Business Leader

GoFundMe is one of the world’s biggest crowdfunding platforms. It focuses on charitable donations and has generated over $30bn in funds since it launched in 2010. It is based in San Diego, California and has more than 800 employees. But it has been led by a Brit, Tim Cadogan, since 2020.Dougal Shaw speaks to Tim Cadogan in the latest episode of the Business Leader Podcast. Cadogan grew up and studied in the UK, before moving to California in order to pursue his dream career in tech. After two stints with big management consultancies, he worked at Yahoo! for five years, before co-founding his own adtech start-up, OpenX. He discusses the unique challenges of operating in the donations space, how AI can help digital fundraising and how his business makes money...

Kenny Wilson speaks to Graham Ruddick about the story behind how Dr Martens, the famous footwear brand, trebled its annual revenues to £1 billion while he was chief executive. It is a story that begins with Kenny Wilson as a promising footballer at Aberdeen while Sir Alex Ferguson was manager, involves learning about brand and leadership at Levi's, and has some challenges along the way...

What are the business books you should be reading right now? What are the leading CEOs and founders reading? Josh Dornbrack, Graham Ruddick and Sarah Vizard get together to discuss what the business world is reading and what they would recommend to you. Plus, they do a blind-ranking of some all-time classics...

Who are the fastest-growing businesses in the UK and what are the stories behind them? Graham Ruddick, Sarah Vizard, Dougal Shaw and Robert Watts get together to discuss what Business Leader has founded by building the Growth 500, the most comprehensive guide ever to Britain's fastest-growing businesses

Imran Hakim is a serial entrepreneur and has built Hakim Group into a collection of independent opticians across the UK. But he also found extraordinary success through Dragons Den and invented a toy that became one of the UK's most popular Christmas presents. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, Victoria Price speaks to Imran Hakim about building his business, Dragons Den and the challenge of being a parent and chief executive...

Nick Grey is the founder and owner of Gtech, which he has built into a multi-million-pound technology business. Gtech started out with vacuum cleaners, but has since expanded into power tools, hair dryers and much more. Grey is the inventor behind many of its original designs, initially working from his home in Worcestershire. He founded Gtech in 2001 having previously worked as a window-fitter on building sites and a lab technician at Vax.Dougal Shaw went to meet Nick Grey at Gtech Community Stadium, where football club Brentford play, to hear the story behind this innovative UK success story...

Graham Ruddick and Sarah Vizard are joined by Rob Watts and James Whittaker, the head of UK wealth management and chief executive of Deutsche Bank UK, to discuss what it takes to build a billion-pound business in the UK. Who are the people who have done this? What are their stories? And what are the 56 businesses on Business Leader's list of Great British Billion-Pound Businesses? All this and more is covered in the latest episode of the Business Leader Podcast.This episode is sponsored by Deutsche Bank Wealth ManagementTo see the full-list of Great British Billion-Pound Businesses please click this link: https://businessleader.co.uk/feature/gbbpb

Dougal Shaw checks-in to a Yotel for a guided tour of the business with CEO Hubert Viriot. The brand is known for its compact, functional but stylish designs. It was started by British entrepreneur Simon Woodroffe, who also founded the Yo! Sushi food chain. Inspired by high-end, long-haul travel and the minimalism of Japanese hotels, he opened the first Yotel at Gatwick Airport in 2007. The idea was successful and expanded to other international airports. Hubert Viriot joined the business as CEO in 2014 with a mission to supercharge the concept with global expansion, taking it into urban areas. It now has 23 hotels in cities around the world, in places like New York, Miami, Singapore, Geneva and Edinburgh. So what’s the secret formula for Yotel and how do you scale a new hotel brand?

Bruce Bratley has gone from studying for a PhD to building one of the UK’s most successful recycling businesses. He founded the waste management and recycling company First Mile in London in 2004. It now has 200 employees, an annual turnover of £50m and helps more than 30,000 businesses around the UK with recycling solutions. Its clients include large companies like Pret, Caffè Nero, Netflix and Amazon, as well as small businesses ranging from clothes stores to restaurants. First Mile collects more than 65,000 tonnes of waste every year using zero and low-emission vehicles and electric cargo bikes, which it takes to recycling centres. Bratley explains to Dougal Shaw how he built the business from scratch as well as offering some tips on how to recycle more intelligently...