Founder of xRave Ventures — on Bridging Capital Markets & Global Culture, the Curse of Competence, Why Money Is Just a Tool, the Trap of Fame, and the Courage to Live Authentically
There's a version of success that looks great from the outside. A fancy title. A name in publications. A bank account that keeps growing. And then there's the question Bradley Orford-Hall learned to ask himself: but what is your life actually? What is your day like, in real terms?
In this episode of the Be Yourself Podcast, Bradley — investor, advisor, and founder of xRave Ventures — shares the journey that took him from investment banking boardrooms to the dancefloor, and eventually to building a company at the intersection of capital markets and global culture. Along the way, he slept in a cupboard to finish a deal on time, lived in Sweden and Los Angeles, and traveled to Brazil, China, El Salvador, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia — each trip teaching him something new about what it means to be human.
The conversation is a guide to intentional living: how to break free from the autopilot of competence, why money has no value until it's exchanged for something real, and why asking yourself "why" five times in a row might be the most important thing you do this year.
Bradley Orford-Hall is an investor, advisor, and startup founder whose career spans investment banking, M&A, private equity, management consulting, and fintech across multiple countries. Growing up in the UK with a deeply diverse heritage — African, Indian, German, Irish, Danish, and Norwegian — Bradley never fit neatly into a box, and was naturally drawn to music, culture, and the expansiveness of the human experience.
That pull toward culture eventually became his professional mission. xRave Ventures exists to bridge the persistent gap between capital markets and culturally innovative businesses — from digital media platforms and new forms of expression to physical spaces and live events. Bradley works with founders building at the frontier of culture, helping them access the right capital and build sustainable business models that can last.
Beyond his professional life, Bradley has lived in Sweden and Los Angeles, and traveled extensively — China, Brazil, El Salvador, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and many more. He is a musician who plays piano, and believes that travel, music, and bringing people together are among the most powerful forces for human understanding in a fractured world.
people, they want the money, but money has no value at all until it's exchanged for something else.
if you keep on asking yourself the why, it might actually lead you to the very real things that are really important to you.
it takes courage to do that... if there's something that you've been wanting to do or something that you're passionate about, you may as well do it because otherwise you're going to keep thinking about it and that's a waste of your energy.