Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

"The poverty premium is real. Lower income workers can often pay more than everyone else, despite struggling to make ends meet. At Wagestream we give people access to their earned income when they need it, without the need for employers to alter their usual payroll frequency." Peter Briffett wants to re-establish the link between work and financial reward, a link often broken in monthly pay cycles. Launching fintech startup Wagestream with 25 employers, he believes that this can have a significant impact on people’s behaviour with companies already reporting increases in employee retention, productivity and job applications as a result of offering Wagestream as an employee benefit. Co-Founded by Portman Wills and Peter Briffett, former COO of YPlan and CEO of LivingSocial UK, the company raised over £4m in funding from the world’s leading technology and social impact investors. Backers include Village, a global VC backed by leading entrepreneurs, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, as well as QED Investors, the London Mayor’s Co-Investment Fund. The launch follows news last week that leading payday lender Wonga went into administration on Thursday, 30th August. I caught up with Peter to find out more. Let's StartUp!  

"I just felt that I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm struggling. Everything I do is a juggling act. Entrepreneurs focus on their business and they are a success, where I'm thinking, I'm not a success at anything". On today's show I speak to Tara Howard, who left school at sixteen to go on to become a commercial airline pilot and mum of four. She is now the founder of The Venus Awards which recognises and celebrates the successes of business women throughout the UK.  What started as a one-off awards ceremony back in 2009 is a ten region operation having now launched in London - and with international aspirations.  Tara will be speaking at October's StartUp & Scale Summit along with 16 other speakers. To see our full line-up go to: https://bit.ly/2Owx28y We talk empowering women, men, children... and about changing people's lives.

It's only the second solo episode that i've ever recorded in 84 episodes! But something got me fired up and so here you go :) I've been thinking a lot about the difference between thriving and just surviving. It's a massive difference. But something that only needs small daily, weekly and monthly changes to turn things around. I can personally relate to this, and wanted to record an episode where I break this down for you. It's honestly not as hard as you think. It all comes down to having a strategy. We can all have a goal. But how are we going to get there. It's very rarely a straight line from A to B. But if we keep our end goal in sight, plan how we're going to get there, and make small adjustments as we review our progress, we'll get there. Hope you find this one super useful. And if you'd like to get uber-focused on strategy and finding out what it takes to go from StartUp to Scale-up, join me and my 17 speakers on October 13th for our very first 'StartUp & Scale' Summit  Let's startup.

"If you've got something unique and believe it's genuinely different to the other stuff that's out there, you just need to believe that wholeheartedly, and tell as many people as you can". On today's show I welcome Sara Collinge from Clarity, an International Communications Agency with offices in London, New York, Berlin and now San Francisco.  A number of guests from this show have passed through the doors of Clarity including Freeagent's Ed Molyneux, Vasiliki Petrou from Unilever Prestige and David Galsworthy from Techspace. Other clients include brands such as Fidor, Outbrain and Transferwise.  Part of Sara's remit is to oversee Clarity's international portfolio of fast-graowing tech startups and scale-ups.  Having recently atteending a one-day PR course I found it really beneficial personally and therefore thought it would be massively beneficial for you to hear from a PR expert like Sara and hear the different ways a startup or scale-up can promote what they do. Without the need for a big budget. Add that's what I did. Let's StartUp!

"I think I was always influenced by the freedom of being able to do what you want, which was how I grew up. My parents just always said you can do anything if you pick something you like. Make that your job and you'll always be happy. That's all I ever grew up with". Harley Moon Kemp left school at 16 when, after discovering photography, she initially shot celebrities for free to get noticed. Shooting people like Paul Weller & Liam Gallagher might leave you starstruck. But when your father is Spandau Ballet Star Martin Kemp, and your mother is Shirlie Kemp, one half of 1980's pop duo Pepsi and Shirlie, that's not the case. Fast forward & despite Instagram making everyone think they were a professional photographer, Harley launched her own photographic agency. I caught up wth her to find out how she started out. Let's StartUp!

"We've grown by 1200% already in 2018 and this is the opportunity when you can really sky-rocket the brand and enter into a lot of markets with the kind of growth trajectory that we're on.   So by not investing in the channels that you need to be investing in , in these type of moments, then you end up losing opportunities, you end up losing the ability to leverage this to the fullness of its ability. So that's the kind of challenge where we're at this moment.  Hence why there is a need for us to take on some serious investment to really sky-rocket this opportunity that we've been given." Welcome to Episode 81 of Screw it, Just Do it. On today's show I welcome Kris Ingham, founder of Rejuvenation Water. Rejuvenation water is a functional water enriched with amino acids. Launched in the UK in 2016 it's one of the fastest-growing drinks brands in the UK He originally came up with the concept ten years ago after discovering th ebenefits of amino acids whilst at Uni. After creating the drink and shifting it to a commercial scale, he launched Rejuvenation Water in three different flavours. It's been one rapid ride so far so... Let's StartUp!

"I sat down and did some thinking and thought that feeling that i've had since I was a kid. I now understand what that is. It is that I want to stand on my own. I want to take that accountability and I want to take control of something that's going to change the world." I welcome Rob Moncrieff, founder of MotionLab-Bags. The culmination of a ten year journey, Rob has just launched his business on Kickstarter: https://kck.st/2AsyPcK On today's show I find out what in Rob's background propelled him to leave his secure career with Shell to instead launch this product. Rob also talks us through his Ten Steps to "Designing, Creating and Selling Your Product", which in his case was his motion-lab bag which he describes as 'the most innovative product in the world'.  

Jim Cregan joins me to talk about how he went from British building site to Australia and back again. In the process he launched his own brand of Iced Coffee having not been able to find it in the UK on his return from OZ. You can now get Jimmysicedcoffee in Tescos, Sainsbuys, Waitrose, Selfridges and even in Animal's clothing shops. We talk brand building through University tastings, his Ride Club, Cinema Club and festivals. Let's StartUp!

"So what happened was that I was making these amazing contacts and making all this content about them, but there wasn't a natural home for it. So I did some research and put together a pitch to the two Managing Directors and I had this idea for Startups Magazine. They were really fantastic and took a leap of faith with me and they just said run it for a year and see what could happen...and here we are." On today's show I welcome Daisy Stapley-Bunten from Startups magazine. An interesting question is always "Can someone be an entrepreneur within an existing organisation, eg when it's not their own company".  Well Daisy had an idea to start a magazine, so she went to the directors of the publishing firm she was working for and pitched them her idea. A magazine for startups that champions all tech startups, and passes on the stories of experience from those who took a leap of faith with their idea. Time Stamps:   Soundbite: 0:33 Intro: 1:30 Getting Started: 2:30 Testing: 4:22 Launching: 5:35 Growth: 6:30 The story: 7:20 What Is it: 8:58 First Steps: 11:15 Ambitions: 14:00 Industries: 15:35 Coming up: 17:27 What is success: 18:50 The Journey: 21:00 In the future: 22 Closing statements: 25 They said yes, and Startups Magazine was born. In this episode I find out how Daisy got the startup bug herself and took her ownleap of faith with her idea for Startups Magazine.

"To be an entrepreneur you kind of have to like being punched in the face and overcoming these adversities... because you will get them every single day." On today's show I welcome Rob Thorp form Vite who's founded one of the leading Nootropic brands in the UK. Rob comes form a background in foreign exchange trading. He had an entrepreneurial scratch to itch and decided to do just that by leaving to set up his own business. He decided to look at competitors, their reviews and looked at different ways he could improve different products and services and this is what he decided to settle on. So he launched a performance nutrition brand on Amazon aimed at students and busy professionals that aid energy and productivity - something he could relate to. After just 12 months Vite is ranked 3rd in it's sector but now finds the challenge of trying to grow a brand outside of Amazon which offers instant traffic and feedback, but lower profit margins. Let's StartUp!   Time Stamps:   Soundbite: 00:17 Intro: 00:31 Introduction to Vite: 1:30 The story: 5:17 What are nootropics: 7:10 The recipe: 8:40 First Step: 10:20 Why that manufacturer: 11:20 How did you launch: 12:55 Any advice: 14:20 Long Term goal: 15:30 How did it start: 16:40 How long to reach the market: 18:30 How did you leave your previous job: 19:10 A year on: 19:40 Worst thing that could have happened: 22:00 Lessons learned: 23:30 Failure?: 24:50 Tools: 25:40 Tips: 26:00 What is success? 28:30 Closing Statements: 30:25