The Smarter Podcast with Emily Austen – Details, episodes & analysis

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Marcia Kilgore is a serial entrepreneur. She sold her first business LVMH in 2004 for a rumoured £25 million. Next up was Soap & Glory, which she sold to Boots in 2014 with over £100 million in revenue. Soaper Duper and Fitflop are globally successful businesses. Marcia’s latest mission, is Netflix for Beauty, and she wants you to have a piece of the Beauty Pie. It’s the first business Marcia has raised money for (over £100 million), and she chatted candidly with me about her extensive business journey. We talked about her obsession with customer experience, work life balance, and her secret sauce. 

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Welcome to the Busi-ness Podcast!

Today, I chatted with Will Sandbach and Abbie Roden, co-founders of D2C wine brand, Amie Wine. 

Amie was born in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the brainchild of Abbie, a marketer and photographer, and Will, who’d recently left his previous job as a director in the wine business. Launching the business in the June of the first lockdown, the pair seized the moment, tapping into the rosé market with a cool and more affordable direct-to-consumer brand that delivered straight to their customer’s doors. The lockdown project took off, thanks to wild support across social media.

We spoke about the influence of social media on their brand and the advantages and disadvantages of growing a business and community on Instagram. We also discussed penetrating a very traditional industry and overcoming snobbery in the wine industry. I hope you’ve got a glass of wine and you enjoy listening to this episode.

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Welcome to the Busi-ness Podcast!

Haeni Kim, founder of cult clothing brand KITRI, began her business journey in luxury fashion. Stemming from a desire to create lifelong, unique pieces, Haeni launched KITRI in 2017, bridging the gap between high street and hero pieces that don't put you out of pocket. Five years later, the brand has had an army of KITRI girls. The brand is a firm favourite of celebrities and Instagram stars, with the 2 hugely successful collaborations with Jessie Bush under its belt. Expect bright colours, bold prints and pieces you'll want to wear forever.

Haeni and I covered a number of topics, including the standards we set for women through social media, why it's impossible to have a good relationship with online platforms, the challenges facing women in their entrepreneurial journeys, why competition can be bad for our mental health and why we have to be disciplined about where our focus lies. We talked about how KITRI is tackling some of the sustainability challenges that face the sector, the fear of greenwashing and whether founders should be afraid of call-out culture. KITRI is really setting the tone for the future of fashion brands and buying better and I really hope you enjoy listening to this business story.

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Welcome to the Busi-ness Podcast!

This week, on the podcast, I’m really excited to bring you a very special episode, with a friend and an old client of mine, Julian Hearn, founder of Huel. Julian started Huel six years ago, following two previous businesses; one successful, the other, not so, but the latter led to the launch of Huel.

He talked to me really openly about his business journey, the sacrifices he’s had to make and the original plan for Huel. He danced around the subject of the business IPOing this year, but either way, they have announced that they’ve done over £100million in revenue. This is an extraordinary achievement for a business that’s hardly raised any money and Julian still has a huge amount of the equity of the business. You’ll see the brand everywhere, from social media to t-shirts and the culture of the business is so special. Julian is an incredibly impressive, thoughtful and kind man, with so many exciting new thoughts and ideas. I really hope you enjoy this special episode.

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Welcome to the Busi-ness Podcast!

Today’s episode was recorded live in London, at the Hoxton in Southwark, with LG Gram, an amazing part of the LG business, who I’ve been working with as part of their Hustle Hub, a Facebook community where entrepreneurs can come together to chat and share stories and advice. 

I’ve been really lucky to be working with them this year and as a part of this work, I was fortunate enough to record this very special episode live with Tommy Mallet, founder of Mallet London.

You may know Tommy from his role on reality show, TOWIE, but Tommy and I sat down to discuss his incredible apparel brand, which is now worth over £10million, with stores all over the UK and global expansion well underway. Tommy was recently named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. His business journey is far from normal and it was incredibly fascinating to hear him talk about his drive and how he created the business. He talked to me about how disappointed he was with how he was represented on TOWIE and how he thought he’d be an instant success on the show. He talks openly about finding the balance between his family and his business and managing relationships both in person and online. He’s got an insatiable drive for success and spoke openly about what happened when he became a millionaire, his mental health, his family and the tensions that many entrepreneurs feel. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it.

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Welcome to The Busi-ness Podcast.

Today I am joined by Chris Sheldrick, Co-founder & CEO of what3words.

With a background in the music industry, Chris noticed that traditional addresses for venues and precise stage doors or loading bays were not accurate enough. As a result, he set out to make a simpler version of addresses using just three words…meet what3words.

Working with co-founders comes with swings and roundabouts but Chris explains how his team had an ideal natural balance, with everyone responsible for their separate areas of business.

Faced with a unique proposition, Chris unusually felt he wasn’t faced with direct competitors. Instead, Chris spent his time understanding what his consumers currently use and how he can simplify this.

Partnering with large companies such as Lamborghini is an essential part of what3words’ strategy. It’s evident that even though not everyone owns a Lamborghini, consideration, awareness, and credibility can be built through strategic partnerships.

Focusing on the entire world, Chris and his co-founders faced a huge challenge during targeting. Receiving lots of opinion on where to direct the business, the team identified a combination of these which worked for them.

Having never fundraised previously, Chris explains that there’s no written playbook and talks through just some examples of funding which may be suitable for some businesses.

There’s a lot to learn from such an industry changing business in a unique space.

I hope you enjoy this episode of The Busi-ness Podcast.

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Welcome to the The Busi-ness Podcast.

Today I am joined by Amanda Harrington, founder of InParlour and Amanda Harrington London. Driven by skin cancer running in her family, Amanda’s mission is to provide an alternative and safe means to tanning. 

Stretched, overworked and exhausted from balancing mum-life combined with flying around the world to spray tan VIPs, contemporaries encouraged Amanda to bring out her own line of products to increase her reach… meet Amanda Harrington London. 

Eight years in the making, Amanda discusses the unmentioned length of time that launching a business can take, including the two years that it took to get out of her at-the-time role in InParlour.

Finding a reliable manufacturer who believes in what you do is a long-road. Amanda likens the search to finding a life-partner and emphasises the importance in this. She explains this was just a tiny part of the big switch from a service-based business to product.

Aiming to stand out, Amanda explains how applying a different technique to mainstream brands allowed her to build a desirable brand with results of consumers raving about her products.

Slowed-down supplied chains, forced to shut InParlour and faced with huge challenges, Amanda explains how she turned around the pandemic to work in her favour despite setbacks.

I learnt a lot speaking to Amanda and I hope you will to. 

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Today I am joined by Simone De La Rue, Founder & CEO of Body by Simone, a dance-based fitness business. Simone has run her US business for over a decade and has trained some of the world’s most famous celebrities, as well as appearing on Khloe Kardashian’s Revenue Body.

With a passion for dance and a love of moving her body, Simone identified the need for consumers to have easy access to exercise and cardio, that doesn’t feel like a chore. 

Reflecting on the last 18 months with her business all but shutting down, the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in Simone’s four studios quickly turning to two. Heartbroken, Simone reminds us that this was a harsh reality check on how misleading social media can be.

We talked about marketing + how receiving lots of press coverage in the early days fast tracked Simone’s business but she explains that celebrity endorsement is not something to rely on – it’s all in the product being sold. Starting her business, Simone says she felt ‘clueless’. 

10 years on, Body by Simone focuses on content to stay relevant amongst constantly emerging health and fitness ‘fads’. 

Her biggest challenges include retaining highly-skilled staff whilst juggling the emotions and many personalities of employees. 

I ask what productivity means to Simone and in response, she explains what she means by ‘run your day not let your day run you’ 

I hope you can take some of Simone’s words of wisdom and apply them to your endeavours. 

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