The Bottleneck Podcast

Ellie Norman — Chief Marketing Officer at Formula E and former Chief Communications Officer at Manchester United — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to talk about her time at Honda and Virgin Media through to Formula One and now Formula E.

Ellie explains how she walks into every room convinced she doesn't have all the answers, is always asking questions, and always learning.

The conversation explores how constraint forces creativity, why brand defensibility matters more than impression counts, and how the creator economy is rewriting the rules of sports marketing.

This episode unpacks what it really means to build fame, be easy to find, and be hard to leave — why she likes to hire people who are comfortable with uncertainty — and why common sense remains the rarest skill in any marketing department.

Follow Rory
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
Instagram: @elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Ellie Noman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellietory/
X: https://x.com/EllieMNorman
https://www.fiaformulae.com/en

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Dr. Eliza Filby — historian and author — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to examine why inheritance now matters more than income.

The conversation explores how the Bank of Mum and Dad has become a private financial system, why wages no longer deliver independence, and how access to family money shapes the risks people can take.

It looks at why Gen Z now inhabits a world where work alone no longer leads to security or progress.

This episode unpacks what happens when families quietly replace markets and the state as the real source of economic stability.

Follow Rory
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Eliza Filby
TikTok: @eliza_filby
Instagram: @dr_eliza_filby

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Oscar Ryndziewicz — founder of DFYNE — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack the decisions behind one of the UK’s fastest-growing private companies.

Ryndziewicz explains how DFYNE grew from a £6,000 credit card bet into a global activewear brand, why the company chose to scale from Glasgow rather than London, and how autonomy, simple metrics and trust replaced traditional management controls as the business expanded.

Drawing directly from DFYNE’s growth journey — culminating in its recognition as the UK’s fastest-growing private company in The Sunday Times 100 — this conversation explores how location, culture and leadership design quietly shape scale.

This episode looks at what happens when founders stop optimising for appearances, focus on outcomes instead of activity, and build systems that let people think for themselves.

Follow Rory
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Oscar
Instagram: @dfyne.official
https://uk.dfyne.com/

A Sassy+ original podcast series

Clarke Ching — author of The Bottleneck Detective — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack why progress stalls, how leaders quietly become constraints, and why fixing the obvious problem often makes things worse.
Most organisations don’t fail because of a lack of effort.
They fail because effort is applied in the wrong place.
From traffic systems and hospitals to founders, governments and scaling teams, this conversation explores how bottlenecks hide in plain sight — and why seeing them requires a different kind of thinking.
This episode is about the uncomfortable truth that growth rarely fails where people expect it to.

Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Clarke:
Linkedin: in/clarkeching/
https://clarkeching.com/
Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Clarke:
Linkedin: in/clarkeching/
https://clarkeching.com/

A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Ama Amo-Agye scaled Plantmade from £100 to £13m — and discovered that success changes the rules faster than founders expect.

Ama joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to explore how the skills that drive early momentum can quietly become constraints as a business scales.

From building in public to recognising when the company had outgrown her original operating model, this episode examines why success can become the hardest thing to manage.

Follow Rory:

Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips

Tiktok: @Rorysutherlandclips

X: @rorysutherland

Linkedin: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:

Instagram: elfriedsamba

Linkedin: in/elfriedsamba/

https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Ama:
Instagram: @amaa__official
Tiktok: @amaamoagyei
Linkedin: in/ama-amo-agyei/

A @Sassy+ original podcast series