It’s time to get down to business with more expert insights from some of the savviest business people around.
This month covers purposeful and ethical brands, daring entrepreneurs and excellent industry advice.
Alain Sylvain
‘Consumers are wanting much more from brands. They want opinions and they’re looking for brands that have a stake in culture. The best brands are evolving and being more purposeful.’
Alain Sylvain is the CEO of Sylvain Labs, a strategy and design consultancy committed to helping brands transform the world and the lives of consumers through a unique combination of science and whimsy.
In this episode of the Inside LaunchStreet podcast, Alain discusses how brands have shifted from the role of passive purveyors of culture and are now actively challenging it by adopting a more purposeful approach to business which consumers can recognise and relate to.
Listen to Alain’s intriguing insights here.
Dave Gilboa
‘The four of us got together and got super excited by this idea that we could create a much more consumer friendly eyewear brand and where we could use the highest quality materials in the world but sell the glasses for a fraction of the price of the other places.’
Dave Gilboa is one four Co-Founders of Warby Parker, an online prescription glasses and sunglasses store.
In this exciting episode of The Playbook podcast, he tells host David Meltzer the story of how losing his $700 pair of glasses whilst backpacking around the world helped him to spot a gap in the eyewear market and set up what’s now a multi-billion dollar company.
Delve deeper into Dave’s business journey here.
Bethany Tran
‘I wanted to partner with locally owned businesses who live in these communities and understand the culture, and empower them, rather than me coming in as the American saying this is how you should do things.’
Bethany Tran is the founder of The Root Collective, an ethical shoe brand based in Guatemala.
In this Forbes interview, Bethany discusses how her trips to Guatemala inspired her to quit her stable corporate job in order to set up a business there in an industry she had no experience in.
Brian-Sonia Wallace
‘I thought, let me see if I can pay my rent for one month. It was this experiment in whether you could make any money off of this poetry thing.’
Brian Sonia-Wallace is the founder of RENT Poet, a business which creates custom and spontaneous poems for the public.
In this recent episode of How You Built That, Brian tells host Guy Raz how he used his skills in poetry to make a living when he was laid off from his grant writing job and how this grew into a sustainable business.
Listen to Brian’s terrific tale here.
We hope that this month’s superb selection of business snippets has left you inspired. The Skim will return in November with more remarkable entrepreneurial tales.
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