James Dumoulin

Some people ask questions. James Dumoulin gets people talking.

As the founder and face of School of Hard Knocks, James has built one of the world's largest business media platforms on a deceptively simple skill: knowing how to have a great conversation.

He's interviewed entrepreneurs, executives, self-made millionaires and some of the most fascinating people in business, developing an instinct for asking the questions others wouldn't think to ask, finding the story beneath the surface, and getting people to open up in ways they rarely do.

With more than 30 million followers and 300 million monthly views, James knows how to capture attention and, more importantly, hold it.

On stage, he brings that same energy, curiosity and natural ability to connect to fireside chats, executive interviews and panel discussions. He knows when to push deeper, when to let a moment breathe, when to bring humour into the conversation and how to turn an ordinary answer into something the entire audience wants to hear.

Whether he's interviewing a CEO, a celebrity, an entrepreneur or a room full of industry leaders, James has a rare ability to make conversations feel spontaneous, personal and genuinely compelling.

This isn't someone reading questions off a cue card. It's one of the most exciting young interviewers in business media doing what he does best, live on stage.

What happens when you ask thousands of successful people how they made it, and then use what you've learned to build a global business of your own?

You get a perspective on entrepreneurship, success and opportunity that very few people in the world can offer.

James Dumoulin started School of Hard Knocks with a microphone, a camera and a question: How did you get rich?

What began as spontaneous conversations with successful strangers has grown into a global business media powerhouse, reaching more than 30 million followers and generating over 300 million views every month.

Along the way, James has had a front-row seat to the thinking, decisions, failures, habits and turning points of thousands of entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders. He's heard the stories that don't make it into business books. The risks that nearly ruined everything. The opportunities nobody else saw. The decisions that changed lives. And the lessons people wish they'd learned decades earlier.

But James hasn't just documented other people's success. He's built his own.

In this keynote, James takes audiences behind the scenes of School of Hard Knocks, sharing how he turned a simple idea into one of the world's fastest-growing business media brands, what it takes to build an audience of millions, and why authenticity, curiosity and the ability to capture attention have become such powerful business advantages.

He connects his own entrepreneurial journey with the most revealing lessons from the people he's interviewed, exploring what successful people consistently do differently, how they recognize opportunity, why they take risks others avoid, and what separates those who talk about their ambitions from those who actually pursue them.

It's an entertaining, revealing and often surprising look at what it really takes to build something meaningful in today's world.

Part entrepreneurial masterclass. Part behind-the-scenes look at a global media phenomenon. And part collection of extraordinary lessons from people who've actually done it.

Audiences leave with a fresh perspective on ambition, opportunity, resilience, building a business and, perhaps most importantly, what's possible when you're willing to start before you have all the answers.