Secret Leaders

Our guest this week is the founder of Babylon Health: Ali Parsa. What Ali chose to do is nothing short of noble: trying to make healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone. Tune in to hear the lessons and advice of a very ambitious and opinionated human being. Coming to the UK as a refugee and steering clear of negativity Building Circle and, later on, Babylon Thinking big, acting big, staying human

Our guest this week is a feisty, joyous force of nature. Alex Depledge shares some serious wisdom on how, together with her co-founders, she ambitiously built and grew hassle.com (+ we cover many more topics). Join us for a refreshing, feminist episode. Her journey from I-don’t-know-anything-about-startup-entrepreneurship to building the right product at the right time What was raising money like in a period when there wasn’t a startup ecosystem Finding an executive coach and surviving Brexit Full show notes at http://secretleaders.com/

Our guest this week is a man who enjoys taking high-achieving to new levels every morning while eating breakfast. Meet Nick Wheeler, the founder of Charles Tyrwhitt, the shirt company on a mission to make it easy for men to dress well. 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 entrepreneurs worldwide

Our guest this week is the lovely co-founder of notonthehighstreet.com, Holly Tucker (previously known as “Hurricane Holly”). Join us for an hour of inspiration, as Holly shares her secrets for balancing family, happiness, and business, as well as her journey towards finding her ikigai. Creating notonthehighstreet.com together with Sophie Cornish at their respective kitchen tables Why Holly advises entrepreneurs to trust their internal compasses Full show notes: http://www.secretleaders.com/

Our leader du jour is Mills, aka Matt Miller, co-founder of ustwo, an international digital product and service studio. Mills tells us all about how they created ustwo and developed an App Store App of the Year, and why they will never ever sell their fampany (for those of you late to the table, that’s a family company). The story of how ustwo was formed How they created a global smash hit mobile game What’s next for ustwo and for Mills

Our guest this week is Café Rouge co-founder Karen Jones. Fortunately for you, Karen comes equipped with plenty of actionable advice on how you can create a brand people actually come back to. How Café Rouge was built Selling Café Rouge and creating Punch Taverns What makes a brand a winner Karen’s advice to entrepreneurs Full show notes: http://www.secretleaders.com/

What are the ingredients needed for a successful startup adventure? Pete Finlay, formerly Pete Smith, co-founder of Songkick and Silicon Milkroundabout, has a few pieces of advice for first-time founders that could make all the difference in the world. 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 Full show notes: http://www.secretleaders.com/

How do you go about creating a better tomorrow? Project Everyone co-founder Gail Gallie thinks that we should all get involved. It starts with something small, and then expands into something great. 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 Goals Full show notes: http://www.secretleaders.com/

What does a successful startup need? Two friends with a vision, a huge amount of hard work, and a basement. Just Eat former CEO David Buttress shares his journey. The Just Eat journey: how two colleagues working in a basement created an empire with a valuation of £5.5 billion Their story with getting funded What made Just Eat stand out from other food delivery services Full show notes: http://www.secretleaders.com/

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.

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”

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’s life has gone from rags to riches in very little time, and should be viewed as an inspiration that anyone with a strong work ethic, positive attitude and most importantly, the self belief and confidence in what makes you unique and interesting is your pathway to success.

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.

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.

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.