YouSaid · the spoken record

Ben Francis

lines on the record: 120
first: 2021-12-27
most recent: 2021-12-27
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Very quickly, you learn that time Finite resource, and every second is planned. I'm really careful about how I spend my time and I want to spend it in the most effective and productive way I possibly can.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'd really have to think about that. The first thing that comes to mind would be time. Because there's so many people that have given genuine time to me to teach me, take me under their wing, Robin time to support me emotionally, my parents time to teach me and bring me up, grandparents, the people that I work with every day. Yeah, it would definitely be something around time”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, definitely not. No. It's that combination of hard work alone is definitely not enough. You have to work hard, but you also have to work smart. There were periods where we were finding out ways to manipulate Google in a way that got Gymshark to the top, which gave us huge revenue for next to no cost, right? That was smart work. But there were days when we would work 12, 14, 16 hours sewing and printing t-shirts every single day. There are days like that now where I just, we just work and work and work to get the job done. So exclusively hard work won't solve your problems. You definitely have to work smart. But I've never met anyone who was genuinely successful that wasn't hardworking.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That job as a superpower, as stability, and invest the money you earn from that job in the business and just keep trying, trying.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I worked at Pizza Hut for whatever, I can't remember what the amount was. It was four or five pounds an hour. And Gymsharp was doing hundreds of thousands in revenue. The utility of having a job was running the business is huge. One, because you can earn money to survive. So you don't need to remove, you know, you don't need to remove money from the business. So two, you can then reinvest all the profits that you can make in that business. And two, by the way, if business number one fails, you've still got your job, you're trying number two, number three, number four. And I think whatever it is, find your passion. I genuinely don't think it's a good idea just to jump out of your job just on a whim. There are some people, you'll hear about the one in a million that succeeds. And congratulations, more power to you. I'm super happy for those people, but you don't hear about the 99% that ended up quitting their job and it didn't go as well as what they would like. And then they ended up having to go back and find a new job.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think if it's your passion, then I think you should jump in. The other thing I would say, and this is, I think this is a dangerous thing. I do see people online going, quit your job, jump in, go and do something. And it's a bit like personally, I'm sitting there thinking, no, don't quit your job. It's fine.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The case more often than not all the most successful people I've ever met are all winging it. They're all literally just working incredibly hard and they're just giving it their best shot.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You have to fail. This is one of the. All names out of boxes, ideas out of boxes aside, the likelihood of an individual starting a business and that one being the one that strikes gold is ridiculously low. What we've got to remember is you could start 30 businesses and you are still more likely to fail than you are succeed. So just honestly, just keep trying and keep trying and don't be afraid to fail. I think that's so, so, so important. And everyone I've met, by the way, from the people that run businesses that are 10 times bigger than Gymshark to every entrepreneur that I've met, every business person, every successful person in sport, in business, whatever, whether they've started a business or not, every single one of them has failed time and time and time again. And I think then people look at the final product and just assume that they've just, they were either this incredible human who was born this way, and it is just never, never, ever.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Cycles or bicycles or whatever, lean into it because inevitably there will be an opportunity, especially now because of this new social media world that we live in. There's a massive, there's so much room for people to create brands. So, yeah, I would just lean into whatever you're passionate.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, the discipline that I learned, the structure, the fact that if I was tied on a Monday, the gym doesn't care. Go in and lift. It doesn't matter. And most importantly, that if January 1 I joined the gym and I lift five days a week every single week by December 25, whatever, I am better than I was a year ago. Those lessons to me were massive because previously I didn't really realize that. And I do this thing in school where I would be like, I'd try really hard and I get a bad grade. And then there'd be another thing that I wouldn't try out and I'd get a really good grade. And I just, it didn't, do you know what I mean? It didn't add up to me. So for me, I was in love with the industry and fitness was and is my passion. And that carried me through some of the difficult times because I remember the difference it's made to my life and it's this inherent passion that drives me every day. So if you've got no ideal money, just lean into that community, whatever it is, it might be boxing. It might be golf. It might be videography. It might be motors.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So the first thing for me would be to find out what you're truly, truly passionate about because for me when I started Gymshark, I made two fitness apps beforehand. I made two fitness apps, both failed miserably. I made a little fitness social network failed miserably. A little fitness sort of forum that failed miserably. And then Gymsharp was, I wanted to be involved in the industry more than anything. I wanted to be involved in fitness because it changed my life. It was the thing that got me from being a D student to an A student. Literally, that was the thing that changed my life.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Maybe, I don't know, because I know that a lot of people like to work. The business because they're so close to it, like it feels like you're in a movie. Like, it genuinely feels like that because we'll sit at lunch and we'll talk about like the stories of Gymshark. Like we'll go and lift in the gym after work with just random people that have just joined the business Maybe that would disappear. I don't know. You're right. In terms of the commercials of the business, wouldn't change. The brand is so well run and the vision, the plan is so robust. Like they'll present brand plans for the next two years to me. And I just sit there nodding And that's amazing”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We'll continue. I'm not sure who would immediately be in four months in. I'm not sure who would immediately step into the role. Probably the best argument would be Steve. But we've got a proper management team. We've got our chief of product is infinitely better than I will ever be at product. Our chief of brand is infinitely better than I will be. The commercial team that we run across International and NAM, they're both way better than me”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're like, oh, fuck. I don't want to be that guy, right? I think, well, first and foremost, I think so Jim Shark, it's still quite a niche brand in the sense that we're not doing sportswear right. You won't see people on the football pitch wearing gymshark. You won't see people on the basketball court wearing gymshark. Gymshark is built to be worn in the gym. Like, granted, you know, there's odd bits, the sort of to and from stuff that I'll wear in the office and in the gym as well. But I think by staying true to that core, by focusing completely and utterly on building the best gym product, whether it's clothing, whether it's accessories, whatever it is we might create down the line, I think by doing that, I think we can water our brand down too much.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And they have these sort of inherent similarities, and they've got that same mindset, and it's such an amazing place to be. So we thought, what if we could do that permanently, which is what hopefully this store will be?”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Community centric because as well, what we need to think about is what we're trying to build here is a brand and what we don't want is something that is purely based on utility and what I mean is I don't want people to buy Gymsharp because it's quicker, cheaper and easier. Like I think we should try and be those things to a degree, but it's not purely a utility thing. If you want that, go to Amazon, right? Amazon will give you everything that you need rapid cheap and it's called and I love the business. I shot from them all the time. But for me, Gymshark is a brand and it is a brand and it's a feeling and it's that badge of honor that you wear. It's that dedication to self-improvement, both physical and mental. And to do that, we need a community. And that's why the gym shark community, the people that follow us all across Instagram, Snapchat, you know, TikTok, all these different channels. And then the event have always been the culmination of that community when you're there. And it's just like everyone's there.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, we will at some point. So touch wood, we are, I'm hoping in the next sort of few days to be able to sign a lease on a store in London, our first ever store. It will be a flagship and it will be hopefully a community hub for Gymshot, our first ever permanent offline store hub, whatever you want to call it. This is so early in the process. Like I said, we haven't even signed a lease yet. Fingers crossed that will go through. We're just working through that now. And again, we've got a vision of this being a true Gymshark community hub.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So it's purely down to a resource thing historically. So if I look at what we would coin as offline, Gymshark's been heavily involved in offline since day one, the first ever blow-up of the brand was through an offline event. And then we did expos around the world and we spent every single penny we had flying around the world in our early 20s doing these events. Then after that, we wondered, are there people coming to the event to see Gymshark or are people happened to be at the event and they come to Gymshark? So we thought, how can we find out how many people really want to come and see Gymshark? We actually did a test in Covent Garden. We wanted to do a one-month drawing Covent Garden two weeks in. COVID happened and we had to close the whole thing. I'm massively inspired by different businesses and what they do in their offline. So I think the opportunities on the High Street are massive.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just time, resource. In a fast growing business, you will have to say no to so many things. Because if you said yes to everything, you would end up just watering your business down. It would end up just being. It would be to Gary used this term. We spoke to him the other day. He said, You never want Gymshark to become a vanilla boulder. Just you don't want to become vanilla, right?”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And sometimes they can be difficult, but ultimately that's a lot easier to deal with. But I think those things happening, the constant change of a grown business creates a culture of change. So when these things do happen, I'd like to think we're in a reasonable situation to deal with it. And we are agile as well. We're thin. We're like, we don't have 900 people's a lot, not compared to some of the larger competitors. They have thousands and thousands and thousands of employees all around the world. They have lots of different distributors. They have lots of different stores, like hundreds, if not thousands of different moving parts. Today, Gymshark is, in its most basic form, a website, one website, and that is where you buy Gymshark from.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, no, but like I said, as people are joining the business and coming in, we're super, we make them aware that this is a place where change is inevitable. And oftentimes you don't even know what that is, right? Like the biggest problem Gymshark will experience in the next five years we've got no idea what it is. And one day, whether it's tomorrow or in two years or in four years, it's going to hit us and blindsid us in the head and knock us for six and we'll have to adjust, adapt and change to deal with it. And we're aware of that. We talk about that a lot. We do talk about change and we try and prime everyone to be prepared and ready for that fact that things will change. On a day-to-day basis, things change from structures to the way that we want to achieve certain things”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, in terms of the nuts and bolts, we'll have something that we call a brand book, which is brand guidelines. This is what we do. This is what we don't do. We'll have a strategic page, which says these are the core things that we want to do. These are four sort of strategic initiatives that sit outside of the day-to-day, outside of what you might see that Gymshark are currently doing. And then we'll basically put resource behind those initiatives to basically see what happens. Some of them might fail. Some of them might win. I'm not sure. That's a really boring way of explaining how we do it.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That is mental. We were talking about that the other day about how just how much the world's going to change in the next 10 years. And then going back to the start about someone that's starting up. He's considering starting a business or anything like that is like that becomes easier or it happens with change and like looking forward the amount of change we are about to see is unfathomable I'm convinced of it it is going to be crazy and the opportunities will be huge”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Is scary, isn't it? But will you, I don't know how you would put a pin in that, like if Gary bought the jets, he owns the jets. How would you put a pin in the fact that Gymshark, when does Gymshark become iconic? When does that tipping point happen? You'll also let me know if that happens.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Both physically and mentally, and is in many ways like the manifestation of this journey that I feel like I've gone on from joining the gym and trying to improve myself physically and then mentally through the business and so on. I think that's really cool. But ultimately, I want it to be one of the most iconic brands in the world. And then however you structure that in the back front, whatever you do to make that happen, I'm almost like channel agnostic. I just want Gymshark to be a truly iconic, great brand that is like a true leader in culture and helps inspire people around the world.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So growing up, I grew up not far away from the Rover MG factories in Longbridge. It was a really cool British brand. Unfortunately, it didn't end. I mean, MG's still going. It didn't end probably as. Call British but international band Burberry, Aston Martin, like Bentley and Rolls Royce. These are so cool. And I think I love the thought of a brand that was grown here. He's headquartered here, but he's a truly global brand. And I think that's really, really cool. I love the thought of that. Now, emphasis on the fact I want Gymshark to be a global brand. We sell into like the entire world at the moment. Like a lot of the revenue and the customers and the community of Gymshark are international. The UK is a small area of that now because of the growth we've seen in North America, Europe, and so on. So my ambition is for Gymshark to be a truly, truly global brand. And one of the most iconic brands in the world, I think that's so, it's so cool, the thought of Gymsharp being a truly iconic brand, a brand that's sort of like genuinely pulls people together and inspires people to be the best version of themselves.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, my ambition is to make Lulu. In the United States, you've got Nike and Drama. And in Germany, you've got Adi and Puma. So first and foremost, I want Gymshark to be the British fitness brand, right? I want you, I think it's really cool.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If I'm in the CEO role, which I hope I am, I'm not going to be at home every single day at half five, Monday to Friday. It's just one of the things that comes with the job.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Again, I'm not saying that's optimal, but I felt like I was fine growing up. I actually spoke, so I'm working with a new EA called Zoe, who's absolutely been life-changing for me, like genuinely life-changing. And she has two kids. And we were talking about it actually the other day. And we sort of, we do this thing. Monday morning, first thing we look through the calendar for the week. And then she sort of made a bit of a comment. She was like, are you still going to be able to do this if you have kids? And I was sort of like, is that a loaded question? Are you telling me that I won't be able to do this? And what helps having Zoe is, I think, because she has kids, she knows what it's like. I think she'll help me manage it as it comes. And then her thing was, no, you won't be able to work like this. But if we plan for it and we work things out, then we can work out a way to make it work, which is great. I'm sure Robin will be happy with that as well.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I have been. But it's not, even when I, so when I started traveling and being away for long periods of time, there was periods where I'd do 30, 40, 50 flights a year and I'd be away all the time. And that wasn't like abnormal. That was like my mom was like cool with her. She gets it. It's fine. My dad would work a lot in the States and Europe and stuff. And then my mom would look after us or I'd go and stay with my grandparents for a while”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We don't have kids. I haven't thought about it massively. I think there was a few things so Steve advised me. He said, be there for the sports days. And I don't think he means be there for the sports days. I think it's like a thing like be there, be present and be there when the kid wants you to be. So that's something I would definitely like to do. My dad worked away a lot as a kid, and I don't feel like I was adversely affected by it.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know I mean, listen If I had a kid I would definitely want them to tell me about how they're feeling because I'd rather know what's going on than not. So yeah, maybe that is something I would push with them. Robin certainly will. Robin will”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'd love to sit here and talk to you about how I am completely open and in touch with every single feeling that I'm feeling. I wish, and maybe that's something I need to work on. That certainly isn't true. I do understand and I process those feelings. I'm definitely not as communicative as what I probably should be on those things. I like to sort of internalize them and process them without talking about them too much.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Open it, what did you tell anything? So that's probably something I'm not very good at. I'm not, I don't talk about my feelings massively. I'm not that sort of person. I don't know why. I don't know. It's just, if I look at the way my dad is, my grandparents are, the males that were around me growing up, they're very strong individuals. They're very like I wouldn't often hear them talk about feelings, which is fine and it's cool. I get it. It's probably not the most optimal solution. And I'm learning to do that. It's given me great resilience. It's made me strong, definitely made me mentally strong. So yeah, I'll chat to Robin. I think she'll try and pry information from me and I'll chat to her as.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She's incredibly supportive. I think she gets it because, and this is this helps as well because she has had time online. She did do the whole YouTube thing and the social media thing. So she doesn't understand what it's like. So she's... Incredibly supportive.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They had no bad intention. So, yeah, they stayed at the business and now they do an incredible job. They were a great person. So I really don't believe in cancelled culture. I think especially when... People do things by a mistake, and this certainly was a mistake, and they learned from the mistake, and now they're a better, stronger, more educated and informed person because of it. And I think that's the way it is. What you can't have at Gymshark or anywhere, you can't have someone that fails, particularly with good intentions, and then you just move them out of the business. Because what we're trying to do is we're trying to create change. We're trying to create progress in a great business. And if every time someone failed, you just move them out of the business, then all you'll be left with is with a group of people that have never failed.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That was an interesting challenge for me to face because, again, I can't just mope around the office. I come into the office and I'm, it's to me, it's like a game of football. I'm there to perform, to deliver, and we want to win. We want to create great things. And I don't want to let this thing rightly or wrongly sort of drag me down.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's a so that was a bout of resilience. So going back to what I said earlier, every day I feel like I have to be resilient in terms of having hard conversations, in terms of challenging people, in terms of, you know, trying to move the business forward in the right way. Whereas that was like, boom, you need to be resilient now. Because the other thing as well, again, I'm sure you will know this. That happens. I'm feeling terrible as it's happening, but there's still a business with hundreds of people that need help, support, you know, all these things. So I can't, like, I can't just shy away and feel sad for a week, or at least it can't appear to be.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Like to whom much is given, much is tested, I think. It's roughly like that. And I do think about that a lot. I'm in this role. I'm in this job and I'm so privileged and fortunate to be here. I've worked incredibly hard, but I am fortunate. And inevitably, much has been given to me, so much will be tested of me. And that, to me, is one of many. And there'll be more in the future. That will happen again. And I have to be well aware of it and open to it and understanding of it.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I felt horrible. I felt like I have a lump in your throat, you feel sick, you don't want to look at it, and you don't want to look at your phone. I struggled with that, but I think I had support at work. And there's a quote that I've heard. Noel was the one that told me about it. And the quote goes,”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Someone commented something on our page saying Blue Lives Meta, and someone at Gymsharp basically commented something sarcastic back to them, which to be honest, it just shouldn't have been posted. And then at that point, that whole group of people started to converge onto Gymsharp. And then before long, they then started to converge onto me and I had thousands of comments, thousands of messages, death threats, everything you can imagine. And that was that definitely hit me and it definitely hurt me. And I really felt like I felt carrying that. I felt like I was carrying that burden at that point.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So there was something that happened last, I think it was last year or the year before where someone at Gymshark on the channel, on the social channel basically commented back to someone, I can't remember exactly what was said, but basically it was around a Blue Lives Matter. You know, you had the Black Lives Matter thing and there was the Blue Lives Matter thing.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, listen, I've definitely struggled. There were points where, again, when I was first sort of, I felt like I was first going out on my own in 2015, there have been periods where social media maybe has turned on the business and myself. It's definitely been really difficult at times. There's been points where”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And the for me, I think, like in terms of getting so, you can talk about getting great people, becoming self-aware, becoming the best version of yourself that you possibly can be. And even that, all of those things, if you did that incredibly well, By no means guarantee success. All that does is increase the likelihood or the probability of success. Even then, you've got a fairly slim chance. Because like I said, so many small businesses fail. And that's the other thing that I think anyone starting out or whatever will work in the business needs to understand is that failure is inevitable. Don't be defined by your failures. It could be an operation in the business. It could be the business itself. It's inevitable that it's going to happen. All you can do is do everything within your power to minimize the likelihood of that happening.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And they were just like us at one point, right? They've had to work, they weren't just born hyper resilient, super intelligent, open-minded, and blah, blah, blah, maybe a little bit in terms of intelligence. But a lot of the skills that we see. From them, they had to learn and they had to work on that was massively inspiring. So yeah, I think you're right. I can't stress enough how important it is to just try and surround yourself with great people. But I was lucky, right? That trip, most people don't get to go on trips like that. They don't get to have their eyes opened. But there's still great people in every community, every gym, every whatever. You can definitely find them.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I remember Sat, I didn't even barely say anything. I remember Sat listening to them and I was thinking to myself, Gymshark's like a, or the people or certainly even me. I felt like I was like a local football club player. These are like Premier League international stars. They were like another level compared to what I was and we were in the business. So to be able to see those, when you see a great operator, like look at Zuckerberg, people just look at Zuckerberg as like a guy or Elon or whatever. These people are going to be so efficient and frighteningly intelligent and adaptable and resilient that without meeting them, I genuinely don't think you'll be able to fathom it. I obviously haven't met them. Having met people like Harley and Toby, they were on another level to anyone that I'd met before.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's the thing great people are amazing. We did a trip to Fiji years and years ago, and it was the first time I got to spend time with Harley at Shopify, Harley Finkelstein and Toby at Shopify. So these are like some top 100.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm interested to hear what you think. But for me, given my skill set, we didn't invest in the foundations of the business early enough. I was going back to being arrogant at the start, I didn't really respect what maybe the ops or finance people of this world did. The foundation elements of the business to me were nowhere near as exciting or fun as the front end element to the business, the product, the brand, and the marketing. So I think if we'd have better prepared ourselves for that from a, like I said, data ops finance, all these things, I think Gymshot would have grown far quicker. And I mean, in terms of, especially with what you guys did, particularly at social chain, you were ahead of your time in that, in terms of bringing all these pages and channels together and almost packaging them up for different businesses and brands.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Think it depends on what the pressure is, right? I'm sure there are people in this world that are under a lot of pressure that certainly doesn't feel like a privilege, but in the context of Gymshark is a privilege. Like we all choose to be there. We're all a part of something really special. Something that I really believe this. I think I do think books will be written on this story and I think maybe if we do what we think we can, maybe like there'll be programs and movies too because it is so unique and so special. So within the context of Gymshark, I do think pressure is well and truly a privilege for us.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, the majority of people in Gymsharp maybe aren't as aware of the story or the way that the business works or haven't been truly immersed in the culture, both because they haven't been here for a long time, but also because we have been working remote for so long. So those problems in terms of making sure that everyone is truly bought into the brand are really important. Because when you've got a team that big, we want to make sure that they work in efficiently as well.”
2021-12-27 · The Diary of a CEO · Gymshark CEO: How I Built A $1.5 Billion Business At 19: Ben Francis · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT