Business Leader

Dash Water is a UK-based, challenger drinks brand that was founded in 2017 by Alex Wright and Jack Scott. With a team of just 35 people, it sells more than 60 million cans of fruit-flavoured, sparkling water drinks a year. It focuses on a new category of mass market drinks which promise to be healthy and sustainable. In this Business Leader episode, Wright explains his growth strategy with Richard Harpin. He explains how Dash tackles food waste by using “wonky fruit”, which would otherwise go to waste – like 40% of the food globally that is made but never consumed. Wright also shares how they found investors to help them grow (with three rules for choosing them), how he’s built a healthy workplace culture while scaling and how to use a combination of coaching and mentoring to improve as a leader.
Join the Business Leader community at Business Leader
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Beauty Tech Group is a British business success story. Laurence Newman founded the home-use beauty tech firm in Manchester in 2009. It’s probably best-known for its LED face masks for skincare treatments. In late 2025 it went public on the London Stock Exchange, valued at more than £300m. Newman explains to Dougal Shaw how he scaled the business, in an emerging category that not everyone had faith in. He set out by focusing on four key pillars of aesthetic technology, including LED and radio frequency, to offer clinical results at home – treatments usually associated with expensive aesthetic clinics. He shares insights on the challenges of securing investment in a niche market and the complexities of managing international regulation and manufacturing and supply chains for a global e-commerce brand.
Join the Business Leader community at Business Leader
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Askins is the co-founder of Gaia, a green technology company that builds online tools for companies within the environmental space. But he cut his teeth as an entrepreneur by creating a digital marketing business for luxury brands, which he scaled and successfully exited. He shares with Richard Harpin practical advice on interview techniques to hire the best candidates, building an engaged and happy workforce and how to scale a start-up with a future exit in mind.
Join the Business Leader community at Business Leader
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Stoffel is the entrepreneur who founded the matched betting platform Outplayed, taking a punt on the online betting space. He explains to Richard Harpin how he bootstrapped a simple idea into a multi-million pound enterprise by copying and refining existing business models and mastering digital marketing. He shares the leadership lessons he picked up along the way, including the dangers of "shiny object syndrome". The interview explores the technicalities of subscription-based revenue, the risks of rebranding while you scale, and the importance of well-planned delegation. Stoffel also discusses his exit and transition to his latest venture, Subspot, sharing his ambition to scale a globally successful software platform.
Join the Business Leader community at Business Leader
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hub van Bockel shares his story with Richard Harpin about founding Tenzing, a natural energy drink brand inspired by Himalayan sherpas. Drawing on his marketing background at Unilever, MTV, and Red Bull, van Bockel explains how he identified a gap in the market for low-sugar, plant-based alternatives to artificial energy drinks. But how do you take on incumbents in such a competitive space? He explains his bootstrapping strategy, which to begin with focused on niche communities like climbing and running. He also explains how he slowly wooed major retailers like Tesco and Sainsbury's. But it all really began with a pitch deck he presented to convince his wife of the risks.
Join the Business Leader community at Business Leader
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.