Secret Leaders

Jonny White is the Founder of Ticket Tailor. He was a software engineer who spotted a gap in the market for ticketing systems before building a white labelled service to sell to companies. TimeOut got interested in the tech and that was the start of his wild ride in entrepreneurship. -- 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.

Sameer Vaswani is the Co-Founder of Prodigy Chocolate, a company that’s taking classics like Snickers and making them more modern and child friendly, like less sugar and more eco packaging. Before this venture, he built a very successful food manufacturing business in West Africa - but before all of that - he failed. He set up a restaurant which boomed for a few years - he was living his dream life. But gradually that dream slipped away. -- To get a better handle on your security, check out https://npsa.gov.uk/innovation and download their free Quick Start Guide.

Lord Karan Bilimoria is the Co-Founder of Cobra beer, the best selling beer in Indian restaurants around the UK. We all pray for those moments we find a gap in a market we can exploit. That’s exactly what happened to Karan in 1989, realising the UK needed a better lager that complemented pan-asian food. He’s now a member of the House of Lords, having joined in 2006 and sits as a cross-bench peer, helping in particular with the Covid response. Over the years he’s almost lost the business 3 times, so what has he learnt about building resilience? -- 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.

Sometimes in business you pass the point of no return and you don't even know it. Someone who knows all too well is Rico Mandel, the Founder of Miz En Place, a successful foodie marketplace... but Rico only got into food after his marketing agency business went bust. This is how Rico failed, what he learnt from it - and a simple hack to make you feel better about your life, however bad things seem. -- To get a better handle on your security, check out https://npsa.gov.uk/innovation and download their free Quick Start Guide.

Sir Robin Millar is arguably the UK's leading record producer, having worked with the likes of Sade, Randy Crawford, Eric Clapton, Sting, The Grateful Dead and many others. He produced the Atlanta Olympic Games opening ceremony in 1996, has had over 160 gold & platinum discs - including 44 No. 1 hits. He's got a great CV. He's also a blind man and in today's episode we learn what that's really like, how to make great music - and how to build a successful music business. Sir Robin is full of business principles, whatever industry you're in - with some real insights to when you should exit even if it's not the best price you'll ever get. -- 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/.

Emma Parker is the Founder of Playful Promises, a company behind a few lingerie and swimwear brands - including a lingerie brand of the same name. What’s funny though is she lost that business despite the outside world thinking it was going amazingly well. This is how Emma failed and how she recovered - and what you can learn from it about building businesses. --------------------------- To get a better handle on your security, check out https://npsa.gov.uk/innovation and download their free Quick Start Guide.

Is there a more important skill for business leaders than making good decisions? We’re not sure there is. Yeah, you need vision, communication skills and hopefully some empathy - but without good decision-making you won’t get very far. In today’s episode we’ve got arguably the world’s most popular decision-making expert Shane Parrish, Founder of Fanham Street, to explain the key principles of clear thinking and great decision-making. -- Sponsors Get better internet through Vorboss: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders. Get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2 though Vanta: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Save on your SaaS or Cloud spend by using the code 'secretleaders' with Vertice: 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.

Sometimes we put on a brave face when it's the opposite of what we should be doing. Alex Chisnall is the Founder of a Podpreneur, a podcast agency, and the host of the Screw It Just Do it podcast. He’s built a great business and loves what he does, but his first foray into entrepreneurship was a disaster. After a debt collector knocked on his door, blocked his car and refused to leave, it resulted in him having to come clean to his wife about the extent of his business’s problems. It was the worst place Alex has ever been. In this episode we learn how it got to that point, his regrets, and the business lessons he took from it, so you don’t make the same mistakes. --------------------------- To get a better handle on your security, check out https://npsa.gov.uk/innovation and download their free Quick Start Guide.

Amy Edmondson has spent her life dedicated to studying failure and psychological safety. It’s her belief that the most successful cultures are those in which you can fail openly, without your mistakes being held against you.  Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School and has been named by Thinkers50 as the most influential management thinker in the world. Her work has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Psychology Today and Harvard Business Review, and been drawn upon by companies including Google, Pixar and Microsoft. She joined us on Secret Leaders to talk more about her new book ‘Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach us to Thrive’ which provides the science and solutions for us to promote greater innovation, efficiency and safety – both across the workplace and in our personal lives. -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders. Vanta - get 20% off security certif

If you’ve visited a high street in the last 40 years there’s a good chance you’ve seen Games Workshop, a British institution that’s stood the test of time. One of its Founders, Sir Ian Livingstone, sold out of the company in the 90s but continued to make an unbelievable impact in the games industry, alongside being an angel investor and a best-selling fantasy author.  He’s had a hand in Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager, Fall Guys and Golf Clash to name just a few. So you’ve absolutely played something he’s helped bring to market. Last year Ian released his memoir, Dice Men, which tells the story of the early days of Games Workshop and he has recently opened his own academy in Bournemouth. -- 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/secretlea

2011 was the beginning for Depop, an app that lets you buy and sell your own clothes on a marketplace, Depop attracted GenZ and created a boom for vintage clothing. Simon Beckerman wanted to create a community behind his marketplace, somewhere users could create virtual stores from a device in their pocket. Fast forward 10 years, Simon sold Depop to Etsy for $1.6bn. But he didn’t stop there. Instead of taking time off, Simon decided to get straight back into the game. This time, he’s taking on the food industry with DELLI, an app that lets you buy and sell a curated mix of locally sourced and produced food and drinks. -- 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 h

If you’ve been online in the last 10 years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of The Sidemen. 7 guys from the UK, all successful YouTubers in their own right, who grouped together to create one of the most successful YouTube collectives in the world. With over 240 million monthly views and 19 million subscribers, the Sidemen have branched out well beyond content - launching their own fast food chicken franchise (Sides) and premium vodka brand (XIX Vodka). Whilst these 7 guys are immensely talented creators, they needed structure and a strategy to exploit their commercial potential - and that’s where Jordan Schwarzenberger and Arcade Media came in. Jordan started his career as a creative at VICE and LADBible before he became the Chief Creative Officer at YMU Group, Europe's largest talent management company.  Having being introduced to the Sidemen by his friends and co-founders,Jordan now manages the group in all their endeavors. In fact,The Sidemen are Arcade Media’s only client. In this episode you’ll hear

Would you go back to save the business you started, when you’d already walked away?  Renée Elliott had to fight for her business, Planet Organic, right from the start. Two years after they launched in 1995, her then-business partner tried to force her out, which culminated in a High Court battle. Renée won and along with her husband Brian who came on as Managing Director, took back control of the business. They ran it together for ten years.  Then, in 2009 they decided to step away from the business to raise their children. They moved to Italy, then returned to the UK, where Renée started a coaching and wellbeing business, Beluga Bean. Nine years after she stepped back from the business, Renée sold the majority of her shares in Planet Organic.  She'd done it, achieved the entrepreneur's dream, built a business, sold it and could now relax… or that’s what everyone thought.  In May 2023 Renée made headlines when she led a bid to buy Planet Organic after it was announced the company was going into administration

If you're a Founder, or if you've just got big career ambitions, building your personal brand is becoming less and less optional. It's what potential employees or investors or Co-Founders or employers look at when deciding whether work with you. It's also one of the things that our usual host Dan is best at. He's just passed 150k followers whilst running three businesses so today he's spilling the secrets of how to do it. Yes, we really mean the secrets - the stuff people don't talk about but is key to success. Let's find out what's behind the curtain. -- 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.

Being comfortable with different opens your mind… Those are the words of our guest today, Christine Lemke, she’s the Co-Founder and CEO of Evidation. Christine’s story is a unique one, she was adopted from South Korea as a baby into a strict Lutheran household in South Dakota.  Several start-ups later, Christine was encouraged by her own chronic pain to co-found Evidation,an app which uses points as rewards for daily activity, education, and health monitoring. Once users get enough points, they can redeem them for cold hard cash. They reached unicorn status recently, joining the big leagues, but Christine says she doesn’t care about reaching this milestone. Why?  -- 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: http

Former professional baseballer, Devan Kline founded fitness company Burn Boot Camp with his wife Morgan. From starting out in a parking lot with only 600 dollars in his bank account, they are now operating in 42 states and have 375 gyms across the country.  But we wouldn't be talking to Devan if everything had all gone up and to the right. In the early days he made a serious mistake that put the whole company at risk.  What happened? --------------------------- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: personio.com/secretleaders

How long would you spend before launching your business?  Milda Mitkute was at a party in 2008 when she ended up chatting to developer Justas Janauskus. She’d come up with the idea for Vinted after she found herself with too many clothes for the small flat that she moved to for university. They decided then and there to turn the idea into a reality and launched the website just two weeks later…Only to forget one critical detail.  A decade later, despite many bumps in the road, Vinted was valued at $1 billion, making it Lithuania’s first ever unicorn. Two years later, in 2021, their valuation sored to to $4.5 billion. It’s now Europe’s number one second-hand marketplace, with over 75 million users spanning 16 countries. And it was all sparked by an unexpected exchange at a time and place where good ideas normally die. -- 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 o

Lucy Cohen is the Co-Founder of Mazuma, the UK's first subscription tax advisory firm and one of the country’s leading online accountants for small and micro businesses. They have over a thousand clients across the UK and have moved into the US market. But, in their early days, it all came so close to falling apart.  What happened? --------------------------- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: personio.com/secretleaders

Have you found your ‘calling’ in life? Do you think you ever will?  Today’s interview is with Rewind AI Co-Founder and CEO Dan Siroker. After leaving Google to take on the role as director of analytics in the 2008 Obama campaign, Dan knew his purpose was elsewhere. Having gone deaf in his 20s and later getting a hearing aid, he felt superpowered. This inspired him to try and augment human existence with new powers, senses and abilities. He co-founded Optimizely in 2009, growing it to $120M in annual revenue and 450 employees before leaving in 2020 to start Rewind AI, a program that remembers everything you’ve seen online, giving you instant access to everything you’ve ever looked at on your phone or computer. -- 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

Glenn Poulos is a successful founder, who exited from his company in 2022. But that was his second exit. His first, 15 years before, was a very different story. He thought he had achieved the entrepreneur's dream, an eight-figure exit, after selling his business to a public company. With the shares he got in return he was going to be a multi-millionaire. Instead, he was left with hardly anything, and no job, after having to fire a hundred people. What happened? --------------------------- If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better? hello@secretleaders.com  Sponsor links: personio.com/secretleaders