Monocle 24: The Entrepreneurs

Turin-born Luca Faloni built a successful career as a strategy consultant in London and San Francisco. But it was while working on a project in the fashion industry that he saw an opportunity to start his own company. Faloni tells us why he quit his job, how he started his eponymous menswear brand and what he’s learnt from the experience.

This week we profile The Next Web, a popular media brand based in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006, it runs one of the world’s most visited websites for technology news, operates a start-up hub and hosts an annual technology conference in Amsterdam. The co-founder and chief executive, Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, explains how the company found a business mix that works.

In 2010 Jeff Raider co-founded the iconic brand Warby Parker, which has revolutionised the eyewear market and become a household name. He’s now the CEO of Harry’s, an innovative company that’s hoping to replicate the success of Warby Parker, this time in the shaving market. So how did he get from spectacles to beards – and what has he learnt along the way? Raider shares his story.

Have you ever listened to an audiobook – that grandfather of the modern podcast, once defined by cassettes and CDs at your local bookshop? Now slick, digital and massively popular, audiobooks are the fastest growing segment in the publishing industry. But how are they made, what do the economics look like and will audio eventually kill the printed word? This week we’re talking to Laurence Howell from pioneering Amazon-owned company Audible.

Simon and Elaine MacKenzie are the husband-and-wife team behind new family-friendly city-guide brand Urbanito. While travelling with their children the Scottish duo discovered a lack of smart and stylish travel guides that catered to curious kids as well as their parents – so they decided to make one themselves. They share their story.

This week we meet Ben Saunders, one of the world’s most famous polar explorers. In 2004, he became the youngest person to ski solo to the North Pole and a decade later he completed the longest human-powered polar expedition in history: a 1,800-mile return journey to the South Pole on foot. Saunders is also the founding editor and publisher of ‘Avaunt Magazine’, a brand ambassador and a public speaker. He shares the most exhilarating moments of his career, why the less glamorous side of exploring involves spreadsheets and all the many lessons he’s learnt.

Menswear designer Mehmet Ali was once the creative director of the venerated Savile Row house Hardy Amies. But he’s now left all that behind to launch his own brand called MEHM+ which focuses on innovative design and a strong sense of provenance. So why leave a cushy job to venture into the unknown? Ali shares his story.

In a former life, Robin Roberts studied zoology, was an officer in the British army and spent two decades at an executive search firm. It was then that he saw qualified executives consistently mess up job interviews. Robin decided to launch a company called ‘Rehearse it!’, staffed with theatre professionals, to help people prepare for critical moments in their careers. Robin and his casting director Michele Leach explain the story of 'Rehearse it!' and share their top interview tips.

Clover Lewis studied fashion design and worked as a costume assistant everywhere from opera houses to music tours. But it was after Clover experienced breast cancer that she was inspired to launch her own business – a stylish swimwear brand for women who’ve gone through breast cancer surgeries. She shares how she turned a recovery project into an inspiring tale of business success.

Raoul Shah founded the powerhouse communications agency Exposure in 1993. He’s since pioneered the art of product placement and represented big-hitting clients from Nike and Converse to Coca-Cola and Uniqlo. He explains how PR has changed over the past quarter century, shares the secrets to keeping clients happy and tells about that time he launched Jay Z’s luxury champagne brand.

Lana Elie is the founder of Floom, a London start-up that allows some of the city’s best florists to sell beautiful bouquets through a slick online interface. She quit her job to launch Floom just over a year ago – she tells us how she did it.

Fabien Riggall is the founder of Secret Cinema, a fast-growing company that organises complex large-scale productions of much-loved films, from ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back’ to ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, in which the audience and performance come together as one. It’s all done with a healthy dose of secrecy: locations are hidden until the final moment and smartphones are strictly forbidden. So how did Fabien build a secret brand in an oversharing era? And what has he learnt along the way? He shares his story.

French entrepreneurs Laura Faeh and Cécilia Thomas share how they created their London-based lifestyle company Lapp – maker of the poptail: stylish ice pops made of fresh fruit and premium alcohol – and what they’ve learnt along the way.

Sharmadean Reid is the founder of London-based brand Wah Nails, which she started as a hip-hop magazine for girls while she was still at university. Reid has since built a business empire focused on nail art, with salons, products, pop-ups and a new virtual-reality experience that pushes the boundaries of technology in the beauty industry. This week she shares her top tips and tells us about mistakes made and lessons learnt.

Paul Noble was Monocle 24’s original executive producer, helping to launch our radio station. Since leaving he's fulfilled a long-held dream to create a physical place in which to experience, enjoy and celebrate good music. It’s called Spiritland, a one-of-a-kind café, bar, event space, shop and studio in London, built around one of the world’s best sound systems. How did he get the idea off the ground?