Living Adventurously Trying to achieve perfection is usually a recipe for disaster. Living Adventurously 23
Brant Richards is the Co-Founder of HebTroCo which smashed Kickstarter funding targets and grew into a Made In Britain menswear brand from the ground up.
With a career path started from rummaging in the garage, through writing in back bedrooms, editing and launching national magazines, to leading the design team for a leading global bike brand, Brant's CV is as intriguing and meandering as our conversation (which took place, for a reason I forget, on his kitchen floor following a run through the local beech wood).
Shadowing founders and giving direction and assistance, working from "three blokes in a shed" to staff of over 150, from napkin drawings to Far Eastern sourcing and manufacturer inspections: Brant has done it all.
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SHOW NOTES
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- @shedfire
- @hebtroco
- @ononebikes
- @planetxbikes
- I became a journalist by writing to a magazine and telling them their bike reviews weren't very good.
- I try to go into things with an open mind and goodwill
- Poacher turned gamekeeper - I used to review bikes, then started making them
- Holding off and trying to achieve perfection is usually a recipe for disaster
- At some point you need to start selling things, so you need to get the product out there
- Sell things for more than they cost you, and plough the money back in again
- I always try to work with people who are really good at what they do
- Make your stuff different to make them stand out and give them some personality
- Quite happy to begin things he has not really done before
- Cashflow is a crucial thing to monitor when you are starting a business.
- I like selling things that people think are fun or nice or good value
- When you design bikes it's hard to go for a ride without constantly thinking about bikes. Running was a pleasingly simple counter to that.
- I run for health, to destress, to fight off the dad bod (I like beer and curry)
- Not having a job contract and not having a pension feels like living adventurously!
- Oblique Strategies - cards and app
- All Quiet on the Orient Express
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You can see my ride’s route on komoot here.