In 2008 Dr Jason Wersland was in crippling chronic pain after a motorbike accident. He was in a dark place. A trained chiropractor, he knew what kind of relief he needed, and searched the market for a product that could give it to him. But when he came up empty handed, desperate, he decided to make one himself.By 2019 the Theragun was being used by over 250 professional sports teams and by 2022, Therabody, the company Jason founded, generated nearly $400 millions in revenue. Woof.How did he do it? And how did he attract so many celebrity clients?--SponsorsVorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleadersVanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleadersVertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders--NewsletterSign up here: https://secretleaders.email/You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Every single major tech company that you know of has this story where they battled it to the bitter end."Young Han grew up in Silicon Valley and worked in tech before moving to Texas a few years ago for a slower way of life. In this most recent chapter he’s really got into small businesses, like a pool cleaning company which he scaled to $1m in revenue in 10 months. He’s a coach, tech consultant, and Founder himself. He’s a fan of taking as many shots as you can and failing fast....well now he is.Because one of his companies, GoVolunteer, didn’t fail fast. In fact, it took him and his Co-Founders 9 years to go from deciding it wasn’t working to actually switching it off.What did that teach him about when to walk away?---------------------------If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better?hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:personio.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Serial entrepreneur and bestselling author Daniel Priestley discusses the potential impact of AI on society, the predictable steps of the entrepreneurial journey, the importance of security frameworks for startups, and the significance of team alignment and data-driven decisions in building a successful business. They also reflect on unexpected lessons learned and the prioritization of friendship over money.

Jennifer Moss is a workplace happiness writer, speaker and strategist. Having moved back to Canada from Silicon Valley in 2012, she co-founded a company called Plasitcity Labs with her husband. They developed happiness strategies for companies and got some big clients like LuluLemon. On the cusp of signing a transformative deal in 2019, they got blind-sided days before signing which fatally crippled morale.And in the midst of all this, it didn’t escape Jennifer that she was running a happiness startup but was desperately unhappy.What happened?---------------------------If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better?hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:personio.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Harrington, Co-Founder and CEO of Elemis, shares how he built the UK's #1 skincare brand, from bankruptcy to being acquired for $990 million. He discusses the importance of focus, global expansion, and the impact of a cancer diagnosis. They also delve into the unique founding story, mentorship, effective communication, and lessons for entrepreneurs on building something great.

Anita Abildgaard is the Founder and CEO of Iris AI, a company helping humans make sense of the world’s scientific knowledge. She’d always wanted to be a Founder and lead companies. In fact that was her specific goal after finishing her MBA. She achieved that, but her first venture ended in failure, as did the next.She went through two bruising startup experiences in a row.So what did she learn from it?And what did she learn about walking away? That’s something we don’t talk about enough in startup circles.---------------------------If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better?hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:personio.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Niklas Adalberth is the co-founder and former Deputy CEO of Klarna. The massive Swedish fintech provides payment services for online shops like ASOS being able to offer their customers buy now pay later.Although Klarna has been hugely successful, Niklas found himself hitting an emotional rock bottom after he came to the infamous realisation that money doesn’t buy happiness. After some soul searching, Niklas left Klarna and founded his next venture: Norrsken Foundation. It's a non-profit dedicated to helping entrepreneurs solve the world’s greatest challenges like poverty, famine, mental health, pollution, climate change, or something else entirely. Niklas is now less interested in unicorns than he is in impact unicorns – companies that positively impact one billion lives. We want to know if 'typical' entrepreneurial success is even worth it.--SponsorsVorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleadersVanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleadersVertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders--NewsletterSign up here: https://secretleaders.email/You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sançar Sahin is the Co-Founder of Oliva, a mental health startup which has just raised £4.3 million at the time of putting this together.It’s a B2B which helps companies give mental health support to their employees, like on-demand therapy and coaching.Like our host Dan, with his company Heights, there’s a very clear line of sight from Sançar’s personal health crisis to starting his company. At his low points, he found himself stripped of confidence, unable to make the simplest decisions.What happened?---------------------------If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better?hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:personio.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that IMDb was one of the first 100 websites EVER? Yeah it's mad, and it's still going - and it's always in the top 50 most visited sites in the world.Welcome to the mad world of IMDb Founder Col Needham, the movie buff you want to take to the pub to ask him all the trivia and best-of questions you can imagine.But this is also a great business story. IMDb was one of the first ever acquisitions from Amazon, making Col one of Amazon's earliest employees.He got to work alongside Jeff Bezos and in this episode we draw on his extraordinary insights.--SponsorsVorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleadersVanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleadersVertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders--NewsletterSign up here: https://secretleaders.email/You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taavi Kotka is the Founder and CEO of Koos.io but he shot to fame as the CEO of one of the largest software development companies in the Baltics.After he sold the company in a big money deal in 2012, he had a non compete which left him with time when he couldn’t work in the private sector.He was appointed the first Chief Innovation Officer of Estonia whose role is basically to drive technological progress in the country. It gave him the opportunity to make a massive impact - a national one. He and his team delivered in many areas but it came at great personal cost.What happened?---------------------If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. What would make the show better?hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:personio.com/secretleaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices