Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

This episode features Richard Harpin MBE, founder of HomeServe and one of the UK’s most experienced scale up operators. Recorded before his recent MBE award, this conversation shows exactly why his contribution to British business has been recognised. Richard shares how he grew a simple plumbing insurance idea into a global business valued at over £4 billion. He breaks down his nine step framework...

Scaling a startup into a national or international brand is rarely clean, predictable, or glamorous. Recorded live at the Festival of Entrepreneurs, this panel brings together founders who have scaled in very different industries but faced the same uncomfortable decisions along the way. From compliance and capital to branding, product reality, and investor relationships, this conversation focuses...

Piers Linney MBE has spent years operating at the sharp end of business, investment, and technology. In this episode, recorded before his recent MBE award, Piers lays out a clear view of where AI is taking founders and why waiting is the biggest risk. He explains how AI already outperforms humans in speed, cost, and consistency across many cognitive tasks. The advantage now comes from knowing wher...

What happens when you stop chasing money and start building around who you are. This episode breaks down mindset, performance, and discipline for founders who feel stuck and want control back. Leaving the Special Forces should have been a clean transition. It was not. Simon Jeffries walked away from military life into a corporate role that felt wrong, chased online business ideas that failed, and...

James Haskell shares the realities of leaving a structured career for entrepreneurship and the discipline needed to build something on your own terms. Stepping out of professional sport and into business forces you to confront how you work, who you trust and what you want your life to look like. In this bite sized episode, I speak with James Haskell as he breaks down the shift from a highly struct...

Every year, I take one episode to step back and reflect. This is the countdown of the 10 Screw It Just DO It episodes you listened to most in 2025. This episode is a reflection on what really resonated with you in 2025. From founders starting in kitchens to building global brands, these conversations cut through the noise. We revisit lessons on resilience, timing, discipline, leadership, brand, AI...

Rebranding a company is rarely neat, and James Clark makes that clear in this conversation. He talks through the pressure of changing a long established name, the internal tension that came with it and the need to build something that reflects future ambition rather than past comfort. His breakdown of stakeholder alignment, intellectual coherence and disciplined decision making gives founders a pr...

Recorded live at the Festival of Entrepreneurs, this panel brings together founders who are actively implementing AI in real businesses. We cover what AI first actually means in practice, how to start small without breaking existing operations, and why governance and visibility matter more than speed alone. The conversation moves beyond theory into workflows, automation, data, compliance, and pers...

In this Bite-Sized episode, I revisit my conversation with George Kruis, former England international rugby player and co-founder of fourfive. George explains how he and Dom began building their wellness brand while recovering from operations, sitting on physio beds and asking themselves how to take control of their recovery. This clip focuses on the early execution stage. He talks openly about se...

A powerful five minute segment where David Yarrow reveals the moment he pivoted from sports photography to fine art and built a global brand. In this Bite-sized Screw It Just DO It session, I sit down with world leading fine art photographer David Yarrow to unpack the moment that changed his entire career. David explains how he went from struggling in finance to creating some of the most valuable...

Aliett Buttelman went from fashion model to co-founder of Fazit, a beauty brand that exploded after a viral Taylor Swift moment. This episode breaks down what actually drives real growth. In this episode I talk with Aliett Buttelman about what it takes to build a brand from scratch and survive hyper growth. Aliett explains how a decade in fashion modelling shaped his approach to creative work and...

Jim Cregan built Jimmy’s Iced Coffee from a simple idea into a national brand. This episode captures how he pushed through debt, setbacks and doubt to create real momentum. Speaking with Jim Cregan reminded me how often founders underestimate the grind behind a brand that looks simple from the outside. Jim described the early days of Jimmy’s Iced Coffee when he was £50,000 in debt, unsure of the n...

Passenger started as a simple lifestyle idea yet grew into a purpose led brand with a loyal community and a clear mission. This episode breaks down how it happened and what founders can learn from the journey. Speaking with Richard Sutcliffe reminded me how often founders overlook the power of building something with clear intent. Passenger began as a small lifestyle project shaped by surf trips,...

The Atherton siblings built their careers on speed, resilience and control. What makes this bite sized episode powerful is how they used the same mindset to build a business. They went from dominating downhill racing to founding Atherton Bikes and taking ownership of their future rather than relying on sponsors or external decisions. In this segment they walk through the moment they committed to d...

Piers Linney delivered a clear message. AI is accelerating faster than most founders expect and the businesses that ignore it will fall behind. He showed how AI now handles cognitive work, personalisation, analysis and customer engagement at a scale no manual process can match. His point was direct. Founders must use AI every day and redesign their workflow around the tasks AI completes faster, ch...

I’ve always believed success comes down to commitment. Talking about goals is easy. Doing something about them is harder. Matt Brooke, Senior Vice President at Spartan and Tough Mudder, joined me to talk about a mindset that changes how people approach growth and challenge—the Pick a Date mentality. It’s simple. Set a date. Put it in the calendar. Make it real. That one step gives purpose, directi...

Growing a business is never about luck. It is about execution, distribution and the ability to stay focused through every challenge. This week, I speak with Dr Ann Kaplan Mulholland, a finance founder who built a billion dollar empire, scaled a nationwide lending operation, invested in commercial property, and then bought and rebuilt a 1000 year old medieval castle in Kent. Ann explains the decisi...

This week, I sit down with Anthony “Staz” Stazicker, former Royal Marine and Special Forces operator turned entrepreneur and co-founder of ThruDark, one of the UK’s fastest-growing technical outerwear brands. After more than a decade in the military, Staz left behind the structure, purpose, and intensity of Special Forces life to start from scratch. What began as an idea between two former Marines...

In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, my friend Jeannette Linfoot sat down with Juliet Barratt, co-founder of Grenade, in a fireside chat recorded live at the Festival of Entrepreneurs. Juliet shares how she went from being a teacher who hated structure to building one of the UK’s fastest-growing performance nutrition brands and selling it to Mondelez for £200 million. Juliet is honest, practica...

When Andy Mooney joined Nike at just 25, he was meant to stay behind the numbers. But within months, he realised real business success came from understanding people, not spreadsheets. In this Bite-sized Screw It Just DO It episode, Andy shares how a risky decision early in his career changed everything. He stepped outside his comfort zone, bet on consumer insights rather than corporate caution, a...

My guest this week is Andrew Hulbert, founder of Pareto FM, who started his business from his bedroom at 27 with no name, network, or funding and grew it to a £42 million turnover before exiting less than a decade later. Andrew’s story is one of calculated risk, relentless focus, and smart scaling. From landing his first £200,000 contract with the Bulgari Hotel to winning major clients like Twitte...

Sometimes the right opportunity doesn’t come knocking, you have to send the email. In this Bite-sized episode, I speak with Tom Gozney, founder of Gozney, about the moment that took his business from a small British startup to global recognition. After entering Virgin’s Pitch to Rich competition, Tom didn’t win but he did get something far more valuable: a personal email from Sir Richard Branson....

What does it take to build one of the world’s most loved ethical brands without losing your principles? In this episode, I sit down with Rowena Bird, co-founder of Lush, to talk about the 30-year journey of growing from a small shop in Poole to a global retail brand with over 900 stores worldwide. Rowena shares how Lush has managed to scale without outside investors, why they’ve never compromised...

What happens when success leaves you feeling empty? In this Bite-sized Screw It Just DO It episode, I revisit my conversation with Dan Murray-Serter, co-founder of Heights and host of Secret Leaders. Dan shares the exact moment he realised his business, Gravel, was winning awards but draining his purpose. Rather than chase growth for the sake of it, Dan and his co-founder made a bold call, to shut...