How I Built This with Guy Raz

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

November 17, 2025

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  • Ben Francis's early entrepreneurial drive was fueled by recognizing that starting a business with minimal personal risk (while working part-time) was a low-stakes way to learn, contrasting sharply with the high-stakes risks taken by his grandfather. 
  • The initial pivot from selling low-margin supplements via dropshipping to manufacturing and selling their own apparel (t-shirts, tanks, hoodies) was crucial because it dramatically increased profit margins, enabling reinvestment and growth. 
  • The massive success at the first Body Power event was driven not by brand recognition, but by leveraging relationships with early YouTube fitness influencers who brought their trusted audiences directly to the Gymshark booth. 
  • The painful breakup with co-founder Lewis stemmed from differing visions: Ben favored aggressive, continuous growth and scaling management, while Lewis preferred keeping the business centered around the founders. 
  • Ben Francis developed leadership skills and deep operational knowledge through a self-created, 'turbo-charged apprenticeship' model, rotating through key departments like brand, product, and tech. 
  • Despite achieving massive direct-to-consumer success, Gymshark is strategically expanding into physical retail (stores in London, Manchester, and New York) while maintaining a narrow, core focus on being 'the brand for the gym.' 

Segments

Early Digital Ventures
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(00:06:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Early exposure to Adobe Creative Suite in school provided Ben Francis with ‘magic’ digital skills that informed his initial business attempts.
  • Summary: Ben Francis credits accelerated IT education for teaching him how to learn, giving him access to tools like Dreamweaver and Photoshop at age 18. His first business attempts included building a website to flip personalized UK car license plates for profit. He later transitioned his digital interest toward app development after getting his first iPhone, focusing these early apps on fitness content.
Gym Culture and Early Lessons
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(00:09:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The gym provided Ben Francis with a fundamental life lesson: effort directly correlates with visible results, a concept that became foundational to his discipline.
  • Summary: Francis started going to the gym around age 16 or 17, finding the environment initially intimidating due to older, larger members. He learned the crucial lesson that consistent input yields measurable output, which was a novel and important realization for him at that age. His early gym routine involved traveling with friends and following a standard body-part split schedule.
Failed Ventures and Risk Perception
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(00:11:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Experiencing early business failures without financial risk allowed Francis to recognize that his current ventures carried zero risk compared to his grandfather’s high-stakes entrepreneurship.
  • Summary: His initial digital businesses, including the license plate website and fitness apps, all failed to generate significant income. Observing his grandfather’s high-risk furnace business, which risked his family’s mortgage, made Francis realize his own ventures (while working at Pizza Hut) carried virtually no financial risk.
The Supplement Dropshipping Attempt
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(00:13:27)
  • Key Takeaway: The initial goal was simply to sell anything online, leading to a dropshipping supplement model that yielded only a £2 profit over two months.
  • Summary: After setting up a Shopify site, Francis and Lewis Morgan initially tried to sell supplements via a dropshipping arrangement with a friend. The minimum order requirement of £10,000 was prohibitive, forcing them to use dropshipping where margins were extremely low (£2 profit on a £52 sale). This first sale, despite the low profit, was a massive psychological win, leading to dancing in his bedroom.
Pivot to Apparel Manufacturing
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(00:19:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Switching from low-margin supplements to self-produced, screen-printed apparel immediately provided significantly higher profit margins, enabling reinvestment.
  • Summary: Inspired by his grandmother’s sewing skills, the team invested in a screen printer and sewing machine to create their own clothing from blank stock. Selling self-printed items yielded margins of £15 on a £30 sale, compared to £2 on supplements, fundamentally changing the business model’s viability. This allowed them to reinvest capital into inventory and future growth.
Body Power Expo Strategy
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(00:23:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Booking a stand at the Body Power event a year in advance provided a concrete, high-stakes goal that drove intense focus and allowed them to fund the attendance by May.
  • Summary: The team secured a £3,000 stand at the Body Power event, which served as a major focus for the following year’s efforts. They built relationships with YouTube bodybuilders, flying them out to the UK to attend the event and feature the new tracksuit line. The strategy was highly effective, resulting in a complete sell-out of all inventory brought to the show.
Post-Expo Explosion and Quitting University
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(00:36:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Turning off online sales for the expo weekend resulted in a massive surge of £30,000 in revenue within 30 minutes of going back online, validating the decision to quit university.
  • Summary: After selling out at the expo, the website was turned off; upon relaunching the following week, Gymshark generated £30,000 in 30 minutes. This success provided the confidence for Ben Francis to quit Aston University, a decision his supportive parents endorsed. The early influencer strategy was instinctive, focusing on sending free product to people they admired.
Hiring Experienced Leadership
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(00:40:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Hiring experienced businessmen like Steve Hewitt provided crucial knowledge in areas like margin calculation, logistics, and corporate structure that the founders lacked.
  • Summary: Francis and Morgan connected with Paul Richardson and Steve Hewitt, who had experience from companies like Reebok. Hewitt, who understood concepts like margin and supply chain structure, was hired first as a consultant and later as a full-time Managing Director to run the business’s ‘back end.’ This mentorship was invaluable, teaching Francis through observation of Hewitt’s professional interactions.
Self-Funding Growth Model
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(00:49:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Gymshark successfully avoided external investment by remaining a cash-generative business, reinvesting all profits due to high margins and a lack of awareness about venture capital options.
  • Summary: Due to selling products at a high margin before distribution, the company generated its own cash flow and did not require external funding. Francis admitted that he was largely unaware that raising outside investment was a common business strategy until his mid-20s. This forced discipline meant every penny of profit was reinvested into inventory and growth.
Co-founder Split Details
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(00:57:49)
  • Key Takeaway: The split with co-founder Lewis was necessary for the business, driven by differing visions on scaling versus maintaining a founder-centric structure.
  • Summary: The separation from Lewis was described as a difficult ‘business divorce’ that took a long time to resolve. Ben’s vision prioritized aggressive growth and hiring management, whereas Lewis preferred the business to remain centered around the founders. This fundamental difference in strategic direction led to disagreements requiring one partner to move on for the business’s sake.
Defining Gymshark’s Niche
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(01:02:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Gymshark consciously focused on building the best physique-accentuating gym wear, deliberately avoiding expansion into other sports categories like basketball or running.
  • Summary: The brand’s focus solidified around creating high-performing, physique-accentuating apparel for both men and women specifically for the gym environment. This narrow focus mirrors successful niche brands like Lululemon in yoga, aiming to be the definitive brand for gym-goers. This specialization allowed them to double down on their core product offering.
Rapid Growth and Leadership Transition
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(01:04:09)
  • Key Takeaway: The direct-to-consumer model fueled meteoric growth from £13 million to £100 million in sales between 2016 and 2018, necessitating the hiring of CEO Steve Hewitt.
  • Summary: High direct-to-consumer margins allowed heavy reinvestment into product and marketing, leading to explosive year-over-year growth. Ben maintained alignment with the new CEO, Steve, often acting as a check-and-balance, which allowed Ben to engage in accelerated, low-stakes learning across various departments.
Apprenticeship and Leadership Evolution
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(01:06:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Ben actively built his own high-level apprenticeship by cycling through roles in product design, marketing, and tech development to gain comprehensive business experience.
  • Summary: Ben’s rotational experience involved hands-on work in factories, design sessions, and CRM development, providing him with practical knowledge across all core functions. A 360-degree feedback session revealed he was perceived as ‘Hurricane Ben’ due to being overly abrupt, forcing him to fundamentally change his leadership style.
Billion-Dollar Valuation Milestone
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(01:10:17)
  • Key Takeaway: The 2020 private equity deal with General Atlantic, valuing Gymshark at $1.3 billion, marked a commitment shift from instinctive startup behavior to building a serious global brand.
  • Summary: The deal provided liquidity for shareholders, but Ben increased his own shareholding, signaling his dedication to long-term global iconic status. This event prompted the formal establishment of a board, which had not existed previously, moving the company structure forward.
Returning to CEO Role
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(01:12:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Ben reluctantly accepted the CEO role in 2021 after Steve Hewitt decided to step down, realizing he was the necessary successor after a six-month transition period.
  • Summary: Steve Hewitt informed Ben that he had taken the business as far as he could and suggested Ben should be the next CEO, a proposition Ben did not immediately embrace. Ben needed time to become comfortable with the role, leading to a handover period of about six months before officially taking the reins.
Retail Strategy and Market Focus
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(01:13:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite the pandemic accelerating e-commerce, Gymshark is thoughtfully opening physical stores (currently five, with two more planned for New York) while maintaining direct-to-consumer as the primary sales channel.
  • Summary: The US has now surpassed the UK to become the majority of Gymshark’s business and holds the greatest growth potential. The company resists becoming overly broad, prioritizing the creation of the best gym wear and leveraging relationships with elite lifters to maintain brand authenticity.
Luck, Timing, and Risk
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(01:19:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Ben attributes success to a significant chunk of luck and timing (social media, fitness uptrend) combined with the consistent appetite to take calculated risks and commit to the long term.
  • Summary: Factors like the fitness uptrend and the rise of platforms like Shopify created a favorable environment for Gymshark’s launch. However, Ben notes that many others recognized these opportunities without achieving the same outcome, emphasizing that taking risks and maintaining long-term commitment differentiated their results.
Small Business Spotlight: Dudley Stevens
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(01:21:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Dudley Stevens was founded on the need for stylish, comfortable, and durable clothing for active mothers, utilizing recycled fleece made from plastic bottles.
  • Summary: The idea originated from the founder’s mother wishing for a cute fleece suitable for boating and dinner. The company launched with a small family investment, building the business out of a basement and achieving profitability within six months. They are nearing the milestone of recycling 10 million plastic bottles.