Our guest on today’s episode is Luca Faloni, the founder of the Italian menswear brand that bears his name. Luca’s business is a classic style start-up success story — one excellent hero product, a little artisan craftsmanship, a successful online store, a loyal and discerning following… and then the slow steady climb to start competing with the big boys. Today, the brand has four major stores across the world (with seven more on the way next year) and has an adoring following wherever it appears — their linen shirts, in particular, come highly prized.

In this episode, Luca tells us why 28 is the ideal age to start a business; why the restaurant owner next door can teach you just as much about business as Elon Musk; and why there’s no such thing as being over prepared.

In a special live episode of the podcast, we've teamed up with esteemed Northampton shoemaker Church’s for a Rugby World Cup extravaganza. Editor Joseph Bullmore is joined by Dylan Hartley, the most capped hooker in England history; Ben Franks, the Kiwi two-time World Cup winner; and Harry Mallinder, the U20s World Cup winning captain.

With plenty of audience participation from the gathered crowd, the Northampton Saints players spoke candidly about life at the top of the game, their first rugby memories, their greatest style disasters and their predictions for the 2019 World Cup. 

Our thanks to Church's for playing host

This special ‘al fresco’ episode of the podcast is all about 'collecting masterpieces' — investing in luxury, celebrating beauty, and building a covetable collection of anything, from cars to watches to wine. Recorded at Hampton Court Palace at the annual Concours of Elegance car show — and made in partnership with our good friends at German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne — it features Simon Cundey of Savile Row tailors Henry Poole; Evan Zema, collection manager for Bruce McCaw; and Wilhem Schmid, the CEO of A. Lange & Söhne. Enjoy.

David de Rothschild is an explorer, conservationist, and Breitling watch ambassador. He looks a bit like a more handsome Jesus, and is, in many ways, the older brother you've always wanted. He’s got a ripping yarn for any situation, often with the battle scars to match — like the time he danced for an Ecuadorian chieftain, at gunpoint, to Kajagoogoo. Or the time he sailed a catamaran made of plastic bottles around the world.

In a thoroughly enjoyable episode, David tells us why GDP is the worst metric for success; why advertisers should pay a dividend to nature; and why fear, actually, can be a very good thing. 

Johan Obel and Clemens Boeninger run the Drug Store — the UK’s foremost and finest seller of CBD. And if you don’t know what CBD is, you soon will — the cannabis extract is behind one of the biggest new industries of this century, and it's being applied in a huge amount of treatments and supplements. The market around it, meanwhile, is predicted to be worth some $22 billion by 2022.

For two young guys, Johan and Clemens are annoyingly switched on, and their ideas around start ups are applicable to anyone interested in starting a business. Enjoy the episode.

Our thanks again to Mark's Club for playing hosts. Excellent olives. 

Davide Cerrato is the Managing Director of Montblanc Watches and one of the most fascinating figures in modern watchmaking. 

In a special episode recorded down at Hound Lodge on the Goodwood estate — Montblanc, of course, are the official timekeepers for Goodwood’s Festival of Speed — Davide tells us why we should always strive for imperfection; how he lost his favourite ever watch as a young man; and why we should all try to stay five years old forever. 

Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon is the chef de cave at storied champagne house Louis Roederer, and one of the leading voices in this ancient and enigmatic industry.

This was an incredibly fun episode to be a part of — Jean-Baptiste brought a couple of bottles of champagne along to the recording, and over a flute or six we spoke about his predictions for the world of wine, the truth about biodynamic champagnes, and why all wine, really, is about our childhoods. Enjoy.

Our thanks to the Savoy for playing hosts. 

Our guest on today’s episode is Nick Wheeler, the founder of Charles Tyrwhitt. Now a true pillar of the high street and perhaps the best known shirtmaker in Britain, Charles Tyrwhitt began when Nick started flogging shirts by mail order at university. In the decades since, it’s had monumental highs and a couple of lows — in fact, Nick tells us how the brand very nearly went bust twice, and how he’s learned just as much from these near failures as he has from his successes.

Recorded at the hub of Charles Tyrwhitt operations in London Bridge, in this episode Nick tells us why he’ll never, ever sell the business; how the high street might just save itself; And why he keeps a beard in a jam jar.

Our guest on today’s episode is Simon Kidston, perhaps the best known vintage car broker and connoisseur in the world. Born into a motoring family, Simon was destined to work with cars — and what he doesn’t know about the things really isn’t worth knowing. Today, he’s a world authority and private advisor and who helps the likes of Ralph Lauren and Marc Newsom get their hands on some of the rarest cars on the planet.

In a very enjoyable episode, Simon tells us how to make your own luck, how to make a career out of your passion, and how he once took the Batmobile for a joy ride.

Our thanks to Mark's Club for playing host

Alexandre Mars is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Epic Foundation, a groundbreaking charity platform. Epic focuses on taking the grey areas and worries out of charitable giving, and builds philanthrophy into the structure of all the companies it works with.

Alexandre has been described as the “French Bill Gates” — and the comparison is pretty fitting. A businessman from his teenage years, Alexandre has started and sold a series of successful tech companies, before finally turning his skills and his fortune to humanitarian problems around the world. In this episode, we talk about his eerie knack of predicting the future, his love of break dancing, and his brilliant new book.

Our thanks again to Mark's Club for playing host.