Matt Kelly | The Midnight Pod

He walked away from a £1m per month business to build D.Louise even bigger | Jack Zambakides

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2026 90:01

Four and a half years ago, Jack Zambakides came on the pod running LS Personal Shopper: designer clothes for footballers and about £1 million of PlayStations a month in lockdown. He said he'd never take investment and that he'd sell within two years.Almost none of it went the way he predicted. Robberies helped end that business. He walked away, went all in on D.Louise, the jewellery brand he built with his wife, and moved to Dubai.This is two founders comparing what they believed then with what actually happened: focus, hiring, investors, founder mode, retail vs DTC, AI, and the biggest lesson from scaling that nobody tells you.Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/ltBAVubWL7IJack's first episode (March 2022): https://youtu.be/zS7hUIJP65Q✅ All my links are here - https://www.midnight.co00:00 Four and a half years later02:39 Leaving LS Personal Shopper05:21 Building D.Louise17:29 The bootstrapped grind21:54 Blagging into Gymshark's world29:30 Founder mode and hiring40:34 What's driving growth43:58 Retail, ads and trends52:25 Trust and the customer57:45 UK vs US59:34 Money, ambition and being CEO1:06:29 Could you do it again, bigger?1:14:56 Dubai and the modern team1:21:16 Pay yourself more1:23:39 Quickfire1:27:46 Advice to his 18-year-old self Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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You can sell your company for £ multi-millions and still get nothing - consumer brand deep dive...

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2026 101:36

✅ All my links are here - https://www.midnight.co Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Quitting millionaire investment banking career to start a £ 9-figure cat food brand | Marco Pacifici

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 100:56

✅ Join the group here - https://www.skool.com/midnight-lab Find everything else here - https://www.midnight.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The real dichotomy of founder freedom

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2026 13:25

✅ Join the group here - https://www.skool.com/midnight-lab Find everything else here - https://www.midnight.co/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Cernucci founder reveals everything about the journey from zero to £100m+ | Fred Buckley

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2026 116:48

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The realities of being an ADHD founder - risk taking, obsession, intensity & being misunderstood...

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2026 17:58

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3 founders debate the honest realities of building brands in 2026 | The Midnight Pod Episode 80

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2026 98:14

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This is the most important new product we have EVER launched! Showing you BTS of launch campaign

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2026 20:05

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The honest truth about the last 12 months

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2026 35:40

Documenting the journey - episode 119 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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