EE 62 - Idea Lab - The Billy Shark, bank Revolut-ion & no events till 2022?
I hinted at some of this season’s guests in previous episodes. Now I’m going to reveal a few names who will be joining me in the first few weeks of season 3.
This week I’m joined by Seamus Fahy, founder of Voltaire Diamonds, Merrion Gold and Merrion Vaults
Brody Sweeney, founder of O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars & Camile Thai
Rory O’Connor, founder of Scurri
Jo Davey, founder of Jo’s Absolute Nutrition
The Billy Shark
We covered Gymshark’s clever accounting strategies back in episode 57.
Started in his parents garage in 2012, Ben Francis has grown his sportswear brand into a global powerhouse worth £1 billion. Billy with a B.
They have no stores and do zero traditional advertising. Instead, they built the business through sponsoring online influencers and digital campaigns. They focused entirely on the DTC (direct-to-consumer) market and as a result have a far larger margins and control than a traditional sportswear brand. If you want to understand the DTC/e-commerce market, study this company.
The banking Revolut-ion
This week, Revolut announced their losses tripled in 2019 to €119m despite increasing new users to 10 million. This follows on the news that the UK based challenger bank Monzo, lost £113.8m. With traditional banks facing a Covid backlash, will challenger banks face the same potential losses and is it safe to have all your cash stored with them?
The answer? I don’t know as they are still a relatively new phenomenon. That’s why I want you to tell me. Send me your voice notes with your thoughts and I’ll feature a selection on next week’s pod.
No EP till 2022
Today's Sunday Times had a small but very important article on the future of the events industry. It revealed that events organisers are no longer able to get pandemic insurance so they cannot take the risk of putting on an event and then having to cancel. This is potentially absolute massive news for the events industry and the tourism/hospitality section as a whole.
Theres an opportunity here for entrepreneurs to enter this space and reimagine it from the ground up. Blank canvas. Tweet or email me your ideas on how you would imagine running events with zero fans or attendees?
I’ll feature the best ones on next week’s Idea Lab.
This Week
I’m listening to
One of my dream guests for the pod, Eddie Jordan did a fantastic podcast with The Gentleman’s Journal. If anyone can intro me to Eddie, hook me up.
I’m watching
It’s back-to-back sport this week with Europa League, Champions League and UFC 252.
I’m reading
The Terminal List by Jack Carr. I was on holidays last week and wanted something very light and non-business related. If you enjoyed the Jack Reacher series, you’ll find this fun.
The podcast goes live at 5 am every Monday and Thursday.
This week’s quote
A calm sea never made a skilled sailor - sent to me on Twitter by Keith Kearney
Tweet me your favourite quote of the week @mrgaryfox
Gary