The Founder Who Hacks Her Body and Business

0:00Laura Fullerton:I have always hated being cold. I would do anything to avoid it. And so for me to now be running Monk, like I see the irony. The biggest issue with cold water therapy is people don't know how to use it safely or effectively. And while it is booming in popularity, people are also not doing it in a really safe way.

0:16Alex Chisnall:My guest this week is Laura Fullerton, founder of Monk, who explains how she turned a personal obsession with recovery into a global wellness brand built around cold water therapy.

0:26Laura Fullerton:Some of the investors we've got on have become the biggest advocates, but also just been such a, almost like a pat on the back to us. So we've had some amazing, amazing investors come on board from multi-billion pound founders and technologists and athletes. And it's incredible to have them believe in something that you've created. I put a lot of effort into my network. I think it is probably the number one thing that any founder entrepreneur can do.

0:48Alex Chisnall:Welcome to this special bite-sized episode of Screw It, Just Do It from our back catalogue of over 550 past episodes. If you like what you hear, don't forget to follow the show and grab your free two-day pass to the Festival of Entrepreneurs this October. Just head to festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk to claim yours and don't forget to dive into the back catalogue. Want to surround yourself with 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 entrepreneurs who've already decided to screw it and just do it? The Festival of Entrepreneurs is happening October the 8th and 9th at the NEC Birmingham. And I'm giving away free two-day pass to my listeners.

1:21Alex Chisnall:200 plus speakers, 90 plus sessions, billion pound entrepreneurs sharing their real stories, not theory, but the actual strategies they use to scale. Head to festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk right now and claim your free pass because the best networking happens when you're in the room with people who've already decided to screw it and just did it. Interested to know how you went from having this personal aversion to cold water or, you know, all cold things to being, you know, a real advocate for cold water therapy and ultimately launching your own ice bath company. So was there a screw it, just do it moment along that journey that set you on the path that you're on today?

2:03Laura Fullerton:Yes, there was. So, yeah, the quick backstory is that I have always hated being cold. I would do anything to avoid it. And so for me to now be running monk, like I see the irony. but I've always been really into the biohacking health optimization side of things and you know I do a lot of the holistic stuff like workout sauna and stuff I eat raw frozen liver most mornings so like I'm not I'm not averse to doing difficult things I'm used to doing hard things but I'd yeah never touched being cold cold water therapy because I thought why would anyone do that and then I got invited to this breathwork and ice bath workshop and honestly I went along thinking I'll just skip the ice bath bit and I got bullied into doing it and then afterwards I just felt so good um and then i just wanted more of it but the thing i found is that it was just really inaccessible which sounds stupid because it's cold water you should get it out of your tap yeah exactly um but yeah one thing led to another and i actually just wanted to make my own ice bath and i was speaking to my brother who's you know amazing at engineering and building things and then i had a few friends saying well actually i want one as well can you figure out how to do it for me but the screw it just do it moment for me was when i discovered this private Facebook group and at the time there were 6 ,000 people in it which I thought was a lot and I actually looked the other day and I think there's nearly 80 ,000 people in this group now.

3:21Alex Chisnall:Wow so it's more than 10x.

3:22Laura Fullerton:Yeah and it's just dedicated to people learning how to transform their own chest freezers into a DIY ice bath and that for me was the moment where I thought if there's this many people willing to get electrocuted, have a really ugly product, clearly there's something not meeting their needs. So that really was the catalyst behind Monk where I thought well I've got to create it.

3:42Alex Chisnall:Okay and and to create a more aesthetically pleasing version at the same time.

3:47Laura Fullerton:Yeah with yeah better functionality as well and in all honesty I've never built hardware before I've never built software so building hardware and software that has to talk to each other at the same time yeah it's quite a big ask but um but yeah here we are.

4:00Alex Chisnall:Where are you at as a business where is uh Monk Ice Bath where can people get hold of them?

4:07Laura Fullerton:So we have just placed our first production order so we're now in production and we are going to have products in market this june which is such a big milestone for us because you know with product development always takes so much longer than you think and i remember people saying to me with hardware however long you think it's going to take triple the timeline and double the cost and i was like that will never happen to us it's basically textbook exactly what's happened yeah but um it's been a labor of love so yeah now we're we're at the point where we've just gone live with pre-orders as we're preparing for the launch and yeah, just getting ready to really show the world what we can do.

4:44Alex Chisnall:If you're enjoying this conversation and thinking, I need to be around more people like this, then I've got the perfect solution for you. The Festival of Entrepreneurs is where 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 ambitious entrepreneurs come together to learn from the people who've actually done it. It's on October the 8th and 9th at the NEC in Birmingham and I'm giving my listeners free two-day passes. Real entrepreneurs, real stories, real strategies. exactly like what you're hearing right now, but live and in person. Go to festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk and get your free two-day pass before they're gone.

5:18Laura Fullerton:The hardest thing was fundraising in the climate last year. And also just, you know, as a founder of an early stage business, you're doing so much. You're trying to build hardware and software while fundraise, while build a team, while get ready for a launch. Like there's just...

5:31Alex Chisnall:Whilst getting to bed before 10 o 'clock.

5:33Laura Fullerton:Yeah, well, exactly. That's the thing that really tripped me up.

5:36Alex Chisnall:it's the time thing isn't it but it was it was mainly fundraising it was just really

5:41Laura Fullerton:tough last year and luckily at the end of the year it really picked picked up good but yeah

5:46Alex Chisnall:for a good few months it was it was intense okay um what piece of advice would you give to somebody to help them get from where they are whatever situation that is to where they want to be what's helped propel you get from where you are to where you want to be i think as we just spoke

6:06Laura Fullerton:about i would say network okay yeah i think that is just the number one surround yourself with the right people yeah yeah yeah and i think you've also just got to ask your network for things like even if you know after this conversation i can say like oh hey who are the three people you think i should meet or it's a great line yeah it's a great line wasn't mine i don't know who i stole it from

6:27Alex Chisnall:okay that's a really good line it's not yours okay yeah but i think also i remember at the beginning of the year i read something and what was the quote it was something about like what

6:37Laura Fullerton:happens if you actually just go for it and i've always had it in the back of my mind and you know i think i remember saying something yeah if i was talking to a friend who was i don't know telling me about a problem or something they wanted to do it would be so easy for me to be like oh you should just do this and tell them to shoot for the moon but as soon as it's like me talking to myself yeah I just kind of hold back so just thinking about that like also what is the worst

7:01Alex Chisnall:thing that could happen what was your original vision with monk and how has that changed in the

7:07Laura Fullerton:couple of years oh it's actually it's definitely changed a lot because when I set out to create monk it was more about the hardware it was just more about having this really beautiful bath with great functionality and at some point it was like oh we need to have a companion app to to kind of guide people through it and at that point we weren't really sure on what the role the app would take but what we found out really quickly is that the biggest issue with with cold water therapy is not that people that not the accessibility but it's that people don't know how to use it like safely or effectively and while it is you know booming in popularity people are also not doing it in a really safe way and it's a really powerful tool but it's got to be treated with respect yeah um and so that's that's where the the app comes in for us so we've got a load of different guided programs depending on why you're doing it because if you were doing it for you know muscle recovery or mental health you use it in a really different way but people don't know that yeah

8:04Alex Chisnall:what's been the biggest breakthrough since you started on this journey would you say breakthrough what being like a milestone or yeah i think possibly putting up it sounds like a

8:13Laura Fullerton:really small milestone to the outside world but putting in that first po our first production order that's been a really big milestone because getting to that point there's a lot of blood sweat and tears that that go on behind the scenes um i mean there's been so many great milestones and breakthroughs yeah some of the investors we've got on have become the biggest advocates but also just been such a almost like a pat on the back to us that they they believe in it like one of the co-founders of aura ring you know boxer joshua yeah so we've had some amazing amazing amazing investors come on board from multi-billion pound founders and technologists and athletes.

8:47Laura Fullerton:And yeah, it's just, it's incredible to have them believe in something that you've created.

8:53Alex Chisnall:How do you get in front? So yeah, mention a couple of those people again, then. So people, who can you say that you've got on board?

9:00Laura Fullerton:So by the time this podcast comes out, I'll be able to say that Anthony Joshua is one of our investors. And we've got some amazing things coming up in the next couple of years, loads of shoots and things with him. So that's going to be incredible. Yeah, really excited for that. yeah who else have we got so James Watt the CEO of BrewDog yeah and one of the co-founders of Aura Ring which for me is amazing because it's probably one of my favorite products yeah so to have their belief and also someone who was the the CMO for Peloton for four years how do you get in front of these people is it your your network or do you actively go out and

9:38Alex Chisnall:expand your network?

9:39Laura Fullerton:I mean, I put a lot of effort into my network. I think it is probably the number one thing that any founder, entrepreneur can do.

9:47Alex Chisnall:Agreed. They should teach it in school as well. I've always said this, literally.

9:52Laura Fullerton:Should we start our own school? I think we should.

9:55Alex Chisnall:I literally tell my daughter this, if you could start now, just going on LinkedIn, they look at me like I'm deranged, you know. LinkedIn, compare that to Instagram or TikTok. Why would I want to go on there? That conversation just proved something. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So here's my challenge. Upgrade your network. The Festival of Entrepreneurs is happening October the 8th and 9th, and I'm giving my listeners free two-day passes to get in the room with 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 entrepreneurs who are actually building something. This is where the risk-takers, the game-changers, and the people who've decided to screw it and just do it come for inspiration, education, and connection.

10:34Alex Chisnall:Don't just listen to their success stories. Go meet the people living them. Grab your free pass now because the biggest risk isn't taking a chance. It's missing the opportunity entirely. So I hope you enjoyed that bite-sized episode with Laura Fullerton. A couple of things I want to talk about here. Her obsessing over the product. So Laura knew exactly who she was building for and it shows. When you build something you'd actually use yourself, the quality speaks for itself. Niche doesn't mean small. So Monk is a perfect case of going deep rather than wide. She focused on solving one specific problem and built a brand with global potential.

11:11Alex Chisnall:What I admired most was her absolute refusal to compromise the integrity of the product. A strong reminder that staying true to your vision builds brands people trust.