“It required a huge amount of sacrifice and wasn’t a pleasant lifestyle at the time…”

Welcome back to The Marketing Hustle, the podcast that cuts through the BS to bring you unfiltered stories from start-up Founders of bold brands.

This week, your host Lottie chats to the Founder of POT GANG, Sam Smith.

A lockdown business that stood the test of time, POT GANG is all about getting people into growing their own fruit, veg and herbs, via monthly subscription boxes… not a biz that helps you grow pot!

Sam has been on an incredible journey with the brand, which started trying to grow his own fruit and veg during lockdown. Fast forward to today, Pot Gang now has over 50k customers and is officially The Sunday Times Best Gardening Subscription. 

Tune in to hear Lottie & Sam talk openly about their mental health challenges, reaching 100k monthly web visitors and the powerhouse of community marketing.

Finally… if you enjoy the episode, please leave us a review, it helps more than you know. Now let’s get stuck in!

Chapters:

[00:49] Where POT GANG originated

[06:16] The eras of start-up growth

[14:14] The pot line: WhatsApp for business

[21:25] The chapter of ads and consumer behaviour

[30:15] Transitioning acquisition models

[34:02] How to build subscription retention 

[37:69] From Co-Founder to Solo Founder

[43:30] Generalised Anxiety Disorder: An insight 

[48:17] The price for bootstrapped growth? A mental health reality

[50:26] Cheerleading for sustainable start-up Purdy & Figg

Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sambsmith96/

Explore POT GANG: https://www.potgang.co.uk/

Follow your host, Lottie Unwin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lottie-unwin-she-her-7b577742/

Discover Up World + Brand Hackers: https://up-world.co/