Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

"Finance was the last thing I ever thought I'd get involved with. I was at college doing 'A' levels, got very bored and then got kicked out of college". On todays show I welcome Luke Davis, founder of IW Capital. Luke has taken the unusual step of going from Ibiza nightclub promoter to stockbroker, to private investment house. Given a large number of the show's listeners are entrepreneurs, startups and scale-ups I thought it would be really interesting to get someone from the investment side of the coin in to talk.   IW Capital have helped a number of different businesses including Brewhouse & Kitchen, Ubamarket, Weswap and Unbound riae millions of pounds to help scale their SME's.  Lule and I talk about what an investor is looking for when investing in a startup, the types of business they're investing in, as well as staging events, and of course..Ibiza."

"When we set out on this road we we'ren't looking for a product . It was very much a 'how do we make this simpler, how do we bring something new to watchmaking. Is there something we can explore at the fundamental process of how the human interacts with the chronometer". On today's show I welcome the founders of Swiss Reimagined - the Singularity watch - Stephen Mansfield and Daniel Bluncschi. Stephen and Daniel started with the idea of a patented one-hand time-piece, which was originally written on the back of a beer mat following their first meeting - in the pub. Inspiration can strike in the most unlikely places. . Swiss Reimagined is the brainchild of trained engineer Stephen and watch industry veteran Daniel. What they've created is the world's first chronometer that has the ability to accuraely display both hours and minutes with a single moving hand. As a new brand they've decided to levaerage the crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which offers great marketing opportunities, as well as offering people the chance to vote with their money. Let's Start-Up!

"For me I was just done making money for other people. I'm a good sales and marketing pro, that's what I've always done. So I was making this guy a ton of money and I was doing ok out of it, but I could have been doing a whole lot better - if i'd been focused in on doing my own thing. So that's exactly what I did and I never looked back, ever. Ever". On today's show I welcome back one of the most popular guests of 2017, Chris Ducker.  Chris is a serial entrepreneur, business mentor, blogger, podcaster, and best-selling author of the book 'Virtual Freedom' and features in publications such as Forbes, Inc and Entrepreneur. When I heard that Chris was launching a second book I put the call out to get him back on the show. Chris's new book is entitled 'Rise of the Youpreneur': The Definitive Guide to Beocoming the Go-To Leader in Your Industry and building a Future-Proof Business. After a decade as an entrepreneur and as an authoruty in this space, with three different companies under one umbrealla and with over 450 employees, I started by asking Chris why he decided to become an entrepreneur. Let's Start-Up!

"When you really get far away from a problem, whether it's physically or mentally, you can see things really clearly. It just occured to me that I was bashing my head against this wall. The doors just weren't opening. I was trying to do this law thing and actually, I wanted to spend my life doing what I enjoyed the most, which was cooking. And I  kind of in that instant made a decision that I wanted to do something in food, and I didn't know exactly what it was going to be. I didn't know if I wanted to be a chef or a writer or whatever. But it didn't really matter, it was making that decision to do the thing that I loved the most." On today's show I speak to Margie Broadhead, professional chef, cookery writer, podcast host of 'Desert Island Dishes' and writer of the 'Made by Margie' blog.  Not only has Margie cooked for some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, but she has also interviewed some of the biggest names in the food industry for her podcast, inclusing Levi Roots to name but one. On 'Desert Island Dishes' margie talks to her guests about their life with food and this goes through choosing their favourite childhood dishes, the dishes they eat most often, the ones that mean the most to them and what their last dish would be before being cast off to the desert island. I started by asking Margie about a quote from her blog: "Life is sometimes a pot noodle. Life isn't a perfectly styled photo that you see on Instagram feeds." Let's StartUp!

"Our target consumer is 18-40 year olds who are beginning to read more and more about what they're eating and drinking. And maybe they're tired of what's happening in politics with fake news and alternative facts and not knowing what is true anymore. We have that strong tone of voice and what we're seeing is people get that and feel that. They're reading about nutrition and becoming fans of what we do and the movement we're trying to be a part of." I speak to Hugh Thomas, Co-founder of Ugly Drinks, a range of fruit flavoured sparkling waters with no sugar, sweeter, calories and no artificial ingredients.  Hugh and co-founder Joe Benn launched Ugly as a response to a soft drinks industry that they felt was overly sweetened and frustrated by the deceptive branding of many of them. Now many think sugary and sweetened drinks cause many of the issues associated with diabetes and obesity. Hugh and Joe decided to do something about it and create a healthy, affordable and fun alternative with Ugly Drinks where the beauty is all on the inside." Let's startup.

"Originally he tried to get me for gross misconduct for starting up a rival business, but my contract was an older contract, so it didn't have that clause in it. So in the end I got put on gardening leave for a month and and had to make ends month. It was rough but it was the best thing that could have happened. It was rough, really rough for a few months. I was really worried for a while... Charles Richer from Love Beer is a great example of knowing what you want, and going out and making it happen. Just two years ago Charles was earning less then the minimum wage, washing dishes for an employment agency, leaving him, in his own words, very downtrodden. Fast forward and... not happy working for someone else, he spotted an opportunity in the craft ale business and is now focusing on working with grass roots local brewers and bringing their products into your hands.  From installing bars into restaurants, pubs, homes, offices, and focusing especially on craft beers, this Bud is DEFINITELY not or you. Let's startup.

"I didn't really understand anything about business, so I just researched the concept and how money flowed around the world and thought this could be interesting. I went home to my wife and said 'I think I really want to resign and create this money-swapping thing'. She said 'ok, I believe in you, let's do it'. Then I told her we had to sell the house." Jared was a currency trader who thought that there must be a cheaper way to get your travel money rather having to queue at a desk at an airport before jumping on a flight for your holiday. So he created 'WeSwap' which works by getting users to swap money with each other. Since launching in 2015 he's had over 300,000 customers and swapped over £130 million in over 16 different currencies and over 18 different countries.

"The scales were tipping, so I was doing more artwork and becoming more and more disengaged with a career in medicine. But then I broke my leg one winter and I couldn't stand up to paint anymore. So I had to change to painting watercolours and I sat down and painted, put it online...and it went viral." On today's landmark 50th episode I welcome Laloa's Liz Murray. We helped her start out with a Virgin StartUp loan and mentoring so it's apt that she's my interview on my 50th show. She had a lifelong love of art, inspired by her grandfather, which lay dormant while she studied and then became a doctor. However, an accident resulting in a broken leg rekindled her interest and she's now proving that you can 'screw it, just do it' and turn a hobby into a full-time job. Let's startup!

" A lot of people within the industry, friends, family and wider, thought we were just crazy. So we were going to launch a business with 14 people, we weren't going to have any call centres, we weren't going to have any shops, we were going to be online only, and our members will do all the stuff, like get more members to join, will help with member queries... And people just didn't think it could work." On today's show I welcome Tom Rainsford, co-founder and brand director of telecommunications disruptor Giff Gaff. As one of the original founders Tom started with the simple idea of 'making mobile better'. They are the David among Goliath's in mobile-land, they have members, not customers, and don't tie them down with lengthy contracts. They were Uswitch's 2017 network of the year,  and just had one of their video's voted in Youtube's Top 10 video's for 2017. Tom and I talk about how they were able to compete in such a competitive market, how their members drive the business for them and how they even paid their members over £11 million for their services..let's startup!

"We've just brought out a documentary with two fighters from the area we're from south London, he's got a fight coming up in two weeks time at the O2. We filmed a documentary about him two years ago and we never released it. Its almost like we had the eye to see that he was going to be successful one day..We literally completed it this week." On this week's show I welcome Josh, Patrick and Jerry, otherwise known as JPJ Media, a young London startup founded by three cousins. Since pooling their skills and resources back in 2016 they applied and received a Virgin StartUp loan and launched JPJ Media. In just 18 months they have already worked with London Fashion Week, MTV, Nike, Boo Hoo, the Saatchi Awards Gallery and the Mobo Awards. I found out with the three of them to find out how they have got to work with such an amazing client list.