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“If the product is good enough, ultimately the business will succeed.” In today's 40 Minute Mentor episode, we're joined by Nick Jenkins, Founder of Moonpig, former Dragon on BBC hit show Dragons' Den and angel investor. Due to its incredible success story, greeting card business Moonpig probably doesn't need much of an introduction, but we don't often hear about the challenges it took to overcome to eventually sell Moonpig for £120 million to Photobox Group in 2011. In today's episode, Nick shares buckets of candid insights and mentorship, including: Nick's career before Moonpig and why he received a death threat [06:23]What inspired him to start Moonpig and how he turned the business around before it went bust [08:35]The story behind the iconic Moonpig jingle [15:10]What made Moonpig so successful and Nick's biggest learnings from scaling the business [20:01]His advice on hiring for the right fit and how to nurture a great team culture [23:17]How he approached figuring out what to do after he sold Moonpig and how he landed in the charity sector [29:11]What it was like to become CEO of someone else's business after selling his own [31:12]His involvement with the charity sector today and advice for anyone looking to give back [33:06]What it was really like on Dragons' Den and some of the scenes you might have not seen on TV [38:31]His advice for any Founders looking to raise angel investment [43:01]
Graham co-founded Photobox.com in 2000 with friend Mark Chapman, and assumed the CEO position until 2006, then becoming CTO until 2016 when Photobox Group was acquired by Exponent Private Equity as part of a £400m deal. Photobox was at the forefront of the on-demand photo printing and personalisation business in the UK and grew around the world in the coming years. Graham tells us about the highs and lows of being a forerunner in your sector. https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamhobson/ Exponent and Electra snap up PhotoBox for £400m - https://www.ft.com/content/f44a193c-766d-11e5-933d-efcdc3c11c89 Thank you to flexy for supporting this episode of the podcast you can find out more: https://get.flexyapp.uk - - - About Rocket Pod Rocket Pod: How Visionaries Forge Their Thoughts into Reality 'Compelling stories deconstructing how growth minded individuals achieve the destinies they choose' Rocket Pod has been co-founded by three entrepreneurs, three generations spanning Gen Z, Millennial and Gen X. Between us, we have +40 years of professional experience spanning e-commerce, digital marketing, web and media production, logistics, photography and FinTech. Rocket Pod has been created to engage visionaries about their life journey's and uncover true life experiences deconstructing how these individuals get from an idea and transition it into reality. Through our series, Rocket Pod will deliver a refreshed perspective on life and provide tools and knowledge through quality audio to make a positive impact on others lives. Growth minded guests will share their stories with listeners and help them take the next step to achieving greatness in whatever they put their mind to. https://www.instagram.com/wearerocketpod https://www.facebook.com/wearerocketpod https://www.twitter.com/wearerocketpod - - - The Rocket Pod Team: James Cuss Co-founder & Co-host James is a Serial Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of flexy https://get.flexyapp.uk Harry Daymond Co-founder & Co-host Award Winning YoungEntrepreneur, 20 Under 20 & Founder of The Cocktail Connoisseurs https://www.thecocktailconnoisseurs.co.uk Peter Haynes Co-founder & Producer Peter is a Designer & Maker at A Collection Of. https://www.acollectionof.info Music Producer Created exclusively by KANON https://www.soundcloud.com/kanonmusic --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocketpodmedia/message
Graham Hobson Experienced entrepreneur, board member and technologist with startup through to Private Equity experience. Supporter of social impact businesses. Advisor for business scaling and technology. Previously an angel investor. In 2000, Graham co-founded Photobox.com - a photo printing and personalisation business - with friend and colleague Mark Chapman, and assumed the CEO position until 2006. At this point both Graham and Mark merged the company with Photoways in France and took VC funding. Graham was then CTO for the Group through to 2014 during which period they acquired Moonpig. In 2016 the Photobox Group was acquired and ever since worked with several startups in advisory or CTO roles. Graham, Photobox and Moonpig Connect with Graham on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamhobson/) @grahamhobson (https://twitter.com/grahamhobson) Photobox website (https://www.photobox.co.uk/) Moonpig website (https://www.moonpig.com/us/?awc=12200_1595009088_b41cdd09929bd867fbb003ae3113d411&utm_campaign=affiliate_window&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate#ectrans=1) ABOUT THE HOST My name is Sam Harris. I am a British entrepreneur, investor and explorer. From hitchhiking across Kazakstan to programming AI doctors I am always pushing myself in the spirit of curiosity and Growth. My background is in Biology and Psychology with a passion for improving the world and human behaviour. I have built and sold companies from an early age and love coming up with unique ways to make life more enjoyable and meaningful. Sam: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/samjamsnaps/) Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Sam-Harris-58) Twitter (https://twitter.com/samharristweets) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharris48/) Sam's blog - SamWebsterHarris.com (https://samwebsterharris.com/) Support the Show - Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/growthmindset) Top Tips Try something new When was the last time you tried something new? Wake yourself up and reassure yourself that you’re not just here to go through the motions. You’re here for a purpose! If you keep doing things the same way you always have, you will easily find things to be meaningless or even depressing. To feed your creativity, you have to step out and try new things. Don’t be afraid of new experiences. Don’t live your life with regrets. Push your comfort zone and try new things. A better version of yourself starts at the edge of your comfort zone. Be coachable To be coachable means to lack arrogance and defensiveness and you check your pride and ego at the door. It means you don’t judge your coaches approach but try and adapt to it. When you allow someone to coach you, you allow that person to contribute to the situation, problem or decisions you need to face. It means you allow their point of view to shape the choices you make and actions you take. The best professionals at all levels require coaching to improve and they know it. Syncify An app that lets you be social at a distance. Listen to your favourite podcasts and books together with friends and groups. Chat about the audio experiences as you share and learn from other users' perspectives. Commit to taking actions by sharing your ideas. To learn more, visit (www.syncifyapp.com) Subscribe! If you enjoyed the podcast please subscribe and rate it. And of course, share with your friends! Special Guest: Graham Hobson.
Graham Hobson Experienced entrepreneur, board member and technologist with startup through to Private Equity experience. Supporter of social impact businesses. Advisor for business scaling and technology. Previously an angel investor. In 2000, Graham co-founded Photobox.com - a photo printing and personalisation business - with friend and colleague Mark Chapman, and assumed the CEO position until 2006. At this point both Graham and Mark merged the company with Photoways in France and took VC funding. Graham was then CTO for the Group through to 2014 during which period they acquired Moonpig. In 2016 the Photobox Group was acquired and ever since worked with several startups in advisory or CTO roles. Graham, Photobox and Moonpig Connect with Graham on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamhobson/) @grahamhobson (https://twitter.com/grahamhobson) Photobox website (https://www.photobox.co.uk/) Moonpig website (https://www.moonpig.com/us/?awc=12200_1595009088_b41cdd09929bd867fbb003ae3113d411&utm_campaign=affiliate_window&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate#ectrans=1) ABOUT THE HOST My name is Sam Harris. I am a British entrepreneur, investor and explorer. From hitchhiking across Kazakstan to programming AI doctors I am always pushing myself in the spirit of curiosity and Growth. My background is in Biology and Psychology with a passion for improving the world and human behaviour. I have built and sold companies from an early age and love coming up with unique ways to make life more enjoyable and meaningful. Sam: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/samjamsnaps/) Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Sam-Harris-58) Twitter (https://twitter.com/samharristweets) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharris48/) Sam's blog - SamWebsterHarris.com (https://samwebsterharris.com/) Support the Show - Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/growthmindset) Top Tips Slow growth is better than none Learn to be patient with your slow growth, especially that we live in a time of rapid technological advancement and in a society that so values efficiency, productivity, and immediate results that we can hardly help but say that the faster things happen, the better. Therefore, we often don’t value the precious benefits of slow growth. We now expect that nearly everything should happen fast and with little or no inconvenience that we forget that slow, imperfect progress is better than none at all. Slow growth can be confusing and frustrating, but, at the end, growth is always good - no matter how slow you progress. Resiliency is key for startups Entrepreneurship is obviously challenging. To be successful in building your business, you must be resilient. Building a business, managing employees, expanding customer or client bases, developing products and services – these are all the types of responsibilities that can eat away at a founder’s mental and emotional fortitude. Don’t let the threat of failure stop you; instead, be motivated to find solutions and advance toward your goal. It’s much more important for entrepreneurs to be able to tough it out. Take pleasure from things that go as planned, enjoy the new experiences and remember to celebrate achievements and progress. Books Try a free Audible trial of any book here (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00OPA2XFG?tag=samharris48%E2%80%9321) Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/B085LBRHNM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RZHENUXP4PLA&dchild=1&keywords=obviously+awesome&qid=1595004298&s=audible&sprefix=obvio%2Caudible%2C332&sr=1-1) This book shows readers how to find your product’s “secret sauce” and then sell that sauce to those who crave it. A must-read for any founder, marketer, or salesperson struggling to make their product stand out in crowded markets. Syncify An app that lets you be social at a distance. Listen to your favourite podcasts and books together with friends and groups. Chat about the audio experiences as you share and learn from other users' perspectives. Commit to taking actions by sharing your ideas. To learn more, visit (www.syncifyapp.com) Subscribe! If you enjoyed the podcast please subscribe and rate it. And of course, share with your friends! Special Guest: Graham Hobson.
Dinis Crus joins Rach this week to take a different angle on business change. Dinis has a history in security, being the former CISO of the Photobox Group, and it's a fascinating take. It's not long before you find them both geeking out over Wardley Mapping!
Yasmin Martin, Head of Risk & Compliance at Photobox Group, takes us behind the job in the Information Security industry. Yasmin provides expert insight into what life is like working in cybersecurity, her journey into InfoSec and advice for fresh grads looking to get into the sector. Thanks to Yasmin & Photobox Group for speaking to us. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcWB... HireWindow: - Connects STEM graduates with perfect-fit jobs at some of the world's most innovative employers - Provides insight and advice for anyone seeking a job - Sign up at https://www.hirewindow.com/join - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hirewindowuk - Twitter: https://twitter.com/HireWindow - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hirewindow/
Find out how UK businesses are embracing AI and digital opportunities to take customer service to the next level.Digital Masters: Transforming UK business is a three-part series hosted by Robert Miller from the Times business desk, in association with KPMGIn our first episode, we'll find out how Vodafone's chatbot is changing customer experience with COO Neil Blagden. We're also joined by Tony Prestedge, CEO of Nationwide, Richard Orme, CTO of Photobox Group and Adrian Clamp from KPMG to thoroughly dig into our topic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation
Peter is CTO at Moonpig and a non-exec chairman at Mother Group Ltd. The podcast starts with Andy and Peter discussing the Northern Powerhouse. Peter tells Andy about the strategies he employs to determine the ROI of new technologies and Andy asks how he decides what new tech to invest in. They also chat about automation and how it is making our working day both more complex yet easy. Moonpig Moonpig has been on the scene since 2000 and has made over 100 million Moonpig moments for our customers here in the UK and as far afield as the US and Australia. They started with cards and have kept on adding new ways to make a Moonpig moment since then, whether through their ever-expanding gift range or becoming a top three UK online flower seller for all the big occasions. They’ve been part of the Photobox Group since 2011. Along with the Photobox brand, and our sister companies Hofmann and PosterXXL, together they’re Europe’s leading retailer of personal and personalised products.
In this episode, Sean Martin is joined by Dinis Cruz, the CISO for the Photobox Group, to talk about automating and scaling the end user security awareness decision-making process through the use of ChatOps — which is essentially the use of a chat platform and supporting technologies to operationalize and decentralize the sharing of information and decisions. One key point that Dinis makes as he walks us through some real-world scenarios he is implementing is that security teams often make the mistake of trying to own everything. Dinis suggests that there is value in the security team focusing on demonstrating what can be done through a quick proof of concept and then to hand the project over to others within the organization that have the resources and deep skillsets to see the project reach its full potential. There are a number of great nuggets in here from Dinis — we hope you enjoy the conversation.
In this episode, Sean Martin is joined by Dinis Cruz, the Chief Information Security Officer for the PhotoBox Group out of London. Managing risk is hard. Why? Because there are so many moving parts to an organization’s digital environment: networks, systems, applications, services/APIs, system/app managers, users - and, of course, the data. To complicate matters, there are often competing or contradictory elements within the business and/or market requirements. So, how does an organization take managing risk and related vulnerabilities to heart while not crippling the business? Technology alone won’t do it. Tools won’t cut it. Throwing more people at it won’t do the trick either. So, what’s the answer? That’s where my conversation with Dinis comes in. Dinis kindly shares his story of how he integrates information security and risk management into the everyday operations of the business - from the customer-facing properties all the way to the inner workings on the factory floor. Reality is, as Dinis so eloquently stated during this chat, "if your board has not set data security as a priority - they are the ones that are going to get sacked." And, we know which way things roll … downhill, of course. Today’s episode is brought to by Edgescan. Be sure to visit them on ITSPmagazine at https://www.itspmagazine.com/company-directory/edgescan Now, it's time to get some culture in your company … and don’t get sacked, OK?
Essential Retail sits down with Richard Orme, CTO of Photobox Group, to chat about using artificial intelligence to help consumers create their perfect personalised gifts. Got something you want to tell us about the Podcast? Want to join us? You can get in touch on Twitter via twitter.com/essretail, or directly with Caroline at twitter.com/cl_baldwin