Made In Public

This episode has been pulled together at short notice to support an amazing cause. Good friends Matthew Jones and Julian Lee are cycling nearly 1,000 miles from Land's End to John o' Groats (LEJOG) to raise funds for Forest Upcycling, a charity founded by Matt that directly supports communities in Uganda.  The video and audio for this episode were captured on the move while out doing the...

Andy Simpson has spent his career building businesses in some of the most competitive corners of tech and recruitment - and this time, the tables get turned as he's interviewed inside his very own studio: Vertical Drop. Andy is co-founder of Vertical Drop, founder of ryvr.ai, and host of Recruiting Alchemy. In this episode, we get into the studio horror stories that shaped how Vertical Drop w...

In this episode of Made in Public, John Blackburn sits down with John Logue, Founder of Chance Clean Cider, to explore what it really takes to leave a successful corporate career and build a challenger brand from scratch. After spending more than 20 years in the drinks industry at companies including Diageo, BrewDog, Lucky Saint, and Distill Ventures, John shares the moment a friend challenged him...

What does it take to completely reinvent a food business when your original product plan falls through? In this episode of Made in Public, John Blackburn sits down with Priya Bowry, Founder of MAJI Drinks, to unpack a startup journey that is delightfully unconventional.  From starting a viral family supper club with her mum called "Vegetarian Brown Girls," to spending £21,000 on a failed...

Laura Thompson, former Deloitte and EY strategic marketer with a dance and personal training background, shares how redundancy and her mother’s unexpected death pushed her to build in public. She now runs Connect Studio, helping founder-led businesses translate strategy into meaningful marketing, while developing The Yard, a “third space” in West Sussex for people to work, move, and belong unfilte...

In this episode of Made in Public, the John speaks with Ben and James about why founders should “build in public” to avoid a risky cold-start launch and instead create a warm start by building trust, awareness, and interest early—before rent, staff, or agency costs kick in. They explain building in public as increasing “surface area” for luck, shortening the learning curve by iterating in public,...

This week John Blackburn interviews Jamie Vaughan, co-founder of Restless, an AI marketing company for a social world, days after launch. They unpack what “building in public” means, why Jamie chose “building in secret in public” due to co-founder notice periods, and how the teaser-style content created intrigue, inbound conversations, and even paying clients by launch day. Jamie explains Restless...

Episode one of Made in Public is recorded in a camper van with Dan and Elise Rowntree, founders of Mood Haus, a sauna, cold plunge, and community wellness concept launched publicly before they had a site or facilities. They explain why they posted that their “ducks are firmly not in a row,” how a Cameron Herold “vivid vision” document helped make the idea real, and how building in public overcame...