Dan Murray-Serter 🧠

Co-Founder of Heights I Angel Investor | Over 100 Startups I Follow For Daily Posts on Health, Business & Personal growth from UK’s #1 ranked health creator (apparently)

Serial entrepreneur and Angel investor in 100+ startups with over 10 years experience starting, scaling and failing multiple startups.

Co Founder of Heights - Europe's leading brain and gut health company.

I also started and help run Foundrs - A not for profit community of the best, most ambitious and compassionate founders in UK.

I recently stepped away from Leaders Media - A media company making the top business podcasts in Europe, Secret Leaders - at the top of the charts, to focus on much more important things with my time - being a dad to 2 awesome daughters.

Angel/Advisor

Beam (www.beam.org)
ATAI Life Sciences (https://www.atai.life)
Allplants (www.allplants.com)
Humanity (https://humanity.health)
BYP (www.byp-network.com)
Goss (https://www.goss.media)
Tribe VR (www.tribevr.io)
Thrift (www.wearethrift.com)
THIS (www.this.co)
The Sports Edit (www.thesportsedit.com)
Faction (www.factionskis.com)
Runway East (http://runwayea.st/)
London Union/Dinerama (http://londonunion.com/)
Neardesk (https://www2.neardesk.com/)


Tailored.to (https://tailored.to/)
Motivii (http://motivii.com/)
Earlybird (https://earlybird.fm/)
Upshot (http://www.upshotapp.co/)
Togethera (www.togethera.com)
Repairly (www.repairly.co.uk)
Zaboo (www.zabooapp.com)
Lissom (www.lissom.com)
Bloom (www.hellobloom.io)

Dan Murray

100-year-old productivity hack. Still works. Still simple.

1918. Charles Schwab runs Bethlehem Steel. Hires productivity consultant Ivy Lee. Lee's offer: give me 15 minutes with each executive, pay me what it's worth in 3 months. 3 months later, Schwab writes a cheque for $25,000, equivalent to $400,000 today. The method was that effective.

The Ivy Lee Method. Five steps. At the end of each workday, write down the 6 most important tasks for tomorrow. Not 7, not 10, six. Rank them in order of true importance. Tomorrow morning, start with task 1, work until complete. Move to task 2, then 3, one at a time in order. Unfinished tasks move to tomorrow's list. Repeat daily.

Why 6 tasks? Forces prioritisation. With unlimited tasks, everything feels important, nothing gets done. Six is manageable, ambitious but achievable.

Why rank them? Most people work on whatever feels urgent or easy. Ranking forces you to confront true importance. Task 1 should be the thing that, if completed alone, makes tomorrow successful.

Why one task at a time? Multitasking is a myth. Task switching reduces productivity by 40%. Takes 23 minutes to regain focus after interruption. Doing one thing until complete equals deep work.

Why plan the night before? Decision fatigue compounds throughout the day. By 4pm, decision-making quality is 40% worse than 9am. Planning tonight means decisions made when not depleted. Wake up, no decision required, just execute task 1.

Six tasks, ranked, one at a time. Decide tonight, execute tomorrow.

-------------------------------------------------

Follow me Dan Murray for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

The Ivy Lee Method 100-Year-Old Productivity Hack 

One thing I’ve learned after building multiple teams: the most valuable people are rarely the loudest.

They’re the ones who quietly upskill when no one’s watching.

You can’t teach that level of internal drive.
You can’t force someone to care about their growth more than the company requires.

That has to come from within.

And from a neuroscience perspective, people who self-educate build something incredibly powerful:
a plastic brain.

Every new skill, every book, every online course, it all strengthens their neural pathways for adaptability, problem - solving, and creative thinking.

Those traits compound.

They become faster learners.
Better decision-makers.
More resourceful under pressure.
And over time, they outgrow people who rely only on formal training.

When I hire, I look for curiosity.
Not credentials.
Not polished answers.
Curiosity.

Because someone who reads, experiments, builds, tinkers, or studies on their own time will eventually outpace almost everyone else.
They don’t wait to be told what to learn.
They choose it.

And that choice is what makes them dangerous, in the best way possible.

If you’re that person, keep going.
Even if no one notices right now.
Your effort is compounding quietly.
You’ll feel the gap before anyone else sees it.


-------------------------------------------------

Follow me Dan Murray🧠 for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide

https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

When Simon Squibb invested in our company we had done a thousand orders, fast forward a few years we have now done our 1 millionth order 

believed in what we was building and invested before it was obvious.

Since then, we’ve grown it into a $30M business. 

The best founders don’t stand still. They adapt.

I sat down down with Simon Squibb and break down exactly how I’d use AI to build a $30M business from scratch in 2026, and what actually matters when you’re starting from zero.

https://lnkd.in/dVh_9PKH

Gut health is everywhere right now.

Every influencer has a gut protocol. Every brand has a gut product. Everyone's talking about the microbiome like they have a PhD in it.

Some of it is real. Some of it is astrology in a lab coat.

Here's what actually holds up.

The gut-brain axis is real. Your gut produces 90% of your serotonin. The vagus nerve connects your gut to your brain. When your gut struggles, your mood often follows. This research goes back 30 years.

Probiotics for specific conditions are real. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG helps with digestive issues. Bifidobacterium longum helps with anxiety symptoms. But it's strain-specific. Random probiotics don't work the same way.

Fibre matters. Your gut bacteria feed on it. Most people need 25-30g per day. Most get around 15g. The research on this is overwhelming.

Here's what doesn't hold up.

Gut detoxes aren't real. Your liver and kidneys already do that. "Detox teas" are marketing, not medicine.

Fermented foods are healthy. But they're not the same as probiotics. The strains are different. The amounts are inconsistent. Most don't survive your stomach acid.

Leaky gut syndrome isn't a recognised diagnosis. Increased intestinal permeability is real and being studied. But selling you a cure for "leaky gut" is premature.

The pattern is simple. Real gut health science is specific. It names strains, cites studies, explains mechanisms.

Fake gut health science is vague. Buzzwords, big promises, no details.

Certainty sells. Accuracy wins long term.

-------------------------------------------------

Follow me Dan Murray🧠 for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

Gut health audit

Your gut health isn't just about digestion.

It's the reason you wake up tired. Or struggle to focus by 3pm. Or feel anxious for no clear reason.

Your gut affects how your brain works every single day.

Five stages control this. When they're working, you perform better. When even one is broken, everything gets harder.

Stage 1: Microbiome diversity. You need 1,000+ bacterial species. Low diversity means more inflammation and unstable energy. Eat 30+ different plants per week.

Stage 2: Gut barrier integrity. When it's damaged, toxins leak into your bloodstream. That's brain fog and chronic fatigue. Reduce processed foods and manage stress.

Stage 3: Serotonin production. 90% of it is made in your gut. Low serotonin means poor sleep and mood swings. Take probiotics with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains.

Stage 4: SCFA production. Your gut bacteria digest fibre and produce SCFAs. They fuel your gut lining and reduce inflammation. Hit 25-30g of fibre daily.

Stage 5: Vagus nerve function. It connects your gut to your brain. Poor tone means constant stress signals. Improve it with deep breathing and cold exposure.

When all five work together, you wake up with energy, focus holds, mood stays stable, and you sleep deeply.

When even one is broken, you hit the 3pm crash, brain fog makes decisions harder, and small stress feels overwhelming.

Your gut is the foundation for how your brain functions.

Fix your gut. Perform better.

-------------------------------------------------

Follow me Dan Murray🧠 for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

Five gut health markers that predict burnout.

These aren't just digestive issues. They're warning signs your body is breaking down.

Marker 1: Chronic bloating. Poor nutrient absorption. Even if you're eating well, nutrients aren't getting into your system. Poor absorption leads to deficiency, chronic fatigue, inability to recover from stress, and burnout.

Marker 2: Irregular bowel movements. Going 3+ days without or 4+ times per day means toxin buildup. Toxins recirculate instead of leaving. This causes brain fog, poor decision-making, more stress, and burnout. Normal is 1-2 times daily.

Marker 3: Food sensitivities that appeared recently. Gut inflammation and leaky gut. Undigested food leaks into your bloodstream. Your immune system attacks it. This creates inflammation, dysregulated stress response, inability to handle normal stressors, and burnout.

Marker 4: Sugar cravings, especially mid-afternoon. Blood sugar instability from poor gut bacteria. Unhealthy bacteria drive sugar cravings and prevent stable glucose regulation. Every crash depletes stress resilience. Blood sugar crashes lead to energy crashes, inability to sustain focus, falling behind, and burnout.

Marker 5: Poor sleep even when exhausted. Gut barrier damage and inflammation. Your gut produces melatonin and regulates circadian rhythm. Poor sleep damages gut lining. Damaged gut worsens sleep. This creates chronic inflammation, inability to recover, and burnout.

When all 5 are present, you wake up exhausted, brain fog makes decisions harder, small stressors feel overwhelming, you need caffeine and sugar to function, and recovery takes longer.

This isn't laziness. This is your body telling you the foundation is broken.

Fix your gut before you burn out. Not after.

-------------------------------------------------

Follow me Dan Murray🧠 for more on habits and leadership.

P.S. If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t start with goals.
Start with clarity.

Most people don’t need more discipline.
They need to understand what’s been draining them and what deserves their energy.

I’ve spent years refining a simple process to help you with exactly that.

Download my short PDF guide https://lnkd.in/eniDNptW

I'll see you there.

The 5 gut health markers that predict burnout

CEO Coach | Board & Strategy Advisor | Chairman & NED - Helping ambitious CEOs, Founders and Entrepreneurs develop themselves, their people, and grow their companies.

Kevin McDonnell is a CEO Coach, Strategic Advisor and Chairman working with CEOs, founders, boards, and investors on leadership and execution that accelerate growth, scale and success.

Over a 30 year career, Kevin has built, scaled, and exited multiple Technology and Healthcare businesses across startup, growth, and global operating environments. 

His experience includes capturing 80 percent market share within 3.5 years, driving £60 million in revenue in 20 months, and taking a business into more than 10 international markets.

Kevin has led through and advised on four exits and has operated at enterprise scale inside a £5 billion organisation employing 75,000 people and serving 320 million users globally. 

He has chaired 11 boards and coached or advised more than 100 CEOs and founders.

His primary work is CEO coaching, with a focus on building the leadership capacity and operating infrastructure required for sustained growth. His work centres on scaling the CEO, leadership and the business.

Alongside his coaching work, Kevin supports a select number of companies as a Strategic Advisor, Chairman, or Non-Executive Director. In these roles, he focuses on aligning vision with delivery, strengthening board-level governance, and improving execution consistency.

HealthTech is Kevin McDonnell’s core domain. He also advises leaders outside the sector where complexity, regulation, and scale create similar leadership and organisational challenges. 

Across industries, his work reflects a consistent view. Growth constraints rarely originate in markets or technology. They originate in leadership systems and human decision-making.

Kevin also writes Defiltered, a newsletter on leadership, growth, and performance for CEOs and founders - defiltered.substack.com

Kevin McDonnell

Nobody quits a great boss.

They quit the manager who gave their idea to someone else in the Monday meeting.

They quit the one who said "I'll look into that" four times and never did.

They quit feeling invisible while watching someone louder get the credit.

The resignation letter usually says "new opportunities."

It was written six months ago. In their head.

The real decision - the one that actually ended the relationship - happened quietly. 

No drama. 

Just a slow accumulation of small things that eventually tipped the scales.

And here's what makes it expensive: by the time you notice, you've already lost them. They're just still showing up.

I wrote about this for Defiltered. Not the perks-and-ping-pong version of retention. The actual version - what loyalty costs to build, how fast it erodes, and what leaders consistently miss until it's too late.

CEO Coach & Chairman | Author of ‘Decisive by Design’ (soon) | Helping HealthTech CEOs unlock potential, growth and scale | 100+ CEOs coached.

Your best people don’t leave loudly. They leave slowly - and usually, you gave them every reason to. There’s a particular kind of resignation letter t

Open article: Nobody Quits a Great Boss. So Why Are Your Best People Leaving? by Kevin McDonnell • 5 min read

Nobody Quits a Great Boss. So Why Are Your Best People Leaving?

You can build a HealthTech product with a small team.

But scaling it will break you if you treat it like SaaS.

There is a massive difference between shipping software and changing clinical behaviour. 

One is product delivery. The other is system change.

Here is the “Pilot Ceiling” most HealthTech CEOs hit:

A pilot proves value. It does not prove adoption:
Clinicians tolerate experiments. They resist permanent workload.

One Trust win does not equal repeatability:
Every new site resets trust, risk, integration, and procurement.

Integration beats innovation in every buying meeting:
A 10/10 model still loses to a 7/10 tool that fits the workflow.

The hidden cost of “we’ll figure it out after go-live”?

Operational debt:
Workarounds become your default delivery model.

Credibility leakage:
Each rough rollout reduces belief in the next one.

Founder bottleneck:
You become the translator between product, clinical, IG, and procurement.

Scaling is not more deals. Scaling is less reinvention per deal.

What blocks HealthTech scale more often?

→ Workflow friction
→ Integration and data access
→ Procurement timelines
→ Clinical risk and governance

If your pipeline is growing but delivery feels harder every month, you’re not scaling.

You’re accumulating debt.

In healthcare, the status quo has 100% market share. 

Here’s how to actually steal it.

Your biggest competitor in HealthTech isn't who you think it is. It's not:

 - the startup that just raised £20M.

- the legacy vendor with enterprise contracts.

- the HCP who says: "We've always done it this way."

- the HCP who doesn't have 30 seconds to learn your interface.

- the HCP who knows that change = risk.

In HealthTech, you're not just fighting other companies.

You're fighting inertia.

And inertia has a 100% market share.

Here's why the status quo is unbeatable if you fight it the wrong way:

The status quo has zero onboarding friction - Your product might be 10x better. But "better" requires learning, training, and workflow changes. The old way? Everyone already knows it.

The status quo has zero blame - If a patient outcome is bad using the current system, it's unfortunate. If it happens after adopting your tool? You're liable. Risk-averse institutions will choose "unfortunate" over "liable" every time.

The status quo doesn't need a business case - You need ROI projections, clinical studies, and board approvals. The status quo just... continues. Doing nothing is the only decision that requires zero justification.

The status quo is exhausting to fight - Most HealthTech founders burn out trying to convince people to change. They mistake "this is better" for "this is worth the disruption." It's not the same thing.

So how do you actually win against inertia?

Make adoption feel like less change, not more - The best HealthTech products don't ask clinicians to change their workflow. They embed into it. If your product requires new habits, you've already lost.

Make the status quo more painful than switching - Don't sell features. Sell relief from a problem so acute that doing nothing hurts more than trying something new. If providers aren't in pain, they won't move.

Find the people who hate the status quo - Every hospital has clinicians who are fed up. Burned out. Desperate for a better way. They're your champions. Ignore the early majority - they'll never move first.

Your product isn't just competing in a market.

It's competing with the path of least resistance.

And until you design for that reality, you'll keep wondering why "the best product" isn't winning.

Why being a great founder makes being a CEO so difficult.

In the early days, your value was tied to your output. 

You were the "Chief Everything Officer." 

You wrote the decks, closed the deals, and knew every line of code.

That "hustle" is exactly why your company can start to slow down. 

It’s was your superpower.

But as you scale, the physics of leadership change.

Suddenly, the very traits that built the company - speed, hands-on problem solving, and being the "answer person" -  can become the things that limit its next phase of growth.

This isn't a failure; it’s an evolution.

When I sit down with leaders navigating scale or a major corporate transition, we don't talk about "fixing" things. 

We talk about the shift from being the Lead Actor to being the Director.

Here are three subtle shifts that help high-performers reclaim their time and impact:

1. From "Giving Answers" to "Building Context"

In the beginning, you provide the solution. Now, your job is to provide the "Why" and the "Guardrails" so your team can find the solution themselves. It feels slower at first, but it’s the only way to build a self-sustaining machine.

2. The 80% Rule for Excellence

High-performers hate "good enough." But if a team member can do a task at 80% of your quality without your input, that is a 100% win for the organization. It frees you up to focus on the 20% of the business that only you can touch.

3. Creating a "Third Space"

You spend all day being "on" for your board, your employees, and your customers. Every leader needs a space where they can be "off" - where they can pressure-test ideas, admit uncertainty, and think out loud without it becoming "company policy."

Leadership at this level isn't about working harder; it’s about thinking more clearly.

The most effective CEOs I know aren't the ones doing the most.

They are the ones who have created the most space for their teams to shine.

HealthTech PMF is seven permissions, sequentially.

Miss one, and you stall.

A pilot “wins”.
Clinicians like it.
Outcomes look good.
Everyone breathes out.

Then the deal disappears into a void of polite silence.

No rejection email.
No hard “no”.
Just delay. deferral. committees. “next quarter.”

That is not a weak value proposition.

That is permission not transferring across the system.

So here’s the framework that stops teams blaming the wrong thing.

The Seven Permissions (in the order they kill momentum)

1) Clinical permission
“Is this acceptable practice?”
If it threatens identity or guidelines, you get soft sabotage: agreement in meetings, avoidance in reality.

2) Workflow permission
“Who absorbs the extra steps at 07:12?”
Seconds per patient are not trivial. They compound into resentment.

3) Data permission (IG)
“What exactly moves, where, why, and for how long?”
If answers are fuzzy, trust evaporates.

4) Security permission
“Can we defend choosing this after an incident?”
Teams don’t buy ‘secure’. They buy ‘defensible’.

5) Procurement permission
“Can we buy this without creating trouble?”
Frameworks, thresholds, incumbents, and the quiet rule: adding a new vendor creates work for everyone.

6) Budget permission
“Whose cost centre funds it, this year?”
If there’s no clear budget line, there’s no decision. Only hope.

7) Liability permission
“Who owns the edge cases when it goes wrong?”
Edge cases are guaranteed. Ownership is not.

Most HealthTech teams try to solve Permission 6 with better messaging.

Or Permission 7 with more clinical evidence.

It rarely works.

HealthTech buying is not persuasion.

It is risk migration.

How teams stop stalling

1) Create a Permission Ledger before building more.
One page. Seven permissions.
For each: the owner, the fear, the proof required, the cycle time.
If the owner is unnamed, the work is imaginary.

2) Run a deployment pre-mortem, not a product retro.
Ask: “Assume this fails in 90 days. What killed it?”
Teams will surface the real killers: access, logins, exceptions, training load, incident response, change control, and handoffs between departments.

3) Design for the worst Tuesday, not the best pilot.
Pilots happen with goodwill and attention. Tuesdays happen with shortages, backlog, and fatigue.
Build for Tuesday and adoption stops being fragile.

4) Make ‘yes’ safe for every function.
Not just clinicians.
IG needs clarity. Security needs defensibility. Ops needs ownership. Finance needs a budget story. Procurement needs a clean pathway.

The most scalable HealthTech products are not the most loved.

They are the most permittable by the whole system.

If momentum is stuck, don’t ask, “Do they like it?”

Ask, “Which permission are we failing to earn, and which team is silently protecting itself?”

taplio

The Battle

Dan Murray

Kevin McDonnell

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreDan Murray's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreKevin McDonnell's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Dan Murray

Kevin McDonnell

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dan Murray's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreKevin McDonnell's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDan Murray's LinkedIn Performance