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Beyond: shorting your rival’s stock for $700m but losing the war, with Founder & CEO Ian Strang

Beyond: shorting your rival’s stock for $700m but losing the war, with Founder & CEO Ian Strang

FromSecret Leaders with Dan Murray-Serter


Beyond: shorting your rival’s stock for $700m but losing the war, with Founder & CEO Ian Strang

FromSecret Leaders with Dan Murray-Serter

ratings:
Length:
58 minutes
Released:
Jun 7, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

80% to 90% of startups fail. But what those stats don't tell you is how you can do loads of things right and still fail. This is what happened to Ian Strang and the company he founded, Beyond, who tried to shake up the death industry - offering price comparisons, wills, funerals, probate - those kinds of things. They certainly managed to do that. They landed some blows, but ultimately they lost the war.
This is Ian’s story, told a few months after his company failed. 
He and his team came up with some ingenious ideas which led to press, shorting stocks and ultimately the regulation of the death industry itself. But that’s not how things ended.
We talk about:

The demanding childhood which shaped his life

His first startup

Meeting Alan Sugar’s son

Quitting Pollen because it was too much fun

The bizarre circumstance for first pitching Beyond

The problem with monetising death

How to grow through SEO

The April fool’s joke that yielded big publicity

Shorting Dignity for $700m

How to get the CMA on your side

What is a bad advert anyway

Auctioning your company

The reality of being an entrepreneur 


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Released:
Jun 7, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Find out what it's really like being a top entrepreneur and how to get there. Founders of startups like Monzo, BrewDog, Slack and Jo Malone tell us about their biggest challenges, key decisions and life-defining moments. How would you respond if you arrived in the UK as a penniless refugee? Or had to fire your Mum? Or had a billion dollar deal fall through your hands at the last minute? Learn how to lead from business greats.