Screw It, Just Do It | Alex Chisnall Chats With Ray Kelvin, Richard Reed, Steven Bartlett & Others Every Week. Alex Chisnall:

"That's what you've got to do as an entrepreneur. You've got to see what other people haven't seen sometimes. You won't get it right all the time but boy, when you get that punt right, it's just fantastic And it's the best feeling in the world when you can pull that off." I welcome Kris Gumbrell, co-founder of Brewhouse & Kitchen, recently named best pub chain and best pub to work for at the Publican Awards. Kris is a fellow Cardiffian exiled to Bournemouth like myself. His brand is a really disruptive force in the pub industry and has come in like a breath of fresh air with 19 sites in the UK, 15 in the last 2 years alone. With 400 staff they are now the biggest brew chain in the UK and 2nd largest in Europe. With 300 different beers that are brewed onsite unique to each location, they have a brewing academy, hosted 8,000 brewing experience days and given 18,000 brewing masterclasses. We're in the pub - let's StartUp!

"Probably one of the best things that happenend to me in my life is that I got diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma cancer. It was a big health scare, I didn't know if I would be around in a year, and I asked myself if I was gone in a year and I don't have longer to live, what do I really want to do" On today's show I welcome Sean Greeley, CEO and founder of NPE Coaching. When you're 26 and you hear a doctor on the other end of the line say "I don't mean to scare you but it's stage IV melanoma cancer and you need to get to hospital immediately', your life changes in a very profound way.  Sean went from being a professional wakeboarder, competing for Team USA to founding and becoming CEO of Npe coaching. He went from a high school kid in New Engalnd, turning down scholarships in both track and field and music to move to Florida and follow his dream of competing professionally in wakeboarding.  He also walked out of his first class in business school leaving $10k of the first term's tuition behind. Sean's gone on t

"I think it was the tipping point where we saw, after running the company for some years, trying to reach out to people all the time and trying to engage these people. It's quite painful and it's a lot of energy that you have to give. It's then quite the opposite, people reach out to you and they want to work with you because what you do is meaningful and you really see the difference in your company. Your days are not the same days at all, it's much more exciting because you feel you are bridging a gap and people need you and everything you do is going that much faster." Julien Verdier is the co-founder of ad tech company, adyoulike, a global leading native in-feed platform. Launched in 2011 is is recognised as being a pioneer in native technology and creating advertising expereinces for users that mirror the websites they are visiting.  Adyoulike operates in more than 18 countries, has over 100 employees and has received funding from a French billionaire and then through VC's.  Julien originally started the

"Running a startup is a rollercoaster, and there are constant up and downs. I think that the most important thing in those ups and downs as a person is identify when you're down and just telling youeself that this is something temporal.  Eventually you hit the bottom. And then you go back up. As long as you are aware that at the bottom you can only go up, and ou will go up eventually..you can probably overcome everything." I welcome Dror Ginzberg founder of Wochit. Dror has over 25 years of experience in technology with the focus on video and related tech. As co-founder and Ceo of Wochit, Dror provides over 600 global news brands, media brands, publishers and professional bloggers with the video creation platform for production of video content at scale and speed.  After starting his career in techhnology whilst serving with the Israeli defence forces, he's now on his second tech startup. And with offices in New York, London and Israel he's a man on the move. I manages to track him down at his home in Tel Avi

"...And when the government announced the smart meter rollout it was crucially the customers who owned that data. Not the energy suppliers, not the district network operators, that to me was a massive opportunity to say 'well hang on a second'. In a market where consumers feel more disempowered than any other market, all of a sudden they own the one asset that the industry needs to operate. That has to be a tool to rebalance the market." On today's show I welcome Jane Lucy, founder of energy disruptor labrador. Jane first worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to create the first collaborative communities around money and land and take on the supermarkets.  She has a really interesting backstory as a lawyer, single-mum and now as an energy disruptor. She created Labrador which tracks your energy use through your smart meter and automatically switches you to the best tariff. As one of he most expensive household bills, most of us doing nothing about it. We don't switch tariff, preferring to stick with one of

"It's cool to be a foodie now. Whereas it used to be a very niche thing, all over now..whether it's pop-up food markets or open kitchen restaurants... food on TV, and in the real world, is a kind of cool space to be in."   Join Jamie Spafford 'live' on March 28th in Bournemouth: Just visit the Eventbrite page for StartUpU. And on this week's show I speak to Jamie, Ben, Mike and Barry who launched SORTED food in 2010 after finishing university.  The Wall Street Journal calls their show "food porn meets social media" whilst The Independent calls them "the food equivalent of Instagram or Spotify". They describe their own show as a "mix of food, recipes, video and banter". With over TWO million social followers including Barrack Obama and David Cameron, and ELEVEN million downloads per month, I spoke with the guys to find out how they became the world's most engaged cooking channel - that's also inspiring a younger generation to think more about what they eat. Let's StartUp!

"It was at that moment that I realised that a buyer and seller had a need, and that the current operators in that market weren't fulfilling that need, for whatever reason. It really got me thinking about the secondary ticket market...and I actually stumbled across this £3 Billion opportunity. Twenty-Four year old tech entrepreneur Luke Massie sold his first business aged just 17 for £96,000. Having invested £50,000 of that in his next startup, Vibe Tickets is now valued at over £6,000,000. With over 200,000 fans on social media and investment from Matt Newing, Scott Fletcher and Richard Branson, this "Air BNB" for concert tickets" is on a mission to stop ticket touts for good. We talk tickets, touts..and Ed Sheeran... Let's StartUp!

"I went to Manchster Met to study business management and I didn't register, but went down to where I thought my lecture was meant to be. I sat in the room for about half an hour and got very, very bored. I was convinced I was in the wrong room and I never went back. I went back to my halls of residence and I went down to the University and dropped out." Steven Bartlett, Co-Founder of Social Chain. See Steven Bartlett's Social Chain co-founder 'live' in Manchester on March 21st 2018 here:http://bit.ly/2FlewvR Social Chain is an award-winning and hugely innovative social media marketing agency, with a collective reach of over 200 million millennials across their platforms and an enviable global client portfolio that includes Apple, McDonalds, and the BBC. Social Chain was set up in 2014 by two young entrepreneurs - Steve Bartlett and Dom McGregor - who dropped out of university to pursue their business venture. Dom McGregor, Social Chain Co-Founder, tells us how they made it. How it all began Steven Bartlett m

"I think I had done what I wanted to do out of that. I didn't feel like I needed to prove myself in anythig so I think I could take more risks. It didn't really matter in a personal sense at that time. It matters enormously to me now but in that sense it was a bit of an experiement and if it didn't work then there was plenty of consulting out there, etc..it gave me some freedom to think about it in that way." On today's show I welcome Ed Molyneux, founder of Freeagent. Microbusinesses constitute 98% of all businesses, and most of them hate having to manage their finances. Meet Ed Molyneux, former RAF figher pilot turned Freeagent founder, an online accounting system for freelancers and small businesses like you and me. Ed originally trained with the US Airforce in Texas before two tours of duty in the Balkans with the RAF. He left to set up as a defence technology consultant, beore becoming frustrated with the lack of bookeeping software for small businesses and finally getting a tax bill at the end of the ye

"Finance was the last thing I ever thought I'd get involved with. I was at college doing 'A' levels, got very bored and then got kicked out of college". On todays show I welcome Luke Davis, founder of IW Capital. Luke has taken the unusual step of going from Ibiza nightclub promoter to stockbroker, to private investment house. Given a large number of the show's listeners are entrepreneurs, startups and scale-ups I thought it would be really interesting to get someone from the investment side of the coin in to talk.   IW Capital have helped a number of different businesses including Brewhouse & Kitchen, Ubamarket, Weswap and Unbound riae millions of pounds to help scale their SME's.  Lule and I talk about what an investor is looking for when investing in a startup, the types of business they're investing in, as well as staging events, and of course..Ibiza."

"When we set out on this road we we'ren't looking for a product . It was very much a 'how do we make this simpler, how do we bring something new to watchmaking. Is there something we can explore at the fundamental process of how the human interacts with the chronometer". On today's show I welcome the founders of Swiss Reimagined - the Singularity watch - Stephen Mansfield and Daniel Bluncschi. Stephen and Daniel started with the idea of a patented one-hand time-piece, which was originally written on the back of a beer mat following their first meeting - in the pub. Inspiration can strike in the most unlikely places. . Swiss Reimagined is the brainchild of trained engineer Stephen and watch industry veteran Daniel. What they've created is the world's first chronometer that has the ability to accuraely display both hours and minutes with a single moving hand. As a new brand they've decided to levaerage the crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which offers great marketing opportunities, as well as o

"For me I was just done making money for other people. I'm a good sales and marketing pro, that's what I've always done. So I was making this guy a ton of money and I was doing ok out of it, but I could have been doing a whole lot better - if i'd been focused in on doing my own thing. So that's exactly what I did and I never looked back, ever. Ever". On today's show I welcome back one of the most popular guests of 2017, Chris Ducker.  Chris is a serial entrepreneur, business mentor, blogger, podcaster, and best-selling author of the book 'Virtual Freedom' and features in publications such as Forbes, Inc and Entrepreneur. When I heard that Chris was launching a second book I put the call out to get him back on the show. Chris's new book is entitled 'Rise of the Youpreneur': The Definitive Guide to Beocoming the Go-To Leader in Your Industry and building a Future-Proof Business. After a decade as an entrepreneur and as an authoruty in this space, with three different companies under one umbrealla and with over

"When you really get far away from a problem, whether it's physically or mentally, you can see things really clearly. It just occured to me that I was bashing my head against this wall. The doors just weren't opening. I was trying to do this law thing and actually, I wanted to spend my life doing what I enjoyed the most, which was cooking. And I  kind of in that instant made a decision that I wanted to do something in food, and I didn't know exactly what it was going to be. I didn't know if I wanted to be a chef or a writer or whatever. But it didn't really matter, it was making that decision to do the thing that I loved the most." On today's show I speak to Margie Broadhead, professional chef, cookery writer, podcast host of 'Desert Island Dishes' and writer of the 'Made by Margie' blog.  Not only has Margie cooked for some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, but she has also interviewed some of the biggest names in the food industry for her podcast, inclusing Levi Roots to name but one. On 'Desert

"Our target consumer is 18-40 year olds who are beginning to read more and more about what they're eating and drinking. And maybe they're tired of what's happening in politics with fake news and alternative facts and not knowing what is true anymore. We have that strong tone of voice and what we're seeing is people get that and feel that. They're reading about nutrition and becoming fans of what we do and the movement we're trying to be a part of." I speak to Hugh Thomas, Co-founder of Ugly Drinks, a range of fruit flavoured sparkling waters with no sugar, sweeter, calories and no artificial ingredients.  Hugh and co-founder Joe Benn launched Ugly as a response to a soft drinks industry that they felt was overly sweetened and frustrated by the deceptive branding of many of them. Now many think sugary and sweetened drinks cause many of the issues associated with diabetes and obesity. Hugh and Joe decided to do something about it and create a healthy, affordable and fun alternative with Ugly Drinks where the be

"Originally he tried to get me for gross misconduct for starting up a rival business, but my contract was an older contract, so it didn't have that clause in it. So in the end I got put on gardening leave for a month and and had to make ends month. It was rough but it was the best thing that could have happened. It was rough, really rough for a few months. I was really worried for a while... Charles Richer from Love Beer is a great example of knowing what you want, and going out and making it happen. Just two years ago Charles was earning less then the minimum wage, washing dishes for an employment agency, leaving him, in his own words, very downtrodden. Fast forward and... not happy working for someone else, he spotted an opportunity in the craft ale business and is now focusing on working with grass roots local brewers and bringing their products into your hands.  From installing bars into restaurants, pubs, homes, offices, and focusing especially on craft beers, this Bud is DEFINITELY not or you. Let's sta

"I didn't really understand anything about business, so I just researched the concept and how money flowed around the world and thought this could be interesting. I went home to my wife and said 'I think I really want to resign and create this money-swapping thing'. She said 'ok, I believe in you, let's do it'. Then I told her we had to sell the house." Jared was a currency trader who thought that there must be a cheaper way to get your travel money rather having to queue at a desk at an airport before jumping on a flight for your holiday. So he created 'WeSwap' which works by getting users to swap money with each other. Since launching in 2015 he's had over 300,000 customers and swapped over £130 million in over 16 different currencies and over 18 different countries.

"The scales were tipping, so I was doing more artwork and becoming more and more disengaged with a career in medicine. But then I broke my leg one winter and I couldn't stand up to paint anymore. So I had to change to painting watercolours and I sat down and painted, put it online...and it went viral." On today's landmark 50th episode I welcome Laloa's Liz Murray. We helped her start out with a Virgin StartUp loan and mentoring so it's apt that she's my interview on my 50th show. She had a lifelong love of art, inspired by her grandfather, which lay dormant while she studied and then became a doctor. However, an accident resulting in a broken leg rekindled her interest and she's now proving that you can 'screw it, just do it' and turn a hobby into a full-time job. Let's startup!

" A lot of people within the industry, friends, family and wider, thought we were just crazy. So we were going to launch a business with 14 people, we weren't going to have any call centres, we weren't going to have any shops, we were going to be online only, and our members will do all the stuff, like get more members to join, will help with member queries... And people just didn't think it could work." On today's show I welcome Tom Rainsford, co-founder and brand director of telecommunications disruptor Giff Gaff. As one of the original founders Tom started with the simple idea of 'making mobile better'. They are the David among Goliath's in mobile-land, they have members, not customers, and don't tie them down with lengthy contracts. They were Uswitch's 2017 network of the year,  and just had one of their video's voted in Youtube's Top 10 video's for 2017. Tom and I talk about how they were able to compete in such a competitive market, how their members drive the business for them and how they even paid th

"We've just brought out a documentary with two fighters from the area we're from south London, he's got a fight coming up in two weeks time at the O2. We filmed a documentary about him two years ago and we never released it. Its almost like we had the eye to see that he was going to be successful one day..We literally completed it this week." On this week's show I welcome Josh, Patrick and Jerry, otherwise known as JPJ Media, a young London startup founded by three cousins. Since pooling their skills and resources back in 2016 they applied and received a Virgin StartUp loan and launched JPJ Media. In just 18 months they have already worked with London Fashion Week, MTV, Nike, Boo Hoo, the Saatchi Awards Gallery and the Mobo Awards. I found out with the three of them to find out how they have got to work with such an amazing client list. 

"It was selling slower than we thought, only because we were still only letting tech businesses in. So we had recruiters turn up, agencies, and we told them we couldn't accommodate them because we were focused on creating an atmosphere for tech businesses. And that was hard to do when available funds in the bank were at one point two thousand pounds and we had quite a lot of bills to pay..and that's available funds..we were deep into overdraft." On today's show I speak to David Galsworthy, co-founder of Techspace, Europe's co-working space for tech scale-ups in London and Berlin. Tech space now has six properties in London with a community of over 1,500 people and has recently opened a new space in Berlin. David's first forays as an entrepreneur were in the wild west of Ecuador over twenty years ago. He's now the proud co-owner of some of the best looking and best value co-working spaces i've seen.  And with demand outstripping supply he believes we're still nowhere near saturation point.  Tonight we're also