How To Start Up by FF&M

How do you scale a handmade product business without compromising the craftsmanship that makes it special? In this episode of How To Start Up , Juliet speaks to Molly Mahon about scaling production, finding the right manufacturing partners and expanding internationally while staying true to your brand. Molly started block printing at her kitchen table and has spent the last decade building an inte...

What if the way you're running your business isn't actually working for you? In this episode, Juliet speaks to Amanda Perry about building a business with ADHD, recognising the signs of burnout and finding ways of working that suit your brain rather than following conventional business advice. Amanda is the founder of Brain First and author of Brain First Business . After 18 years in bus...

How do you know if customers will actually buy your product before you launch? Juliet talks to Froot Pops founder Ana Martins about testing an idea with real customers, spotting genuine demand and knowing when you have enough proof to scale. Ana first tested Froot Pops through Pantree, her existing self-service retail business. Today, Froot Pops manufactures from its own facility in London, is sto...

How do you turn an audience into a loyal, paying community? If you're building a newsletter, working out when to monetise a community, or wondering whether a paywall is the right call, this episode is for you. Juliet talks to yoga teacher and Substack creator Jo Hutton about rebuilding her business after burnout, growing 47,000 Substack subscribers from zero with no mailing list transfer, and...

How do you turn viral attention into lasting business growth? Juliet talks to Little Moons co-founder Vivien Wong about what happens when a brand suddenly goes viral, how to scale without compromising your product, and how to turn a moment of visibility into long-term customer loyalty. Vivien co-founded Little Moons with her brother Howard in 2010, spending years building demand for mochi ice crea...

Joe talks to Juliet about what founders should really look for when hiring, where traditional recruitment falls short and how to use AI without losing the human judgement that helps you spot exceptional people. If you're making your first hires, struggling to spot real potential or wondering how AI should fit into your recruitment process, this episode is for you. Joe Woodward is co-founder o...

One of the biggest pieces of advice you'll hear as a founder is to find a gap in the market. But what if the real opportunity isn't finding a gap at all, it's solving a problem you've experienced yourself? After more than a decade in the wine industry, Bethan Higson became frustrated by the alcohol-free options available during her first pregnancy. Rather than trying to recreat...

Before Kate Halfpenny designed wedding dresses, she dressed Kate Moss, Rihanna and Cate Blanchett for a living. That client list didn't just shape her design eye, it built her a reputation before she'd designed a single dress for the public. When a commission for actress Emilia Fox in 2005 became the foundation of Halfpenny London, Kate already understood something most founders take yea...

Every guest on this podcast talks about looking after yourself and your sleep when starting a business so I was keen to speak to someone who has first hand experience in losing it, how to get it back & making a business from it too.  Hayley Dawes spent years designing beautiful, calming homes for other people. She couldn't find a moment of that calm for herself.  A mother of four and a lo...

Laura Butler-Madden is an award-winning interior designer with 14 years of expertise restoring and transforming period properties. Laura hasn't left her design career. She's simply added a second one.   For anyone starting a business, this may feel like a lot given how many hats you’re already wearing, so I was keen to chat to her about why and how she decided to do this. Keep listening...

Most founders start with an idea & go looking for an ingredient. The Taylor sisters started with the ingredient and had to build everything else around it. Their family has farmed plums in Northern California for four generations. For most of that time, the plum pits were just waste. Le Prunier turned them into the hero ingredient of an organic, luxury skincare line that now sits in goop, Anth...

Jo Glynn-Smith is a coach & specialises in leadership growth, career transition and personal transformation, working with people to navigate change. Alongside her coaching practice she hosts The Midlife Entrepreneur podcast, which explores the shift from corporate life into entrepreneurship, so is perfectly placed to guide us through how to pivot in mid-life & address how listeners might h...

According to the Office for National Statistics, only around four in ten UK businesses live to see their fifth birthday. And for most of the ones that do make it, the bottleneck isn’t the market - it’s the founder.  Our guest today learned that the hard way. Thea Brook spent over a decade as a CFO scaling startups into the tens of millions, built her own restaurants and product brands, and then ra...

In this episode I'm joined by Emmie Faust , serial entrepreneur, investor in over 30 women-founded businesses & founder of Female Founders Rise, the 11,000-strong UK community supporting female entrepreneurs.  Emmie is also the author of the newly published RISE Report , the largest independent study of female entrepreneurship in the UK & this is the first time she's sharing its...

Charles Brun, co-founder of IZIPIZI, talks about how to start a brand from a simple idea and grow it into a global consumer business without losing sight of the initial values. This episode is about spotting overlooked opportunities, building a brand around design and accessibility and scaling internationally while staying true to the original idea. Keep listening to hear how IZIPIZI turned an eve...

Nick Croft-Simon, is the co-founder & CEO of White Rabbit, the UK’s largest gluten free pizza brand & the No.1 contributor to growth in the category.   But this is a conversation about more than pizza.  It’s about how to build a truly consumer-led business. From building their own gluten free bakery to making the controversial data-led decision to introduce meat SKUs after starting as vegg...

In this episode Dan Cray, founder & CEO of PHIZZ, talks about how to scale without losing your North Star, stay focussed and go global. After raising capital, PHIZZ had the opportunity to go broad early. New markets, new use cases and major international interest created momentum - but also complexity. Dan shares how chasing too many opportunities diluted focus, and why returning to a laser fo...

Samantha Cusick is one of the most recognisable voices in hair & uses podcasting to deepen brand trust, create community, as well as accidentally open doors commercially & position herself as an authority in a crowded market. In this episode, we unpack what podcasting really does for you as an entrepreneur once the mic is live: how it supports the brand, drives opportunity, builds long-ter...

In today’s episode of How To Start Up , I’m joined by Marie du Petit Thouars and Matthew Berkson - the founders and partners behind Maison Louis Marie, the clean luxury fragrance house that blends centuries-old botanical heritage with modern consciousness. We discuss how they turned a personal passion into a global brand while learning to start, scale and stay married along the way. Matt & Mar...

Today on How To Start Up, I’m joined by Sophie Paterson, founder of the internationally recognised design studio Sophie Paterson Interiors. Since launching her studio in 2008, Sophie has completed over 80 luxury projects worldwide  but it’s her strategic use of social media that transformed her business into the global brand it is today. With more than 1,000,000 followers across Instagram, YouTube...

Rhian Stephenson is a nutritionist, naturopath and founder of ARTAH, the practitioner-led supplement brand built around a core belief: performance starts with your health. In this episode, Rhian shares the realities of building a company in the wellness space, how to stay healthy while navigating the pressures of entrepreneurship & why understanding your physiology is one of the most powerful...

Andy Varley started Insanity at just 17 years old & has since grown it into a multifaceted business spanning artist management, brand partnerships, music publishing and content production. Stay tuned to hear Andy’s journey from teenage entrepreneur to leading one of the UK’s most respected entertainment companies. We talk about how to find support when you’re starting out & the lessons he’...

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy found that 96% of UK entrepreneurs admit to ‘bottling up’ the stress of running their business.  So, I wanted to hear from a founder who has cracked the code of productivity. Emily Austen is the founder of leading PR agency EMERGE and the author of SMARTER : 10 lessons for a more productive and less-stressed life , publishing this autumn. H...

Le’Nise Brothers is a leading nutritionist & yoga teacher specialising in women’s health, hormones and the menstrual cycle. Le’Nise’s first book, You Can Have A Better Period , was released in March 2022 and she also hosts the Period Story podcast, breaking taboos around menstrual health, hormones, perimenopause, menopause and beyond.  In today’s episode, Le’Nise shares her advice on working t...

Rachel Harris  is passionate about financial well-being & running values-led businesses. Rachel has created a modern, cloud‑focused accountancy & tax advisory firm for both businesses and individuals alongside a platform for business owners to find accessible, consumable, financial education.  Stay tuned to hear Rachel’s advice on the highs and lows of running a business. Why loneliness is...