Secret Leaders

Beyond: shorting your rival’s stock for $700m but losing the war, with Founder & CEO Ian Strang


Listen Later

80% to 90% of startups fail. But what those stats don't tell you is how you can do loads of things right and still fail. This is what happened to Ian Strang and the company he founded, Beyond, who tried to shake up the death industry - offering price comparisons, wills, funerals, probate - those kinds of things. They certainly managed to do that. They landed some blows, but ultimately they lost the war.

This is Ian’s story, told a few months after his company failed. 

He and his team came up with some ingenious ideas which led to press, shorting stocks and ultimately the regulation of the death industry itself. But that’s not how things ended.

We talk about:

  • The demanding childhood which shaped his life
  • His first startup
  • Meeting Alan Sugar’s son
  • Quitting Pollen because it was too much fun
  • The bizarre circumstance for first pitching Beyond
  • The problem with monetising death
  • How to grow through SEO
  • The April fool’s joke that yielded big publicity
  • Shorting Dignity for $700m
  • How to get the CMA on your side
  • What is a bad advert anyway
  • Auctioning your company
  • The reality of being an entrepreneur 
  • --

    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

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Secret LeadersBy Leaders Media

    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5

    4.5

    20 ratings


    More shows like Secret Leaders

    View all
    Disruptors by Rob Moore

    Disruptors

    114 Listeners

    The Property Podcast by Rob Bence and Rob Dix from The Property Hub

    The Property Podcast

    63 Listeners

    The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett by DOAC

    The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

    8,500 Listeners

    The Money Podcast by Rob Moore

    The Money Podcast

    22 Listeners

    The Entrepreneur Experiment by Gary Fox

    The Entrepreneur Experiment

    13 Listeners

    James Sinclair's Business Broadcast by James Sinclair

    James Sinclair's Business Broadcast

    4 Listeners

    The High Performance Podcast by High Performance

    The High Performance Podcast

    614 Listeners

    Dodge Woodall by Eventful Studios

    Dodge Woodall

    56 Listeners

    HUNGRY. by Dan Pope

    HUNGRY.

    5 Listeners

    Simon Says by Simon Squibb

    Simon Says

    15 Listeners

    Bad Money by Kindling Media & Vespucci

    Bad Money

    22 Listeners

    Big Fish with Spencer Matthews by Global

    Big Fish with Spencer Matthews

    51 Listeners

    Great Company with Jamie Laing by Jampot Productions

    Great Company with Jamie Laing

    281 Listeners

    Business of Sport by Charlie and Harry Stebbings

    Business of Sport

    13 Listeners

    UNTAPPED by High Performance

    UNTAPPED

    36 Listeners

    The Room Where It Happened by High Performance

    The Room Where It Happened

    3 Listeners