About
The Outsider is a podcast and interactive video series about people who didn’t follow the rules, and changed things anyway.
This isn’t a show about career ladders, credentials, or playing the system. It’s about builders, creators, and operators who worked outside conventional paths, questioned broken models, and chose to do things differently.
At its core, The Outsider explores how real innovation actually happens.
The Outsiders
The Outsider is never recorded in a studio or on Zoom.
Every episode is filmed outdoors or in unconventional locations - fields, farms, coastlines, workshops, build sites, places that reflect how our guests think and live.
The environment matters. Being outside strips away performance, lowers barriers, and leads to more honest conversations. What you see is real, unpolished, and grounded.
Always Outside
We don’t book guests for fame. We book them for perspective.
Our guests are often:
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Self-taught founders and creators
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People who built without gatekeepers
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Operators who crossed industries
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Mission-led builders challenging broken systems
Many wouldn’t call themselves outsiders - which usually makes the conversation better.
We talk about what they didn’t know, what they had to unlearn, where systems failed them, and how being outside became an advantage.
Who we speak to?
No polish for the sake of it.
No performative soundbites.
Just thoughtful conversations, filmed outside the system - where the most interesting ideas tend to start.
Real Conversation and Real Places
The Host
Mark Bamford is a technology founder, strategist, and operator whose career spans innovation, media, and large-scale transformation. He is best known for building ventures that challenge legacy models and so now, as the host of a new interactive podcast, he aims to explores how industries are being reshaped through technology, data, and new ways of thinking.
Career Overview
Mark began his career leading complex transformation programmes across data, infrastructure, and operating models in large organisations. This exposure shaped his belief that real change only happens when technology, behaviour, and incentives evolve together.
He later founded and scaled ventures focused on disrupting entrenched systems, most notably Viktrs, a data-first video and engagement platform designed to challenge the broken economics of media and advertising. Under his leadership, Viktrs has secured major partnerships, a £250k Google R&D grant, multiple awards and recognition from tech and music industry peers and is currently exploring new Viktrs projects across music, politics, sport, travel, food, and global brands - positioning it as a next-generation video intelligence business.
Podcast Host & Innovation Voice
Alongside his operator role, Mark is on a mission to become a recognised voice in innovation through his work as a podcast host. Mark is already known for:
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Challenging conventional thinking around platforms and value creation
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Drawing out honest insights from people actively building and scaling
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Exploring responsible uses of data, AI, and emerging technology
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Championing innovation that benefits creators and communities, not just platforms
Across his career building companies, leading transformation, and hosting thoughtful conversations - Mark consistently focuses on exposing what’s broken and building credible, human-centred alternatives. This blend of execution and storytelling positions him as both a builder and a trusted voice in the innovation and disruption space.