Monocle 24: The Entrepreneurs

For frustrated singles searching for soulmates the old-fashioned way, technology start-ups have provided a more efficient method of finding love: dating apps. One fast-growing addition to the field is the Austin, Texas-based company Bumble, founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe, a co-founder of the dating app Tinder. Unlike its competitors, Bumble empowers women to make the first move. This week Wolfe shares the company’s story, discusses the role of feminism in the technology industry and explores the future of networking.

This week we hear the story of Herschel Supply, the brand built by two Canadian brothers in 2009 that now sells millions of bags a year in more than 70 countries. Co-founder Lyndon Cormack tells us how the company grew so successfully.

Founded in 2010, WeWork has become a global co-working behemoth. Operating almost 200 offices around the world from Bogota to Berlin the company now has a staggering valuation of $17bn. Two years ago we featured WeWork’s co-founder, Miguel McKelvey, who this week returns to share the secrets of the company’s rapid growth, why its membership has expanded beyond just start-ups and what he thinks the workplace might look like in the future.

Chris Kontos is an Athens-based photographer and DJ who focused his creative efforts with a friend in 2013 to launch a print magazine called ‘Kennedy’. Filled with gorgeous photo essays and profiles, Chris calls his passion-project a “biannual journal of curiosities”. This week he shares why and how ‘Kennedy’ came to be.

Ajaz Ahmed founded the creative and design agency AKQA after dropping out of university in the mid-1990s to help brands take advantage of the burgeoning digital revolution. AKQA now has more than 2,000 employees across 21 studios around the world. This week Ahmed shares the secrets to a good campaign and why he sold a majority stake of AKQA to the advertising giant WPP.

On a trekking adventure through Nepal, John Wood noticed the lack of quality children’s books and learning materials. After returning home and quitting his executive job at Microsoft, he created Room to Read, one of the fastest growing non-profits in the world. This week John shares why he ditched his career to deliver books to far-flung regions on the back of a yak.

As big corporations hunt for entrepreneurial candidates with digital know-how, smaller start-ups search for experienced executives to help them scale. Executive search firm Gordon and Eden is on a mission to bridge the start-up-corporate divide. The firm’s founders Sam Gordon and Sophie Eden share their unique business model and explain why old-school headhunters haven’t yet caught up with the digital age.

US entrepreneur Jeff Lynn is the co-founder and CEO of Seedrs, an equity-based crowdfunding service in London. Users can invest in start-ups on the platform – often for as little as £10 – and receive shares in return. It’s a way for start-ups to raise funds and for the little guy to own a piece of the pie. But how did Jeff build Seedrs? This week he shares his inspiration, top tips and lessons learnt.

Jan Chipchase is the founder of Studio D Radiodurans, a consultancy that’s perhaps like none other in the world. He and his team travel to the far edges of the earth on behalf of clients to immerse themselves in difficult environments and understand human behaviour. He’s recently distilled his years of experience into a beautiful crowdfunded guide called 'The Field Study Handbook'. This week Jan shares lessons for travelling anywhere, making sense of the world and making a difference.

In July 1946, a French automobile engineer turned fashion designer named Louis Réard invented a revealing two-piece swimsuit called the bikini. Réard created a company and made bikinis for decades until his death in the mid-1980s, when the brand went dormant. This week on Eureka we meet Richard Emanuel, the Scottish entrepreneur on a mission to revive Réard to its former glory.

In the world of high-end, long-lasting and much-loved furniture brands, Vitsœ is perhaps without rival. For more than 50 years, the company has manufactured and sold furniture designed by the legendary Dieter Rams. But how do you sustain a legacy of top design, not to mention a profitable business model, for more than half a century? This week we meet Vitsœ’s managing director Mark Adams – the man who saved the company from bankruptcy and who has ambitious plans for the brand’s future.

Richard Reed created the drinks brand Innocent with two university friends in 1999. Years later, after growing the company into a global phenomenon worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the three friends started JamJar Investments, with the goal of backing the next generation of brilliant ideas. He’s now working with the Chivas Venture – a $1m search to find and support social entrepreneurs from across the world. So, how did he get to where he is today? Richard shares his story.

How do you launch a thriving print magazine in the digital age? Serena Guen is the founder and CEO of Suitcase Group, a multimedia brand best known for travel and fashion-inspired quarterly ‘Suitcase’ magazine. Guen launched Suitcase as a globetrotting student in 2012 and has never turned back. This week she shares the secrets to her success.

Kwami Williams was raised in Ghana and studied aerospace engineering at MIT, where he worked with Nasa. On a trip back to his homeland he encountered the super-crop moringa. This launched him on an entrepreneurial journey that resulted in MoringaConnect, which aims to eradicate rural poverty, and a clean-beauty brand, True Moringa. This week he shares his story.

Massimo Buster Minale is the founder of cult-favourite interior design brand Buster + Punch. During a career working for top architecture and design firms, Minale built and sold custom motorcycles in an east London garage. His passion evolved into a company and Minale was soon crafting furniture, light fixtures and accessories, with the goal of building an accessible lifestyle brand in an analogue-obsessed age. This week, he shares his journey.