Virgin StartUp Changemakers

Virgin StartUp
  • 4.6 (7)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Monthly

Virgin StartUp Changemakers brings you live conversations with the founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping the future of business. Recorded in front of a live audience at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, each episode explores the real stories behind building a business: the bold decisions, defining moments, setbacks, breakthroughs and lessons that rarely make the headlines. From startup founders to industry leaders, these conversations cover entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, purpose, growth and the challenges of building businesses that create lasting impact. Expect honest stories, practical insights and unfiltered conversations from people changing industries and challenging convention. If you're building a business, leading a team or simply looking for inspiration from founders who've been there, this is your front-row seat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 18 Mar

    Build the Community Before You Sell: Pretty Little Marketer

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Pretty Little Marketer founder Sophie Miller to explore how listening to your audience, experimenting in public and building genuine connection can turn an online following into a thriving business. What started as an Instagram page Sophie created while feeling lost about her own marketing career has grown into a community reaching more than half a million people. Sophie shares how she built Pretty Little Marketer without a traditional business plan, responded to what her audience actually needed and eventually turned years of trust and community-building into a sustainable business. She also explores choosing the right social platforms, getting comfortable with being seen trying and why the systems behind your business matter long before you think you'll need them. Whether you're building an audience, growing a founder-led brand or trying to turn an engaged community into a viable business, this episode offers practical lessons on social media, experimentation, advocacy and building around the people you want to serve. In this episode: Starting before you know exactly what your business will becomeGetting comfortable with the cringe of trying something new in publicTurning an Instagram audience into a genuine communityWhy Sophie built Pretty Little Marketer by responding to what people asked forThe difference between building an audience and building a communityCreating connection between your customers, not just between them and your brandWhy community advocacy can become a powerful growth channelBeing an advocate for your business without making yourself the entire brandChoosing social platforms based on what you want to be known for and who you want to reachWhy doing one platform well can beat trying to be everywhereUsing new platforms as a sandbox for experimentationWhy systems and processes can future-proof a founder-led business when life doesn't go to plan Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Build the Community Before You Sell: Pretty Little Marketer

  2. 18 Feb

    Build the Brand Before You Have It All Figured Out: Desmond & Dempsey

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Desmond & Dempsey co-founder Molly Goddard to explore how a simple idea around pyjamas became a brand built around something much bigger: taking more pleasure in slowing down. From making their first 100 sets in London while working other jobs to collaborations with brands including H&M and the Natural History Museum, Molly shares how storytelling, curiosity and a willingness to ask for help shaped Desmond & Dempsey. She explores building a brand before perfecting the product, balancing creativity with commercial reality, working alongside her husband and co-founder and creating a culture where play and hard work can coexist. Whether you're building a consumer brand, turning a creative idea into a viable business or trying to protect what makes your brand distinctive as it grows, this episode offers practical founder lessons on storytelling, product, culture and building with curiosity. In this episode: Spotting the gap that became Desmond & DempseyWhy a little naivety can be an advantage when starting a businessAsking for help when you don't know how an industry worksTesting demand with the first 100 sets of pyjamasBuilding the brand story before the finished product existedWhy storytelling and product quality play different roles in customer loyaltyKeeping your purpose consistent while evolving how you communicate itBalancing creative integrity with the need to build a profitable businessCreating rituals that bring play, celebration and curiosity into company cultureWhat Molly has learned from building a business with her husband and co-founderWhy co-founders need to align on risk, work and integrityTreating mistakes as learning, as long as you don't make the same one twiceThe collaborations and milestones that created some of Desmond & Dempsey's biggest "pinch me" moments Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Build the Brand Before You Have It All Figured Out: Desmond & Dempsey

  3. 21 Jan

    Pick the Right Wave: Fanbytes

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Fanbytes founder Timothy Armoo to explore why building a successful business isn't just about how hard you work, but choosing the right opportunity to work on in the first place. From starting his first business at 14 to launching Fanbytes at university and eventually selling the influencer marketing company in an eight-figure exit, Timothy shares the mindset and lessons behind his entrepreneurial journey. He explores learning from failed businesses, building valuable skills, experimenting without becoming attached to the outcome and why founders should look for growing markets where demand is already emerging. Whether you're searching for a startup idea, building your first business or trying to work out where to focus next, this episode offers practical founder lessons on resilience, opportunity, experimentation and increasing your chances of building something people genuinely want. In this episode: Finding the "third door" when traditional routes to an opportunity are closedWhat Timothy's first failed business taught him at 14Why every big business starts with a small first transactionTreating failed ideas as training for the business that eventually worksBuilding the skills your next stage of growth requiresWhy your business doesn't have to become your identityUsing "it's not that deep" to navigate setbacks and founder pressureWhat happened when a £500,000 investment fell through at the last minuteWhy you should expect to act before you feel completely readyBuilding a network when you don't already have oneWhy Timothy doesn't believe founders need completely original ideasUsing "wave picking" to identify growing markets and better startup opportunitiesWhy what you choose to work on can matter more than how hard you work Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Pick the Right Wave: Fanbytes

  4. 19/11/2025

    Know Your Customer, Then Build: Childs Farm

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Childs Farm founder Joanna Jensen to explore how deep customer understanding, strong relationships and relentless persistence helped turn a personal problem into a major British skincare brand. Inspired by her daughter's eczema-prone skin, Joanna developed products she believed could better serve families like hers, testing early samples with parents before fighting to get Childs Farm onto the shelves of retailers including Waitrose and Boots. She shares how genuine customer recommendations transformed the business, why suppliers should be treated as part of your team and what founders need to understand before taking investment and eventually selling their company. Whether you're developing a consumer product, trying to win your first major retailer or preparing to scale a growing brand, this episode offers practical founder lessons on customer research, word of mouth, relationships, investment and building a business around a problem you genuinely understand. In this episode: Turning a personal problem into an opportunity to challenge an established categoryTesting early products with real customers before going to marketHow persistence helped Childs Farm break into Waitrose and BootsCreating a point of difference through clinical and user trialsThe customer Facebook post that helped transform the businessBuilding a marketing strategy around standout packaging, sampling and word of mouthWhy genuine customer advocacy can be more powerful than paid influenceTreating manufacturers and suppliers as an extension of your teamHow a strong supplier relationship helped Childs Farm through a major funding crisisWhat changes when you take money from external investorsNavigating the decision to sell a deeply personal businessWhy Joanna's most important founder advice is to know your customer inside out Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Know Your Customer, Then Build: Childs Farm

  5. 14/10/2025

    Turn Better Data Into Better Healthcare: Hertility

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Hertility co-founder Dr Helen O’Neill to explore what happens when scientific expertise, lived experience and a refusal to accept the status quo come together. From starting Hertility as a clinical trial to building a platform designed to give women better answers about their reproductive health, Helen shares why women’s healthcare has been held back by poor data, delayed diagnoses and systems that often intervene too late. She also explores funding a women’s health startup, building trust in a high-stakes category and why education is just as important as access when it comes to helping people understand their bodies. Whether you’re building in healthtech, solving a problem rooted in lived experience or trying to create change in an industry that has overlooked its customers for too long, this episode offers practical founder lessons on evidence, trust, resilience and building with purpose. In this episode: Why Hertility started as a clinical trial rather than a traditional startupTurning scientific expertise into a solution for an underserved healthcare problemWhy women are often asked to wait too long for answers about their reproductive healthWhat 7,000 expressions of interest revealed about unmet demandBuilding a healthcare product when there is no room for a careless MVPWhat founders can achieve before seeking external investmentWhy bringing potential critics into the process early can build trustThe funding challenges facing women’s health businessesHow Hertility is building better data on female reproductive healthWhat emerging data suggests about vaping and reproductive hormonesWhy reproductive health education is still missing from so many people’s livesBuilding a founding team around science, law and operations Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Turn Better Data Into Better Healthcare: Hertility

  6. 16/09/2025

    Purpose Is a Business Decision: Nice and Serious

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Nice and Serious co-founder Tom Tapper to explore how founders can turn purpose from something they talk about into something that actively shapes how they run their business. From landing a first project with Sky with no agency experience to building a purpose-led creative agency over 17 years, Tom shares why Nice and Serious is defined as much by the work it turns down as the work it takes on. He explores giving employees a genuine say in business decisions, creating campaigns that cut through, experimenting with ideas and why growing slowly can sometimes be smarter than chasing somebody else's version of success. Whether you're building a purpose-led business, developing your brand or trying to create marketing that people actually notice, this episode offers practical founder lessons on values, creativity, company culture and staying true to what your business exists to do. In this episode: Turning an unexpected first opportunity into a creative agencyWhy your purpose should guide what you say no to as well as what you pursueHow Nice and Serious uses its Moral Compass to let employees vote on prospective client briefsWhy turning down lucrative work can strengthen your brandGiving employees meaningful ownership over important business decisionsBuilding a values-led team without compromising on talent and qualityWhy surprise is one of the most powerful tools in marketingCreating distinctive campaigns without a huge marketing budgetTesting ideas rather than putting everything behind one big campaignFinding the intersection that makes your founder or brand voice distinctiveWhat an expensive expansion into New York taught Tom about chasing other people's definitions of successWhy protecting the quality of your work can matter more than growing quickly Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Purpose Is a Business Decision: Nice and Serious

  7. 19/08/2025

    Build Better, Then Make Noise: Mous

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Mous co-founder James Griffith to explore how relentless product development and attention-grabbing marketing helped turn an early failure into a global tech accessories brand. From losing their savings on the first version of Mous to moving to China to learn how to build better products, James shares why founders need to get the fundamentals right before chasing growth. He explores crowdfunding, testing marketing ideas, building viral content, delegating to a team you trust and why failure can become an invaluable source of learning when you're prepared to keep going. Whether you're developing a physical product, experimenting with startup marketing or trying to build a team capable of scaling with you, this episode offers practical founder lessons on product development, resilience, testing and creating a brand that gets noticed. In this episode: How dyslexia influenced James's route into entrepreneurshipWhy founders should build teams around complementary strengthsLearning to delegate rather than trying to control everythingWhat went wrong with the first version of MousMoving to China and getting paid to learn from earlier product mistakesWhy product quality needs to come before founder thought leadershipTesting products with real customers throughout developmentTurning crowdfunding into a launchpad for MousHow testing multiple ideas led to Mous's distinctive viral marketingWhy founders shouldn't be afraid of looking ridiculous when experimentingBuilding healthy disagreement into co-founder relationshipsDeveloping new products around capabilities rather than chasing unrelated opportunities Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Build Better, Then Make Noise: Mous

  8. 16/07/2025

    Curiosity Creates Categories: Seedlip and Sylva Labs

    In this live episode of Virgin StartUp Changemakers, Natalie Pearce sits down with Seedlip and Sylva founder Ben Branson to explore what can happen when founders follow their curiosity rather than simply searching for a gap in the market. From experimenting with botanical distillation at home to helping establish the alcohol-free drinks category, Ben shares the thinking behind Seedlip and his latest venture, Sylva, which explores the extraordinary flavours found in trees and wood. He reflects candidly on the personal sacrifices behind rapid growth, knowing what your brand will say no to and why his second time building a startup still comes with uncertainty, stress and the possibility of failure. Whether you're developing an original idea, creating a new category or questioning what growth should look like for your business, this episode offers a different perspective on curiosity, creativity, founder wellbeing and building without compromising what matters to you. In this episode: Why Ben's businesses begin with curiosity rather than market gapsHow a 17th-century book helped inspire the experiments behind SeedlipCreating a category when customers don't yet know they need itWhat Ben learned from Seedlip's rapid international growthWhy building a second startup doesn't make the uncertainty disappearDefining your brand by what you refuse to doUsing a "not now" list to protect your focus without abandoning good ideasWhy Sylva is exploring trees and wood as a new source of flavourRethinking what scale and success should look like the second time aroundHow a late autism and ADHD diagnosis changed Ben's understanding of himself and his work Changemakers is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start and scale the businesses they're passionate about. Recorded live at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, every episode features honest conversations with entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders sharing the lessons, challenges and ideas shaping the future of business. Looking to start or grow your own business? Find out more at virginstartup.org Brought to you in partnership with our friends at Virgin Money - the home of brighter business banking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Virgin StartUp Changemakers brings you live conversations with the founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping the future of business. Recorded in front of a live audience at Virgin StartUp's Changemakers events, each episode explores the real stories behind building a business: the bold decisions, defining moments, setbacks, breakthroughs and lessons that rarely make the headlines. From startup founders to industry leaders, these conversations cover entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, purpose, growth and the challenges of building businesses that create lasting impact. Expect honest stories, practical insights and unfiltered conversations from people changing industries and challenging convention. If you're building a business, leading a team or simply looking for inspiration from founders who've been there, this is your front-row seat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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