Hardware Podcasts

Gymshark: Ben Francis. From pizza delivery to billion-dollar fitness brand.

How I Built This · 17 Nov 2025 · 1h 16m

What this episode covers

Ben Francis, co-founder of Gymshark, explains how he built a billion-dollar fitness brand starting from his bedroom in the UK, initially selling drop-shipped supplements before pivoting to apparel. He details the strategic decision to partner with early YouTube bodybuilders for organic growth, the design of physique-accentuating tracksuits, and the painful breakup with co-founder Lewis Morgan. Francis also describes his 'apprenticeship' model of learning operations and leadership by hiring experienced mentors like Steve Hewitt, eventually taking over as CEO to scale the company globally.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Gymshark, Lululemon, General Atlantic, Dudley Stevens
Tools
Shopify
Also
Steve Hewitt, Lewis Morgan

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