Gymshark CEO Explains His Strategy For Global Success - Ben Francis - #619

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello everybody, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Ben Francis. He's the CEO and founder of Gymshark. Bootstrapping a company from nothing to a multi-billion dollar valuation at a young age isn't easy. Starting a family with twins whilst navigating a changing political landscape and supply tensions from the East makes this even harder. But there are some principles Ben has developed to survive this chaos. Expect to learn what three traits Ben has observed in all of the high performance he's met, how his upbringing helped shape him into a successful CEO, Ben's thoughts on modern masculinity, how what the world needs from fitness culture has changed, the biggest red flags to watch out for when recruiting new talent in a business, what founders don't know about the challenges of being a CEO, and much more. I've been talking about this live show thing for a little while now, and we've got dates and we've got locations. Dublin, Thursday, the 16th of November, Manchester, Friday, the 17th of November, and London, Saturday, the 18th of November. I will be there. Go to chriswilliamson.live right now to sign up for tickets. They're going on sale this Thursday. And if you sign up, you will get first access. Those are the only dates that we are adding for now. There will be lots more coming next year, but for now it is Dublin, Manchester or London. So if you fancy coming to see me, head to chriswilliamson.live. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Gymshark, perhaps unsurprisingly. The Apex t-shirt is a new favorite of mine. It's got essence anti-oda technology, which is anti-microbial, so that you can train and sweat as much as you want without worrying about stinking. It's got heat mapping ventilation, which supports you through the toughest training sessions, offering breathable material, and it's got side split hems for functionality and movement. Basically their entire range is fantastic. And I picked out some of my favourites for guys and for girls. And you can go and see everything that I recommend by going to bit.ly slash shark wisdom. That's bit.ly slash shark wisdom. They do free returns for 30 days. Plus, you can get 10% off everything sitewide and worldwide. If you use the code MW10, that's bit.ly slash shark wisdom and MW10, a checkout. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. Temperature is one of the most important factors in improving your sleep quality. When you wake up in the middle of the night or you feel groggy in the morning, temperature is very often to blame. traditional mattresses trap heat through the night and science has shown that your body temperature actually needs to drop in the early and middle part of your sleep and then rise in the morning so that you can fall asleep faster and get more deep sleep. Eight Sleeps Pod Pro Cover is phenomenal. Not only does it heat and cool your bed, it responds to your body, it responds to your sleep stages, it tracks your sleep, it spits it all out in an app, it can split the bed in half so that you and your partner can have different temperatures as you sleep. Also, you can get a $150 discount on the pod cover by going to eightsleep.com/modernwisdom. That's E-I-G-H-T sleep.com/modernwisdom and they ship to the USA, Canada, the UK and the EU plus Australia. And in final news, this episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. You are not eating enough fruit and vegetables in your diet and you know it and this is going to help. It is the best green strength that I've ever found. If you are looking to add some more micronutrients into your diet, if you're looking to upgrade your nutrition every single day, this is the first place that I would begin. I take it with me whenever I go away, I use it literally every single day and I can tell if I run out or if I stop using it for a while, it really affects my mood, my digestion, my energy levels. It's got 75 vitamins, minerals and whole food sourced ingredients, including a multi-vitamin, multi-mineral, pre- and probiotic that all work together to fill the nutritional gaps in your diet. And it's got a 90 day money back guarantee, so you can buy it and try it for 89 days. If you don't like it, they'll just give you your money back. Head to athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom for a year's free supply vitamin D, five free travel packs, free pots, shakers, plus that 90 day money back guarantee, that's athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ben Francis.
You have had the fortune of speaking to some of the best operators on the planet. What are the common threads, the most common traits that you found between all of the high performers that you've spoken to?