Virgin StartUp Changemakers

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Seedlip and Sylva founder Ben Branson to explore what can happen when founders follow their curiosity rather than simply searching for a gap in the market.

From experimenting with botanical distillation at home to helping establish the alcohol-free drinks category, Ben shares the thinking behind Seedlip and his latest venture, Sylva, which explores the extraordinary flavours found in trees and wood. He reflects candidly on the personal sacrifices behind rapid growth, knowing what your brand will say no to and why his second time building a startup still comes with uncertainty, stress and the possibility of failure.

Whether you're developing an original idea, creating a new category or questioning what growth should look like for your business, this episode offers a different perspective on curiosity, creativity, founder wellbeing and building without compromising what matters to you.

In this episode:

• Why Ben's businesses begin with curiosity rather than market gaps
• How a 17th-century book helped inspire the experiments behind Seedlip
• Creating a category when customers don't yet know they need it
• What Ben learned from Seedlip's rapid international growth
• Why building a second startup doesn't make the uncertainty disappear
• Defining your brand by what you refuse to do
• Using a "not now" list to protect your focus without abandoning good ideas
• Why Sylva is exploring trees and wood as a new source of flavour
• Rethinking what scale and success should look like the second time around
• How a late autism and ADHD diagnosis changed Ben's understanding of himself and his work

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Black Seed co-founder Karl Lokko to explore what investors really look for in founders and why access to capital still isn't equal.

From entering venture capital with little experience of how funds worked to raising millions to back Black founders, Karl shares the realities behind building Black Seed and challenging an investment system where great businesses and founders can still be overlooked. He explores the power of storytelling, why a little healthy delusion can be a founder advantage, learning from hundreds of rejections and knowing whether venture capital is actually the right funding route for your business.

Whether you're preparing to raise investment, working out how to tell your founder story or deciding which funding route is right for your startup, this episode offers a candid investor perspective on resilience, relationships and what it takes to turn belief into momentum.

In this episode:

• Why Black Seed was created to address unequal access to startup investment
• The "healthy delusion" Karl believes founders need
• Why early-stage investors often back the founder as much as the idea
• Creating a compelling story around your business rather than relying on numbers
• What Karl learned from more than 200 fundraising pitches
• Turning investor rejection into a valuable feedback loop
• Why warm introductions still matter in venture capital
• Knowing when your startup is actually ready for VC investment
• Why raising investment can create problems if your business fundamentals aren't ready
• Building community alongside capital to support overlooked founders
• Maintaining belief and energy through a difficult founder journey

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this inspiring episode of Founder to Founder, we sit down with Olivia Jenkins, co-founder of D.LOUISE, the sustainable, tarnish-free jewellery brand that’s redefining what it means to build a purpose-led business.

After losing her mother and facing a period of uncertainty during the pandemic, Olivia poured her energy into creating something meaningful. With zero industry experience and just a gut instinct, she bootstrapped D.LOUISE into a fast-growing business rooted in bravery, simplicity, and joy.

We talk about turning grief into purpose, building confidence as a first-time founder, and why sustainable growth—not overnight success—is the mindset shift more entrepreneurs need to hear. Olivia also opens up about mentorship, mental health, and how showing up authentically fuels both community and commercial growth.

If you’re building a product-based brand or need a nudge of inspiration to get started, this one’s for you.

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If you’re an early-stage founder looking for support to help you start up, join the Virgin StartUp Community to connect with other founders, mentors and advisors to support you through your journey.

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Hosted by Luke Johnstone, founder of PACK’D, Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner and Startup Mentor.

Luke started and scaled his disruptive food business, generating over £15M in sales delivering impactful products to more than 1 million customers. 

PACK'D originally launched with support and funding from Virgin StartUp and now Luke returns to support the next generation of founders as a Virgin StartUp Mentor.

See virginstartup.org for more.

We're bringing you this podcast in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

The Jump is produced by Goldfish Studio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an episode from our newly launched Founder to Founder podcast. Follow us on Spotify and Apple to get the latest episodes when they drop.

In today’s episode, we’re joined by David Abrahamovitch, founder and CEO of Grind – from turning his Dad’s old phone shop into a go to coffee come cocktail destination, he’s since built a brilliant D2C brand. Today the company is a certified B Corp, they have 14 locations across London and sell millions of coffees every year through their home delivery service.

We’re talking to David about what it really takes to scale a business, how mentorship has played a role in his journey, and why surrounding yourself with the right people can make all the difference.

FOLLOW DAVID ABRAHAMOVITCH

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FOLLOW VIRGIN STARTUP

If you’re an early-stage founder looking for support to help you start up, join the Virgin StartUp Community to connect with other founders, mentors and advisors to support you through your journey.

Community.virginstartup.org

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YouTube 

TikTok

Linkedin

Hosted by Luke Johnstone, founder of PACK’D, Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner and Startup Mentor.

Luke started and scaled his disruptive food business, generating over £15M in sales delivering impactful products to more than 1 million customers. 

PACK'D originally launched with support and funding from Virgin StartUp and now Luke returns to support the next generation of founders as a Virgin StartUp Mentor.

See virginstartup.org for more.

We're bringing you this podcast in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

The Jump is produced by Goldfish Studio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Astrid & Miyu founder and CEO Connie Nam to explore how putting experience and community at the heart of a brand can create growth that lasts beyond the initial hype.

From hand-delivering early orders and running pop-ups around Notting Hill to challenging conventional jewellery retail and building an international brand, Connie shares why she trusted her instinct when others told her to focus on ecommerce. She also explores raising investment, creating memorable customer experiences, building company culture and making the difficult transition from hands-on founder to empowering CEO.

Whether you're building a consumer brand, creating a community around your business or learning how to lead as your startup scales, this episode offers practical founder lessons on customer experience, culture, leadership and building a brand for the long term.

In this episode:

• Turning childhood experiences into a distinctive jewellery brand
• Why Astrid & Miyu prioritised physical retail when others were focused on ecommerce
• Starting with five customers rather than obsessing over the first hundred
• Doing unscalable things to create memorable early customer experiences
• Building a genuine community without treating community as a marketing tactic
• Knowing when to trust your instinct over external advice
• Defining company values and using them to hire the right people
• Moving from hands-on founder to an empowering leader
• Why founders sometimes need to stay quiet to let their teams develop ideas
• Asking for help when the transition to CEO becomes difficult
• Turning moments of brand hype into sustainable long-term growth

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this powerful episode of Founder to Founder, we’re joined by Alex Partridge, founder, mental health advocate, host of the ADHD chatter podcast and co-founder of the viral media brands UNILAD and LADbible, and now Virgin StartUp Mentor.

After being diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 34, Alex is now a massive advocate for mental health and neurodiversity in the workplace, alongside that has authored his memoir ‘Now it all makes sense: how an ADHD diagnosis brought clarity to my life’.

Alex has truly experienced the full spectrum of entrepreneurship and we’re diving into his rollercoaster journey and how his experiences have helped shape his success today.

FOLLOW ALEX PARTRIDGE 

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FOLLOW VIRGIN STARTUP

If you’re an early-stage founder looking for support to help you start up, join the Virgin StartUp Community to connect with other founders, mentors and advisors to support you through your journey.

Community.virginstartup.org

Instagram

YouTube 

TikTok

Linkedin

See virginstartup.org for more.

We're bringing you this podcast in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

The Jump is produced by Goldfish Studio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with The INKEY List co-founder Colette Laxton to explore how a clear purpose, deep customer understanding and a willingness to move fast helped build a global skincare brand.

From spotting unanswered skincare questions on Reddit to launching in Sephora just months after starting, Colette shares the decisions, risks and near misses behind The INKEY List’s rapid growth. She explores why founders need to sell the dream and then deliver on it, how listening to customers can be more valuable than expensive research and why staying focused on your purpose matters as your team, markets and competition grow.

Whether you're building a consumer brand, preparing to pitch a major retailer or navigating rapid startup growth, this episode offers candid founder lessons on customer insight, product quality, scaling and backing yourself even when imposter syndrome tells you otherwise.

In this episode:

• Finding a business opportunity by listening to real customer conversations
• Keeping your purpose intact as your startup grows
• Staying relevant without chasing every new trend
• Why customer conversations can beat expensive market research
• What a failed beauty brand taught Colette about execution
• Selling the dream to retailers before you've built everything
• How The INKEY List landed Sephora and expanded internationally at speed
• The cash flow pressures behind rapid business growth
• Why founders remain one of their brand's most powerful sales tools
• Finding your superpower and pushing through imposter syndrome

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Freddie’s Flowers founder Freddie Garland to explore how a simple subscription idea grew from a milk float and a garden gazebo into a household flower brand.

Freddie shares how he stripped his original idea back to the essentials, won his first customers by knocking on doors and challenged the idea that flowers should only be bought as gifts. He also reflects candidly on subscription growth, sustainability, international expansion, hiring and the personal pressures that come with building a business over more than a decade.

Whether you're testing your first business idea, building a subscription model or navigating the pressures of startup growth, this episode offers practical founder lessons on starting small, listening to customers and building a business that can evolve without losing what made it distinctive.

In this episode:

• Turning experience at Abel & Cole into a flower subscription idea
• Stripping a startup back to the minimum you need to launch
• Winning the first customers through door-to-door sales
• Challenging established customer behaviour around buying flowers
• What founders should know about subscription businesses and customer retention
• How the subscription model can help reduce waste
• Expanding internationally and the complexity that comes with growth
• Why hiring the wrong person can pull founders back into the detail
• Learning to delegate and create boundaries around work
• The reality of founder stress and why growth isn't always a straight line

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Biscuiteers founder Harriet Hastings to explore how creativity, storytelling and partnerships helped turn a gifting idea into a distinctive British brand.

From spotting a gap in food gifting to working with brands including Dior and Emma Bridgewater, Harriet shares how Biscuiteers grew across ecommerce, corporate gifting, wholesale and physical retail. She explores why founders should focus on earning customers rather than relying on paid advertising, how different sales channels can strengthen each other and the realities of scaling a manufacturing business in the UK.

Whether you're building a consumer brand, exploring new sales channels or trying to grow without becoming dependent on paid acquisition, this episode offers practical founder lessons on brand building, partnerships, customer experience and sustainable business growth.

In this episode:

• Spotting an opportunity to reinvent food gifting
• Using PR and storytelling to build early brand awareness
• Why corporate partnerships became an important growth channel
• Expanding from direct-to-consumer into wholesale and physical retail
• Using stores as both sales channels and brand experiences
• Why Harriet believes founders should earn customers before buying them
• Collaborating with complementary brands to reach new audiences
• The realities of funding and scaling a manufacturing business
• The funding challenges facing female founders
• Building the creative team behind millions of hand-iced biscuits each year

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with entrepreneur and investor Simon Squibb to explore why building a business should start with what you care about, not simply where you've spotted a gap in the market.

From becoming an entrepreneur at 15 after finding himself homeless to building and selling businesses and creating HelpBnk, Simon shares the lessons that shaped his unconventional approach to entrepreneurship. He explores why ideas matter less than execution, the importance of asking for help, finding purpose and why founders should resist building businesses around opportunities they don't genuinely care about.

Whether you're searching for your first business idea, questioning the direction of your startup or trying to reconnect with why you became a founder, this episode offers a provocative perspective on entrepreneurship, purpose and turning the things you care about into action.

In this episode:

• How necessity pushed Simon into entrepreneurship at 15
• Why everyone can develop their entrepreneurial skills
• Why execution matters more than having an original idea
• Sharing your business idea instead of protecting it
• The difference between your purpose and your dream
• Why asking for help can be harder than giving it
• Getting more value from mentors by asking better questions
• Why raising investment might not be the problem you actually need to solve
• The importance of protecting your business with a trademark
• Why founders should follow what they care about rather than simply filling a market gap

Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about.

Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business.

Looking to start or grow your own business?

Find out more at virginstartup.org

Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.