The Naked Founder

When Daniel Burton’s nine-year-old daughter Ella asked for a £300 hairdryer, his response was simple: ‘Build your own.’
Burton is the guest on the season one finale of The Naked Founder podcast, where he explains why it’s vital that children understand the value of money.
That conversation with his daughter ultimately led to the launch of IONI, an independent British technology business created to design and manufacture high-end consumer electronics that are affordable and accessible to all.
In this episode of The Naked Founder, Burton also talks about:
His mission to change the world of smart home technology;
Living in his own sustainable smart home;
Why he’ll never quit; and
The loneliness of being a sole founder.
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle – The Home of Money for Women – and produced by Dan Brown at Renowned.
 
Chapters
00:00 – Intro & Meet Daniel Burton00:50 – The Question We Always Ask01:29 – Ella's Story: Build Your Own Hairdryer03:22 – Tough Love & Kids Standing on Their Own04:00 – Leaving School at 1605:04 – Are Schools Built for Entrepreneurs?06:20 – The Idea Behind Wondrwall07:24 – Where the Name Wondrwall came From08:13 – The Original Vision: An Intelligent Home09:22 – Heating Only the Room You're In10:32 – Building Net Zero Homes11:33 – Inside Daniel's Own Smart Home13:22 – How Much Customers Save13:48 – The Gas Boiler Ban That Never Came15:10 – The Pivot: Energy as a Service16:51 – How the Subscription Model Works18:05 – Funding, Revenue & Headcount18:45 – The Hardest Part of Being a Founder19:47 – Doubt, Difficult Times & Staying the Course20:06 – A Backup Job22:36 – Final Advice to Founders
 

Dez Derry’s story is one of resilience, ambition and the power of dreaming big.
 
Born into a traditional Indian family in Walsall in 1982, Derry suffered years of physical abuse before he and his two younger brothers were adopted together by a loving white family.
 
Derry went on to become a successful entrepreneur, launching the digital marketing consultancy that evolved into customer acquisition specialist Blume and grew to £30m turnover.
 
But selling the business and being retired at 40 brought an unexpected challenge.
 
Despite dismissing warnings that he would lose his sense of purpose and identity after exiting, Derry admits that was exactly what happened.
 
What changed was drawing on his own experiences in the care system and becoming an ambassador for Adoption Matters and Foster Care Matters.
 
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, he also talks about:
 
·      Why, regardless of where you come from, you should never be afraid to dream;
 
·      Giving a car to Afghan refugee, Adnan Miakhel, to help him pursue his cricketing ambitions;
 
·      How his white adoptive parents showed him what true love was;
 
·      How selling nail varnish changed the direction of his career;
 
·      Retiring at 40 and losing his identify; and
 
·      Why he’s determined to use his experiences of the care system to help others.
 
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle – The Home of Money for Women – and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters:00:00 – Intro & Welcome01:08 – The Question We Always Ask02:06 – Vision Boards & Dreaming Big02:33 – A Difficult Childhood03:49 – Adopted05:16 – Trauma, Resilience & Work Ethic06:11 – Breaking In: Selling Nail Varnish08:10 – Building MMA Digital09:38 – Bootstrapping With No Money10:10 – Scaling Blume to £30M10:47 – Why He Sold Blume11:42 – Life After the Exit12:30 – Finding a New Purpose15:20 – His Message on Fostering & Adoption17:13 – Adnan's Story & Field of Dreams19:41 – Angel Investing Since Blume21:12 – What He Looks For in Founders21:52 – Launching Escapism (Music Venture)23:12 – Contact With Biological Parents24:06 – Losing Dad & Family Reflections26:33 – Final Advice to Founders
 

As group managing director of Mazuma Mobile and data erasure specialist ICT Reverse, Craig Smith oversees businesses with combined turnover of more than £50m – but it wasn’t always like that.
At the start of his career, he took a 70 per cent pay cut to become an office junior because he believed it would broaden his business horizons.
After spending more than 30 years in the industry, Smith has earned the nickname ‘Mr Mobile’ – but he insists his work has only just begun.
Every day, up to 1,000 mobile phones – including broken ones – arrive at Mazuma Mobile’s Morecambe offices, with an average payment of £250 per phone.
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, he also talks about:
Being a schoolboy wheeler-dealer
Why his dad will always be his hero
Spotting the opportunity in second-hand phones
Securing former Director General of the CBI Lord Digby Jones as an adviser for FREE
Why splitting with your co-founder can be amicable
How Mazuma became stadium sponsor of Morecambe FC’s ground
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned

Suzanne Waring is arguably Britain’s most straight-talking boss.
She’s the managing director of The Helping Hands Group in Lancashire and says honesty and trust are her absolute non-negotiables.
It’s the reason why she’ll never employ ex-prisoners or agency staff.
“I don’t want anyone who has dropped out the back of a prison van working for me,” she said. “Let someone else give them a second chance.”
She tells The Naked Founder podcast that recruitment is hard because people don’t want to work. “They all want the handfuls of cash but they don’t want the graft,” said Waring.
The mum of twin boys was working for the police when she decided in 1999 to launch her own cleaning business.
Twenty-seven years later, The Helping Hands Group has four divisions, employs 40 people and has a turnover of more than £1m.
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, she also talks about:
How a member of staff tried to take her business
Why she’s not interested in succession planning
How she rolled up her sleeves during Covid to get cleaning
Being OCD when it comes to her own house being tidy
Why AI will never replace a personal service
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters:00:00 – 27 Years, a Mop & a Peugeot 106: Meet Suzanne Waring01:01 – What She Wishes She'd Known: Not Everyone is Like You01:45 – The OCD That Started a Business02:33 – Gave Birth and Changed Her Mind About Work on the Table03:52 – Down the School Gates: "I'm Starting a Cleaning Business."04:23 – What Makes Helping Hands Different: Teams, Not Solo Cleaners05:24 – Why Trust Is the Real Product06:14 – The Four Arms of the Business Today07:17 – Hoarders, Clearances & What You Find in People's Houses08:16 – The Retired NHS Nurse Who Knocked on Her Door and Changed Everything09:26 – Full Home Care: Clients She's Had for 25 Years, Now in Their 90s10:47 – Her Non-Negotiables: DBS Checks, Rigorous Training, My Way or the Highway12:16 – The Staff Member Who Tried to Steal Her Clients While She Was Away13:38 – COVID: She Furloughed Everyone, Then Picked Up the Mop Herself14:47 – Why She Couldn't Let Someone Else Step In When She Didn't15:21 – Grandma Lena, Fred & Where Her Work Ethic Actually Comes From17:31 – Her Golden Rules: Honesty, Trust & Not Taking Prisoners18:34 – Why She'll Never Use Agency Staff19:03 – What Recruitment Really Looks Like20:07 – Has She Used AI? 21:39 – Turned 60, Not Thinking About Selling, Not Done Yet22:37 – Her Dad Retired at 77 and Said It Was the Worst Thing He Ever Did23:48 – Letter to a Founder
 

After a successful corporate career, Ruth Percival became a founder in her 50s and has grown Contollo Group into a £37m business in just two years.
Ruth Percival had seen the highs and lows of corporate life before becoming a first-time founder in her 50s – and she’s been making up for lost time ever since.
Just two years after launching built environment consultancy Contollo Group, she’s made five acquisitions and grown the business to £37m turnover and 230 staff – with ambitious plans to double in size.
In the latest episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Percival reveals why she’s finally found her dream job.
“It’s my favourite (job) so far,” she said of being a founder. “I’ve absolutely loved this role. I feel like I’m thriving in it. I’m a deeply curious person and I’m stretched all the time but in a good way. It’s forced me to stretch myself.”
In this episode of The Naked Founder, Percival also talks about:
Tackling misogyny in the male-dominated world of corporate finance
The importance of choosing the right investor
Why she regrets not raising more money at the start
Being married to legendary dealmaker Jonathan Boyers
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters:00:00 – First-Time Founder at 5100:58 – What She Wishes She'd Known02:03 – Why Women Say What They've Done, Men Say What They're Capable Of03:24 – Built £38M in Two Years and Apologising for Going Too Slow04:04 – Made Redundant at Fishawack04:17 – The Silver Lining06:09 – Why She Chose Northedge06:39 – The No D*ckheads Rule07:33 – "It's My Favourite Job So Far"08:14 – How Stress Shows Up09:53 – Studying Genetics, Breaking the Electron Microscope & Being Told It Wasn't for Her10:25 – Going Wild at University After a Strict Upbringing11:22 – Her Dad Was an Accountant. So She Became One. Then She Hated It.13:15 – The Epiphany Outside Smithfield Market15:33 – Into Corporate Finance16:02 – "Dial It Down": The Advice a Senior Partner Gave Her That Still Bothers Her21:30 – Working Twice as Hard Just to Compete With an Average Male Counterpart22:07 – Why She Named It Contollo23:28 – Jonathan Boyers : Mr. Corporate Finance, Four-Time Deal Maker of the Year - and Her Husband25:00 – Two Years, No Income & an Investment Club That Never Happened Before Contollo Did27:37 – Meeting Every Single Member of Staff Who Joins the Business28:01 – Buy and Build Means They Didn't Choose to Join Contollo29:48 – The Icebreaker She Uses Every Quarter31:38 – The Memory That Sticks32:08 – Talking About the Menopause32:38 – Finding the Right Investor Is the Difference Between Loving the Job and Misery33:55 – 160 Targets, AI-Powered Deal Origination & 12 New Businesses Met This Month Alone36:42 – The Plan37:54 – No Regrets38:34 – Letter to Her Younger Self

Adam Ward is the CEO of Airtime Rewards and told The Naked Founder podcast about the two events that changed the course of his life.
In March 2023, the collapse of California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) left him fearing the worst.
All of Airtime Rewards' money was tied up with SVB, leaving Ward facing an anxious wait before HSBC stepped in and guaranteed all deposits.
The other life-changing moment came when his son, Max, was diagnosed with the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome.
The experience prompted Ward to launch the Max Ward Foundation to support other families affected by Angelman syndrome.
In this episode of The Naked Founder, Ward also talks about:
Swapping a law degree for a career in tech
Why founders need to prioritise their fitness
Growing Airtime Rewards into a £40m-turnover business
The importance of finding the right co-founder
Why he's not thinking about an exit
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters
00:00 - Introducing Adam Ward, CEO of Airtime Rewards00:53 - The psychological weight nobody warns you about01:30 - The 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse04:23 - A weekend of crisis talks and government lobbying05:58 - Monday: back to work, staff none the wiser07:36 - Dropping accountancy for a law degree08:43 - Learning to code09:58 - Building a mobile ringtone business at university12:06 - Choosing the business over finishing his law degree12:47 - Selling Wapfly Technologies to 2ergo13:47 - Founding Karrot, now Airtime Rewards, in 201416:26 - Airtime Rewards today: scale and team17:24 - Why Manchester and London, and the Wire accelerator18:16 - Choosing co-founder Josh20:21 - Bootstrapping instead of chasing fundraises22:40 - Turning down acquisition offers23:54 - Son Max's diagnosis with Angelman syndrome28:10 - Setting up the Max Ward Foundation29:45 - Where business and parenting a child with additional needs overlap30:23 - Expanding to Germany, then refocusing on the UK31:50 - Losing 25kg and putting health first34:09 - Is there an exit strategy for Airtime Rewards?34:44 - A letter to a founder on day one

Three-time founder Jennie Johnson has experienced the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur.
She sold her first business, Kids Allowed, after growing it to eight sites and 500 colleagues.
However, she closed her second business, parenting app My First Five Years, after realising she couldn't achieve the traction needed to make it sustainable.
Now she's back with her third business, Vets at Home, the trading name of The Pet Euthanasia People, which allows people to give their pets a peaceful goodbye at home.
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Johnson also talks about:
The mistake of sacrificing your health for business successWhy business success is a 'wiggly path' rather than a straight lineThe juggling challenge facing female foundersWhy every bruise in business is also a lessonThe importance of founders owning failureThe Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
Chapters00:00 - Introducing serial entrepreneur Jennie Johnson MBE00:33 - What she wishes she'd known about founding a business02:03 - Riding the highs and lows without losing balance03:18 - Why Kids Allowed succeeded and My First Five Years didn't07:57 - Culture and colleagues: the pivotal parts of success10:14 - Purpose, motherhood, and juggling multiple roles12:02 - Selling Kids Allowed right before Covid — and the health toll16:10 - Closing My First Five Years: what she'd do differently18:40 - The idea behind Vets at Home19:38 - Finding co-founder Mike21:22 - The need for at-home end-of-life pet care24:05 - How the new business is performing25:39 - Choosing the right co-founder each time round27:00 - Feeling different the third time as a founder28:17 - Failure, driving tests, and the journey to success29:11 - Building a tribe of fellow female founders31:09 - Closing question: a letter to a founder starting out

Clare Roberts OBE is one of the UK's most successful female founders.
The CEO of Kids Planet Day Nurseries is part of the rare 'Superscaler' community of UK women who have founded businesses generating more than £50m in annual revenue.
She founded the business with her dad, John, in 2008 after struggling to find flexible childcare for her daughter and deciding there had to be a better way.
Today, Kids Planet has grown to more than 300 nurseries and is now the UK's second-largest nursery provider, caring for more than 40,000 children.
Despite her success, Roberts says she likes people to think she's 'normal' and approachable.
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Roberts also discusses:
Scaling a £200m-turnover businessHow she mistook early menopause for early-onset dementiaWhy she hates women-only awardsPolitics and why it needs to be done differentlyThe rules of working with your sisterRaising investmentWhy fitness is a non-negotiable in businessThe Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters00:00:00 - Why are there so few female founders?00:02:11 - Introducing Clare Roberts OBE and Kids Planet00:03:10 - What she wishes she'd known at the start00:04:17 - Mum of three, "mum" to 40,000 kids00:06:31 - Founding Kids Planet in 2008 with her dad00:08:41 - Problem-solving and breaking the ice with 9,000 staff00:11:09 - Scaling from 2 nurseries to 300+00:13:34 - Running a family business with her sister and dad00:16:37 - Taking investment00:20:14 - The hardest part of being a founder00:22:15 - Menopause, brain fog, and talking about it openly00:25:39 - Why so few female "super scalers"00:27:35 - Fixing how schools teach kids to think00:30:34 - AI, the future of work, and politics00:32:03 - How Kids Planet identifies acquisitions00:33:16 - On women-only awards and events00:35:48 - How her daughters and staff would describe her00:37:15 - Charity trekking, fitness, and the half marathon00:39:50 - A letter to her younger self

Sean Brown is the founder of tech startup Versori, which was acquired earlier this year by US tech giant Avalara.
The deal was remarkable because Brown and Daniel Jones had only founded the next-generation integration platform specialist four years earlier.
However, success has not come without significant sacrifices. Brown recalls leaving his wife and newborn child to attend the Y Combinator programme in San Francisco for three months.
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Brown discusses:
Working alongside Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett in his early days
How a skydive saved him from being skint in Australia
Launching his own cryptocurrency, SeanCoin – but only for people called Sean
Understanding the importance of having the right team
Why he still gets a buzz from building things
How a Post-it note bearing the words 'profit' and 'purpose' drives his decision-making
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters:00:00 – The Story That Just Got Acquired by US Tech Giant Avalara:00:24 – What Nobody Told Him: It's Not About You, It's About the Team01:52 – Why He Doesn't Call Himself Resilient - He Just Likes to Build02:33 – Happy Place: Maldives at 2am, Laptop Out, Waves in the Background03:51 – Broke in Australia, Sniffing Bakeries & Raffling a Skydive He Didn't Own06:41 – Growing Up Above Rough Pubs: Why His Relationship With Risk Is Completely Inverted07:52 – Psychometric Test Says: Unemployable. He Agrees.09:08 – Social Scuba, $6,000 & Learning to Code From YouTube at 2010:56 – Working With Steven Bartlett Before Anyone Knew Who He Was13:44 – Sean Coin: Why He Launched His Own Cryptocurrency 15:45 – 24 Staff, Millions in Revenue - and How He Learned to Be a Terrible Boss17:28 – Leadership Flaws19:10 – The Problem That Built The Story20:26 – Building a Connector Engine Instead of Pre-Built Connectors23:45 – 50% of Pipeline Comes From Conferences - Here's Exactly How He Works a Room25:53 – We Don't Fish, We Hunt27:08 – 100% Close Rate From Qualified Meetings: Why Cold Calls Are a Waste of Time28:01 – Four Weeks Post-ACL Surgery, Flew to San Francisco, Knee Blown Up29:07 – 310% Growth, Y Combinator & the Who's Who of Startup Validation30:18 – Three Months in San Francisco, Newborn at Home, House Already Sold to Fund It31:11 – 260 Investor Calls in Three Weeks: Refining the Pitch 1% at a Time32:04 – Raising - Term Sheet Signed in Austin on a Wednesday33:16 – Why the Avalara Acquisition Felt Like a Match Made in Heaven35:41 – Family First, Then Keep Building: Why He Said Yes to the Deal37:50 – Five Identical Sweatshirts, One Post-It Note: The Mind That Doesn't Waste a Thought38:48 – No More Existential Dread: What It Feels Like to Found Inside a Huge Company39:30 – Profit and Purpose: The Two Words on His Post-It Note That Drive Everything41:04 – Why Profit Comes First - and What That Means for the Letter He'd Write to His Sons

Simon Swan is on track to create a one-man £1m+ startup, with a little help from former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.
Two-time founder Swan is the latest guest on The Naked Founder podcast and his second business, Uthful, is already profitable after less than six months.
Uthful is a health supplement business and it’s a far cry from Swan’s previous enterprise, Manchester-based talent marketplace Hiring Hub.
In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, Simon discusses:
How he persuaded cricket legend Michael Vaughan to become an investorGrowing a £1m business with just one member of staffChanging the face of the health supplement marketHow the idea for Uthful came to him on a bike rideThe importance of being authenticInspiring his childrenWhy he wants Uthful to be different from Hiring HubThe Naked Founder is a BusinessCloud podcast. It is sponsored by Financielle, the home of money for women, and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
 
Chapters:00:00 – 14-Year Overnight Success, Then Going Again at 45: Meet Simon Swan01:06 – What He Wished He'd Known First Time Round02:28 – Calm on Top, Furiously Paddling Underneath03:16 – Cricket, Michael Vaughan & How Uthful Got Its First Investor04:22 – 24 Vitamins, One Drink: The Problem He Was Solving for Himself05:34 – Meeting Michael Vaughan06:22 – No Website, No Product — Just a Name and a Napkin Pitch07:05 – What Hiring Hub Actually Was (and Why He Hated Being Called a Recruiter)07:51 – Designing the Logo on His Honeymoon09:06 – Two People, One Office, One Phone — Fake It Til You Make It10:27 – The Lessons He Carried Out of Hiring Hub and Into Everything Since11:03 – Founder vs CEO: The Moment Hiring Hub Stopped Being His12:38 – Burn the Boats: Why He Had to Remove the Safety Net Completely14:05 – Gary Neville, Reinvention & Not Wanting One Thing to Define You Forever14:50 – Loving the Building Phase: Why Year 11 Felt Nothing Like Year One15:54 – The Apple Moment: Why Packaging and Brand Image Matter From Day One16:50 – Solo Founder, One Dog, No Office: Is This the Future of Startups?17:51 – Six Months Riding His Bike Across Spain, Waiting for the Idea to Come18:12 – Lying in Bed on GoDaddy: The Night Uthful Became Real20:01 – The Pub in the Peak District He Nearly Bought Instead21:02 – What Humans Will Still Value in a World Run by AI22:20 – Idea to First Sample in Eight Weeks: The Speed of Starting Now23:00 – His Advice to Anyone With an Idea: Just Test It First24:08 – Transparent Founder Content: Why He Posts the Bad Days Too24:53 – The Day Meta Stopped Working and 3,000 Boxes Came Back Wrong26:38 – Kids Watching Dad Build From Scratch: The Best Lesson He Can Give Them28:56 – Could Uthful Be a £100M Business? 30:06 – Has Founding a Business Made Him Unemployable? Probably, Yeah31:04 – The Hardest Part of Being a Solo Founder: Loneliness, and How He Beats It32:46 – Letter to His Younger Self33:29 – Never Too High, Never Too Low: The Emotional Steadiness That Defines Him33:50 – Happy Place: 140km on a Bike Through the Spanish Countryside