How I Built This with Guy Raz
Gymshark: Ben Francis. From pizza delivery to billion-dollar fitness brand.
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Show notes
At 19, Ben Francis was lifting weights during the day and delivering pizza at night. He didn’t have money. He didn’t have fashion experience. He didn’t even know how to sew. What he did have was a front-row seat… to a new online trend. Before Instagram and influencers became a strategy, a handful of YouTubers were redefining gym culture — building identity and community online.
With his gymwear brand Gymshark, Ben didn’t try to compete with Nike. He didn’t try to buy ads. He did something much more powerful: He built relationships. He sent free T-shirts to the Youtubers he admired. He learned what gym-goers actually wanted to wear: tapered tracksuits, and shirts that emphasized their muscles.
Today, Gymshark is valued at more than a billion dollars, and Ben is the youngest billionaire in the UK. But his story is not just about business. It’s about identity, discipline, humility—and learning to grow as fast as you can learn.
What You’ll Learn:
How to build a brand by building community first
How to hire smart people without losing control of your company
Avoiding imposter syndrome by creating your own apprenticeship program
How to get stronger by staying in your lane
Timestamps:
03:50 - The IT education that changed Ben’s life
15:23 - Gymshark’s first sale: a £2 profit that had him dancing in his bedroom
17:41 - Early apparel—Screen-printing T shirts, a single sewing machine
21:25 - How YouTube bodybuilders became their best marketers
36:08 - How Ben hired his own boss–and what he learned from him
43:04 - Expanding to the US: a bone-chilling trip to Ohio
45:55 - The bodybuilder’s aesthetic: big shoulders, narrow waist
49:18 - The painful breakup between Ben and his co-founder
58:39 - Why he earned the nickname “Hurricane Ben.”
1:06:20 - A legacy company: Resisting the urge to grow beyond the gym
1:13:09 - Small Business Spotlight
This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.
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