What fuels a serial entrepreneur? What motivates a founder who, having sweated blood and tears to launch, develop and exit a business, repeats the exercise, swerving the beach in favour of more early morning wake up calls and interminable spreadsheets? In the case of Mark Wilcox, the answer may surprise you. This serial entrepreneur says his second multimillion-pound company came about because his wife kicked him out…

Connie Nam felt her confidence draining away. The founder of London-based lifestyle jewellery brand Astrid & Miyu had built a fast-growing, multi-million-pound company, but that didn’t matter. As unbelievable as it sounds, imposter syndrome was creeping in. The Seoul-born, US-raised Londoner explains why: “I’d hired someone who’d started to challenge how I ran the business. They were an expert in that field; I wasn’t. I saw myself as a founder, not a CEO, so the criticism hit home.”

PerfectTed is a London-based company behind Europe’s first matcha-powered energy drinks. It was co-founded by Marisa Poster and brothers Teddie and Levi Levenfiche in April 2021. Its drinks are currently stocked at over 3,000 locations in retailers such as Tesco, Holland & Barrett, and Planet Organic. The company are also the exclusive matcha partner to […]

Beijing-born twins Jake Xu and Shane Carnell-Xu launched this men’s cosmetics brand in 2019 after raising funds from angel investors Sally Preston and Neil Mather of Kiddylicious, the children’s snack business. Bestsellers in Shakeup’s skincare and makeup range include moisturiser, under eye concealer and face masks. The brand is stocked by national and overseas retailers, such as Harvey Nichols, Superdrug and Australia’s Myer, and it recently launched its new Face 4ward range in China. The Xu brothers previously set up READY, a creative agency based in Bath.

The story of Green & Black’s shows that the courage to be different, together with a compelling adventure story, are key ingredients for commercial success. Josephine Fairley knows how to build a killer brand, and here she shares her pearls of wisdom with you including effectiveness of complementary partnerships, the power of enthusiasm and the potency of targeted marketing…

The Salad Project runs five salad bars across London. Florian de Chezelles met his friend and co-founder James Dare whilst studying hospitality management at university. The pair founded The Salad Project with a mission to bring healthy and quick food to customers living and working in the City. The duo launched their first site in […]