Simon Says

In episode 6 of season 2 of Pep Talk, we spoke to Chirs Goodfellow. Chris Founder and CEO of Inkwell. Inkwell specialises in creating educational content for small business owners. Advice created by the team is used by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs every year. Chris also runs The Pitch, the UK's biggest startup pitching programme. Every year the events support hundreds of entrepreneurs through free coaching and mentoring, and provide a platform to pitch to investors.

In episode 5 of season 2 of Pep Talk, we spoke to Rosanna Nibbs. Rosanne Nibbs, co-founder of Piqant, a family-run online marketplace that offers 100% ethically sourced coffee from independent roasters across the nation. She has long had a passion for coffee, being half Italian and half Dominican and over the years, her curiosity about finding unique flavours and origins led her to start the business alongside her family last year. She is proud to support independent roasters and diverse communities around the world, and places transparency, sustainable production, and Fairtrade at the heart of what they do.

In episode 4 of season 2 of Pep Talk, we spoke to Anna Marcovici. In creating Manifesto, beauty industry veteran Anna Marcovici has combined her lifelong passion for nutrition and wellbeing with her years of experience at global brands including L’Oreal, Nars, MAC and Bobbi Brown.

After studying at the prestigious London School of Economics and honing her skills in the beauty industry, Anna set her sights on the world of holistic health. After much research into the burgeoning supplements market, Anna realised there was an emerging need for a beauty supplement brand that challenged the norm. Bored of seeing big brands pushing meaningless marketing initiatives that didn’t cater to customer needs, Anna founded Manifesto with the aim of creating a supplement brand that didn’t peddle toxic messaging or unachievable claims and that was as efficacious as it was exciting. Championing her lifelong belief that feeling good from the inside out is the highest beauty ideal, Manifesto puts healthy, supercharged, and sustainable supplements at the heart of what it does.

In episode 3 of season 2 of Pep Talk, we spoke to Lysander Bickham, Founder and CEO at Leo's Box. Lysander set up Leo's Box at 16 during the summer after his GCSEs. Having learned about the Sustainable Development Goals, he believed that business could play a role in making sustainable changes more available for all. This drove him to become a B Corp business which helped quantify the environmental impact of Leo's Box. With the business named after his initials (leo), Lysander attempts to maintain a personal connection to customers as he scales. He is the youngest CEO of B Corp in the world and is proud to be a B Corp ambassador as well as an ambassador for shoe brand Allbirds.

In episode 2 of season 2 of PEP Talk, we spoke to Paul Spiers, Founder of The New P&L – Brand Purpose Institute & Host of The New P&L. Principles & Leadership in Business podcast series, Paul is a consultant, speaker and author on topics and trends around Purpose, Principles & Leadership in Business as well Commercial Creativity and Social Innovation.

Paul believes in ‘The New P&L’ for business. One that is focused as much on ‘Principles & Leadership’ as it is on ‘Profit & Loss’: as if a business’s Principles are right and aligned with its purpose, and its Leadership has clarity of vision and is focused and empathetic, then it will be in profit and not in a loss in many ways.

We are so excited to launch season 2 of PEP Talk. Our first episode is with Josh White, Co-Founder & Marketing Director at CanO Water. Josh White, is one of three best friends who launched the brand after being on holiday in Thailand and seeing the dire state of plastic bottles lining the beach. It was at this moment that their business idea was born, canned water.

Since launching in 2015, CanO Water has sold over 15 million cans in the UK and Ireland. Propelled by increasing consumer demand for more sustainable alternatives to plastic bottled water. CanO Water has built a national presence across multiple channels in the UK and Ireland, continuing its growth in new territories as the plastic problem becomes more globally recognised.

A few years down the line and the pioneering canned water brand has secured a seven-figure investment to continue to drive the brand’s exponential growth. Former European President at Heineken has invested in the business and has joined the team as Non-Exec Chairman and it’s a very exciting time for the brand.

In episode 22 of Pep Talk, Simon interviews David Burgman. David is the Managing Director of Raptor, a student marketing agency. Based in East London and live across 40 cities in the UK & Ireland. David, originally from Leeds started Raptor 5 years after moving to London to live with his girlfriend, now wife. David has 2 children, Evie 3 and Bea 2 and enjoys the challenge of juggling parenthood whilst running a business.

In episode 21 of Pep Talk, Simon interviews Evgeny Shadchnev. Evgeny is an executive coach helping entrepreneurs to achieve transformational growth. As the founder and former CEO of a VC-backed startup, he worked with some of the world’s leading executive coaches before training with The Academy of Executive Coaching and launching his practice. In 2013, Evgeny started Makers, Europe’s first coding bootcamp, which has changed the lives of thousands of people by training them to become software developers and placing them in companies such as Deloitte, Google, and the BBC. He grew Makers through business philosophies that he still applies today around choosing trust over fear and always doing the right thing. Meditation has always been a big part of his life; he learned some of the most important leadership lessons while meditating.

In episode 20 of PEP Talk, Simon interviews Joe Taylor. Joe is the Co-Founders of snacking start up Real Handful, which create delicious, innovative trail mixes, craft baked nuts and protein bars.First launched in 2016, Real Handful is run by husband and wife team Joe and Carly Taylor.  It aims to shake up the healthy snacking sector with products that are packed with naturally nutritious ingredients like fruits, nuts, seeds and grains and with its innovative, tasty flavour combinations.

In episode 19 of PEP Talk, Simon interviews Jack Tang. Jack is the co-founder and CEO of Urban (formerly known as Urban Massage), the on-demand app on a mission to empower people through wellness. Founded in 2014, it is now the leading at-home massage, fitness and wellness platform. They have built a network of over 2,500 wellness professionals offering at-home massage, physiotherapy, osteopathy and beauty treatments.

What started as a way to book wellness online become much more. Jack and co-founder Giles Williams discovered an industry that was broken: practitioners typically took home only 20% of booking revenue and worked long hours to make ends meet. Meanwhile, customers had little other than a salon’s reputation to go off of before making a booking with a specific practitioner. Since then, the duo envisioned a platform that would benefit practitioners and customers alike. On Urban, practitioners take home 72% of bookings. And customers are able to choose between trusted, pre-vetted practitioners, thanks to detailed profiles with personal bios, ratings and reviews.

To date, Urban has enabled the delivery of 300,000+ treatments generating economic value of more than £25M. Urban currently operates in London, Paris, Birmingham and Manchester, and is backed by London's leading VC funds including Felix Capital, Passion Capital and LCIF. Jack is a Forbes 30 under 30 honouree and co-founded Urban in 2014 following the successful sale of his first start-up which became the UK’s largest student job portal.