Secret Leaders

Rankin is arguably Britain’s most successful export to the fashion industry, and one of the world’s leading portrait photographers. He is also well known for his phenomenal work ethic, his charitable pursuits within fashion and his fearlessness when creating art. Rankin made his name in publishing by founding the seminal monthly magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1991. Dazed & Confused has now progressed into Dazed Media, which in itself is a brand synonymous with leading fashion. With more than 40 books published and exhibitions all over the world, as well as still creating work for his own London gallery, it’s a wonder that Rankin has time to devote himself to any other project, let alone sit down with us today. He is also known for his affiliations with charities, and he travels the world creating campaigns for the likes of Comic Relief, Women’s Aid, and Macmillan Cancer Support. Rankin has captured icons and is respected worldwide for being the ultimate visionary. However, he is not just a c

From the pages of a wine magazine to the UK’s largest certified organic haven of delicious produce, Mississippi-born Renée Elliott moved to the UK in 1986. Nine years later, Renée launched Planet Organic having followed her heart. Planet Organic became the first store certified by the Soil Association, and now it has seven outlets. Inspired by the tutelage of Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth Foods and Green & Black’s, Renée absorbed a wealth of knowledge of fuelled nutrition and everything organic. Walking into the Planet Organic is like walking into the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory but for organic and healthy food. Ever-flowing food and vegetables, bread from artisan London bakeries, sustainable fish from British water, gluten-free, dairy-free raw food and dairy options. Limitless goodness. Speaking of limitless, Renée’s ventures don’t stop there. Beluga Bean, a life and business skills academy for women is another fantastic enterprise that is inspirational and genius in even strokes. -- Sponsors Vorboss

Our esteemed guest this week is Dhiraj Mukerjee, co-founder of Shazam, the app that has literally put more songs on the record than anyone else in the world. Dhiraj is not a fan of being praised or of receiving any kind of popular commendations of his AMAZING efforts, so we won’t do any of that today. Today we offer you the story that led four people to build one of the world’s most innovative products of all time. Long story short: Shazam was created in 1999 by co-founders Chris Barton, Philip Inghelbrecht, Avery Wang, and Dhiraj Mukherjee. Since its launch, over 30 billion shazams have been sent via their app, which has been downloaded over 1 billion times. 18 years after it was founded, it sees 100 million users flock to its surface every single month. Join us for a crisp dose of inspiration from someone who really knows what he’s talking about. We chat about: Building Shazam and getting people to use it Getting a lot of nos from investors Disguising the product so that someone else didn’t steal their i

Our guest this week is the very inspirational Ali Parsa, founder and CEO of Babylon Health. Babylon is the world’s largest healthcare app successfully changing the way we as humans are getting access to healthcare. Their mission? To provide affordable healthcare to the world and to be, in Ali’s own words, “the Google of healthcare”. We don’t say this often, but get ready to have your mind blown at the scale of his ambition and, even more importantly, his execution. So tune in or you’ll miss out! We chat about: Coming to the UK as a refugee and steering clear of negativity Building Circle and, later on, Babylon Thinking big, acting big, staying human Links: Babylon Health -- 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 u

Left work on a Friday and gave birth on a Saturday: already our guest this week is pretty much a rockstar. 2014 Tech City’s Entrepreneur of the Year Alex Depledge is a straight-talking British businesswoman best known for being the driving force behind hassle.com. Alex launched her career in the US after completing her master’s degree at the Uni of Chicago, working on the campaign team of a major US politician. In 2006 she returned to the UK to become a consultant for Accenture, where she advised Footsie 100 clients on their customer and channel execution. In 2012 she bravely entered the world of entrepreneurship. In 2011 Alex and her best friend, Jules Coleman, conceived the idea behind hassle.com when they discovered how hard it was to find a piano teacher online. They realized that service providers found it hard to market themselves, as they weren’t always as tech-savvy as other entrepreneurs, and they needed to rely on word-of-mouth. Alongside co-founders Tom Nimmo and Jules Coleman, they started Teddle

Here to share with us his journey from owning an Aston Martin to owning a multi-million-pound shirt company is Nicholas Charles Tyrwhitt Wheeler, one of UK’s most successful entrepreneurs. After being left £8,000 from a great aunt, Nick used the money to purchase the English dream: an Aston Martin DB1. One year later he sold the same car for an eye-watering £75,000 profit. This profit became the funding that set Nick up to become the powerhouse he is now. Nick founded Charles Tyrwhitt as an undergraduate in 1986, after being frustrated that shirts were too expensive. For several years the company was just a hobby alongside Nick’s full-time job. However, by 2002, Charles Tyrwhitt had stores in London, Paris, and NY, and is now on its way to achieve global domination. We chat about: Nick’s previous ventures and how he started and grew Charles Tyrwhitt Nick’s infatuation for learning from mistakes, over and over and over again The do’s and don’ts of hiring when you’re a small company His advice to entreprene

Today we are delighted to bring you Holly Tucker, the co-founder of the first marketplace of its kind, notonthehighstreet.com, the place to pick up fantastic inspiration and bespoke gifts. Side note: notonthehighstreet.com is also very helpful when you’re trying to get back into your mum’s good books and make her happy with a thoughtful hand-designed gift. Just saying! Since stepping away from day to day operations she's now championing creative business owners through her new venture - Holly & Co. Like so many businesses, it was set up around a kitchen table shared by her co-founder Sophie Cornish. We dare say this was the inspiration behind her bestselling book, “Build a Business from Your Kitchen Table”, but you know, that’s just a guess! Hear more about Holly’s inspirational story, as she shares the highs and lows of building one of Britain’s best-loved online marketplaces. We chat about: Working from the age of 13 Creating notonthehighstreet.com together with Sophie Cornish at their respective kitchen

Our guest today is on the more unconventional side. For starters, he wouldn’t necessarily choose to call himself a “leader”, so what better set-up for a secret leader? Mills, aka Matt Miller, is the co-founder of the fampany (read: family company) ustwo, a design studio occupying the ground floor of the Tea Building in Shoreditch, famous for hosting many of UK’s most creative brands. Mills started his career at design studio Animal, where his first and only ever boss demonstrated to him just how leadership can be: a friendship based on trust and shared values. After experiencing that, Mills and ustwo co-founder John Sinclair, aka Sinx, decided to replicate it to create a fizzing company culture of their own. Today we talk about doing things differently and putting values at the heart of an organization that really tries to keep its creativity in full flow, full-time employed. Mills and Sinx have zero intention to ever sell ustwo, and are on a mission to create the best working environment you can imagine. We

Today we have an audio feast for you as our guest is Karen Jones, most well-known as the co-founder of the Café Rouge chain of restaurants. Her career is a textbook story of entrepreneurship. Karen was born in Lancashire, in northern England, and raised in Yorkshire, London, and Switzerland, before studying English and American Literature at the University of East Anglia, where she has now come full circle to serve as their Chancellor. As the Café Rouge brand grew, Karen and her co-founder Roger Myers formed the Pelican Group, which was eventually acquired in 1996 by Whitbread for a reported £133 million. Karen couldn’t stay away from the table for too long and became the CEO of the Spirit Pub Group. She is definitely not the kind of person to sit back and put her feet up, so she also joined the board of the London Gastropub Company among many others. We chat about: How the first Café Rouge came to be Selling Café Rouge and creating Punch Taverns What makes a brand a winner Karen’s advice to entrepreneurs

Today you are going to hear the story of Songkick led by Pete Finlay, formerly known as Pete Smith. You’re going to learn about the ups and downs of a very brutal story. Songkick was once one of the startup darlings of the UK, they raised a ton of cash, grew exponentially quickly, and, as Pete will share in today’s episode, really grew too fast for them to really understand how to manage this beast properly. Pete ended up leaving Songkick and starting Silicon Milkroundabout. This had its own challenges, which again he shares in brutally honest fashion. Like any great leader, he owns his mistakes and shares how others could avoid them in the future. We chat about: Songkick’s birth, infancy and later years What made Songkick different from other online concert discovery tools Pete’s experience with burnout and his advice to first-time founders Links: Songkick Silicon Milkroundabout -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications lik

If you are the type of person who is into sustainability, philanthropy, giving back, purpose, any of these things, our guest today is the crème de la crème. Meet Gail Gallie, co-founder of Project Everyone. Today we go through Gail’s entire story from when she was a producer at Radio 1, to becoming CEO of ad agency Fallon, and eventually working with Kate Garvey and Richard Curtis of Four Weddings and Notting Hill fame on Project Everyone, a communications house for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The UN has committed globally to creating a fairer world by creating 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development that we can all commit to. Ironically, the UN is also not unbelievably good at marketing. Fortunately, world-class British filmmaker Richard Curtis and two brilliant marketeers came to the rescue. We chat about: Working as a producer for Radio 1 The challenges of being the CEO of an ad agency Driving awareness towards a sustainable future Links: Project Everyone The Sustainable Development Goa

For the last 11 years, David has done nothing but think about takeaway. Sounds like a dream, right? But that’s the reality for the former CEO of food giant Just Eat, still part of the board to this day. Described as one of UK’s standout entrepreneurs of the last decade, David got a taste for delivery-based businesses when he created his own newspaper-delivering service at the age of 11. Just Eat helped restaurants deliver almost 100 million orders last year, from anything from curries to salads. David is now working at venture capital firm 83North as general partner. In his new role, he aims to identify technology startups in Europe and Israel that have the potential to grow to the same size as Just Eat, which now has a market cap in excess of £5 billion. Key takeaways: The Just Eat journey: how two colleagues working in a basement created an empire with a valuation of £5.5 billion Their story of getting funded What made Just Eat stand out from other food delivery services Join us to discover more about

Today’s special guest is one of the key Venture Capital investors in the UK, the CEO and Founder of Draper Esprit, Mr Simon Cook. Most recently, Simon has focused on disrupting the traditional VC structure by taking his company public on an IPO that raised over £100m of ‘permanent capital’ as he calls it which he intends to use to grow the UK’s influence globally. He has been involved in some of the best known deals in the UK including LoveFilm, Graze and Trust Pilot. -- 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

Today we are joined by one of the best known, and certainly most liked entrepreneurs in the UK - Sarah Wood from Unruly Media. The tl;dr on Sarah is that she went to University of Cambridge, then became a lecturer at the University of Sussex, then she Co Founded Unruly, sold it for £114m to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp a few years later, and now teaches a course back at Cambridge whilst maintaining a role as CEO at the company she helped build. In this episode you'll find out what Unruly does, and how Cambridge University responded to her suggested classroom title she teaches entitled “ Mashups, memes and LOLitics, online video culture and the screen media revolution”. -- 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:

Today’s guest is the self styled Jesus Christ Superstar of the organic viral growth world, Vincent Dignan. He puts the M in Millennial, the G in Growth and the WTF in Fashion. A man who very much practices what he preaches, and a true obsessive for the American personal branding school of thought - he knows that to stand out, you have to really stand out. And he does this to perfection. In his own words - his mission is to help as many founders and companies grow in the fastest way possible using bespoke techniques, tactics and software most people don’t know about. Whilst his over sharing and very un-British attitude towards self promotion doesn’t resonate with everyone - it’s categorically impossible to ignore Vincent once you’ve made contact, and underneath all the outfits and image is simply a guy interested to see how he can help others succeed with the knowledge he’s accumulated. From living off benefits to touring the West Coast inspiring young entrepreneurs and makers how to build an audience, Vincent

Tamara Lohan MBE is the co-founder and CTO of Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels. She started Mr and Mrs Smith with her husband James 14 years ago, and has been at the heart of one of the best loved internet brands in Britain, but it in fact started as a publishing business; a guidebook for people like her who wanted to explore the luxury boutiques across the country and discovering the real gems and stylish weekends away in unique hotels. They sold 10,000 copies in their first 6 weeks, but fast forward to today they have over 100 staff spread across London, LA, Singapore, New York… and have had contributions from celebrities ranging from Stella McCartney to Cate Blanchett. -- 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:

Our guest this week is the advertising giant Sir John Hegarty. As the co-founder of ad agency BBH and creator of acclaimed campaigns for brands such as Levi’s, Audi, BA and Johnnie Walker, Hegarty has been a leader in the advertising industry for more than 50 years. In our interview with him he reveals some of his creative tricks (lose the headphones) and “when the world zigs, zag” – words which went on to become the BBH’s mantra. -- 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

Our second Australian guest in a row for our 10th episode of Secret Lives of Leaders. This episode we have the pleasure of hosting Alicia Navarro - the co-founder and CEO of Skimlinks. Known for her energy and enthusiasm, Alicia has been in the heart of the tech scene in London for over a decade. Her company has gone through many highs and lows along the way as well as receiving over $20m in venture funding. Alicia gives us an insight into running starting and then running a high growth company as well as what she gets up to when she's not working. -- 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 mor

Our guest in episode 9 is the bestselling author Daniel Priestley. Hailing from Australia Daniel was already a success before he moved to Europe. He used writing as a way to get his thought process down while running his own business and along the way his books is what he is most well known for. His catalogue includes the titles “24 Assets”, “Oversubscribed” and “Key Person of Influence”. Along the way Daniel has built huge businesses, advised celebrated entrepreneurs, broken world records, raised millions in venture capital and fundraised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. -- 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

Our guest this week is one of the best networked ladies in UK tech, as the Co Founder of not only the first ever, but also arguably the most successful Seed Fund in Europe, Seedcamp. By only part-selling their stake in their most successful investment, they’ve already returned their entire fund back, as the high profile FinTech unicorn Transferwise was originally developed before Reshma’s eyes and with her support and brainpower. With over 200 investments to her name, its not fair to focus only on their largest, as they’ve backed many really exciting winners, which she’ll be talking to us about in this episode. With her roots from India, teenage years in America, and an MBA in france, it’s Europe she’s chosen of the 3 continents to call home, and it’s fair to say she’s had a huge impact on the technology scene. -- 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 S