Second Thoughts is a conversation about the decisions that shape a startup’s trajectory. Host Emily Wood invites experienced entrepreneurs to unpack the moments they’d rethink, the lessons they learned the hard way, and what they wish they’d known before they started—so other builders can move faster, with fewer avoidable scars.

Adil Mohammed is a serial entrepreneur and founder of CoreVitals - a proactive healthcare company helping individuals better understand and manage their health through advanced diagnostics and data-driven insights. Now on his sixth startup, Adil has spent more than 16 years building and scaling businesses across both B2B and B2C sectors, including enterprise software, marketplaces and healthtech.

Building a startup is often portrayed as a relentless pursuit of growth, funding and scale. But for Adil, the reality is far more nuanced.

Adil reflects on the moments every founder experiences but rarely talks about: self-doubt, information overload and the pressure of constantly making high-stakes decisions. Rather than focusing on distant ambitions, he advocates slowing down, filtering out noise and concentrating on solving the immediate problems in front of you.

The conversation explores how the startup ecosystem has changed since Adil launched his first business in 2009. From the rise of mobile and social platforms to today's AI revolution, founders are operating in a vastly different environment. Yet despite the changing technology landscape, many of the core principles of entrepreneurship remain the same: understanding customers, prioritising effectively and staying focused on building a sustainable business.

Adil also offers a candid view of fundraising. While venture capital often dominates startup headlines, he argues that founders should be clear about the type of company they're building and whether external funding is truly the right path. In many cases, revenue, disciplined growth and alternative funding routes may be a better fit than pursuing venture capital for its own sake.

Perhaps the most personal lesson comes from Adil's own experience. After years spent prioritising company growth above everything else, he realised he had neglected his health. That insight ultimately became the catalyst for founding CoreVitals, a business built around proactive healthcare and helping people better understand what is happening inside their bodies.

Throughout the discussion, Adil makes the case that founder wellbeing is not separate from business performance. Looking after yourself, he argues, is one of the most important investments you can make in the future of your company.