Sun, Jul 5, 2020
The unusual business of doorstep plant deliveries. Four years ago, Freddie Blackett was staring despondently at a collection of dying plants on his balcony after a failed attempt to bring some nature into his first home. Today, Freddie is the CEO of Patch, an incredibly successful online plant shop which delivers 2000 plants across London each day, and a further 400 across the UK. Claudia Winkleman asks Freddie about how his brand challenges the status quo, their strategic social media marketing and how he's managed to run the business with all his staff working remotely, and two small children under his feet.
Sun, Jul 12, 2020
Discover the secret behind what Claudia Winkleman refers to as 'little bites of unicorn' when she talks to Howard and Vivien Wong, co-founders of Little Moons. In 2010, the brother and sister duo founded their business and started selling mochi ice-cream; bite-sized balls of Italian gelato ice cream, wrapped in a soft Japanese mochi dough. Now they produce 25 million a year. Claudia chats to Howard and Vivien about quitting their jobs and going all-in on their business idea, what it's like working with your sibling and how they've looked after their staff during a complicated time in the food industry.
Sun, Jul 19, 2020
With "Our Parks", founder Born Barikor is disrupting the fitness industry. No more expensive memberships or intimidating instructors; Born is on a mission to provide free, high-quality exercise classes that everyone can access in their local park. Already, over 150,000 members 'turn up to tone up' at "Our Parks" classes and they've received an astonishing number of awards and accolades for their innovative work. Claudia Winkleman discovers Born's secret to success. Born explains why you'll never catch him with a clipboard, what the build-measure-learn cycle can do for your business and how he ensures all his fitness coaches have 'the magic'.
Sun, Jul 26, 2020
33 metres below the streets of South London there are huge tunnels filled with hydroponic irrigation systems, LED lights and thousands of thriving little seedlings. This is Growing Underground, a futuristic farm with sustainability at its heart. Claudia Winkleman talks to Steven Dring and finds out what it takes to make a success of such an unconventional idea. Steven explains why a WW2 bomb shelter is the perfect environment for growing salads, how he and his co-founder overcame the bystander effect and what Raymond Blanc had to say about their fennel.
Sun, Aug 2, 2020
As a tour manager, Chris Sheldrick was tired of everyone getting lost. Standard street addresses weren't ever precise enough, and GPS co-ordinates often got misheard. So, Chris and his co-founders invented a new global address system, what3words. Seven years on and what3words is being used across the world for all sorts of things, from helping the emergency services find the scene of an incident, to getting fish-and-chips delivered on the Isle of Man. Chris Sheldrick, Co-Founder and CEO of what3words, tells Claudia Winkleman about hiring adventurers, making deals with the Mongolian Postal service and why you'll often find him staring into space.
Sun, Aug 9, 2020
For years, Michele Scott-Lynch had her hair chemically straightened, risking painful skin damage. But after reading The Autobiography of Malcom X and visiting a specialist curly-hair salon in New York, she finally decided that it was time to embrace her natural curls. Michele soon discovered that the beauty industry was desperately lacking products that were suitable for curly hair textures. She decided to do something about it and that's how her brand, Bouclème, was born. Founder and CEO Michele Scott-Lynch tells Claudia Winkleman what it takes to make waves (and curls!) in the beauty industry.
Sun, Aug 16, 2020
It was 2013 and Russell Bisset had £5000 in the bank and one big dream: to create world-class beer experiences inspired by the spirit of the north. Seven years later and Russell's company, Northern Monk, is going from strength to strength. Northern Monk is ranked as one of the top 100 breweries in the world, they have sales in 23 countries and are stocked in major UK supermarkets. But in addition to their incredible sales, the Northern Monk brand is doing so much more... Claudia Winkleman talks to Founder and CEO, Russell Bisset of Northern Monk about their incredibly creative beer collaborations, how they give back generously to the community and why on earth they decided to brew a beer at the top of Ben Nevis.
Sun, Aug 23, 2020
A third of the food they produce globally is thrown away. Ultimately, £12.5 billion worth of food is going direct to landfill, with dire consequences for the environment and for those living in food poverty. Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One decided to solve this huge problem with a simple solution; an app that connects neighbours in order to share unwanted or leftover food. In the space of just 5 years, Tessa and Saasha turned a WhatsApp group of 12 people into a platform with a community of 2 million worldwide. How did they do it? Tessa Clarke, Co-Founder and CEO, joins Claudia Winkleman to talk about seeking venture capital funding as a woman, why she believes giving up is not an option, and the time that 12 bottles of free champagne were listed on the app.