Enter the Boardroom with Nurole 147. Tessa Clarke: Sticking, quitting & the ideal NED: The board’s role in Olio’s success
Nov 5, 2025
Tessa Clarke, co-founder and CEO of Olio, sheds light on her journey in building a peer-to-peer food-sharing app that has 8.5 million users worldwide. She discusses critical board moments that shaped the company's success and the importance of non-executive directors for strategic support. Tessa candidly shares her toughest challenges, emphasizing the balance between grit and when to pivot strategies. Discover her unique board rules and what qualities she seeks in board members to ensure mission alignment and effective governance.
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Founding Moment: Food Waste Frustration
- Tessa Clarke founded Olio after being forced to throw away food while moving country and failing to give it away on the street.
- That frustration led her to build an app connecting neighbours to share surplus food and household items.
Patience Trumps Short-Term Pressure
- Long-term patience from investors matters more than short-term pressure for rapid returns.
- Tessa credits patient, mission-aligned investors for enabling Olio's multi-decade marketplace build.
Prioritise Market Over Team
- Board members should spend more time understanding market dynamics than over-interrogating teams.
- Assess regulatory tailwinds and market quality because market beats team in many cases.
