Building The Brand with James Burtt

Can a 20-year-old with no experience turn one TikTok creator into a £250,000 opportunity and build one of the UK’s most respected social-first talent agencies? Benjy Leslie is the founder and CEO of Connect Management, one of the UK’s leading creator talent management and influencer marketing agencies. In just six years, Connect has grown from a lockdown start-up into a major force in the creator...

Benjy Leslie is the founder and CEO of Connect Management which has grown from lockdown start-up into a social-first talent agency representing the biggest names in modern media. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE NOW

Can rebellion, enthusiasm and one strange idea change your entire life? Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the wider YO! brand, shares the extraordinary journey from boarding school, rebellion, prison, rock and roll stage design and TV rights to launching YO! Sushi at 45 and building one of Britain’s most recognisable modern brands.  Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@buil...

Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the wider YO! brand, shares the extraordinary journey from boarding school, rebellion, prison, rock and roll stage design and TV rights to launching YO! Sushi at 45 and building one of Britain’s most recognisable modern brands. Full episode out now on APPLE | SPOTIFY | AMAZON MUSIC

Can you lose a multi-million-pound fashion business almost overnight… and still come back to build a brand in a completely different industry? Charles Gay is the founder of Favela, the Brazilian-inspired beer brand bringing sunshine, culture, gluten-free lager, hospitality partnerships and premium party energy into the UK and European drinks market. Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@bu...

Meet Charles Gay, the entrepreneur who has raised £4M to create Favela Cerveja, the Brazilian beer brand set to take on the drinks industry giants! His journey from multi-million pound fashion mogul to FMCG challenger brand is a wild ride - you'll love this! Get the FULL EPISODE now, on your favourite podcast player

Can you build serious wealth without academic success, qualifications or even being able to properly read a contract? James Martin who is an entrepreneur, investor, mentor and commercial landlord who has amassed a huge net worth through business and property certainly thinks so!  Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingthebrandofficial Want more from Building The Brand - connect here...

If you love this short clip, you will LOVE the full episode where James Martin shares how he went from leaving school at 14 and being unable to read contracts, got ripped off for millions, bought back the business he sold, and built a £50M+ property empire from lessons that nearly broke him. FULL EPISODE OUT NOW ON YOUR FAVOURITE PODCAST PLAYER

Can you start at the bottom of an industry, back yourself before anyone else does, raise millions, build a fast-growth startup and sell it within three years? FOR THE FULL STORY GET KAROLINA’S NO.1 BEST SELLING BOOK ‘HER PLAY’ Karolina Pelc is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author and the founder of BeyondPlay, the iGaming startup she launched in 2021, raised £6.1 million for, and sold to Fan...

Can you rebuild your life after narcissistic abuse, trauma, anxiety, depression, debt and losing almost everything? Caroline Strawson is a trauma therapist, nervous system expert, author, coach and founder of The Mental Wellbeing Company and TIDAL. After experiencing narcissistic abuse, anxiety, depression, PTSD, self-harm, chronic illness, £70,000 of debt and having her house repossessed, Carolin...

Phil Graham is an entrepreneur, business strategist, investor, mentor and founder of the multi-million pound brands Fitness Entrepreneur and Expansion Partners. After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 16, Phil refused to accept the limitations placed on his life. He rebuilt his health through bodybuilding, nutrition, training and self-education, before turning that knowledge into one of the...

Frankie James is the founder behind the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Ideas Fest and one of the UK’s most influential entrepreneur communities. In this episode of Building The Brand, Frankie shares how she built a platform that celebrates and connects British founders, startup leaders, scale-up businesses and some of the UK’s most exciting future household-name brands. The Great British Entre...

How do you convince people to spend £400 on a suit… and then wait up to eight weeks for it? That is exactly what Sam and Julian, the founders of Batch LDN, have managed to do. In this episode of Building The Brand, they share how two founders with no fashion background built one of the most interesting menswear brands in the UK by doing almost everything differently. Batch LDN is not a traditional...

Can you imagine choosing to walk away from a dream career as a Premier League and International Footballer?  Well, that’s exactly what Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu did and in this episode of Building The Brand, he shares the full journey from professional footballer to founder, from home-brewed shots made by his dad to producing hundreds of thousands of units a week, building a vertically integrated man...

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Juliet Barratt is the co-founder of Grenade, one of the most successful British brands of the last decade. In this episode of Building The Brand, Juliet shares the real story behind Grenade, from launching with limited resources, driving a tank into the NEC to stand out at BodyPower, getting picked up by major retailers, creating the Carb Killa bar, helping bring protein into mainstream retail, ta...

What do you do when your product is scientifically strong, commercially promising… but the mass market won’t understand what it is? In this episode of Building The Brand , James Burtt sits down with Raj Thiruchelvarajah, co-founder and CEO of Hytro, to unpack how a startup in performance wearables built credibility in elite sport, got product into NASA and SpaceX missions and made the unusual deci...

How do you build a performance wear brand in one of the most competitive industries in the world… while trying to fix one of fashion’s biggest environmental problems? In this episode of Building The Brand , James Burtt sits down with Rory McFadyen, co-founder of Reflo, to unpack how a startup launched in 2021 and grew from an ambitious idea into a fast-scaling sportswear business working with majo...

What does it actually take to build a modern talent brand in a world where followers mean less, engagement means more, and creators now hold more power than the platforms and brands trying to use them? In this episode of Building The Brand, James Burtt sits down with Jake Lee , founder of Alpha Talent Group, to unpack what is really happening inside the creator economy, celebrity talent management...

Why would someone sell a business for a reported 9-figures… and then buy the same business back in one of the toughest markets imaginable? John Vincent is the co-founder of LEON Restaurants, bestselling author of Winning Not Fighting, and one of the most original thinkers in British business. He explains: ▪️Why he felt he had to buy LEON back ▪️Why most businesses get purpose completely wrong ▪️Ho...

Why would someone sell a business for a reported 9-figures… and then buy the same business back in one of the toughest markets imaginable? John Vincent, co-founder of LEON Restaurants, bestselling author of Winning Not Fighting, and one of the most original thinkers in British business tells us all. FULL EPISODE OUT NOW

Building The Brand is a Top 50 business podcast for people who don’t just want success stories - they want to understand how success is actually built. Hosted by James Burtt, each episode features in-depth conversations with entrepreneurs, founders, and creators behind standout brands. This isn’t surface-level storytelling. It’s about the thinking, decisions, and trade-offs that drive real growth....