Simon Says

In season 2, episode 24 Simon interviews Graham Hobson. Graham was the founder and first CEO of Photobox - a startup in 2000 and later becoming Europe’s largest personalisation company. Photobox acquired Moonpig as well as other European brands and the group was sold to Private Equity in 2016. Since then Graham has worked in various roles: as CTO, board member, trustee, angel investor, social impact supporter, coach, mentor and general advisor helping startups and larger companies with scaling and preparing for exit.

In episode 8 of PEP Talk, Simon interviews Emma Jones. Following a degree in Law and Japanese, Emma joined the international accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where she worked in London, Leeds, and Manchester offices and set up the firm's Inward Investment practice that attracted overseas companies to locate in the UK. In 2000, bitten by the dot.com bug, Emma left the firm to start her first business, Techlocate. After 15 months, the company was successfully sold to Tenon plc. The experience of starting, growing and selling a business from a home base gave Emma the idea for Enterprise Nation which was launched in 2006 as the home business website. The company has since expanded to become a small business membership community of over 75,000 people who benefit from events and support: online and in person. Enterprise Nation also presents a campaigning voice to the government and the media on behalf of its members. In 2021, Emma was awarded a CBE for services to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

In season 2, episode 23 Simon interviews Ben Francis. Ben is a 28 year old billionaire and Founder of GymShark. Ben reveals how he grew his side hustle from a family garage to become one of the world's most successful brands in the world.

In season 2, episode 22, Simon talks to James Davidson. James started his career at Unilever, gaining extensive experience in operations and management. After 6 years, he embarked on an expedition in Central America volunteering with Raleigh International, during which he realised the power of a strong purpose coupled with an entrepreneurial approach. On his return to the UK, he joined Innocent Drinks, where his role as Head of Supply Chain was key in supporting the company as it grew rapidly in the UK and across Europe. Following 7 years at Innocent, James joined a co-founding team to work on a new pet food idea: providing tailor-made pet nutrition at affordable prices. CEO James and his team have grown tails.com since 2014 into a business that is creating and leading, a new, direct-to-consumer category in pet food and that attracted investment from Nestle Purina Petcare in 2017. Since then, James led tails.com’s expansion into Europe launching in an additional eight European countries in 2020.

In episode 6 of PEP Talk, Simon talks to Avin Rabheru. Avin is an entrepreneur, early-stage investor and non-executive director. He is the Founder and CEO of Housekeep.com, which became the UK market leader in the £10 billion house and office cleaner market 3 years after launch. The business has raised two VC/angel investment rounds, winning Deal of the Year in 2014, and has since raised cleaner earnings 2x and received 250,000 5* customer reviews. Housekeep has won multiple awards including Service Business of the Year and Avin was named a StartUps Young Gun in 2016. The Financial Times named Housekeep the 6th fastest-growing business in Europe in 2019. Prior to launching Housekeep, Avin was a venture capital investor and remains an active angel investor, with 40+ investments in consumer technology businesses. Prior to this, Avin worked in strategy consulting, investment banking and read PPE at Oxford University, where he won the Harold Wilson prize.

In episode 21, Simon talks to Yat Siu. Hong Kong blockchain gaming group Animoca Brands claims unicorn status recently and it's time to hear the full story from the founder, Yat Siu himself live from the StartmeupHK festival.

In this special edition episode, you will learn about Hong Kong and innovation that empowers technology startups.

In this special edition episode, you will learn how to start a business in Hong Kong and the benefit of doing business in Hong Kong.

In this special edition episode, you will learn about Hong Kong, crowdfunding for female entrepreneurs and the benefit of doing business in Hong Kong.

In this special edition episode learn about Hong Kong, the Great Bay Area, the benefit of doing business in Hong Kong and all there is to know about FinTech.