“Direct-to-consumer wasn’t the plan. It was a survival move during the pandemic - but it became our best decision.”

Bethan Higson is the founder of Mother Root, a non-alcoholic aperitif brand that’s as bold in its flavour as it is in its mission. In this episode, she shares their 6 year journey to retail.

We talk about:

• Starting slow and building a brand with staying power
• Why DTC is the best way to educate a new market
• Navigating a rebrand while staying close to your community
• Building for women in their 40s and 50s - and why the industry often overlooks them
• Using real customer insight to fuel marketing and innovation

Embracing patience, focus, and small-scale testing to grow with intention

“We’ve turned ‘challenger brand’ into an aesthetic. If you’re marketing only to Sophie from Clapham, you’re not really challenging anything.”

In this wide-ranging episode, Ruth is joined by Lottie Unwin- founder of Brand Hackers and Up World

They cover:

• The difference between competition and category-building
• Why marketing strategy is misunderstood (and underfunded)
• What actually makes a brand “challenger”
• Content, Reddit, and the underrated power of local Facebook groups
• How it feels to build something when you’re completely out of your depth

It’s a love letter to ambitious marketers, and a reality check for founders everywhere.

“Exit-readiness isn’t a checklist - it’s a constant state of being.”

Rhys Harvey has helped steer multiple challenger brands through acquisition (Popchips, Plenish) and is now CEO of OceanSaver. In this episode, we unpack what really matters when you’re building toward scale or a potential exit.

We talk:

• What acquirers really care about (hint: not what founders think)
• Why repeat rate is the metric no one talks about enough
• How operations and finance teams can drive brand value
• The truth about NPD - and why most of it gets mothballed post-acquisition
• What it takes to build a business that still stands after you're gone

Whether you're in scale-up mode or quietly building toward an exit, this episode is a masterclass in doing both with integrity.