The iGaming Leader Podcast

Emma Blaylock: Building a safe-to-fail team culture in iGaming

Leo sits down with Emma Blaylock, CEO of Pretty Technical and a tech leader who helped launch Kindle UK and drove early streaming at Sony. Emma shares how vulnerable leadership creates safe-to-fail teams that learn fast and execute with focus.

Emma Blaylock

CEO, Pretty Technical

Watch the episode Apply to the Mastermind 22 Oct 2025 · Sponsored by Sumsub

01 · Watch the episode

The full conversation

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02 · The guest

Emma Blaylock

CEO, Pretty Technical

Emma is an experienced business strategist and technology commercialist, having practised formal management consultancy at Deloitte and strategic investments, acquisitions and cross-group business development at Sony’s Corporate Development and M&A group in the U.S. After Sony, Emma joined Amazon and delivered strategic initiatives to launch and grow Kindle in the UK and other European markets. Emma holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Nottingham and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago.

03 · Inside this episode

Moments worth queuing up

00:00 Admit gaps: building a safe-to-fail culture.

03:00 Tech throughline: impact, innovation, disruption.

05:00 Bezos-level detail: data-driven calm under pressure.

08:00 Disrupting UK market with Kindle.

10:00 From imposter feelings to confident leadership.

14:00 Modelling vulnerability and psychological safety.

22:00 From Amazon to start-up: risk, family, flexibility.

27:00 Fundraising, COVID, and making hard calls.

31:00 When a big client can't pay: cashflow and redundancies.

39:00 Raise-the-bar hiring: fill your weaknesses.

In his own words

01 / 04

“No one's going to remember everything at the top of their head and have the answers for everything, that's not realistic.”

02 / 04

“It's okay to be vulnerable around that, right? And honest around that.”

03 / 04

“That imposter syndrome we all talk about... you become more confident in what you can do.”

04 / 04

“It's about having a culture that embraces failure, but then quickly learns from it.”

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Important links

Visit prettytechnical.io→ Follow Emma on LinkedIn→ Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn→ Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter→ Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind→

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