Leyla Afshonkar built one of the biggest viral moments in Instagram history, a video with Neymar that reached hundreds of millions of views. She could have kept riding that wave forever. Instead she quietly walked away from it and switched, completely, to music.

Leyla is now building an artist career from scratch. She released her album Juicy earlier this year and is treating everything before this as a previous chapter. In this episode we get into what happened, why she made the switch, and what the last two years of internal work looked like as she stopped chasing views and started chasing a childhood dream she'd been ignoring since she was a kid.

We also talk about what actually makes something go viral, why she thinks the hook is everything, how a spiritual awakening two years ago rewired the way she creates, and the boring reality of being a beginner in the music industry after being one of the most watched people on the internet. Plus her honest take on comfort zones, discipline, ADHD, and the songwriting process that only happens when she's half asleep in the middle of the night.

In this episode:

- Why she completely walked away from the viral content that made her famous

- The full switch from entertainer to artist and why she made it

- What actually makes something go viral and why the hook is everything

- The spiritual awakening two years ago that changed how she creates

- Her album Juicy and the sushi meal that inspired it

- Why she thinks ADHD is a superpower, not a curse

- What discipline actually looks like when you're rebuilding from zero

- Why the music industry has been much harder than she expected

- Why comfort zones are dangerous even when they're successful

- Her advice for anyone who wants to reinvent themselves and doesn't know how

Chapters:

(00:00) What actually makes something go viral

(01:42) Why she's not afraid to show her real self on camera

(03:01) Can confidence actually be trained

(04:04) Growing up struggling with beauty standards

(05:50) COVID, Arabic comedy, and going viral for the first time

(06:56) The complete shift, why she walked away from what was working

(08:01) Joe Dispenza, meditation, and the spiritual awakening

(09:22) Why ADHD is a superpower

(10:18) Why chasing views stopped being fulfilling

(11:31) Wanting to be an artist, not an entertainer

(13:34) The album Juicy and the music dream she carries

(15:48) How to actually shift your personality

(17:38) Discipline, atomic habits, and the boring reality

(19:40) The unseen work behind a single song release

(21:39) Why criticism of her music hits harder

(25:00) The version of Leyla in the studio when the camera is off

(26:50) The New Year's sushi meal that became a song

(28:17) Why her best songs come in the middle of the night

(31:05) How she actually rests in Amsterdam

(32:05) The music industry has been harder than she expected

(33:22) Why she refuses to commit to a single genre

(37:26) Why comfort zones are dangerous even when they're successful

(43:54) Don't forget to breathe

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Olivier Momma didn't pay Messi's €1.5 million endorsement fee. He found the back door. In this conversation we get into how he actually landed one of the most unreachable people on earth, then went on to land Steven Bartlett and Diary of a CEO for the 1% TravelPack. Both without the standard playbook.

Olivier is the founder of Ekster, the Amsterdam brand that started as a Kickstarter smart wallet in 2016 and now heads past $50 million a year across wallets, travel gear, and accessories. In this episode he breaks down the exact story of how Ekster landed Messi (through a broken merch website), how the Bartlett deal came together (starting with a single high risk podcast sponsorship), and the 1% mindset that's been baked into every Ekster product for a decade.

We also get into why life is still chaos after ten years, what he'd tell any founder starting today, why he still hasn't felt the "I made it" moment, what home actually means to someone who moved every three years, and the SMS he'd send to every phone in the world.

In this episode:

• The full Messi story, including the broken web store back door
• How the Steven Bartlett and Diary of a CEO collaboration actually happened
• Designing the 1% TravelPack with the DOAC team
• Why the modular wallet decision was the marginal gain that changed everything
• The Hong Kong 2016 QR code moment that started Ekster
• His sister's €500 Kickstarter video that raised $350,000
• The failed first venture (Delhi Scouts) nobody hears about
• The secret sauce for building a brand in 2026
• Why he's still not settled, and what home actually means to him

Chapters:

00:00 The Messi backdoor (cold open) 00:30 How the Steven Bartlett collaboration actually happened 06:00 Designing the 1% TravelPack together 10:00 The 1% mindset has always been Ekster 13:00 The modular wallet decision that changed everything 15:00 Hong Kong 2016: the QR code moment 17:00 Kickstarter, his sister's video, and the first $350K 21:00 What he misses about the early days 24:00 The secret sauce for starting a brand today 30:00 The storytelling framework every brand should steal 35:00 Why life is still chaos after ten years 39:00 Behind the scenes versus the Instagram life 50:00 The full Messi story: how the deal actually closed 57:00 The World Cup viral moment 1:00:00 What home means when you've moved every three years 1:02:00 The price of the entrepreneur life 1:03:15 How he finally learned to switch off in Cape Town 1:05:47 Rapid fire: Own the Unknown

James Galligan is 22 years old. In 18 months he built A Players Club from zero to more than 160 members. His best month was €185,000 in cash. He could have scaled it to €700K a month if he wanted to. He chose not to.

James is an Irish entrepreneur, one of Iman Gadzhi's early sales stars (setter, then top closer, then team lead), and now the founder of A Players Club, Europe's most exclusive private founder network. In this conversation we get into why he thinks reputation matters more than revenue, what he actually had to unlearn from Iman, why he stopped posting Instagram Reels on purpose, and the "gap" he believes every entrepreneur eventually has to sprint through.

We talk about the philosophy his mentors gave him (exit in ten years, not scale next month), the day he decided anyone can be a millionaire but only true entrepreneurs get to €10 million, why he defends Iman against the "scam" allegations, and the vision he has for the next five years that includes physical locations for entrepreneurs around the world.

Chapters:

00:00 Anyone can be a millionaire, but €10M is the real test

00:33 The last 18 months of A Players Club

03:00 What "the gap" actually is

06:00 Turning down €700K a month

08:00 Setting the record straight on Iman Gadzhi

12:00 Founders Podcast as a team culture hack

15:00 What he had to unlearn from Iman

19:00 Culture over speed in hiring

21:00 Not 10,000 millionaires. A thousand people worth $10M plus

23:00 Where the drive actually comes from

25:00 Wealth in relationships, not material things

34:00 Business as art

40:00 Hiring for access, not just skills

44:00 The 1:30am text and what it actually means

46:00 Steve Jobs versus quality of life

48:00 Trust from a distance

51:00 Why he stopped posting Instagram Reels

55:00 Path of Discovery: the German boat story

59:00 Building software for in-person events

1:03:00 What most people get wrong about community

1:08:00 The vision for the next five years

1:11:00 Rapid fire and "The Gap"

Follow James:

https://www.instagram.com/jamesgalligann/

https://www.theaplayersclub.com/

https://www.instagram.com/aplayersclub/

Follow Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themarcusengel/

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