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Discover the start-up stories behind some of the most successful and innovative businesses and brands from the founders themselves.
In this podcast series, fellow co-founders of Campfire, Alex Brown and Joe Gradwell speak to business owners about how they went from idea to launch, their strategy for growth and sustainability, but also their personal story which offers an insight into the entrepreneurial drive.
Whether you’ve got the next great business idea or running your own start-up, this podcast shares invaluable knowledge that you won’t find anywhere else.
Connect with Alex, Joe and Campfire here: https://linktr.ee/thefounderspodcast
In this podcast series, fellow co-founders of Campfire, Alex Brown and Joe Gradwell speak to business owners about how they went from idea to launch, their strategy for growth and sustainability, but also their personal story which offers an insight into the entrepreneurial drive.
Whether you’ve got the next great business idea or running your own start-up, this podcast shares invaluable knowledge that you won’t find anywhere else.
Connect with Alex, Joe and Campfire here: https://linktr.ee/thefounderspodcast
60 Episodes
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Joe Gradwell and Alex Brown founded social first marketing agency Campfire after meeting and fostering a healthy rivalry at Social Chain.
In the final episode of the podcast, Alex and Joe are now telling their founding story.
They explain what led them to starting their own competing agency; how they landed on their company values, which includes the ‘no d*ck head’ rule; how they romanticised their business and how that manifested into probation passing fireworks.
To keep up with Alex and Joe’s plans for the future, follow the team behind The Founders.
Jens Knoop’s passion for hot chocolate led him to found Knoops in 2013 with only one store. Now, with more than 10 stores nationwide and an online range, you can now consider Jens Knoops, as the modern day Willy Wonka.
Jens explains how while researching as part of his previous job, he stumbled across the ‘little luxuries’ market - which when paired with his nostalgic love of chocolate, led him to starting Knoops.
Knoops battled with the covid pandemic and so Jens shares exactly what he thinks startups should be focusing on in their early days to ensure they have a diverse revenue stream.
He also shares valuable insights into how he diversified their revenue streams when faced with the adversity of the pandemic, and why startups should consider this from day 1.
Ahead of opening Knoops’ in Manchester, he shares what he’s doing to ensure the Knoops experience is the same in every store.
Follow Knoops and the team behind The Founders.
What started out as a holiday became the foundation for a million pound business. Josh White was horrified by the number of plastic bottles covering beaches on a trip abroad and, with his co-founders, began the mission to reduce single use plastic with a fresh and forward-thinking approach.
Josh describes how they convinced investors that canned water wasn’t too radical, and the turning point with a little help from Sir David Attenborough himself; he also shares the sad impact that founding a company had on his mental health and how it links to their slogan ‘Don’t Bottle It’.
Plus he discusses the exclusive details of their recent rebrand and how integral his personal brand has been to growing the company to new successes.
Follow Josh White, Cano Water and the team behind The Founders.
Ever needed a service that didn’t exist?
Back in 2000, Graham Hobson had just bought a digital camera and was bored of trekking back and forth to Boots with the copious pictures he took of his children… so he founded Photobox: A photo printing service that was the first of its kind and became a category leader in the UK market.
In this episode, Graham shares with Alex and Joe how he founded a multi-million pound company despite having zero aspirations to run his own business. He also divulges the low points of the first few years and how that affected his home life, and the unexpected reason why they bought MoonPig for £120 million.
He also shares why he wants to pay more tax, why it’s difficult to pitch ideas in today's economy, and how he is supporting startups in this phase of his career.
Follow Graham, Photobox and the team behind The Founders.
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The Lean Startup
When you’re starting a business, a question you might try and be answering for years is who you are as a business. So, how do you go about discovering the answer?
In this episode, Alex and Joe are joined by Trouva’s co-founder and former CEO Alex Loizou. Alex explains how he went from coder to C-Suite; and how Trouva has come to solve a huge problem for small businesses and customers alike.
He also shares his biggest lessons to pass onto entrepreneurs and business owners; and he also shares how he forgets about work by “fighting for his life”.
Connect with Alex, and the team behind The Founders.
Ade Hassan had a lightbulb moment so good she couldn’t believe it hadn’t been done before: she had never been able to find a nude bra that matched her skin tone. So, she made it for herself and all the other women of colour who never had it before either.
In this conversation, Ade tells Alex and Joe about her business idea that consumed her, the incredible yet terrifying moment when Nubian Skin went viral before they had a single product to sell, and how they almost missed an iconic opportunity with Beyoncé.
Follow Ade, Nubian Skin and the team behind The Founders.
Simon Martin, the founder and head chef of mana, Manchester's first michelin star restaurant in four decades, is disrupting the restaunter landscape and pioneering a new way of eating out.
A man of great discipline, Simon discusses with Alex and Joe the stresses of setting up a restaurant with minimal business knowledge, the exclusive and mysterious process of receiving a Michelin star (and why no chef ever admits they want one), and an ultimatum from his long-term long-distance girlfriend which led him to creating his new legacy in Manchester.
Simon is dedicated to carving out a unique identity and fighting against the expectations of the restaurant industry, something all business owners can learn from.
Follow Simon, mana and the team behind The Founders.
Chapter 1: The Founding Story (01:24)
Chapter 2: New directions and being anti resturant (24:17)
Chapter 3: Michelin start and defining moments (33:01)
After a successful career in finance and fintech, in 2016 Morten Toft Bech decided to pursue new passions not for money, but for the millions of people to be born after him.
Alex and Joe explore the fascinating world of plant-based meat – including the decision Morten made behind which product to make first. He also delves into the challenges of keeping up with competition in a rapidly growing industry and discusses the negativity surrounding plant-based meat.
Morten also provides valuable insights into securing investment and offers practical advice for startups, drawing from his experience as both a founder and investor.
Follow Morten, Meatless Farm and the team behind The Founders.
Chapter 1: The Founding Story (01:19)
Chapter 2: The secret to securing investment (25:30)
Chapter 3: Defining moments (43:29)
Despite not knowing much about wine initially, Heini Zacharissen has created the world’s largest wine community with over 60 million users on the Vivino app.
Alex and Joe ask Heini about how he built his enormous user base, how to sell yourself to investors without traditional expertise, and why creating FOMO can be your strongest tool.
Heini also shares how disruptive Vivino was to the wine industry, plus valuable insights on the mistakes to avoid when creating an app and where to find reliable feedback.
Follow @heinizach, @Vivino and the team behind The Founders.
Chapter 1: The Founding Story (01:15)
Chapter 2: Advice on building apps, pitch decks and more (16:06)
Chapter 3: Defining Moments (30:15)
Robin Hutson is one of the UK’s most successful and powerful hoteliers, but his story still comes with a lot of luck, sleepless nights and selling their own wine collections when they didn’t stock enough on opening night.
Robin recounts the terrifying prospect of putting up his own house in order to secure a bank loan, why despite having over 1,000 employees they still work like a small business, and what made him return to hotels after selling his first chain for £66 million.
Follow The Pig Hotels and the team behind The Founders.
You’d be hard pressed to find a more unique founding story than that of brothers Harry and Charlie Thuillier, the founders of low calorie ice cream brand, Oppo; this one features a word record attempt, kite buggies, and scavenging food… but you’ll just have to listen to find out how their story turned out to be to have an award winning ending.
Harry and Charlie join Alex and Joe to share how they got the business going by telling a few white lies (and why often asking for forgiveness over permission is the only way to get it off the ground); why Charlie’s defining moment was finally convincing Harry to get on board; and why they turned down Dragon’s Den three times and what convinced them to say yes.
Follow Harry, Charlie, Oppo Brothers and the team behind The Founders.
ZOE is a company that at its heart wants to change lives, and co-founder George fully believes in that ethos. After being rejected from university 13 times, he leads with positivity and belief which he shares in this conversation.
One of Wired’s and Forbes’ hottest startups, ZOE is on a mission to improve gut health through their personalised advice by analysing your gut microbe, all through an at home test kit and their app.
Alex and Joe chat with George about why you should fall in love with problems, what business owners can learn from elite athletes and why he doesn’t necessarily see the 250,000 people waiting to get on the app is a good thing.
Follow George, ZOE and the team behind The Founders.
Worldwide, we throw away 40% of the food we produce, and Lucie Basch wanted to do something about it. TooGoodToGo offers a win-win solution for businesses and consumers to grab cheap food that would otherwise be thrown away.
Co-founder Lucie describes to Alex and Joe how she learnt from her experience in the food industry that she didn’t want to work for the current system, she wanted to make a new one.
She shares the story of what she promised to the first cafés to get on board with the app, and how TooGoodToGo’s revenue remains meaningful. Lucie also explains why you shouldn’t be too perfect too soon when building your business.
Follow TooGoodToGo, Lucie and the team behind The Founders.
Canopy & Stars’ don’t claim to have invented glamping; however since the launch of their curated site of unique outdoor stays in 2010, you only need to look at the Google trends to see it’s rise into the mainstream since.
Co-founder Tom Dixon chats with Alex and Joe about how he’s built a company based on integrity and authenticity, with every listing personally visited by one of the team. He shares how the covid pandemic and rise of staycation affected the business, and how they’re still navigating the change in consumer behaviour.
Tom also shares his thoughts on Airbnb, and why the bigger they get is only good for his business.
Follow Canopy & Stars and the team behind The Founders.
With only £4,000, Rude Health started humbly with ingredients, supplies, and branded aprons. Now, a brand sold worldwide, co-founder and Brand Director Camilla Barnard has overseen an incredible evolution of a business that started with the aim to make healthy food delicious.
Alex and Joe sit down with Camilla to discover how the simple sentiment of ‘Do I think this is brilliant?’ kicked off the journey; as well as the challenges of raising a young family and growing a new business.
If you’re a business owner and are worried about the year ahead, Camilla shares a unique perspective and tangible advice from her time tackling the 2008 financial crisis during the business’ early days.
Camilla also discusses ways to adapt when they found themselves speaking to a whole new generation who were obsessed with plant based milk.
Follow Rude Health and the team behind The Founders.
From packing products in their kitchen, to a company of 40+, Absolute Collagen has built an authentic brand around helping people feel good about themselves.
Co-founder Darcy Laceby joins Alex and Joe to share the story of their rapid growth, and how she navigates life with her co-founder: her mum, Maxine.
Darcy also shares the frustrations she faces being a young founder, including being mistaken for a marketing exec, and how she handled the company's rapid growth.
She also discusses her experience of leading the production for the brand’s first TV ad after only ever advertising on social media; and why authenticity is the strongest marketing tool.
Follow Darcy, Absolute Collagen and the team behind The Founders.
Sacha Lord left school with no A-Levels and no idea what he was going to do with his life. Yet, he would go on to run the biggest metropolitan festival in the UK and be the first ever Night Time Economy Advisor for Andy Burnham.
Alex and Joe chat with Sacha about how he fell in love with Mancheter’s rave scene and how he has both been contributing and shaping it ever since.
He shares stories of how he started with blagging to get people through the doors, the scary and darker moments of working in , and how it all led to him being a pivotal part of Manchester’s nightlife scene with The Warehouse Project and Parklife.
He also gives advice to business owners as we enter a difficult couple of years, and he reveals whether or not he’d ever go into politics.
Follow Sacha and the team behind The Founders
Ellie Webb was frustrated at the lack of alcohol free options when going out during Dry Jan – and through this frustration, Caleño was born.
Alex and Joe sit down with Ellie, Caleño’s founder and Chief Joy Maker, to discuss the challenges of building a business as a side hustle. Ellie goes in depth about what it costs to get a business up and running; the loneliness she felt being a solo female founder; and the incredible story on how her sober spirit was picked up by Sainsburys.
Ellie also divulges her most defining moment, when she made the difficult yet ultimately rewarding decision to give up the London life she thought she’d always wanted.
Follow Ellie, Caleño, and the team behind The Founders.
Home decor brand Lick happened to time their launch on day 1 of lockdown, when 48% of us ended up making home improvements to our home. However, in this conversation with Lick’s CEO and co-founder Lucas London, it’s clear that this coincidence was only a small part of their meteoric rise to becoming one of the biggest competitors in the space.
Alex and Joe speak to Lucas about why he’s glad he waited to start a business, and the lessons he learnt working in finance during the 2008 crash. He discusses the conflict of building a high growth business while still having a supportive environment for his staff.
Lucas also shares his most valuable failures, and his advice to you going into the challenges of 2023. Connect with Lucas, follow Lick and the team behind The Founders.
Peter has founded four businesses – three have failed. However, his fourth venture Dishpatch is thriving and giving access to incredible London restaurants to the entire UK.
In this conversation, Peter shares the story behind his entrepreneurial spirit and how he persevered in the face of failure.
He also has an open and thorough discussion about the logistical side of Dishpatch; what his plan for growth was and how he succeeded.
Connect with Peter, follow Dishpatch and the team behind The Founders.
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