Ben Francis

I love Jim Shark.

I think what he, Ben Francis, has done with that company is brilliant.

He started sewing out of his basement.

He was a pizza delivery guy.

I can't imagine.

Can I teach you a lesson that I learned from Ben Francis that didn't happen on the podcast? So we went for Nando's in Manchester at Gymshark Lift LA weekend.

And he'd got his EA to text me and say where it was going to be and when, or maybe he'd text me or whatever.

And I walk in and he's sat down reading something on his phone or watching or whatever.

He was just there.

I sat down and we got talking.

For the people who don't know, Ben Francis is the CEO of Gymshark and his net worth is three times what Drake is worth.

Triple Drake.

Yeah.

and then all of a sudden nearly every like transaction we was doing had like an Irish entity within it basically because they are the first to move and then you've got the individuals and we see loads of sides of it and we spoke about it on the podcast quite a bit but this isn't just because it's billionaires doesn't mean that you should ignore it but Iman spoke about AJ you've got a Gymshark Ben Francis you've got the CEO of Revolut you've got this guy the third highest taxpayer in the UK yeah The signs are all there.

And not only are the signs all there that, like, look, they're not getting enough for what they pay, but it also means that the government is going to be more reliant on further taxes, unfortunately.

I say, like, Hamilton is in Monaco.

But a lot of entrepreneurs in Dubai are spending money that they made in their home country in Dubai.

That's all it is.

Do you get what I'm trying to say? You take someone like, for example, Ben Francis, Gymshark, the empire has been made.

I'm just using the funds in another country because they've welcomed me.

We do gym, as they say.

And Ben Francis is one of the most remarkable young leaders I've ever met.

He's the founder and CEO of Gymshark, and he's only 33 years old.

And in 13 years, he has built an iconic global brand.

And how has he done it? By keeping it absolutely pure and wanting to build a company that can outlast him.

It's a very, very small number, which is why they're

called unicorns out of the millions and millions and tens of millions of businesses that exist.

And I think a lot of young entrepreneurs, you know, they look to Silicon Valley as their model and they look and they, you know, the ambition is the IPO and the ambition is wealth and the, you know, and so it's very rare to hear people a CEO to hear a founder say, I want to build a hundred year business.

It's like they've weeded that out almost totally.

'Cause I'm with you, and I think this is the whole kind of paradox that sits at the heart of this show quite a lot, right? Is that in a way, the world has never been more meritocratic, right? And you can look at examples, you know, like Steve Bartlett, Ben Francis being able to achieve great things and wealth kind of in their 20s.

Yet at the same time, it's kind of become harder because all the career ladders have been broken.

So you can't go from the shop floor to the boardroom as easily, although there are some people.

Like they need to get out their own way.

Like Ben Francis at Gymshop, whilst he obviously founded that and that's an unbelievable business.

Yeah.

One day he was like, I can't be the CEO of his business.