09/29/2026
What does it actually take to build a technology startup while working a full-time job, raising a family, finding customers, testing a product, and learning everything you didn’t know you needed to know?
In this episode of The Media Room, I sit down with Brian Bell, CEO and co-founder of MambaHR, to talk about the reality of building a software company from the ground up.
Brian has spent roughly 15 years working in HR and HR transformation. After years of dealing with complicated HR systems, disconnected tools, slow processes, and administrative work that takes people away from the work that actually matters, he started building what would eventually become MambaHR.
We get into:
• Why having a good startup idea isn’t enough
• Why customer validation has to happen before you try to build everything
• What “hand-to-hand combat” looks like when you're trying to find your first customers
• Why relationships still matter in tech sales
• The hidden work behind bootstrapping a startup
• Building a company while maintaining a full-time career and family
• Why Brian believes HR software has become unnecessarily complicated
• How AI could eliminate repetitive “human middleware” work
• Why MambaHR is focused on making HR simpler instead of adding more tools
• What entrepreneurs misunderstand about building software companies
• Why founders eventually have to become their own sales, marketing, customer service, and troubleshooting departments
If you've ever thought about launching a startup, building software, introducing AI into your company, or simply wondered what happens between “I have an idea” and actually having a functioning business, this conversation is for you.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MAMBAHR
MambaHR:
https://www.mambahr.com/
Connect with Brian Bell on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianjosephbell/
If you found this conversation useful, subscribe to The Media Room for more conversations with entrepreneurs, creators, business owners, and people actually doing the work behind the ideas.
