The Unlock with Oliver Bruce

From being able to focus on tasks that matter through to benefiting from a good night's sleep, Damien Bryne and his co-founders at Hux Health have developed and brought to market one of the 'coolest' and most accessible superfoods, nootropics, sleep and beauty supplements around. From undergoing investment rounds through to developing a product that not only works but is designed to also look grea...

The behemoth that is Huel started off as a convenience idea and fast became a necessity for so many. James Collier a former NHS Dietitian was wholly responsible for the formulas and nutritious benefits of Huel in the early days. A nutritionist by trade James joined Oliver to discuss how Huel was once just an idea around his co-founder Julian Hearn's  kitchen table before becoming the recognised 'g...

Co-founder of Mixtons, Xav struggled with Dyslexia from an early age, ultimately discovering music as his form of expression as a teenager. With Dyslexia forming Xav's unique outlook on life he tried, and sometimes failed in business, that was, until the 3 co-founders of Mixtons came together... One third of Mixtons, Ranj, trained as an engineer before becoming a cocktail mixer in a local bar ulti...

From Africa to Spain and everywhere in between, co-founder of UniTaskr Joe Black has had a varied life from an early age. Part of an entrepreneurial family, Joe found himself at a young age plotting the line of lost golf balls from a Spanish golf resort, cleaning and re-selling those same balls to the players.  Realising that students and peer-to-peer work stems innovation, gives experience but is...

Beer But Better, it's true! Oliver Bruce sits down with Harvy Armstrong and Sam Holmes to discuss why Harv left his highflying job in the city and Sam decided to give up working with private jets with a clear vision to bring caffeine infused and low calorie lager to the UK.  First time founders but with entrepreneurial backgrounds, Harvy and Sam who notably have appeared on reality TV show Made In...

From over 100 staff with Design My Night and an 8 figure exit to building what could be a unicorn Oliver speaks with Nick Telson now of Trumpet.app   Exiting a business and starting again takes some doing, however, Nick and his 2 co-founders have been on a warpath of funding, development and scaling since late 2022 for their new vision and venture Trumpet, the sales app.  Nick a serial investor hi...

From living in America as a child and shovelling show to earn some extra pocket money Jesse had very little entrepreneurial heritage but that doesn't seem to have stopped him growing a brand that can now be found in pubs, bars and restaurants across the UK. With Jesse's Dad being a Vicar and his mum a French teacher, how did Jesse build such a strong beer brand with such little knowledge. Jesse gr...

Founder of GRIND Coffee David Abrahamovitch grew up watching his dad build multiple businesses as a child ultimately inspiring him to go it alone. It didn't however start with coffee!  Having turned his Dad's business around and pivoted it into new sectors, David speaks to Oliver about how there's a seismic culture shift in today's world about what being an 'entrepreneur' actually is.  David start...

Ecologi, one of only a few businesses in the world genuinely striving for economical change. Planting over 100,000 trees PER DAY, Elliot came up with the idea for a subscription based environmentally focused business whilst on his morning commute. He thought, "what is the cost of a coffee per day could be put into changing the planet?" The rest was history.  Having suffered from burnout in his pre...

In this live on location recording, Oliver caught up with Andy Shovel co-founder of vegan food brand THIS at their London HQ.  A born entrepreneur Andy’s hit the headlines recently for his slightly ‘out there’ marketing stunts, one of which included a life size naked statue of Piers Morgan in Leicester Square with his ‘THIS’ product housed around Piers’ nether regions… That said, the self proclaim...

Paul's Father ran away leaving his Mother to contemplate taking him to an orphanage. His Father returned, a 'wheeler dealer', Paul's father ended up as a market trader. As a teenager Paul ended up working for his Father in Waste and Disposal. There's money in muck as they say selling for millions just before his Father passed away. Paul's business acumen served him well growing and exiting multipl...

After dropping out of school with no qualifications aged 16, Daniel Hegarty got signed to the same label as Boy George and went touring with his punk band for just £100 a week. He then spent the next ten years carving out a career as a working musician in LA, writing for and performing with the likes of S Club 7, Robbie Williams and the Sugababes, before returning to the UK to be one of the first...

Growing up on a farm in rural Suffolk, sisters Alice and Rosie never pictured a career in the fashion industry. After they both headed off to uni, they both started working the corporate life in London, and when a jacket made by their mother got a hugely positive response at a wedding, they decided to start Hicks & Brown together. Whilst originally focused on selling jackets at events, the sis...

After being diagnosed at 18 with an autoimmune disease, Molly Johnson-Jones was fired from her job in investment banking after requesting to work from home one day a week. Molly then met Maurice O’Brien on the dating app Hinge, and after five dates they decided to start a business together which would provide a platform for people like them who wanted more flexibility in their jobs. From this idea...

From an early age, Hannah Chappatte was surrounded by successful family members, but her initial confidence took a knock when her teachers told her she had dyslexia. Despite this, she went on the secure As and A*s across the board in her A-Levels, before spending a globe-hopping year working in intern roles in various companies around the world.  While studying English Literature and Language in B...

Serial entrepreneur Martin Bysh started his journey living in East London with a passion for programming games. Seeking amusement and enjoyment in everything Martin did he built 20 top 10 games before he was 30. Having never worked for anybody, Martin founded, grew and exited multiple online businesses before the online space was comodosited by the arrival of the Apps. He even beat Facebook to it...

Jamie Barber is a prolific restaurateur and founder of the Hush Collection who started out as a lawyer and musician signed to George Michael’s record label. Myleene Klass started out in showbiz and in pop group Hear’Say, before turning her attention to the world of business when she founded her own children’s clothing brand, My K.  After months of lockdown had given them both “extreme kitchen fati...

Rory Sweet, Founder of Halo, who originally featured in Series 1 of Success Is In The Mind, has recently sold his business for a huge $715 million. Now, Rory returns to the podcast to discuss how he did it, and what’s next for him.  In this slightly shorter episode of Success Is In The Mind, Oliver catches up with Rory to ask what it feels like to sell a company, how to decide who the right buyer...

Annabel Makin-Jones is a third generation Yorkshire farmer and Founder of Tame & Wild Drinks. Starting out at a young age helping out on her family farm, Annabel then went to Harper Adams to study Agri-Food Marketing with Business Studies, before returning to the farm to start growing strawberries and launch Annabel’s Deliciously British.  After getting her strawberries stocked in several high...

Freddy Ward is the Co-Founder of Wild Cosmetics, a direct-to-consumer subscription based deodorant company, with a heavy focus on using natural ingredients and cutting down on plastic waste with refillable deodorants.  Starting out as the fifth ever employee at Hello Fresh in 2012, Freddy worked his way up to Marketing Director before deciding to start his own company, Wild, with a lifelong friend...

Trigger warning: this weeks episode contains references to suicide. William Chase is a serial entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience running businesses. After a string of bad luck which resulted in him declaring bankruptcy and almost losing his family farm, William turned it all around when he began using rejected potatoes to create the hugely successful Tyrrells Crisps.  In the following y...

Josh White, Co-founder of CanO Water, launched the brand after returning from a holiday in Thailand where they had been inspired to drive change after seeing the dire state of plastic bottles lining the beach and what started out as an eye-opening trip abroad became a mission to reduce single use plastic. Since launching in 2015, CanO Water has sold over 15 million cans in the UK and Ireland. Prop...

Entrepreneur Ellie Webb spotted a gap in the market when asked to be the designated driver. Ellie realised that there were no exciting alcohol-free options available at the venue, this got her thinking. Wanting a beverage with a little more punch, no alcohol but still grown-up, Caleño was born! As a solo female entrepreneur Ellie has come up against the ‘funding’ glass ceiling, a number of times b...

After weathering the storm that was the rural crisis of the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, the pandemic was no problem for Corry Taylor.  The founder, CEO and MD of outdoor clothing re-seller, Bradshaw Taylor, oversees 9 iconic outdoor clothing brands including Schoffel, Le Chameu, Keen and Sherpa. In this podcast Corry joins Oliver to discuss how his board helps him keep his feet on the ground...

Son of Mark Constantine founder of Lush, Simon Constantine stepped into the world of fragrance and entrepreneurialism launching ånd fragrance months before the pandemic.  In this Christmas episode, Oliver Bruce asks the big question; what even is Frankincense?! Going from one of the world’s favourite cosmetic brands to launching his own start-up, Simon Constantine brings a unique approach to his p...