YouSaid · the spoken record

Nick Jenkins

lines on the record: 92
first: 2021-09-13
most recent: 2021-09-13
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

“Oh, yeah, yeah. And he passed that over to me. And Won't show what that advice was. Key for Real and funny. Thank you. It was good to have a real sense of humor. Well, it's been a real pleasure meeting in person.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Awesome. I mean, he was brilliant. And then Nicolitha, who's running it now, has taken it to another level. Where he came in and he's just... So I'm not sure that I would have done, I'm not sure had I stayed in, there's no guarantee that it would have done what it did. In fact, I'm not sure it would have done. So, you know, and actually I've had done some really interesting things. So if you're asking me the question, would I rather have had sort of 36% or 1.6 billion? Yes. What I'm questioning is whether we would have got there if I'd remained at the helm.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“1.1.6. Well, for a long time, so eight years after I sold the boom, I sold the business. It was making about £11, £12 million profit. Not Ebadah, proper profit, like money you could spend. And eight years later, it was making about $18 million. So think, yeah, it was an improvement on where it was, but it wasn't so spectacular that it was, so they're happy with their deal. And I'm happy that I've got the chance to go off and do something else. And then I looked at floating and think, well, of course, the thing about floating is that nobody knew we were going to have COVID. And that obviously massively boosted the business. And I think probably has permanently put more people online. So that was a fairly unpredictable part of it. Then there's the other question, which is, if I had stayed in running that business, would it have done as well as it has? And I don't know that it would have done, if I'm really honest, because the guys who came after him is a guy called Stanley Ron who came into Moonbig after me who was...”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Some of this might not be as obvious or as prompt prominent as setting up Moonpig, because sometimes you catch a wave. And I look at Moonpig and I think, did I just catch a wave? I was in the right place at the right time. I had a good idea and I managed it well, but actually I just caught that wave perfectly. And sometimes you... That can be hard to recreate. So I think being managing your own expectations is an important part of human happiness and thinking, okay, I may never better that, but actually I'm going to do something different now, and that will be just as interesting, and that'll be just as rewarding as what I did before.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, as you go through his life, you can get to a point where you think, right, I've had a huge success. And I look at MoonPig and think, will I ever have a success as big as MoonPig? I don't know. I don't know, but I've got to be okay with that. And in order to be happy, I have to be okay with the idea that I may never, I may never better that. Because if you're always constantly thinking, right, I've done that, I therefore have to do that. It can be a recipe for misery. And you look at pop stars who have a huge career. And they're kind of done by 25. And actually, you know that they're not going to quite come back. And then a couple of years later, you sort of see. And so I look at it and I think, well, I don't have to better what I did in terms of, I'm not going to judge myself by having a business that was worth more than Moonpig. Because actually that's setting myself an almost impossible task. What I'm going to do is make sure that whatever I do, I feel as though I was being, I feel as though it was useful.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The other thing is that when you've got one of Take the view. Look, I've got an opportunity to learn how this works. If I learn how this works well, take it seriously and do it well, then actually I might know what it takes to become a supervisor. If I become a supervisor, I might have then what it takes to go one notch higher. And suddenly I'm actually then managing people and that's a little bit more interesting than what I was doing. So to some extent, you have the control to be able to assign how much time and effort enthusiasm you put into it. And there are some jobs that will not be that interesting, but then say to yourself, right, what can I learn about doing this that's going to enable me just to do my boss's job? And actually what your employers will be looking for is someone who's applied, who's interested, and they'll look amongst the 10 people who are doing that job and think nine out of ten of those people are just doing this because they want to pay the bills. This one is genuinely trying to work out how to do the job better.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that's, I think, a sign that you're not bored. And the stuff I'd like to be doing, I look forward, I wake up on Monday morning and think, fantastic, I can get stuck in and I can do stuff. And so, but that idea of there not being enough hours to get the stuff done is a sign that it's enjoyable.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that means actually a smaller number of things. I had a job when I was at university. The most boring job ever. It was transcribing license details. It was working for a Ford dealership, transcribing license details from one ledger to another. And I'd get to about 10 o'clock in the morning. Physically, it was so boring it was physically painful. And I would think surely it must be 5 o'clock. It's not. It's still 10 o'clock in the morning. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. And the one thing I look back at my life, it's one of the greatest things is I've never got to five o'clock wishing it was two o'clock.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Definitely twice as much work. Partly from a very simple perspective is the, I mean, Nesso now post-COVID, but before that, actually simply the getting from one place to the other. And that gets in the way of things. But also, it's the constant juggling in your head. And then suddenly you think, oh, I haven't focused on that for a bit. And it's more work. So I would like to be more focused. I want to get interested at a level where I feel as I'm able to make a positive difference to it.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I enjoy the sort of having the freedom to do different things. There are plus and minuses to have this plural life. I've realized that having doing 10% of ten things is twice as much work as doing 100% of one thing.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and actually, you know, when you sell a business, it's also a sense of pride that it worked for them as well. I think the very best deals are deals where both parties came happy.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, I'm just a very, very tired old discovery, which I'm driving into the ground before I buy an electric car. But there's got to be a reason for doing it. And the reason... The reason for creating companies partly because it is good fun. I thoroughly enjoy, you have an idea and you're creating something. And if seeing your idea come play out and you think, yeah, I was right, that hypothesis was right. So we pulled together some good people and it starts to work. And then 10 years later, absolutely that work. And we've got a whole load of people in employment. They're enjoying themselves. And the great thing also is when you step back from that and you think that thing, Moonbig has a life its own. I was in the car the other day and there was a moonbing advert came on the radio and I thought I've been out of that for a long time now. I haven't been involved, haven't worked there for 10 years. And yet that's...”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, the other thing I've realized, and I listened to something Bill Gates said, which is that if Bill Gates had become a doctor, he could have affected quite a few people's lives. But by going into business, he affected millions of people's lives. And he was very good at making money. And so I don't see anything wrong with pursuing. I mean, now I'm actively pursuing the businesses that I'm involved with, and I would love to make more money. But then that gives me the freedom to do something useful with that money. It has a whole other dimension to why are you doing it? I mean, I'm chasing it because I need another Lamborghini. Because I've got a very old battered discovery, and Lamborghini, it's just not what I.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's all the, you know, those things. One, you've got to be a good citizen. You've got to make a good contribution to society. Now, if you're good at business, you are, of course, helping to pay a lot of the bills, which is a great thing if you pay your taxes properly. But equally, it's about the way that you treat your employees. It's about the way that you treat the people around you. And all of those things, I think the things that you look back on your own life and you think, did I lead a good life? Was I a good person? Or do I regret look back and think, you know, I was a bit harsh?”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And if you look at that, then you're constantly measuring yourself by, well, look, actually, what do my friends think of me? Do they think I'm a good person? Am I a good person? Do I think I'm a good person? Look back on my life and be embarrassed at the way that I've trodden on people on the way up, and in which case, you know, don't tread on people on the way up. So it depends on what you regard as success, what you define as success in the beginning. I think, unfortunately, we too often we measure the things that are easiest to measure. And the easiest thing to measure is how wealthy someone is. So when I go back to talk at schools about all my old school, about, and you're invited along presumably because everyone's heard of a business that you've created, I'm reluctant to create this illusion that if you work incredibly hard, you can make a lot of money and that will make you successful. You have to be a successful human being.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think so I got great friends and great friends and great relationships and a lovely family. But that's partly comes down to standing back at it and thinking, you know, what is success? And I look at success, that more rounded thing, what makes you a successful human being?”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You can learn it a little bit quicker if you've got some really good. But basically, you've got to put the work in. Doesn't matter how rich you are, you can't buy that. You've actually got to put the work in.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And actually, the difficult thing is then, what do you do afterwards? I think there's one thing that a lot of people, they think a business of starting a business is about you start a business and then you're working towards an exit and happiness comes and exit. It doesn't. Happiness comes from the process of building a business and working with people and pulling together bright people, watching the work and creating this thing. I love the learning process. I think that's perhaps one of the other things that I learned out of all of this is that I really, really enjoy learning. And it doesn't matter how much money you've got, you can't learn Japanese any quicker.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was hoping there was going to be more gratifying. The teacher might just say, oh, I just felt you needed a bit of a kick to get yourself off your. And it worked, didn't it? So some people are driven by... And the people who are driven by demons are often it doesn't make them happy. It's like an itch they're scratching and it just makes it worse. Amen.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think you can be driven by two things. You can be driven by demons or driven by passion. And it's much better to be driven by passion than demons. Some people are. Some people were offended at the age of eleven by a comment that somebody made to them that they'll never amount to anything. And they have struggled ever since to prove to that person. A teacher said something bad to them. And then finally, they go back sort of 35 years later, they go back to school and they find this old teacher who says, well, I always thought you'd make something of yourself.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I realised very early on that if I wanted to avoid getting into that sort of competitive mindset of thinking that I have to be somewhere on that trajectory, I've satisfied what I need in terms of stuff, housing and whatever. And thereafter it's about being free to explore other things.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think in that very privileged position of having seen what it's like afterwards, because of course for most people they want more things. I think money, a lack of financial problems can bring you happiness, not having financial problems. Financial problems brings you misery. When you're beyond financial problems, you're neutral. And then there's financial freedom, which is I'm now free. I don't have to do the nine to five job. I have the option if I want to do other things. Beyond that, I'd say it's a pretty diminishing marginal returns. I mean, I think for some people, the more money they make, it's about it's not about the money itself. It's more about their position. If you're very competitive as a hierarchy of people and there's someone up there who's made, you've got Jeff Bezos up there. And they see themselves on that trajectory. They'll never quite be happy until they're up there and they'll never get there.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was going to be hard to get motivated just by making more money. So I wanted to have sure whatever I did after that was useful, so socially useful in some respect. But for that, you've got to kind of do the work. You've got to understand how to make a difference. And that first year really made me realize how complicated it is and how difficult it is to make a real difference in the world. So it's fascinating. And I wouldn't have been able to do that if I hadn't sold the company. I wouldn't have had the freedom to go off and do that.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Friends would say. So you do something with greeting cards. Is that something you do from your spare room? And it was very, very, very, I mean, having, because I'd run quite a big business in Russia. And then, of course, it turned into something serious. So it was an interesting challenge, which is how do you sort of reinvent yourself after that? And I actually stopped and I went into the charity sector full-time and I became a CEO of a children's charity for a year full-time. And then I became a trustee of that for another four years. Why? Partly because I think I sort of satisfy, I felt as I'd satisfied everything that I needed to, you know, I didn't want any more stuff, so I wasn't.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, though at the same time I think I'd got to a point where I delegated everything within the company and I had been largely focused on the sale process for a year or so so after that sales process was over you think well now the day to day running of this business has been left to the team they're all doing a fantastic job they're all bright and they're probably better than I am So me sticking around in that company, if I decided to carry on running the business for profit, I could have done, but I felt as though I'd run my course. I felt as though I'd done, I'd added everything I could add to that business. And there were lots of other things I wanted to do in life. So in a way, it was a challenge to sort of create an identity outside of that, you know, because for a long time I'd been Mr. Russia. I'd gone to Russia and everyone knew me as the person who went to Russia and did things in Russia. And then I did, as I started Moonpig, I fell into obscurity again. People think, oh, poor Nikki does something with greeting cards. And I go home at Christmas back to Shropshire.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, it was funny. I was interviewed afterwards on Sky, I think, and they said, well, you know, what are you going to buy? What are you going to do now? And I was like, What did you do immediately afterwards? And I cycled home and I made a peanut button jam sandwich. It's a bit of a weird anticlimax selling. I don't know how it was for you, but I went into a large room and I had to sign about 200 documents on my own. And then I sort of done it now. And they go on, create, well, money will be banked later on. Back of the bike, cycle home. That was it. Oh, there was no sort of, you know, no trumpets, you know, no signings, shaking hands. It was quite a non-event, really.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So by the time I sold, actually, it wasn't as if it was transformational because I hadn't spent the money. I still got all the money that I'd taken out as dividends.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because it was making money faster than we could spend it on advertising. So we just paid it out as dividends. Quite literally. I think we paid out about $30 million in dividends before we sold”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I sold most of it in 2011 and I rolled over into the venture capital investment in the new company. We basically merged two companies. We merged Photobox and Moonpig together with a lot of venture capital.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Your gross margin will go down, I'm thinking. What were you talking about? And then I asked her about this afterwards and she said, well, the problem is that supermarkets love to have young pioneer brands in. And they will allow you to be on their shelves. So it was a pyramid of products. And they allow you these little innovative little companies to add interest to their shelves. The moment that it looks interesting and you want to sell more of it, the supermarket goes, aha, now let's talk about the price. Because they know how to make that stuff even better than you do. They know how to squeeze you down to a barely acceptable margin. And so your margin, which looked okay at the beginning, they'll say, well, you can sell a lot more, but we're going to have to have a different price. And that was a lesson I learned from Deborah. So sitting back and listening sometimes, and Tuka's knowledge of supply chain and textiles in particular is quite fascinating.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, yeah, yeah. Because Their ankles. I learned a lot. I learned a very, very important lesson from Deborah about the food business and going to supermarkets. Oh, yeah. She was interrogating somebody and talking about their gross margin. And she said, well, of course, As soon as your sales go up,”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Than ever before, but uh, but I think I'm really looking forward to seeing this new series because I think you will add a different dimension to it in terms of thinking particularly the way that business is now, you know, the way that particularly tech businesses and the way that they're funded. It's very different from 20 years ago.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Partly because of that, I think there's also been a shift in attitude generally. And a lot of young people aspire to the idea that actually when you're young and you've got nothing to lose, You can afford to make more mistakes, so rather than say you can just go straight into it after school, start something. Crash and burn start again”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Type thing that you see in the apprentice. These are real businesses. And I think it's been very inspiring. I've seen a real shift in the time that I've been around in people's attitudes to becoming an entrepreneur.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, well, so I love the experience partly because it's very Forgiving television to make in the sense that you arrive on set, and apart from the fact that there are seven cameras, which was distracting for about the first hour or two, other than that, it's people walking through the door and they're saying, this is who I am, this is my business, and it's one of those things that I think if you're... If you're thinking about that as a potential career, It's about as realistic as you can get while still being entertaining. These are real businesses that people have spent sometimes several years developing and put their life and soul into it. It's not some concocted thing that here's £100, go and see how much cheese you can sell on the market.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're right. When you have to write a blog, actually write the words down. It really forces you to think about how to express things coherently in a way that Verbally, you can get away with a lot less discipline.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Or graphics, and that's the other thing. I do see the quality of decks in the last 15 years has dramatically improved. And in that, they're much, much more engaging. And there's some real creative genius behind some of the stuff. I mean, occasionally they don't talk about the numbers, which is quite important. The beautiful, beautiful, beautiful presentation and a big sort of, you know, you go through this docs end and it's all fantastic. Looks lovely, beautiful graphics. And then you think, you have kind of missed out the point about how you're going to make any money. So there's a lot more. So again, but that comes down to how you persuade people and how you present ideas. Not all of us understand things by listening. Some people understand by seeing. I see patterns in numbers, but not everyone does. And I realize that now that just because I happen to see something one way doesn't mean to say that everybody else sees it in that way. And you have to understand how people...”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. If we do this, this is the evidence we've got, that's what will happen. That's very convincing. So there's also being numerate and being able to explain things in numbers, which is”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In that context. And similarly, it may not necessarily be a spoken word. You've also got to be able to write well and convincingly. Then there's another side of it, which is the numeracy side. And I find that the most convincing is, but when you can express ideas in numbers and you say, look, this is the model that works. And you can prove it in numbers, it is a very convincing thing, particularly.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think a lot of that's practice and I think people make this sort of binary thing between public speaking, standing on a stage and speaking to a crowd of people versus not doing anything at all. And actually in between there's a whole load of stuff, which is working within a team and being able to, and that's where most people come up against it, is that they'll be sitting in a meeting with four or five other people and they've got something I want to say and if they're too nervous about saying something, they just don't say anything at all and then their ideas are never listened to.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's being recognized in schools. I do a lot in education now. So I see now more and more they recognize that that's a skill that is really important, that people should be able to look someone in the eye and be able to explain yourself very, very coherently.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I did a lot of public speaking at university and a lot of debating. And the skill I think that's important is the ability to be able to persuade people of your ideas, not necessarily public speaking, but in every meeting that you go to, you need to be able to look people in the eye and convince them that your idea is right. And that could be in a sales role. It could be sitting around a table with a bunch of developers and one of them saying, I think this is the right way forward. If you can't articulate yourself properly, then you're never going to be listened to. And that's a skill I think is...”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is going down. Bizarrely, I found that quite invigorating. When everything is going incredibly well, there were times when I think everything's going very well. Everyone's doing their job, frankly. I could be here and not be here. It doesn't make much difference.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I get just as irritated by that. There are times when you have to push on through that barrier. And if you've got three things going, and one of them is an easier journey, that's where you're going to focus yourself, when in fact the absolute time that you need to be completely focused on crashing through that wall that you've come up against. And that's where the best inspiration I ever had. And sometimes actually looking back, the most exciting times I ever had in my business were when my back was absolutely against the one thing, this is going down.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely laughable that people come along and they go, yeah, I've got three ideas and I'd like you to invest in this one, but I've got those just in case that one doesn't work.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I wouldn't invest in anybody that had multiple startups. Because if I'd had three businesses going at the same time as Moonvig and Moonvig was going badly, you focus on the one that's going well because it makes you feel better. And then the person they turn around to the investors who put money into the third one and they say, yeah, and I've given up with that one. I'm off to so there is no way. I mean, when I invest in a business, I would make sure that there is a clause that says that the founder shareholders have to be 100% focused on that. They're not allowed to have more than a 5% stake in another unlimited company. I'm pretty strict about that. I mean, I just think it's laughable.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think that's true. If you start a business with a lot of people start a business with nothing, and a lot of businesses fail. And as those businesses are failing, clearly, obviously you're down to your last pennies. And that's tough. So I think that the thing that they're describing is that is the last death throes of a business. And I've seen lots of businesses that I've invested in go through the same thing where there is no money left. You can't pay salaries. And the founders are down to, you know, they're living in the office under the desk and eating noodles. And so that happens. But it isn't an essential part of the journey. Generally, the death rows. Occasionally you survive. I mean, you know, had I not had that last bit of cash that I put in, I may well have been one of those cases.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of your people in the office, and they're working 24 hours a day, and you're sort of taking half the day off to go and do something fun. If you're awful. So I tried to make sure the same standards apply and that people should work a proper day's work in the hours that they would like to work within reason. But I do expect them to go off and go and do something different and recharge their batteries in the evening and the weekends. And, you know, because otherwise you just run out of steam. And particularly it was a creative business. We're trying to make people laugh. If you're exhausted and miserable, that's tough.”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, a lot of people confuse, oh, we're running your own business, you're working all the hours that God sends. I never did. If something needs to be done, and only I could do it, then I would do it. And there were times, you know, there's the odd time when I remember once when our entire printing team were off ill, and I came back from a business tryptoster from Australia to discover that we were three days behind on our printing schedule. And I simply got in the printing room. I was the only other person qualified to use the printer. So I just sat in the printing room and I worked 24 hours a day for three days, I think, to get it all done. So yes, there were times, but I had a great social life. I've always been a great believer also that I need to, I like to manage a business during reasonable hours. I don't think it's important that people need to sacrifice themselves on the altar of my business. I don't like them doing that. One, because it makes me feel guilty about skyping off. If you've got all of your whole...”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ever have that? Very definitely. You've got some people. I think creative genius always comes at a price. And it becomes because someone has focused on one thing at the expense of something else generally. And so you just have to work with it and say, right, okay, well, let's recognize person doesn't do that. And actually those skills can easily be dealt with by something else that get them a good. Someone who can get a good completer finisher behind them who picks up after them and then they will come up with the ideas that nobody else would have come up with. I think that works”
2021-09-13 · The Diary of a CEO · Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT