At 40, a finance guy walking away from the London Stock Exchange so he could learn to cook pasta.

Sounds wild? It’s only the beginning.

Meet Chris Rensell — former financier turned co-founder of Pasta Evangelists. He built a pasta brand from a kitchen in East London, scaled it into a £30-plus million business, hit Harrods, Ocado and 50+ delivery kitchens, and then got acquired by Barilla.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• Why quitting your “safe” job at 40 might be the smartest move you make
• How to turn a hobby into a startup empire
• The insane pivot during Covid that made the brand explode
• How the Barilla acquisition went down behind the scenes
• Real talk on burnout, scaling, and building with real people

If you’re building something, thinking of starting something, or just love a wild founder story — you’re in the right place.

Show Notes:

(00:00) Quitting finance & taking the leap

(09:45) The birth of Pasta Evangelists

(16:10) First kitchen in East London

(30:40) Covid pivot & delivery boom

(36:00) 50+ kitchens and national scaling

(52:00) Barilla acquisition story

(1:16:00) Dragons’ Den chaos & PR wins

(1:20:10) Advice for every founder out there

About Chris:

Chris Rensell is the co-founder of Pasta Evangelists, built the brand from scratch after leaving finance, and turned pasta into a national startup success story.

Pasta Evangelists:

Website: https://pastaevangelists.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pastaevangelists/

Connect with us:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simac.konkader/

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/simac-konkader