People Doing Things

Ed Little
  • 4.8 (56)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP

'People Doing Things' is a podcast series celebrating and inspiring the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Hosted by Ed Little a brand strategist and founder who runs his own branding agency called Roleplay, helping brands find their role in culture and play the part.

  1. Wahaca - Mark Selby

    31 JAN

    Wahaca - Mark Selby

    Introducing Mark Selby, the co-founder and CEO of Wahaca - the brand that sparked the UK's Mexican food revolution. The big, bland problem: Back in 2007, the UK was stuck in a Tex-Mex time warp. Think heavy cheese, stodgy nachos, and sombreros. It was a caricature of a culture that deserved better.  Mark and his co-founder Thomasina Miers saw this gap and turned it into a movement, bringing the vibrant, fresh, and zesty "market-style" food of Oaxaca to the streets of London. Today, Wahaca is much more than a restaurant; it's a blueprint for regenerative hospitality.  But as the brand has grown to 14 sites with a £40m turnover, it has run into a new kind of modern hurdle: the "chain" stigma. Mark has been vocal about the "noose" around his neck - the struggle of being a high-street innovator in a world where "chain" has become a dirty word to the younger generations. In this episode, we'll dig into the vision for Wahaca 2.0 with their killer new flagship restaurant in Paddington Square, the brutal resilience needed to survive the ups & downs of the hospitality world, and how chance encounters can change your life.  Tuck in.

    50 min
  2. Roots Allotments - Christian Samuel

    18/11/2025

    Roots Allotments - Christian Samuel

    Say hello to Christian Samuel, one of the great minds behind Roots Allotments, the brand that is completely reimagining local allotments for the 21st century. The big muddy problem: gargantuan waiting lists up and down the country. With the average waiting time being 2 years and some taking as long as 17 years - making it almost impossible for most people to grow their own food in the UK, made worse by the steep learning curve that often discourages beginners.  Roots Allotments saw this problem and turned it into an exciting movement - the no dig revolution. Founded by a team of friends from Bath, the brand provides a full-service, subscription-based plot complete with tools, seeds, unlimited compost, and expert support from an on-site Patch Manager. Today they have over 21 sites from Bath to Sheffield, Telford to Nottingham and a growing community of roughly 5,000 with a bold pledge to create a thousand growing communities in the next decade. But, as we all know, disrupting a traditional industry comes with challenges.  Roots has attracted significant protest from the left and right of the political spectrum. NIMBY locals who don't want to see 'their' grassland turned into community allotments. And those who believe capitalism, in any form, can be a force for good.   In this episode, we'll dig into the mission to democratise growth, how their VC-backed, full-service model works, the controversial relationship between social impact and scaling a profitable business. Ready to get your hands dirty?

    39 min
  3. Oat Cult - Ben da Costa

    27/10/2025

    Oat Cult - Ben da Costa

    Ben da Costa is one of brilliant minds behind Oat Cult - the overnight oats brand inviting you to join the cult (if you dare).  Having burst onto the breakfast scene earlier this year they've taken socials by storm with their standout packaging and provocative illustrative content as well as a debut brand film, parodying horror films like The Wicker Man, showcasing a fictional cult with a devotion to overnight oats - brought to life by a bootstrapped team of powerhouse creatives. The brand was born from a simple frustration: that breakfast is often a choice between "ultra-processed nonsense" or a "faff" you have to remember to prep 12 hours in advance.  Oat Cult provides a simple solution: the UK's first ready-to-mix overnight oat sachets that are high in fibre, free from added sugar, and packed with 1 billion live cultures to worship your gut. Merging two of the biggest trends in food right now: convenience and gut health, wrapping it up in a bold, subversive brand that is hard to forget.  In this episode, we're going to delve into them blowing their whole start-up budget on a make or break brand film, the risk it takes to make breakfast a bit more culty and why the food industry needs a bit more creativity and.  Tuck in, if you're brave enough.

    48 min
  4. My Skin Feels - Danielle Close

    20/10/2025

    My Skin Feels - Danielle Close

    Today, we are swapping the confectionery aisle for the bathroom cabinet with a founder who is turning the entire skincare world on its head. I'm excited to introduce Danielle Close, founder of My Skin Feels - the award-winning brand that is turning food waste into feel-good skincare. Danielle spent nearly 15 years in the beauty industry, including a formative role on the founding team of Charlotte Tilbury, where she saw first-hand just how unsustainable and confusing the industry had become, followed by 10 years as a creative consultant. The lightbulb moment came when she realised: if no one was going to change the industry so she had to prove it could be done. Now, her products are created using the antioxidant-rich by-products from things like tomato ketchup, olive oil, and breakfast oats. This is rescued food that is not only kind to the planet but is showing incredible results on sensitive and eczema prone skin. In this episode, we dive into how Danielle went from the high-glamour world of mega-brands to finding 'beauty in waste', the fascinating connection between intuition and entrepreneurship (yes, she is also a Professional Psychic Medium!), and how listening to your skin is the quickest way to listen to your entire self. Grab your cleanser and enjoy.

    40 min
  5. Wild Thingz - Fliss Newland

    08/10/2025

    Wild Thingz - Fliss Newland

    Introducing Fliss Newland, founder of Wild Thingz - the venus-fly-trap-bug-eating kids sweet brand with no artificials and half the sugar of traditional sweets. And they're vegan too on a mission to take the mental load off parents wherever they can stocked in the likes of Ocado, Amazon, Wholefoods and Planet Organic with more on the horizon.    Having been an international sweet pusher for Mondelez for six and a half years before taking the jump to turnaround a 40 year-old vegan sweet brand. Not only do they taste incredible but they are organic, natural and half the sugar, reborn as Wild Thingz.  The brand's origin is rooted in a deeply personal and universal problem: the "sweet dilemma". A problem many parents face, navigating the confectionery aisle where parents are torn between their children's demands for fun, tasty treats and their own heatlh concerns. In this episode we explore how Fliss went from 'corporate baddie' to passionate founder, the power of mums in the workplace and how brand positioning really can make all the difference. Grab your sweets and enjoy.

    41 min
  6. Top Cuvée - Brodie Meah

    21/08/2025

    Top Cuvée - Brodie Meah

    Say hello to Brodie Meah, founder of Top Cuvée - London's top spot for new wines and a hallmark of the UK's progressive wine scene.  Founded in January 2019 as a neighborhood wine bar and restaurant Top Cuvée has found numerous ways to express itself over the last six years. From their original restaurant in Highbury and wine shop around the corner to their underground wine bar Cave Cuvée in Shoreditch's Bethnal Green Road. They've also become famous for their house wines and vermouths as well as parkside delivery service, serving up the world's best wines right to your feet - blurring the lines between physical retail, restaurant and DTC deliveries.  For Brodie his love of hospitality started in Manchester collecting glasses in nightclubs to fund his TV & Film Production degree. Soon he was hooked. Gradually moving up the ranks to running some of the city's best bars and restaurants before moving to Melbourne to work at 'Dinner by Heston' - a Michelin star restaurant which is part of The Fat Duck Group.  Inspired by his time in Melbourne, Brodie returned to the UK, to try his luck and go for broke. In this episode we talk about the rise of the natural wine movement, the power of adaptability and the beautiful tensions at play within the Top Cuvée brand universe. Take a sip, savour it and enjoy.

    39 min
  7. Grubby - Martin Holden-White

    31/05/2025

    Grubby - Martin Holden-White

    Meet Martin, founder of Grubby. If you haven't heard of them, Grubby is the UK's first plant-based recipe kit, on a mission to make plant-based cooking so delicious and accessible, you'll never even think about missing meat. Martin's journey is a wild one. From a B2B office delivery service pre-COVID to landing back at his parents' place in 2020 with every penny spent, wondering what was next. The answer? A direct-to-consumer recipe kit for plant-curious eaters. They kicked off with a with £100k angel investment from a chance encounter at a supper club followed by a £100k grant from Innovate UK's Sustainability Fund. They then raised a whopping £6 million through new angels, a VC and a massive crowdfunding campaign, bringing in over 1000 individual investors. But don't let those numbers fool you; it was far from easy. Martin faced a near-trademark defeat in the early days and almost went bust not once, but twice! Yet, they've successfully navigated the peaks and troughs of the plant-based movement, even acquiring the recipe IP from All Plants after their administration earlier this year. Today, Grubby boasts over £5 million in revenue, with 2.4 million meals sold. In this episode, we're talking about the incredible power of persistence, the current state of plant-based eating in 2025, and what the future holds for this truly resilient plant-based pioneer. Tuck in!

    45 min
  8. Citizens of Soil - Sarah Vachon

    26/05/2025

    Citizens of Soil - Sarah Vachon

    Introducing Sarah Vachon, the brainchild behind Citizens of Soil - the regenerative olive oil brand championing the farmers' who deserve a seat at the table - cold pressed extra virgin olive oil from small batch producers in Greece and Spain as well as rarer varieties from the likes of Italy, Portugal and Croatia. Full of polyphenols and powerful antioxidants, there's a reason why people in the Mediterranean live for so long.  As one of the most faked products in the world, Citizens of Soil is an advocate for a more sustainable, transparent and ethical model of farming. And for Sarah, it was a chance to put principle into practice having worked at Provenance, the supply chain software company based on blockchain. Founded in 2021, her and her husband Michael made light work of their growth - having started in DTC they are now stocked in prestigious retailers like Waitrose, Selfridges and Ocado. But their story goes far beyond the bottle. At their heart lies a deep commitment to investing in the land, fostering a culture that values soil health and the future of food. In a time of rising prices, Citizens of Soil offers a beacon of hope, demonstrating that a dedication to quality and ethical practices can flourish.  Fresh from a significant £1.8 million investment, they're cultivating not just olives, but a powerful vision inspired by the rich mythology of the land. Tune in to be inspired by their journey and the stories that shape their exceptional brand.

    53 min
See All (100)

4.8
out of 5
56 Ratings

About

'People Doing Things' is a podcast series celebrating and inspiring the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Hosted by Ed Little a brand strategist and founder who runs his own branding agency called Roleplay, helping brands find their role in culture and play the part.

Information

  • Creator
    Ed Little
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    People Doing Things

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