E1 Delivering Pizzas to Managing a Billion Dollar Business | Ben Francis Gymshark CEO

Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal

27-09-2021 • 1 hr 36 mins

"We'll look back at this period in ten, twenty, thirty years time as the moment of opportunity"

In this first ever episode of Deep Dive, Ali sits down with Ben Francis, the founder and CEO of leading UK Billion-Dollar fitness brand, Gymshark. Ben founded Gymshark at only 19 years old while studying at Aston University. With only his £5 an hour pizza delivery shift money in his back pocket, Ben went from hand making and screen printing clothes in a shed with a group of friends to owning one of the fastest growing global brands in fitness.

Once the antidote to what Ben calls a "selfish-problem", Gymshark is now the host of a global community of athletes, artists, visionaries, and innovators with a mission to inspire individuals to achieve the extraordinary. But the question is, how did he do it? In the episode Ben and Ali have a candid and in-depth conversation about building a viral brand, self-development and why the age of entrepreneurialism is now. Ben also gives Ali advice on his new business structure, offering tips on hiring, distributing control and how to reinvent yourself as a business person.

Some topics of conversation:

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Creating a viral brand
  • Reinventing yourself
  • Scaling a business
  • Goal setting
  • And lots more!

Connect with Ben

Website: https://www.benfrancis.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benfrancis/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benfrancis1992?lang=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BenFrancis

Connect with Ali

Website: https://aliabdaal.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliabdaal/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliAbdaal

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/aliabdaal

Find any resources mentioned on the website: https://aliabdaal.com/ben-francis/

Sponsored by Brilliant

This episode is kindly supported by Brilliant, the best way to learn maths, science and computer science online. Brilliant focuses on helping you learn through interactive courses that work to develop your intuition and first principles knowledge, rather than just memorising methods and facts. Sign up at https://brilliant.org/deepdive - the first 200 people will receive 20% off the annual premium subscription.

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