We’re taking a short production break while we prepare for the next season, but while we’re preparing, we want your feedback on the show and what you want us to cover. Fill out this form to let us know what you want to hear from us on the next season of Secret Leaders and check us out on YouTube  Thank you for your suggestions and for listening  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens after that coveted exit? What does life look like for a founder who's achieved what so many others are striving for? Today, we're diving deep into that very question with Timothy Armoo, a serial entrepreneur who sold his influencer marketing company, Fanbytes, in a multi-million pound deal at the age of 27. But this isn't a story about how to build and sell a successful startup - it's about what comes next. What's truly captivating about Tim’s current chapter is his unconventional approach to business.  He's not following the typical path of immediately jumping into another venture-backed startup or becoming a full-time investor. Instead, he's crafting a unique strategy that involves everything from funding lithium mines in Africa to investing in avocado imports. … Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From hitting rock bottom to tripling his business overnight! Executive development specialist Jim reveals how admitting his shortcomings to his wife became the catalyst for transformation, leading him to quit drinking and embark on a path of self-discovery.  Whether you're battling your own demons or simply seeking inspiration to reach your full potential, Jim's story offers a compelling testament to the power of vulnerability, authenticity, and the courage to change." … Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fall in love with the problem; not the solution - that’s the philosophy of Uri Levine, the serial entrepreneur behind more than ten startups including two unicorns. His best-known success is Waze, the traffic navigation app he Co-Founded in 2007 and sold to Google for over $1 billion six years later. Uri is a well-known speaker but he added “author” to his CV earlier this year, with the release of his book, taking its title directly from his philosophy. He wrote the book to spread entrepreneurial success as far as possible. It covers everything from the importance of failure, to the best approaches to hiring, to why it's so important to 'date' your ideas but fall in love with your problems. Why should you focus on product/market fit above all else? Why is every decision you make by definition the right decision? And how do we know that our next episode is going to be the best one we’ve ever made? Tune in to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Wood is a high performance coach. He’s been doing that for 25 years, and has recently taken up acting - but his life has been peppered with failure and tragedy.  David will tell you that failure is a part of a life-well-lived because it means you’re pushing yourself. The people you’ve really gotta worry about are the people who never fail because they’re the ones who never try. David has tried a LOT of things and succeeded in several. But we’re here to learn from his most memorable failures, including one which nearly killed him. What happened and what did it teach him? -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Timothy Creswick is the CEO and Founder of Vorboss. They're an internet service provider for businesses which might not sound riveting but that's only until you hear the story of how it came together and what they’re actually doing. Timothy saw a gaping opportunity that the market had missed because of distractions caused by COVID and he seized upon it. Vorboss have secured £250 million of investment. Their goal is to turn that into £1 billion by deploying the UK’s only dedicated fibre network for businesses throughout Central London. They’ve discreetly laid over 500km of fibre optics since 2020 without many people noticing - and that has been a key part of their master plan... -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've just launched a new podcast at Kindling Media (we make Secret Leaders) helping people learn how to build wealth. It's called Making Money and it's the financial education we wish we'd had. This is the first episode, but dropped into the Secret Leaders feed. You can listen to the rest of the show here: https://link.chtbl.com/secretleaders-mm Or search for Making Money wherever you listen to your pods. Hope you enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave Foreman is the Managing Partner at Praetura Ventures. He’s not here to talk about a failure in business like normal, although his failure did seep into his work.  Instead, he’s here to tell us about a failure of character.  Dave used to be a knobhead. His words, not ours.  This is how he turned his life - and himself - around. -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Zaccaria is the Co-Founder & CEO of Linktree, a product that's so simple it’s difficult to imagine nobody thought of it before. It’s a kick yourself kind of product, especially now they are worth over a billion dollars.  Linktree solves a unique problem in the social media age. Most social sites like Instagram only allow you to have one link in your bio. For successful people, in all kinds of industries like music, picking that one link is a nightmare. Do you want to send your followers to your merchandise, to your website, to your tickets or wherever?   Linktree solves the problem by having one link to rule them all. You put your Linktree in your bio which when clicked on, displays various links to various things that you might want to promote. Alex, his brother Anthony, and their business partner Nick Humphreys, created Linktree because they saw how much time they were wasting having to update individual bio links for their clients at their digital agency, Bolster.  After running the operation as a boot-strapped side-hustle for several years, things snowballed when singer-songwriter Alicia Keys joined the platform. How the hell have did they turn that link site, a side project, into one of the top three fastest growing company in the world? -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Collinson is one of the best guests we’ve spoken to in a while. She has been through the ringer, but fortunately, has come out the other side.  She’s here to tell us what happened and how you can pull yourself out of the grimmest pits that life can throw you in.  Lisa today is the Chief People Officer & Country Manager in the UK of The Next We, a company helping other organisations improve the mindsets of their employees. But before that she was in Berlin, leading the People team at a startup, when her life collapsed. What happened? -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re talking to Pete Ward, the Co-Founder and CEO of Humanity. Until now, the thought of slowing or even reversing the ageing process has been pure science fiction. But using readily available technology, Humanity are out to change that.  As a society, we’ve fallen prey to the idea that there’s a one size-fits-all methodology that will improve people’s health -exercise more, eat healthier, drink less - you’ve heard it all before. But Humanity, have recognised that everyone is built differently. By using their app to track your nutrition, movement and mind, Humanity say you can compare yourself against the global datasets, revealing what you, specifically, should do to improve your personal health. Before Humanity, Pete had several successes behind him.One of his earliest was WAYN.com, which he also Co-Founded. They were the largest social travel network for over 13 years before he sold it to to lastminute.com in 2016. And now, with Humanity, he wants to have a more meaningful impact on the world.  Pete’s story is fascinating, and he’s got advice on mentorships, why you probably have more leverage than you realise and how you should always think twice before giving up in the face of adversity.  You can’t change your chronological age, but can you really change your biological one? Listen to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Robinson is the Founder and CEO of Retention.com, a SAAS business which is on an insane growth trajectory. But, before Retention.com, Adam failed. In fact, like most successful people, he had a bunch of failures.  The one that sticks out most to him is what we’re talking about today, when he walked into a room and fired most of the people at his company. What happened? -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you want to get better at hiring, or being hired?  Sam Franklin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Otta, a job search platform that wants to make the experience of job seekers in the tech industry way, way better. Recruitment and jobs boards might not seem the most exciting areas to disrupt but the subject of hiring is so important and can be very nuanced. All businesses succeed because of their people. At Otta, they’re really leaning into the power of the job seeker. And in the fast-growing tech industry, where demand for the best talent is very high, that has turned out to be a strong strategy. Sam got a taste of what it takes to build a fast growing startup when working at the prop-tech Nested. It was at Nested, as Head of People, and doing over 30 hours of interviews a week, that he realised how soul-destroying the recruitment process can be for many people. That was the start of Otta.  If you want to get better at recruitment, either as an employer or job hunter, then there are some gems in this episode. Sam shares his tips for hiring, including stuff we’ve never thought of before. Why does he say that companies should avoid trying to be the best? What are the biggest mistakes companies make? And, what is his advice to founders trying to disrupt a stuffy industry? Listen to find out.  -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick Sabine, Co-Founder of Resident Advisor (RA), shares his journey of self-discovery and the transformative power of authenticity in leadership and life. From his early inspiration in the electronic music scene to the challenges of growing a global brand, Nick candidly discusses the struggles of maintaining authenticity, navigating co-founder relationships, and leading through crisis. A life-altering divorce and a period of self-reflection, including embracing boredom and solitude, led Nick to reconnect with his true self. This newfound authenticity reshaped his leadership style, allowing him to build genuine connections with his team, which proved crucial when COVID-19 hit, wiping out 95% of RA's revenue. Nick offers a rare glimpse into the high-pressure world of the music industry, while reminding us that true success lies in the depth of our relationships and the courage to be unapologetically ourselves. … Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Natasha Baker is a British dressage rider with 5 Paralympic golds to her name and a load of other top medals. She experienced a very public failure which left her in tears. And then, a few years later, the thing she was most scared of happening in the world, happened.  What’s it like when you fall off the literal horse on the big stage? And what did it teach her about failure that we can all learn from? -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This conversation with Danny Gray is one of our all-time favourites. Danny had a childhood filled with bullying, trauma and mental disorders. It left him with scars that no one else could see, and eventually led him to starting War Paint, a men’s makeup brand that is on an unbelievable growth path. They’re creating a new category. In fact, they’ve already created it and are fast becoming an iconic brand. Plus, Danny went on Dragons Den, got offers from all 5 Dragons and then ultimately turned them down. Madness. In this episode, we find out what really happened, behind the cameras. Danny is also the Founder of Jaaq, a mental health platform which covers everything from depression to addiction, hair loss to periods. They’ve managed to get A-listers like Alastair Campbell to bare their souls, explaining the toughest things they’ve been through. The theory is that hearing from people with lived experience is a key part of feeling understood and ultimately being able to tackle your demons. Danny looks and sounds like a 'Jack The Lad'. He says that was his image - but it really was all an image. So what happened in his childhood that crushed his confidence? -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably heard SVB collapsed, but what you probably don’t know is how close the UK startup ecosystem came to collapsing all together. This is the inside story of how a small group of Founders and VCs fought to save the industry. How do we know? Because our host Dan was a small part of it. If the story we’re telling today hadn’t happened, then Dan would be sitting here without a company. This is how the crisis really played out. -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taavet Hinrikus is the Co-Founder and former Chairman of Wise, the unicorn fintech which used to be called TransferWise. He’s now the Co-Founder of Plural, an investment platform for early stage capital built by founders and real operators like Taavet. Oh, and he was also the first ever employee at Skype. Basically, he’s one of the top startup dogs in Europe so we had to get him on to learn what the difference is between great companies and the rest. It’s always amazing hearing about the early days of companies which become absolutely massive like Wise, or Skype. These are the days when they’re signing up tens of users, rather than tens of thousands - and they’re wondering if they’re barking up the wrong tree. All startups begin with 0 real users and it’s fascinating how the best navigate their way from there to the top. Taavet is part of the group of Estonian entrepreneurs who’ve had a GDP level impact on the country.  Let's find out why he's been so successful. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alessandro, or 'Alex' Savelli, is the Co-Founder of Pasta Evangelists - a brand you’ve probably come across. Their pasta is delicious and everywhere. But, before he was getting his hands in the proverbial pasta dough, he tried to climb a much tougher mountain - building a luxury smartphone brand. We’re talking hardware and software to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung but bedecked in precious metals and jewels. They had some big wins, but it didn’t work out - and we’re here to find out why.  -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maxim Perumal is the Founder of Unai and we think he’s a certifiable genius. He’s certainly one of the most exciting Founders we’ve ever spoken to - he built the world’s most popular open source VR headset when he was 15 years old, and turned down working at Meta. His company Unai is building a VR headset and virtual world to make human expression in VR feel magical, which is a bold claim but he’s got the people to do it.  Maxim has managed to bring together a crack team of ridiculously qualified VR talent who believe in him, a young man who’s only just able to drink in the States. We think you’ll find him compelling too. He’s got a great explanation for why the likes of Meta have been failing with VR and their version of the metaverse. But he also hints at a more exciting alternative. Listen to find out.  -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That’s Matteo Grassi, the Co-Founder of Pop-Up, a thriving no code eCommerce platform. But before all this, there was another period in his life - a much darker period.  He left Shopify in 2016 to become a partner in a company, which Matteo has asked to keep anonymous. The idea was they would quickly spin up dozens of D2C ecommerce shops, connecting customers with cool products.   They would be the middleman and they absolutely exploded. It was a paid marketing masterclass. One of their shops got to 12 million in revenue in months.  But as you know, that’s not how things ended because we’re not here to talk about success stories. We’re here to learn from Founders’ toughest moments.  What happened? If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Kelly, the Founder of Spacegoods (really cool company btw) experienced one of the fastest rises and falls with a bootstrapped business we’ve ever seen. He grew Neon Beach, a DTC neon sign brand, to £7m in revenue in a year. He got to £10m in 18 months - from his bedroom, in lockdown - basically just him, his laptop and freelancers. But then he made one big mistake which cost him more than this business.  What the hell happened?  -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're linking up with our mates at Crowd Network to introduce you to one of their new podcasts, Captains with Sam Warburton. Whether you’re big into your sports or not, this show has plenty of leadership gems to be taken into your life and career. Sam is joined weekly by a successful sporting leader, who explain what it takes to be the very best. To listen to the rest of this chat, search for ‘Captains with Sam Warburton’ in your favourite podcast app, or hit this link: https://pod.fo/e/15f4e5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassie Holmes is a professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, where she teaches the immensely popular MBA course, Applying the Science of Happiness to Life Design. She’s also the author of Happier Hour, a new book that gives us the tools to be happier, some of which we’ll dive into later today.  Cassie’s understanding of happiness was born out of a deeply unhappy period, sparked by an intensely personal failure. The failure of her impending marriage to her childhood sweetheart. What happened? -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the face of failure, do you quit or persevere? Alden Mills, a former Navy SEAL who has navigated the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Alden shares the invaluable lessons he learned about failure during his time in the SEALs and how he applied them to his business ventures. From the brink of bankruptcy to generating nearly $100 million in sales, Alden's journey is a testament to the power of resilience and the importance of staying connected to your passion and purpose. Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joanna Jensen is the Founder and former CEO of Childs Farm, a baby & child skincare brand.   The company began at home after Joanna grew frustrated with the lack of choice for her young daughter’s sensitive, eczema-prone skin, so she started to make her own products. When those worked she got a thousand bottles made and went up and down the country selling them at trade fairs, country shows, anywhere she thought potential customers might be. It was the start of something magical. They got their first listings in Boots in 2014 and then two years later the brand blew up. They went viral after customers started posting ‘before and after’ photos of their children’s sensitive skin. They went viral again the year after, and by 2019, their sales exceeded Johnson & Johnson in the UK. Quite an incredible thing for someone who started out making body lotion in a freezing cold barn. In March 2022, the company was sold for 40 million pounds to PZ Cussons Plc. How did she do it? -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brett Wigdortz is the Co-Founder of Teach First. He started the business in 2002 after seeing how the UK education system was failing miserably. The company has gone on to be a massive success but it was incredibly close to imploding because of how he operated in the early days.  When Brett asked for feedback from his staff, a small moment turned into a big moment that would change the course of Teach First, the lives of its employees and its thousands of future teachers and students. What happened? Listen to find out. -- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  -- Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr Ben Maruthappu is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cera, a digital-first home healthcare company. In just over six years, Cera has established itself as one of the biggest providers of healthcare at home in the UK, as well as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe.  Cera currently makes almost 50,000 visits a day to people’s homes in the UK. That’s the equivalent capacity of around 50 hospitals.  After launching in 2016, they have raised over $400 million and are generating over £250 million of annualised revenue. They’ve scaled, expanding to Germany, where they are growing over a hundred percent year on year. The care sector and healthcare in general were in a state of crisis even before the pandemic. Normally, if a sector needs change, entrepreneurs step in, disrupting the norm. But doing this in the care sector in the UK is notoriously difficult, even for well funded companies.  Ben is well aware of the issues having worked in A&E and then spending three years advising the CEO of NHS England. He’s not just jumping on the hot medtech trends. And that’s allowed him to avoid the implosion in healthcare that has seen once lauded startups fall. That takes a lot of resilience and conviction. He is the first person from British healthcare to ever be included in Forbes' 30 under 30.  What is it like to scale at that speed with no experience ever managing anyone before? And how do they use data to keep people out of hospital? Listen to find out.  -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christie Ellis founded one of the first human quality pet food companies, The Healthy Pet Gourmet. Her aim was to revolutionise how we feed our pets by helping them live longer and happier. She was going to build the next IAMS.  The press went mad, customers loved it. She was on World News Tonight, the Today show, and top-end magazines. She had high profile clients, one who designed her kitchen for all her pet food. On paper, the business was doing well. The product was selling, and then Whole Foods expressed interest in stocking it.  But the business failed… Why? Listen to find out. If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shyp started in 2013 when Kevin Gibbon had the idea of taking the Uber model and using it for shipping. He created an on-demand service where customers would take a picture of what they wanted to send, a courier would come pick it up and then take it to a warehouse to be packaged and delivered using major shipping companies.   There was huge excitement when they launched. They were featured on the front pages of newspapers and Kevin was hailed as the ‘next Steve Jobs’. They were a hit with investors, raising their seed round within three months, their Series A the following year and their Series B the year after that. At their peak they were valued at $250 million dollars. But the company failed.  So, what went wrong?  Listen to find out. If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that looking after your brain is one of the best ways to be more productive? And your gut is central to the decisions you make?  This episode brings insights from two professionals at the cutting edge of their fields, to give actionable steps on how to be more effective, improving your life at work and at home.  Dr Tara is a world-leading neuroscientist and best selling author of ‘The Source’. She has a PhD in neuropharmacology, was a medical doctor and child psychologist, having trained at Oxford University. She has spent the last decade coaching leaders and CEOs from across the world and is also a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan, where she teaches classes on how understanding the brain and neuroscience can lead to better business performance. She doesn’t just understand the brain inside out, she knows how to communicate what you need to know about it - to help you build better habits and have a bigger impact. Sophie Medlin is one of the UK’s most respected gut experts. She’s a medically trained nutrition professional, a senior lecturer at King's College, the Chair of the British Dietietic Association for London and star of Channel 4s new show ‘Know your Shit’. She explains how looking after your gut can enable you to be the best leader you can be. They are both colleagues of our host Dan at his company Heights.  We talk about:  How you know when your brain isn’t being looked after What is neuroplasticity? How our brains actually work. The best habits for your brain to start doing The non-negotiable priorities for looking after your brain What is the gut microbiome and why is it so important? Why looking after your gut can keep your immune system healthier and stop you getting sick How, cell for cell, we are more bacteria than human How drinking diet sodas might mean you actually consume more calories Their tips for optimising the brain and gut for peak performance. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dom McGregor co-founded Social Chain with Steven Bartlett, host of the hit podcast Diary of a CEO. Their business didn’t fail, in fact, it sky-rocketed. When they exited the company after six years in 2020, they’d built it to hundreds of employees, with clients like Apple, McDonald's, the BBC, and Boohoo, and taken it public the year before with a value of about £250 million.  But the pressure on Dom was immense, and the way he coped left him feeling like he’d failed. He had turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with both the highs and lows of being a young founder in a fast-growing business. Exacerbated by his feeling of imposter syndrome, this toxic relationship with alcohol ended up nearly costing him his role in the business.  Drinkline is the national alcohol helpline. If you're worried about your own or someone else's drinking, you can call this free helpline in complete confidence. Call 0300 123 1110 (weekdays 9am to 8pm, weekends 11am to 4pm). You can find more information on alcohol support on the NHS website.  If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: otta.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you want to do with your life? Do you have a plan? Bryan Johnson knew from a young age he wanted to have a big impact on the world and set out to do it. His plan was simple, he wanted to make enough money so that he could focus on really making a difference to the world.  And he did it. Not by doing anything flashy but by building a payments platform, bootstrapping it for years, and through understanding a hell of a lot about human psychology he got it to the point where he sold his company, Braintree Venmo , for $800 million to Paypal. He personally got $300 million. With that money he went on to found Kernel, a company that designs and manufactures brain-scanning technology with the aim to improve life expectancy by combating age-related issues, in 2016. Since then, Bryan has continued to look at how human beings can be and do better, including himself. In 2021 he started Project Blueprint, where he is working to reverse his body’s ageing. It involves measuring his seventy plus organs and then using that data to try to reverse the biological age of each as much as possible. He follows a strict diet and gives up all of the decisions around what he eats to this algorithm. As well as diet the regime also involves taking 25 supplements a day, and a strict exercise, skincare and sleep routine. We talk about: What it was like growing up in a Mormon community  Why learning about compounding at 7 years old was key to his success What he felt the day he sold Braintree Venmo to Paypal for $800 million How being rich has changed how he parents What he is doing to reverse his body’s ageing  Why he believes we must improve human intelligence His advice to entrepreneurs -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are your new year’s resolutions? Is money on your mind?  Being an entrepreneur can be a bit of an all or nothing game when it comes to money. You're into the creation process and are willing to sacrifice a lot. It can cost you much more than you earn, especially at the beginning, and often you have nothing for a long time. But, admitting that you want money and understanding how to take control of it can be difficult, it can feel like a taboo.  That’s why this episode features bestselling author of 'How to Own the World' and Founder of Plain English Finance, Andrew Craig. 'How to Own the World' is in its third edition and rarely out of the top books for personal finance on Amazon. Andrew originally self-published the book after becoming frustrated with the fact that so many people don’t understand the nuts and bolts of personal finance. He says we can all grow wealthier by developing some simple habits over the long term. A founder himself, Andrew understands the pressures entrepreneurs face but believes that everyone can better control their finances.  What does it mean to ‘own the world’? What is the ‘100 minus your age’ rule? And why does Andrew think it's better to rent rather than buy? Listen to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ella Mills started a plant-based food blog, Deliciously Ella, in 2012 after chronic illness left her physically and mentally depleted. The blog blew up and its popularity led to her first recipe book, which was released in January 2015. It became the fastest-selling debut cookbook of all time in the UK and spent eight weeks at number one on Amazon, across all categories.  Deliciously Ella now has 40 plant-based food products, stocked in more than 6,000 stores across the UK, an app, more bestselling cookbooks, a deli, and in 2022 had an expected turnover of 20 million pounds. It hasn’t always been a smooth ride though…which we’ll get into.  Ella has over 2 million followers on Instagram. Social media has played a big role in the growth of the business, but even though many would describe her as one of the original UK influencers, she doesn’t see herself that way.  How did she handle that fame along with the growth of the business brand? What advice would she give to other entrepreneurs building a disruptive consumer brand? And, what does she think about the wellness industry and the desire for quick fixes?  Listen to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Success isn't just about having a great product or service. You know that standing out in a crowded market is tough. But what if you could cut through the noise and build a loyal following that drives real results for your business? Enter the power of personal branding. Chris Donnelly, Founder of Verb and Lottie, shares his insights on leveraging your personal brand to supercharge your entrepreneurial journey. With over 35 million content views per week, Chris has cracked the code on authentic, impactful personal branding. And it’s true, building a strong personal brand isn't easy. It requires consistency, vulnerability, and a willingness to experiment. But if you do it right; you will find an enormous amount of opportunities. If you want to start a new side hustle, you’ll have a jump start. If you want to fill a role in your company, you’ll have countless applications, and if you want to climb the corporate ladder, you’ll be getting a little more attention. Whether you're a seasoned Founder or just starting out, this episode will equip you with the mindset and tactics to build a personal brand that doesn't just get attention, but drives meaningful results.  … Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you know what to do when you’re just starting out?  In 2007, Rob Fitzpatrick and his two co-founders, were in their early twenties. They were programmers just out of academia and had an idea for a business. They were accepted to YCombinator in the same cohort as teams like Dropbox and Songkick. They got deals with big companies like Sony Music, MTV, and the BBC, were on national talk shows, got great press coverage and moved to London to be in the centre of their industry. But they died in their fourth year… What went wrong? Listen to find out.  If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: quickbooks.co.uk/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where were you when you came up with the idea for your business? Simon Griffiths was sitting on a toilet when he had the idea for Who Gives A Crap, a subscription-based toilet paper brand that donates 50% of its profits to help build toilets in the developing world. Since they launched in 2012, they’ve sold more than 300 million rolls of toilet paper and donated more than 11 million Australian dollars - just over £6 million - to charity. They now have more than 200 employees spread across 7 countries selling into the USA, Europe and Australia. In September 2021 they raised over $40 million in their first fundraising round.  It’s taken a lot to get to this point. They bootstrapped for the first 9 years and spent 3 years before that working on the product before launching. Simon didn’t get paid for the first 18 months of trading.  What does it take to build a brand that actually tries to change the world? Is entrepreneurship really for everyone? And does Simon fold or scrunch his toilet paper?  Listen to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when your business pivots so much you end up in a completely different industry? Steven Renwick founded Satago, a platform that helps businesses get paid faster, in 2012. It was actually one of the first companies to raise money on the equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs.  Whilst it started out as a way to crowdsource data about when companies were getting paid and use that to make real time credit reports, Steven had to pivot the business multiple times, meaning it went from a technology to a finance business.  The more the company grew, the more they needed investment, plus Steven was now in an industry he had no experience in. They raised nearly £3 million in total. But, in 2017, Steven had to try to sell Satago after it became insolvent.  What went wrong? Listen to find out.  If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: quickbooks.co.uk/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones grew up in poverty in Birmingham, having come with his parents from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation. One of nine children, and as the oldest boy, it was his job to help his father on their allotment, which they used to supplement the family income. And it was on that allotment he first dreamt of owning his own farm.  His drive to change his circumstances was relentless, which was needed, because he had to excel at several different career stages just to give himself the chance of building his company. Wilfred gave Gordon Ramsey his big break in television, having been given his own break in TV, thanks to his raw persistence. Then after finally buying his farm, he set up The Black Farmer, a name coined by neighbours of his farm in Devon.  He’s written a book, called ‘Jeopardy - The Dangers of Playing it Safe’, so has really thought about the things that have made him successful - the stuff we want to know about.  How did he hone his mindset and achieve his lifelong dream? Why does he celebrate being an outsider? And why is fear so important for entrepreneurs?  Listen to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you want to learn about raising capital from someone who has been through the wringer and reflected on his mistakes? Alex Rainey is the Co-Founder of travel insurer and planning app Pluto, which he founded in 2018. They raised a total of £1.3 million, and grew to be the UK’s second highest rated travel insurer and one of the top-3 travel planning apps on the app store.  But in September 2022, just a couple of months before we recorded this episode, Alex and his Co-Founder sold the company after failing to raise in a brutal fundraise.  What went wrong? Listen to find out.  If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: quickbooks.co.uk/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you risk it all when the odds are stacked against you? As a founder it’s very hard to take that first leap into the unknown and even more so when you’re in a job you love.The stakes are rarely higher and it’s so difficult to do it well.  But that’s exactly what Thibaud Hug de Larauze did when he left his job to found Back Market, a marketplace for refurbished devices, in 2014. They have grown massively since then, raising over a billion dollars, including $335 million in May 2022 - at a valuation of $5.7 billion. They are now the most valuable startup in French history!  And despite being the head of such a successful company he has managed to stay humble. How do you go from being a middle manager to one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the whole of Europe, pitching to former Vice President of the United States Al Gore AND not get too big for your boots?  Listen to find out.  -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Squibb is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur and angel investor. After being homeless at 15, he has gone on to found 19 businesses and invest in 76 companies to date. After selling his business to PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) he retired at 40 and is now on a mission to help 10 million people start their own businesses through the Purposeful Project. But it wasn’t a straight line to success, and one of those businesses, a comic book business, failed, losing $1.5 million. What went wrong? Listen to find out. If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: quickbooks.co.uk/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Secret Leader’s 200th episode! Over the last 5 years we've featured over 50 unicorn leaders and household names such as Monzo, Slack, Duolingo, Brewdog, Lastminute.com. In today’s episode host Dan Murray-Serter takes listeners through the interviews that have had the biggest impact on him. Guests include host of Diary of a CEO, entrepreneur, and angel investor, Steven Bartlett; Co-Founder of Little Moons Vivien Wong on how they went viral during the pandemic; Eve Sleep Kuba Wieczorek on what it cost being one of the fastest UK companies to IPO ever; and Jo Malone talking about how leaving her company after her recovery from cancer was the biggest mistake of her life.  Listen to the full episodes here: Steven Bartlett, host of ‘Diary of a CEO’ and entrepreneur  Lemonade Co-Founder Daniel Schreiber  Little Moons Co-Founder Vivien Wong Eve Sleep Co-Founder Kuba Wieczorek Fiverr Co-Founder Micha Kauffman  Trinny Woodall, Founder of Trinny London Jo Malone, Founder of Jo Malone innit :P Dan reflects on what those interviews have taught him: How to stay consistently true to your path and mission statement whilst not believing your own bullshit with Founder and Host of ‘Diary of a CEO’ Steven Bartlett How to redefine an archaic industry by tapping into consumer psychology with Lemonade Founder Daniel Schreiber  How to handle the challenges of surprise growth in hard times with Vivien Wong from Little Moons The pitfalls of hypergrowth when you put the scaling your business ahead of your mental health (everything can fall like a house of cards),with Eve Sleep’s Kuba Wieczorek How to avoid obsessing over the wrong things, with Fiverr Co-Founder Micha Kauffman  How to stay humble, be vulnerable and start again with Trinny Woodall How to build resilience and not be a victim of your greatest regrets, with Jo Malone  -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2013 Emma set up strategic brand agency Hands Down in her spare bedroom, on her laptop, with just £1,000 in savings. She’d never run a business before and had been an employee for the past twenty years, since she was 18. Learning on the job, she put all her energy into growing the business over the next ten years. She had one goal in mind, to make £1 million a year. Despite the pandemic, the business was on set to reach this goal in 2022…but in July she decided to close Hands Down down.  What went wrong? Listen to find out what.  If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: quickbooks.co.uk/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Hitchcox is the Chairman and Founder of Yoo Group, the property company behind the £1.3 billion pound regeneration of Olympia London and considered by many the global leader in the branded residence space.  John founded Yoo in 1999 with one of the world’s most famous designers, Philippe Starck. Together they have grown Yoo to where it is today, operating in over fifty cities and thirty countries worldwide.  John has been in the property market since the early eighties, when he was just 17. He’s had to bring a lot of confidence to be so successful but is honest about the challenges of being an entrepreneur. He has also ridden through multiple financial crises. With the market going bananas and uncertainty over interest rates and inflation going through the roof, it’s a good time to talk to someone who knows more than most.  What does he see in his crystal ball? And what happened when he tried to do his first property deal at the age of 14? Listen to find out. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when a successful home exchange company tries to launch a rental business? Emmanuel Arnault, CEO of Home Exchange, shares his experience of investing a million dollars in a new rental venture that ultimately failed. Emmanuel dives into the strategic mistakes they made, the challenges of balancing a flagship business with a new side project, and the important lessons he learned about leadership and resource allocation along the way. From the initial planning stages to the final decision to pull the plug, He discusses the importance of adapting one's leadership style as a company grows and the pitfalls of relying too heavily on intuition when launching a new venture. Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This a new one for us - we've just launched our first true crime show at Kindling Media (we make Secret Leaders). It's called Bad Money and it's about the Hong Kong gangster, Big Spender. Obsessed with money, he went further than anyone before to get rich. In fact, he became so wealthy he could've had his own episode on Secret Leaders. This is a story of how money and power really work - and this is the first episode. You can listen to the rest of the show here: https://link.chtbl.com/badmoney_sl Or search for Bad Money wherever you listen to your pods. Hope you enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Konrad Bergström is the founder of Swedish electric boat manufacturer X Shore and Zound Industries, the Swedish tech giant that sells consumer electronics for Marshall Amplification and Adidas.  But before that, he was half a million euros in debt and living out of his car after his previous business, Megascine Agency, failed. Konrad set up the business which distributed brands like Quicksilver and Burton in Sweden in the late 90s. The company grew quickly and made a name for themselves, organising events such as the world’s largest indoor snowboarding competition and the first European edition of the World Cup in wakeboarding.  So what went wrong? Listen to find out what.  If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: quickbooks.co.uk/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nikki Wicks is the CEO of The Body Coach and the older brother of Joe Wicks. Joe, aka The Body Coach, is a household name. He’s a fitness coach with a massive online following and the author of one of the best selling cookbooks of all time ‘Lean In 15’, having sold over a million copies in its first year alone.  During the pandemic Joe became known as the ‘Nation’s PE teacher’, delivering exercise sessions on YouTube for children every week. One class of PE with Joe was live-streamed by nearly a million people, earning him a place in the Guinness World Records.  Joe has his own personal brand, but The Body Coach is also a fast-growing business that Nikki has built, along with Joe, over the past seven years. Their YouTube channel has over 2.5 two and a half million subscribers and they hit over a million downloads on their app in their first year. They are booming. Nikki and Joe have a strong bond, formed during a difficult childhood during which their father struggled with a drug addiction. Nikki says he first heard the word ‘drugs’ when he was just five years old and tried to hide his father’s drug’s use from the rest of the family. When Joe asked Nikki to come back from working abroad in 2015 to help him build his business, Nikki says he was worried about working with his brother because of the warnings he’d heard about working with family but doesn’t regret his decision.  What is his advice for those that want to work with someone they are close to and how do they cope with such a fast-growing global business? Listen to find out.  -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices