A sustainable business model straight out of a movie, with Colin McIntosh

Graham and Colin begin by talking about the first meal of the day, and how getting protein in first thing can make a big difference.

'You’re either going to work forty years until you die, or you’re going to be able to create your own wealth… so take a shot at the second thing.'

Midway through watching War Dogs and being frustrated at the lack of business acumen from one of the characters, Colin paused the film and wrote a business plan for a bed sheet company. Almost instantly he happened upon the name Sheets & Giggles, and bought sheetsgiggles.com straightaway. Three months later, he was laid off from his job, and three weeks after receiving this blow, he founded Sheets & Giggles.

'Spellable, sharable, memorable.'

Colin shares his rules for company branding, one of the most important of which is connoting or denoting what the company does.

'Your greatest weakness is your empathy for others.'

Colin recounts being told this at the hedge fund he was let go from in his early 20s, and how the toxic work environment he suffered informs the way he works with his own team now.

'People hire people who are like themselves.'

After describing his frustrations with the “arbitrariness of the American workday”, Colin sets out the way he recruits, by looking for people who share similar drives or methods of working, while being aware of the issue of hiring people that look like the founder.

Graham Allcott is the founder of time management training company Think Productive.

This podcast is produced by Origin.

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