them and the people impacted by them. Listen to it on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here and Google Podcasts here.

In this episode, sponsored by Zendesk for Startups, Maija Palmer tells us the story of Oranmore, the small town in the west of Ireland that became the testing bed for drone delivery startup Manna Aero, which promised everything from broccoli to nappy cream straight to your door in a matter of minutes. 

We’ll hear from Manna Aero CEO and founder Bobby Healy as well as two Oranmore residents — local coffee shop owner Linda Lydon and mother of two Siobhan O’Neill — on how it provided a lifeline to local businesses during lockdown and brought the town together.

And that’s not all. Wait til the end for Baby Shark Tank, when five-year-old Eliza will grill Healy on Manna Drone’s product-market fit and decide if she wants to hand over her marshmallows for a piece of the business.

Made a podcast where my 5-year-old daughter interviews top startup founders… and decides whether to invest or not. #babysharktank pic.twitter.com/dDNakJPqB4

— Michael Stothard (@MStothard) November 5, 2021

What are you waiting for? Listen to episode one on your preferred podcast platform, send it to everyone you’ve ever met and let us know what you think in the comments.

We’ll be back next week with the second instalment of our four-episode pilot of The Sifted Podcast.

Credits:

Host: Michael Stothard

Producer: Georgina Ustik

Editor: Tim Smith