How To Start Up by FF&M

Every guest on this podcast talks about looking after yourself and your sleep when starting a business so I was keen to speak to someone who has first hand experience in losing it, how to get it back & making a business from it too. 

Hayley Dawes spent years designing beautiful, calming homes for other people. She couldn't find a moment of that calm for herself.  A mother of four and a long-time entrepreneur, Hayley ba...

Laura Butler-Madden is an award-winning interior designer with 14 years of expertise restoring and transforming period properties. Laura hasn't left her design career. She's simply added a second one.  

For anyone starting a business, this may feel like a lot given how many hats you’re already wearing, so I was keen to chat to her about why and how she decided to do this.

Keep listening to hear a practical guide on how to ...

Most founders start with an idea & go looking for an ingredient. The Taylor sisters started with the ingredient and had to build everything else around it.

Their family has farmed plums in Northern California for four generations. For most of that time, the plum pits were just waste. Le Prunier turned them into the hero ingredient of an organic, luxury skincare line that now sits in goop, Anthropologie, Neiman Marcus & Bloom...

Jo Glynn-Smith is a coach & specialises in leadership growth, career transition and personal transformation, working with people to navigate change. Alongside her coaching practice she hosts The Midlife Entrepreneur podcast, which explores the shift from corporate life into entrepreneurship, so is perfectly placed to guide us through how to pivot in mid-life & address how listeners might honestly assess whether they are rea...

According to the Office for National Statistics, only around four in ten UK businesses live to see their fifth birthday. And for most of the ones that do make it, the bottleneck isn’t the market - it’s the founder. 

Our guest today learned that the hard way. Thea Brook spent over a decade as a CFO scaling startups into the tens of millions, built her own restaurants and product brands, and then ran the conventional ...

In this episode I'm joined by Emmie Faust, serial entrepreneur, investor in over 30 women-founded businesses & founder of Female Founders Rise, the 11,000-strong UK community supporting female entrepreneurs. 

Emmie is also the author of the newly published RISE Report, the largest independent study of female entrepreneurship in the UK & this is the first time she's sharing its findings on a podcast.

We talk about why she...

Charles Brun, co-founder of IZIPIZI, talks about how to start a brand from a simple idea and grow it into a global consumer business without losing sight of the initial values.

This episode is about spotting overlooked opportunities, building a brand around design and accessibility and scaling internationally while staying true to the original idea.

Keep listening to hear how IZIPIZI turned an everyday functional product into a globa...

Nick Croft-Simon, is the co-founder & CEO of White Rabbit, the UK’s largest gluten free pizza brand & the No.1 contributor to growth in the category.  

But this is a conversation about more than pizza.  It’s about how to build a truly consumer-led business.

From building their own gluten free bakery to making the controversial data-led decision to introduce meat SKUs after starting as veggie and vegan th...

In this episode Dan Cray, founder & CEO of PHIZZ, talks about how to scale without losing your North Star, stay focussed and go global.

After raising capital, PHIZZ had the opportunity to go broad early. New markets, new use cases and major international interest created momentum - but also complexity. Dan shares how chasing too many opportunities diluted focus, and why returning to a laser focus became the foundation for faster...

Samantha Cusick is one of the most recognisable voices in hair & uses podcasting to deepen brand trust, create community, as well as accidentally open doors commercially & position herself as an authority in a crowded market.

In this episode, we unpack what podcasting really does for you as an entrepreneur once the mic is live: how it supports the brand, drives opportunity, builds long-term equity & ultimately makes you ...

In today’s episode of How To Start Up, I’m joined by Marie du Petit Thouars and Matthew Berkson - the founders and partners behind Maison Louis Marie, the clean luxury fragrance house that blends centuries-old botanical heritage with modern consciousness. We discuss how they turned a personal passion into a global brand while learning to start, scale and stay married along the way.

Matt & Marie's advice: 

• Div...

Today on How To Start Up, I’m joined by Sophie Paterson, founder of the internationally recognised design studio Sophie Paterson Interiors. Since launching her studio in 2008, Sophie has completed over 80 luxury projects worldwide  but it’s her strategic use of social media that transformed her business into the global brand it is today.

With more than 1,000,000 followers across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, Sophie...

Rhian Stephenson is a nutritionist, naturopath and founder of ARTAH, the practitioner-led supplement brand built around a core belief: performance starts with your health.

In this episode, Rhian shares the realities of building a company in the wellness space, how to stay healthy while navigating the pressures of entrepreneurship & why understanding your physiology is one of the most powerful business tools you have.

We cover:&nb...

Andy Varley started Insanity at just 17 years old & has since grown it into a multifaceted business spanning artist management, brand partnerships, music publishing and content production.

Stay tuned to hear Andy’s journey from teenage entrepreneur to leading one of the UK’s most respected entertainment companies. We talk about how to find support when you’re starting out & the lessons he’s learned ab...

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy found that 96% of UK entrepreneurs admit to ‘bottling up’ the stress of running their business. 

So, I wanted to hear from a founder who has cracked the code of productivity. Emily Austen is the founder of leading PR agency EMERGE and the author of SMARTER: 10 lessons for a more productive and less-stressed life, publishing this autumn. Having founded EMERGE ...

Le’Nise Brothers is a leading nutritionist & yoga teacher specialising in women’s health, hormones and the menstrual cycle. Le’Nise’s first book, You Can Have A Better Period, was released in March 2022 and she also hosts the Period Story podcast, breaking taboos around menstrual health, hormones, perimenopause, menopause and beyond. 

In today’s episode, Le’Nise shares her advice on worki...

Rachel Harris is passionate about financial well-being & running values-led businesses. Rachel has created a modern, cloud‑focused accountancy & tax advisory firm for both businesses and individuals alongside a platform for business owners to find accessible, consumable, financial education. 

Stay tuned to hear Rachel’s advice on the highs and lows of running a business. Why loneliness is something that you s...

Daisy Bird, founder of BIRD PR, leads with a deep belief in the power of culture, emotional intelligence & building a people-first business. After 15 years in business, Daisy is cognisant of the investment this takes as well as the invisible skills a founder has to have to make a business succeed with a happy team as well.

Stay tuned to hear Daisy’s insights on the emotional undercurrent of running a business, why understa...

Eshita Kabra-Davies is the founder & CEO of By Rotation. Eshita founded the platform in 2019 to challenge the notion that ownership was not the only way to consume and enjoy fashion. Since then, she has successfully built a very strong personal/professional profile internationally alongside her business. 

Keep listening to hear Eshita’s advice on why to question what to put out there in terms of professional and perso...