Gymshark: Ben Francis. From pizza delivery to billion-dollar fitness brand.
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode features Ben Francis, the 33-year-old founder and CEO of Gymshark, who transformed a late-night university project selling supplements online into a billion-dollar fitness apparel empire. Starting at age 19 as a college dropout delivering pizzas and screen-printing t-shirts in his bedroom, Ben built Gymshark by recognizing the emerging online fitness community and creating clothing specifically for bodybuilders and gym-goers. (17:45) The company's breakthrough came at the 2013 Body Power conference where they sold out everything by partnering with YouTube fitness influencers who were reshaping gym culture online. Today, Gymshark generates over $650 million in revenue with 900+ employees and is valued at over $1.3 billion, making Ben the youngest billionaire in The UK.
- Main themes include community-first brand building, learning through apprenticeship within your own company, and the power of authentic influencer relationships in the early days of social media marketing
Speakers
Ben Francis
Ben Francis is the founder and CEO of Gymshark, a fitness apparel company valued at over $1.3 billion. Starting the company at age 19 as a university student in Birmingham, England, Ben dropped out to pursue Gymshark full-time after their breakthrough at the 2013 Body Power conference. He's now 33 years old and recognized as the youngest billionaire in The UK, having built Gymshark from a bedroom supplement dropshipping operation into a global fitness brand with over 900 employees.
Guy Raz
Guy Raz is the host of How I Built This, NPR's popular podcast featuring interviews with entrepreneurs and innovators. He's an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who has worked for NPR for over a decade, previously hosting programs like All Things Considered and Weekend Edition.
Key Takeaways
Build Community Before Building Products
Ben's strategy wasn't traditional marketing—it was relationship building. (24:48) Instead of buying ads, Gymshark sent free t-shirts to YouTube fitness influencers they genuinely followed and admired. These weren't massive celebrities with agents, but real people with 20,000 followers who had authentic connections with their audiences. When these influencers started wearing Gymshark, it created organic demand because their followers trusted their recommendations. This approach worked because in 2013, social media algorithms were different—those 20,000 followers would actually see the content, unlike today where millions of followers might only reach 1% of the audience.
Create Your Own Apprenticeship Program
Rather than pretending to know everything as a young founder, Ben systematically learned every aspect of his business by rotating through different departments. (40:55) When Steve Hewitt joined as CEO, Ben spent years moving between brand, product design, marketing, and tech development—staying in each role for 6-12 months. This wasn't just job shadowing; he was actively doing the work, making mistakes, and learning from more experienced team members. As Ben explains, he could "fail knowing that this team I built around me could help clean up after me." This approach gave him genuine expertise across all business functions before eventually becoming CEO himself.
Focus Beats Breadth for Brand Building
Despite opportunities to expand into multiple sports categories, Gymshark maintained laser focus on gym wear specifically designed for bodybuilders and weightlifters. (75:39) Ben emphasizes they don't want to become "overly broad and essentially bland." Instead of selling basketball wear, soccer gear, or fashion items, they concentrated on building "the best gym wear in the world" with physique-accentuating fits. This narrow focus allowed them to work with the best lifters in the world and maintain credibility within their core community. As Ben discovered walking into a Denver gym, the serious lifters—the ones with notepads tracking their progress—were all wearing Gymshark.
Hire People Smarter Than You
Ben's willingness to hire experienced leaders like Steve Hewitt, who had worked at Reebok, demonstrates mature leadership thinking. (45:08) Rather than feeling threatened, Ben saw this as an opportunity to learn from someone who understood margins, operations, and business structure—concepts he admits he didn't even know existed. Steve became both employee and mentor, running the back-end operations while teaching Ben through example. Ben learned more from watching how Steve worked and interacted with people than from any formal training. This approach requires humility but accelerates growth exponentially.
Embrace Direct Customer Feedback
Ben's most transformative moment came through brutal honest feedback during a 360-degree review where he earned the nickname "Hurricane Ben" for being abrupt and rude to team members. (68:45) Instead of dismissing the criticism, he used it as a catalyst for personal growth. This feedback at age 24-25 forced him to completely change his management style and approach to working with others. The willingness to receive and act on difficult feedback, especially about personality traits and leadership style, became crucial for his development as a CEO capable of leading 900+ employees.
Statistics & Facts
- Gymshark went from selling £200-250 per day in revenue to generating £30,000 in 30 minutes after their first Body Power conference, completely selling out of all inventory. (36:06) This dramatic spike represented their breakthrough moment from hobby project to real business.
- The company grew from £13 million in sales in 2016 to £100 million in 2018, representing meteoric year-over-year growth during their expansion period. (64:38)
- By 2020, General Atlantic acquired a 21% stake in Gymshark, valuing the company at $1.3 billion, officially making it a unicorn startup and Ben the youngest billionaire in The UK. (70:51)
