Secret Leaders

What were you doing at 17?When he was that age, Timothy Armoo had already sold his first startup. Now 27, he has just sold his second startup, Fanbytes, a social media and influencer marketing agency, to digital advertising company, Brainlabs, for eight figures.Timothy, or Timo as he is known, grew up on a council estate in Hackney and it was the realisation that he was poor when he was a teenager that motivated him to become an entrepreneur. He started Fanbytes with his co-founders in 2017 and the company, which connects social media influencers to big brands, has gone on to employ 65 people. Part of the work Fanbytes does, finding up-and-coming influencers, is done by its algorithm, built by Co-Founder Ambrose Cooke - meaning that Fanbytes can sign potential talent before anyone else. We talked about: What happened after he lost almost half the money he got selling his first business in just three months What a lead gangster told him that helped him as an entrepreneur How the death of his father in his early twenties was a pivotal moment in deciding how he was going to grow Fanbytes How he doesn’t feel his next business has to be bigger than his previous one What advice he has for other young entrepreneurs…you might be surprised by what he says! --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

Finding investment is a necessity for many entrepreneurs, but things don’t always work out the way they're supposed to. Matt Jones started his business Rubix Advertising in 2009, with the help of an investor. It started well and the business, a full service media advertising company, grew quickly. But only two years later, Matt had to close his business down.What happened? And how did he turn that failure into a seven figure success story? Listen to find out.If you have any feedback, we want to hear it. What would make the show better? Email us at hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:yotpo.com/secret

Dom Smales is the exited Founder of Gleam Futures, which was one of the first social media talent agencies in the world - and the first in the UK. When Gleam was founded back in 2010, influencers weren’t even a thing, but Dom saw the potential power bloggers could have. He went on to play a big part in the rise of the first Youtube stars, like Zoe Sugg, better known as Zoella; Tanya Burr; and the Pixiwoo sisters, Sam and Nicola Chapman. Dom exited in 2020 but it wasn't what he thought it would be.We talk about: What it was like being the agent for the UK’s biggest social media stars His tips on how to manage a successful exit, Dom left the company in 2021 Why selling your company might not be all you hope for What he really thinks of the influencer industry today --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

Today, Amelia Sordell runs a booming personal branding agency called Klowt, but back in 2015, aged 21, she had just founded Eitherside, a fashion brand for women who wanted to dress up for a night out - but without the luxury price tag. Only eight months after starting the company, Amelia was faced with taking out a loan she would have to personally guarantee, or shutting it down. She chose the latter. Listen to find out what went wrong, and how she finally overcame that failure after nearly ten years.  ...We'd love your feedback: hello@secretleaders.com Check out Yotpo, our exclusive sponsor - to grow your ecommerce business:yotpo.com/secret

You wouldn’t sign up for a terrible experience but they’re a breeding ground for the best stories, and the most personal growth. It’s no different for today’s guest and the usual host of Secret Leaders, Dan Murray-Serter, who opens up about his biggest traumas… which became the biggest turning points in his life.This is the third chapter in our semi-regular series with Dan. If you haven’t listened to the first or second it’s worth doing that now because you’ll understand the periods he’s talking about in this episode. Dan today has become pretty synonymous with the mental health space. His VC backed startup Heights is trying to create a new category of braincare - but he wasn’t always like this. In fact, he didn’t even think he had mental health issues despite having had a shopping list of problems over the years. When the penny dropped for Dan, it dropped hard.Find out what Dan went through - and what he learnt about how to spend your time on this earth.--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

Touraj Parang today has multiple exits under his belt, has sat on both sides of the deal table - and has written a book literally called "Exit Path: How to Win the Startup End Game". But the reason he’s become such an authority on exits is what we’re discussing today - his failed startup Jaxtr.Jaxtr was a way to make phone calls over the internet in the period 2005 - 2009, before stuff like Whatsapp calling was really a thing. They’d done really well according to some metrics - they had 10 million users but then their world collapsed.Find out what happened and what Touraj learnt from it....We'd love your feedback: hello@secretleaders.com Check out Yotpo, our exclusive sponsor - to grow your ecommerce business:yotpo.com/secret

Louise Hill is the Co-Founder and COO of GoHenry, a debit card and financial education app for children which has two million users. The starting point for Louise was noticing her kids buying stuff on iTunes without her permission. She then found out other children were spending money on all sorts of things without them or their parents realising it. So, after chatting with two dads whose kids went to the same school, they decided to do something about it. This is the story of how Louise turned GoHenry into a category creator - and they’re now taking on the US.We talk about: The difference between an entrepreneur and not The problem with children and money The origin story of GoHenry What she learnt from her first startup failure  How she met her two co-founders The last woman standing Handling pressure --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

Emma Gunavardhana, or Emma Guns as she’s often known started her career with a bang. She landed her dream job early doors - editing OK Magazine back when that was a really big deal. But when she left the comfort of that job to make it as a solopreneur, everything went to pot. Wind forward four years and Emma was at her lowest ebb, considering selling her car and moving back in with her parents at the age of 38 - a has-been who couldn’t make it in London.Find out what happened and what she learnt is the key to pulling yourself out of the abyss....We'd love your feedback: hello@secretleaders.com Check out Yotpo, our exclusive sponsor - to grow your ecommerce business:yotpo.com/secret

We normally can’t see it at the time but bad things often play a critical role in good things happening. As Steve Jobs famously said, it’ll make sense looking backwards. This is exactly what happened to Chris Sheldrick who had plans to be a professional bassoonist but a freak injury changed the course of life.Chris is now the Co-Founder and CEO of What3Words, an alarmingly simple solution to a complex problem you didn’t know we had - addresses.Lots of places don’t have addresses - like a barge on a canal, or a spot on a mountainside. This makes it difficult to deliver or do things at those addresses so Chris’s solution was to turn the world into 57 trillion 3-metre squares and give each of those squares a three word name, e.g. house, dog, car.But it’s one thing haven’t a genius idea. It’s another thing executing on it. Find out how Chris has done it.We talk about: Why a young kid would play the bassoon  How sleepwalking can go wrong Why being polarising is good  How to raise funds Using What3Words to help in disasters The business model --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

Ok, ok - it’s not all about your name or your competitors - but Jess Butcher was kicking herself when she came across TikTok shortly after launching Tick.Done. with her Co-Founders in 2018. Tick.Done. was also a short form video platform which made things confusing. Jess’s friends regularly congratulated her on her success, only for Jess to admit that TikTok, the thing they were hearing about everywhere, wasn’t her business. And pretty quickly it was the end for them.Jess is a legend - you just want to talk to her - and she’s a top entrepreneur. But this is her failure story. Find out what happened and what she learnt from it.  Feedback: hello@secretleaders.com Sponsor links:yotpo.com