Success Is Not About the Money | Adam Friberg on Building Scaling & Selling with Behind The Growth
Behind The GrowthShow Notes
Meet Adam, the humble multimillionaire. He started his first business at 18, got his first job because his mum worked at the employment agency and kept his application on file, and has been building global brands ever since, without a single day of formal training.
In Episode 12 of Behind the Growth, host Laura Donadio sits down with Adam, co-founder of Cheap Monday, Weekday and Monki three of Scandinavia’s most iconic fashion brands, and many others, eventually acquired by H&M Group and the man who walks 50,000 steps a day because he genuinely cannot sit still.
Adam is unlike anyone we’ve had on this podcast. He talks about building cult brands before influencer marketing existed, hiring bloggers to work in stores before anyone called them influencers, and why he felt basically nothing when he sold the business. He gets into why 30% of everything you do should fail, why brands should be allowed to die, and why success has nothing to do with money.
He also shares the advice he lives by, it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission and why the only thing he ever wanted from a business partner was to make sure his bank account never ran out.
In this episode: * Getting his first job because his mum kept his application at the employment agency * Building Cheap Monday, Weekday and Monki before social media existed * Hiring bloggers to work in stores — the original influencer marketing strategy * “Brands should die” on selling, letting go and feeling nothing * Why 30% of everything you do needs to be a failure * “It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission” the advice he lives by * Why he felt 14 months at H&M was painful and why he’ll never work for anyone again * Walking 50,000 steps a day and why airports are his favourite place to walk * “Success is not about money. Money is the side effect.” * What he wants to be known for and why he’d rather be Banksy than take the credit
Follow Adam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-friberg-a9675921/ Join The Growth Collective: The community for ambitious marketeers: thegrowthcollective.app Follow Behind the Growth: Instagram: @behindthegrowthpod
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He started his first business at 12 a clothing brand called Coldest Clothing, selling hats at a market in Iceland. One ended up on Justin Bieber. That's when he realised social media had legs.In Episode 10 of Behind the Growth, host Laura Donadio sits down with Joel Mallinson creator, social media strategist, founder of Coldest Creative, and the man known online as the Weatherman of Marketing. Joel forecasts trends before they happen, advises brands and creators on what's coming next, and has built a business on the back of a cold email he sent to Amelia Dimoldenberg during his A-levels.Joel is sharp, self-aware and refreshingly honest about the gap between the personal brand and the business behind it. He talks about saying yes to everything early on, the invisible cost of distractions, and why content has always been a vehicle for him never the destination.He also gets into why most founders are creating content for other founders instead of their actual customers, why he thinks there's an unspoken shelf life to influencers, and why building something that outlives the algorithm is the only goal worth having.In this episode:* Selling hats at 12 and getting Justin Bieber to wear one the origin story* Cold emailing Amelia Dimoldenberg during his A-levels and what happened next* "Opportunities start looking like distractions" the invisible ceiling every founder hits* Is it going to make you rich, happy or famous? The framework he uses for every decision* Personal brand vs business when your face becomes the ceiling* Why founders are making a massive mistake creating content for other founders* The unspoken shelf life of creators and what happens to the other 50%* US expansion, a book and what comes next for Coldest Creative* "I didn't set out to be an influencer forever" on building beyond the platformsFollow Joel Mallinson:Instagram: @coldestjoelTikTok: @coldestcreativeJoin The Growth Collective: The community for ambitious marketeers thegrowthcollective.appFollow Behind the Growth: Instagram: @behindthegrowthpod
She was 26, struck down with a chronic illness, passed between ten GPs with no answers, and told by Western medicine there was nothing they could do.
He started as a professional poker player. Then built a bootstrapped software company in the northeast of England. Then raised £8M before a single product existed and built Skin + Me into a business with over a million customers and well over £60M in revenue.
She spent 15 years building other people's brands. Then she quit a six-figure job, saved £60k, and launched a supplement brand about poo with her best friend of 20 years.