Walking with Jamie Laing, Founder of Candy Kittens: He built a $300 million dollar sweet company.

0:00Today I'm walking with an old friend of mine who is the founder of one of the biggest sweet brands of our generation. I'm Tara Keeney and this is Look Who I Found. I walk with the world's most ambitious founders to have unscripted conversations and uncover the human side of the people building the biggest companies in the world. This week I'm joined by Jamie Laing, the founder of Candy Kittens, entrepreneur, media founder and former reality TV star. Let's go. Don't look.

0:28Jamie Laing:Go, go, go. Okay, hey Jamie! Hey Tara, how are you? Wait, okay. Are you too much serious? Tell us, what are you building? I'm building a sweet company called Candy Kittens. It's a confectionery company. We make vegan sweets. I'm building a media business which is called Jam Pot. Let's start from the beginning. Before Made in Chelsea, what did you think your career was going to be? I thought I was going to be a stuntman. What? I didn't know that. I got offered a role in a reality show called Made in Chelsea. I thought it would be fun to see what fame was like, but also to try and build a sweet company.

0:58Did you always think you would never have a traditional career?

1:00Jamie Laing:When I was younger, the idea of entrepreneurship wasn't like a thing, right? The traditional route was you go to university or you go to school, you get your grades, you come out, you get a job and you work in this job. What was the worst advice you ever got? I mean, everyone told me to go to Manchester. It's cheesy, but I think the worst advice is when people tell you you can't do something. Like what? If I wanted to be an NBA basketball player, I'm probably not going to be able to do it, right? I truly believe we can kind of achieve anything if we put the hours and time into it. So when people told you to not go on Manchester, you obviously listened to your gut and ignored them.

1:30Do you always go with your gut over listening to other people?

1:32Jamie Laing:It's a great question. Yeah, I'm a big believer in naivety. I think it's like the most powerful thing we have. Like, okay, in what sense? Okay, so the reason why... Am I crying? Yeah, you're crying, this is so emotional. The reason why my business partner and I set up a sweet company that sold flavours like Eat A Mess and made it vegan and all these different things, is because we thought, well, that's different, that's fun, that's exciting. Everyone else said, that's never going to work. Everyone. Everyone. Everyone, everyone, even factories. You have to follow your gut. You have to follow your naivety.

1:59Jamie Laing:When you're setting up a brand or setting up a business, a personal brand, whatever it is, never follow logic because it gets you back in the same place as everybody else, a place where you don't want to be. Because otherwise, you're just copycatting everyone and that's not a good place. How do you think of the idea? So many people want to be entrepreneurs and the main thing that they say is, I can't think of what to build. So if you're looking to start a business, find out what you don't want to do. Because if you find out what you do want to do, you're going to love it. and that's the best place to start when starting a business because it's 24-7, 365 days a year and you've got to love what you do.

2:30Jamie Laing:Be patient. I said that to you. A great place to start is find places which are like archaic if you're really looking for a business. Look at places which haven't been developed. So an example would be cereal. Boring things like toothpaste or something. Okay, prime example is cinemas. So find an industry which you think needs developing, that needs changing, that can have like an uplift and go for it. Or find a niche. and go off that if you love woodwork go into woodwork like honestly that is really where the magic lies i truly believe that business is paid in two currencies cash and experience take the experience first the cash will come later don't do something because you want to make money if you want to make money go and sell bitcoin don't do it because you just want to make money i think it will fail if you want to make money go and join a company at like series c and yeah work there because being a founder is not the way to make money no no being a founder is a being a founder just to be a complete psychopath.

3:23Jamie Laing:You have to be a complete psychopath. You have to dedicate so much of your time to it. You have to make really horrible decisions that affect people's lives. You have to be addicted to something that you don't know is going to work. You have to be a huge risk taker. Like being a founder is mental. So would you recommend it? Yeah, 100%. When you did Made in Chelsea and then you wanted to become a founder, obviously you wanted then people to start taking you seriously as an entrepreneur. Yeah. How did you rebrand? You liked being liked. You love it, yeah. Yeah. And how do you stop caring what people think?

3:55And if people say your business is shit and that you need to stop, you need to quit, how do you ignore that noise?

4:00Jamie Laing:The answer, I think, is this. When you're running a business and being a founder, you have to remove all ego. Wanting to be liked and wanting people to like your product and give you validation for it all, that's just ego. You shouldn't just build something or create something just to make yourself feel good. So your family love, respect you and think what you're doing is amazing. That's really the only thing that matters. For some reason we seek validation from strangers because we think it's going to fulfill us and actually what's going to fulfill us is right on our doorstep. And that's who we should focus on.

4:30Jamie Laing:It's true though, right? But then aren't they biased? Of course our mums think we're so good. We should be building businesses or building brands so at the end of the day we can spend more time with our loved ones. That should be the ultimate goal. So for you, building this, I want to know, when are you going to know that enough is enough? When are you going to sit back and be like, do you know what this was my goals this was all on my dream list i've got a wife i've got a baby i've got successful business i'm good or does that ever does that never happen to a founder do you think it's always more the question i always get asked is like when would you sell candy kittens when would you sell i love waking up every single day and getting to build a sweet company or a media company that i love doing if i was to sell you'd be able to walk left on a plane to sit in first class and probably drive a really nice car and that's great but that then you get used to that and that becomes boring and then the ultimate goal is probably in later life to be able to give back anonymously donate vibe anonymously what's something you wish you knew when you started you're gonna hate this one but it takes time what was the question remember what's your biggest weakness as a founder i care about what other people think and it will never stop maybe not i don't know how do you deal with the stress of being a founder because obviously i know you have anxiety the biggest thing is this too shall pass when you're in the eye of the storm it feels like it's never going to pass but it always does it does get better and you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other what scares you um me yeah my anxiety scares me yeah probably well because it's just so overpowering it has been in the past and it's just like i'm not academic in lots of ways i'm not lots of things but i think i can communicate and when my anxiety strikes i lose my communication and that's not good no that's horrible probably my brain and how fast it is But it's really interesting because all the founders I've interviewed, same as you, there's such a common trait of having this like slightly ADHD thoughts that run faster than what you can keep up with.

6:25Jamie Laing:And that can be overpowering. And that can be overpowering. And sometimes your brain is like a machine so it just like goes, see ya for like a day or two or maybe a week or a month or whatever it is. So when you've had like a really low time, what's something that pushes you through? What's like a fuel that keeps you going? You've got to realise that you have to have those trying moments because if it was easy the whole time, everyone would do it. When you're struggling, see that as your Everest. Be like, well, let's fricking go, right? You just have to be patient and patience is the hardest thing.

6:53Jamie Laing:Ride the wave. Ride that wave, baby. Do you think anyone can be a founder? No. No. No. How do you know if you've got it? I think lots of people can be founders but not businessmen. What do you mean by that? I think I'm a good founder. I think I'm a good entrepreneur. I don't know if I'm the greatest businessman. I can make a group of people run through a door with me, But I'm not great at the attention to detail, which businesses need. But you need the other side to help you actually with the nitty and gritty. That's why you build a co-founder. That's why you have co-founders, is to hire your weaknesses.

7:24Jamie Laing:So some people can be both, but majority of the time you're one or the other. And a founder, entrepreneur, normally mixes with someone who is more of like a logistics guy, right? And the logistics person, the operations person, typically aren't the founder. What is a bet you made that didn't work? We did a collaboration with Netflix on sex education and that was the worst. Why? People thought we were trying to sell sex to kids, but we weren't because they didn't know what sex education was. They thought we were trying to educate people in sex. There must have been such great brains in that room coming up with that.

7:54Jamie Laing:Yeah, but the outsider didn't relate. What's something no one knows about you? I have eight brothers and sisters. I'm still scared of the dark. It's not a vibe. It's not a vibe. What's something you wish I asked you? What was postman Pat called when he retired? Pat! It's my favourite joke. I think more people should go and listen and watch Tara because what she's doing is incredible. Aw, thank you. Okay, guys, that's it for Look Who I Found this week. A massive thank you to Jamie Lang for such an honest conversation about entrepreneurship. If you want to stay up to date with Look Who I Found, make sure you're following wherever you're listening.

8:27Or for even more fun, head to my Instagram or TikTok at Tara Keeney. I'll be back next week with another huge founder and I cannot wait to show you who I found next. until then see you on the next walk