Leeds Business Podcast

As a precursor to Series Two, I’ve selected what I think are 8 must-listen business learnings chosen from the 38 brilliant guests we’ve had so far. I could have picked way more as every guest that we’ve had on has been fascinating to listen to and learn from. Before we start, I have one simple request; Please hit the follow or subscribe button on the app that you're listening on. That’s it…. Thank...

This week we speak to Simon Brown, founder of fashion and lifestyle brand, Joe Browns. Simons tells us where the inspiration for the brand came from, shares with us the business ups and the personal downs of Covid, being told that he was unemployable, the three ‘i’s the brand lives by and a great checklist for starting your own business. Rasputin and Ivan the Terrible get name checks too. INTRODUC...

On April 23rd 2024 I wrote a post on Linked in, titled ‘I hate Daniel Priestley’. See https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philfraser_i-hate-daniel-priestley-im-sueing-activity-7185564354442854400-nVXA/ . The post went viral! Off the back of it Daniel agreed to be a guest on the podcast. Before you start listening to this week’s episode make sure you have a pen and paper ready. Daniel Priestly delivers...

This week we speak to Dean Hartley and hear all about some of the darker sides of business; the threat of VCs kicking you out of your own business, being caught in the 2008 RBS GRG scandal and what happens when you’re at strategic loggerheads with your fellow board members, and the personal low point of exiting a business. INTRODUCING DEAN HARTLEY Dean Hartley is the former CTO and owner of Monito...

This week's guest is Jonathan Straight, founder and former-CEO of recycling solutions company Straight plc. Jonathan tells us how the business came about, the journey to becoming a plc, the crisis caused by over-trading and then the eventual sale of the company. And he discuss the important question, 'what do you wear after selling your business?' INTRODUCING JONATHAN STRAIGHT Jonathan is an award...

This week I’m delighted to have Apprentice winner and North Studio owner, Rachel Woolford as my guest. Rachel explains all about launching her boutique gym just weeks before lockdown and the stress it caused her, reveals the secrets from behind the scenes of The Apprentice, tells us all about her time on the show and shares what it's been like since she was announced as the winner. INTRODUCING RAC...

This week’s guests are Marshall Frieze and Simon Williams who, for only three weeks a year, run a speciality pop-up shop. Hear why they do it, the unique challenges they face, how Covid turned EVERYTHING on it’s head and what the key is to the shop’s continued year-on-year improvement. INTRODUCING SIMON WILLIAMS & MARSHALL FRIEZE Simon Williams is the owner of SW Retail Consultancy Ltd. Having...

Starts at 00.45 This week’s guest is Fiona Conor, Managing Director of Trust Electrical Heating. Fiona tells us all about her amazing & varied route to becoming a business owner, the ups and downs of registering a patent, the huge importance of brand, the need for a business coach to vomit on…. and how to stop your ‘leaky bucket’ and increase your lead conversion. INTRODUCING FIONA CONOR Fiona...

This week we speak to green banking start-up, Tred. Peter & will discuss where the idea of a green bank account came from, the secret tip that worked for improving their network connections, how the first round of testing changed the business strategy, the positives and negatives of a wait list and what it feels like to secure £1m of funding. We also get taught how to reduce the carbon footpri...

This week’s episode is slightly different as we meet one of the Leeds business community’s most well-known faces, Colin Glass OBE. Colin shares his expertise on a variety of business topics including what makes a great business founder, funding options available for businesses, what is a NED and why you might need one, what sweat investment is and, of course, how to be a great networker. INTRODUCI...

This week we speak to Nigel Botterill, Founder of Entrepreneurs Circle. Nigel tells us why bootstrapping is the WRONG way to run a business, how incompetence launched his most successful business, the day he found £500k missing from his business bank account and the bedroom business that went multi-million pound in months. He also gives a 'how to' that, to quote Nigel, is "the most powerful 'how t...

In this week’s episode we talk to Alistair Maiden, founder of legal tech company, Syke. Hear business tales and learnings from the legendary Ken Morrison, Alistair’s eureka moment for the business, how the business grew to an eventual multi-million pound sale in the US plus the hard changes that needed to take place after sale. Plus, what’s it like buying an abattoir? INTRODUCING ALISTAIR MAIDEN A...

In this week’s episode we speak to local property developer and interior designer, Christine Yorath. Christine talks us through her property career, plus how she started a skincare business when returning from Vancouver, the almost accidental launch of a successful property letting business and teaches us how to avoid getting stabbed in the back in the office. INTRODUCING CHRISTINE YORATH Christin...

If you’ve ever considered, or want to learn more about, growing your business by acquisition, you’ll want to listen to this week’s guest, Jon Graves, Founder & CEO of Northern Telecom. Jon has grown his business by 7-fold in three years via 13 acquisitions. In part two of our discussion Jon shares with us some of the good, and bad, acquisitions that he’s done, talks us through the need to syst...

If you’ve ever considered, or want to learn more about, growing your business by acquisition, you’ll want to listen to this week’s guest, Jon Graves, Founder & CEO of Northern Telecom. Jon has grown his business by 7-fold in three years via 13 acquisitions. Jon tells us all about his acquisition strategy, shares the learnings from some of his early mistakes and gives us all a great ‘how to’ wh...

In this week’s episode we speak to Jamie Bentley, CEO of Stephenson Personal Care. Jamie tells us all about how it feels to take over as fifth generation in a family firm, selling in the states looking like a cross between Tim Nice-but-Dim and Hugh Grant, the feeling when landing your first million dollar deal and how a brilliant ‘train set’ analogy sparked his Eureka moment. Plus he tells us abou...

Chris Bax, co-founder of Bax Botanics, tells us how this ‘professional tree-hugger’ husband & wife team launched an outdoor experiential business, and then their award-winning alcohol-free gin-like drink. You get to meet Ebenezer, Edith and Hefzibah and hear how Chris feels that getting liquid on lips is the toughest part of the business, along with a great piece of advice in the ‘How to’. You...

In part two of her interview Carrie Rose of Rise At Seven discusses the exit of her co-founder, re-structuring the business to reflect the aim of generating demand and then capturing demand, bringing a management and support team in, establishing an American office, a basic ‘how to’ to improve your company’s SEO and Carrie’s key learnings from her business journey. INTRODUCING CARRIE ROSE Carrie R...

Hear how Carrie Rose went from launch to £7.2m turnover in four years, winning 80 awards in two years on the way, how she turned down Lord Sugar, the importance of brand and company culture, the importance of processes and systems, the issues she encountered managing exponential growth and how she copes with managing staff older than herself. There's also a great 'how to', in building your own per...

What does it feel like when you’re the best in the world at something, and then can’t do that anymore? In this week's episode we speak to Rugby League legend Jamie Peacock MBE, who is now a business coach and motivational speaker. Jamie tells us how the skills and habits that took him to the top of the tree can help you in your business, how captaining a team helps with presentation skills and he...

What does it feel like when you’re moved out of the family business that you’ve run for 25 years? In this week's episode we speak to Michael Michaelson ex-CEO of CLC finance. Michael, very candidly, talks us through what he calls his ‘rags to riches to rags story, how the banks caused him ‘2 years of hell’ and how difficult it can be to finally let go. He talks to us about the importance of people...

In this week's episode we speak to Zandra Moore, CEO of PanIntelligence. Zandra shares with us a super cheap and really effective marketing tactic that she used and that can get your business noticed, the triggers that brought about a successful Series A funding round, why she didn’t change her business card when she was promoted to CEO, the key role an incubator played in her journey and the need...

For this week's episode, we took the time to look at the highlights from episodes 11 - 20. £20m businesses crashing.... identifying the perfect business.... an amazing new business pitch.... how to be a great boss.... drug-dealing arrests and more.... There are some great learnings and fascinating business tales. If you've not yet listened to an episode, or have but missed a few, give this one a l...

For this week's episode, we took the time to look at the highlights from episodes 1-10. Perfect business plans.... the Simon Cowell effect.... bootstrapping.... how to run a tech project when you're not a techie.... 'tweaking' pre-launch customer research... not being first to market... the problems of Brexit and more.... There are some great learnings and fascinating business tales. If you've not...

In this week's episode we speak to Alex Craven, CEO and Co-founder, founder of The Data City. Alex tells us about the sale of Bloom Agency, the harsh lessons learnt when selling a business, how and why the business sale went so badly wrong, half a million pounds worth of contracts without trying with his new business, data City and how ADHD and the risks it encouraged affected Alex’s business jour...