I LEFT PRIVATE EQUITY TO BUILD A WELLNESS BRAND | JULIA BALDET, Founder of Elevate on Career Pivots and Building in Public

0:00Welcome back to Wish I Knew, the podcast where we explore the lessons, pivots and defining moments that shape our lives and careers. My guest today is Julia Baldet, founder of Elevate Wellness, a brand that's redefining how we think about health, transparency and conscious living. After starting her career in investment banking and private equity, Julia left the corporate world to build something she couldn't find, a wellness brand that's rooted in honesty and simplicity. We talked about leaving finance to start over in a completely new industry, what it means to build in public, going viral while sharing that journey, raising investment and now becoming an angel investor herself.

0:38So with that, let's get into it.

0:48Julia Balde, welcome to Wish I Knew. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much. I have been so inspired by your story because we'll get into it, all the details. But in a nutshell, you started out your career working in private equity, left and recently founded the wellness brand Elevate, which we have here today. I'm really excited to try these smoothies. So I will be sipping on them. Yeah, you have to. Throughout. Can I actually try one now?

1:21Julia Baldet:Yeah, you should. so I brought like a bit of everything I would say they're quite different flavors so the first one the purple one is like the lean berries it's a protein shake basically okay I would like blueberries peanut butter creatine kefir as well for gut health and it has like 27 grams of protein wow so good like lunch replacement option I think yeah um the pink one in the middle is the glow it's the most popular one so it's like strawberry banana collagen smoothie, very fruity, very light. And then the yellow one is the golden boost. So it's more tropical flavor. So pineapple, passion fruit, mango, and a bit of like turmeric, ginger and vitamin D because it's like winter.

2:07Julia Baldet:So we need a bit of immunity boost for sure. Yeah. Okay. I need all of them. That's for sure. I'm just drawn to the pink one. So can I try it? Yeah, of course. Try it. Let's do it.

2:26yum glad you like it it's really nice okay i'm gonna try and sip this as we speak so i hope that's okay but thank you so much for bringing them in um i guess my first question for you is what do you think your younger self who was working in private equity feeling super burnt

2:43Julia Baldet:out what do you think she would say if she could see you today um honestly i think she'd be a bit like surprise in the sense that you know I've left private equity finance so a career that was very attached to I would say external like markers of success to open a smoothie bar I think she would be like are you okay but I think she would also be proud because I've kind of like always knew that I wanted to open like my own business having like my own brand so I'm glad that I you know made that happen for sure. And what drew you to finance in the first place? So if I have to be really honest you know I never kind of like I didn't grow up thinking oh I want to be you know M &A associate or private equity associate when I when I grew up I actually had no idea about that but I just kind of like I loved every topic at school I was quite good at like every topic.

3:44Julia Baldet:So I didn't want to choose. So I ended up going to like business school and, you know, it was quite generalist and I always love a challenge. So when I heard about like finance, investment banking, I was like really drawn to that because it's very generalist. You need to be also very good with number, but not only. There is a big strategic aspect to the business you're reviewing and the project you're working on. So that's really what drew me to that. And I think that there was also, you know, in all fairness, the fact that it's an industry that is very prestigious, it pays well. And I thought that it could be a place where I could learn a lot and then decide eventually, you know, if I like it or if I wanted to do something else.

4:30Julia Baldet:But the idea was really to kind of like not close any doors for myself. It's so interesting. I actually started my career in finance, different side, wealth management. No way. um but it's interesting that because you mentioned this this concept of like external markers of success and I felt like looking back that was definitely a big driver for me in the sense of it pays really well it's a you know long-standing career where you can have you know you can have a very long and sort of fruitful career in the finance sector I think as well maybe the way that we've been influenced with like tv and movies and um seeing success has typically been in more like traditional sectors as well so I can definitely relate to you with some of those points do you feel like the external factors or your like definition of success then was was different to what it would look like now 100 percent um because as I mentioned I was not really, you know, thinking, OK, what do I like?

5:35What's like my real passion or what do I want to do with my life where I want to go?

5:40Julia Baldet:It was more, you know, for me to do like the best thing I could do. And in a way, I wanted to prove things like to myself, but also to others. So for sure, I think that, you know, my definition of success has like really changed since I've left that world. because, you know, it was really relying more on like external markers being like the salary, how well you were doing, how fast you were promoted, which, you know, I think is not a bad thing to have ambition. But I still have ambition today. It's just like my kind of like priorities have changed because I've seen also the bad side of kind of like forgetting who you are, you want to be and trying to force yourself to fit into that mold um so I think that you know it's more like a process that I've been through to be like okay this is what I value more I would say now and um when you were working in finance what did you like what did you find it to be like is it as glamorous as you see on the tv screens and in the movies or was it actually like really long hours and stressful so it's definitely less glamorous I'm I'm sorry to be able to break the myth um yeah honestly it was like very long hours um depending on the projects I was working on could you know I could end up doing like over 100 hours a week um easily with like no weekends um no holidays or when I was away on holiday I was always like go around with like my laptop my two phones um and i think you know people around me like my family my boyfriend like my friends they all thought that i was crazy uh for for going through that so it's definitely less glamorous than what we see in in tvs you know we don't like party with clients in like private members club or all these sort of things or at least it's not what i've experienced but um yeah that's there is definitely like a tough aspect of that but also you know you can't be paid like very large amount of money if you're not working that much like when it's too good to be true you know it doesn't exist so and how did you find like starting out your career did you find that like you said you were always on on holidays do you felt like you maybe had to sacrifice other parts of your life in order to yeah 100 % I think that I've kind of like posed everything else to just like focus on on my career um I would say that one thing that is like really good when you start um you know in investment banking joining like a big bank like I I did uh it was just before COVID um you join with like a hundred other people that are you know all like not from London like from all over like the world so you have like really this class where you meet other people and they become your friends.

8:35Julia Baldet:So I think that in that regard, I was lucky to have like this support system in place and friends that would also understand like what it is like and the fact that, okay, I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it to dinner. So I think that it's really important to have like this strong like support system in place because otherwise it would have been like, I think a very lonely place, but it was my family's back in France as well. So that's very for sure. I've put I've put the rest on on hold yeah I think it's something that's quite common right and like I struggle or have struggled over the years with like when I'm working on something really big you need to just lock in you know and like now I know how to communicate that with people better but I think where I felt personally sort of felt down in the past is like trying to do everything and be there for everyone and people are getting married and then I'm same as you on my laptop about to you know go to someone's wedding and and it's it's hard right you can't be everything for everyone and also succeed and succeed and excel in an industry that is really competitive and requires your effort right no that's that's definitely true and it's quite funny what you mentioned about the wedding I was actually working on the Sunday brunch of my best friend's wedding so I was literally in her in a room working on my laptop because my boss was like harassing me and be like you need to send this now and I remember I was like crying I was feeling so bad because of course it was like my best friend's wedding and I was just like miserable and she's like it's fine don't worry but you know it's this type of situation where you know it's kind of like a situation that kind of like helped me to realize that this is not normal I agree it's normal to kind of like lock in but it's also really important I would say to set boundaries and also know how to prioritize what's important for you um and I think that for me I just arrived at a stage where I was not like I didn't have the freedom to also prioritize and say hey actually I have like this very important event and I really can't miss that so I didn't have this flexibility at all which kind of like in a way pushed me to be where I am right now so it's in hindsight you know it's it's kind of a blessing is in disguise for sure definitely and so were you aware with those little moments were they all kind of building up inside to maybe you thinking this isn't gonna be it yeah definitely because you know I think I've always been like a good student like working a lot and I've always like put this pressure on myself um and no one has kind of asked me uh you know to to do all of those things it was just like myself being like oh yeah I want to be like the best performer I want to be this and you know kind of like succeed in finance and go very far in in that path but it's just like the accumulation of things where I was I just reached a point where I felt really miserable I was really burnt out and I just kind of posed, took a step back and thought, wait a minute, like if I was actually speaking with a friend, I would tell her that this is not normal.

11:55Julia Baldet:You can't live your life like that. And, you know, I was a bit the tricky part with that is with finance in general or this kind of like industry is that I think you're always waiting for, you know, the next bonus, the next promotion. And you think, OK, next year I'm going to quit and find something else. And you kind of like get stuck in that loop. So I'm kind of glad that I, you know, managed to take a step back and look at that and thought, OK, this is really not like normal. And this is not taking me closer to where I want to be in like five to 10 years. So this needs to stop now. It's incredible because so many people do get caught in that trap.

12:35And I think it's a very big corporate tactic in the sense of like there's always a bonus or a pay rise or shares coming. And you can have the exact same mindset you've just described. You could be like, OK, I'm going to do this until the next and until the next bonus or the next amount of shares that I get. And then I'm out. But then by that time comes, you've got another one coming and you end up like in this cycle. of like forever chasing that reward that's in front of you but not thinking about like longer term and the bigger picture right so I think it's huge kudos to you to be able to like break that cycle quite early as soon as you like could see it if that makes sense yeah and I think that was

13:19Julia Baldet:also something that I realized um in the sense that you know I was kind of like I was not like senior enough to have any kind of like shares in in the company we're involved in and I was actually getting very close to this point where I was like actually if I start like getting this type of incentive it's going to be really hard to just like say no and leave it on the table and I completely agree with what you say in the sense that you're always chasing this next thing and next thing you know you know you've kind of like upgraded your lifestyle as well and maybe you've bought a house and you have now a mortgage and now you used to go on holiday in certain places so I think it's like really really hard to kind of like break from from that cycle and that was possibly one of the hardest things to do from my experience to be like okay I'm living I'm going to do something really different and to also go back to the markers of success I think people being like are you okay like what is going on that was going to be what I was going to ask you next like what was everyone's um initial reaction when you said you were gonna go and did you say you're gonna go and launch a smoothie brand or so I said initially because I was afraid of like saying what I would do which is you know maybe it's stupid but at the beginning I was like oh no I'm gonna get judged um because when you think about it like a smoothie brand is not like glamorous and some people told me like literally are you okay and I know that some people also said like to other friends of mine or colleagues being like yeah I think she's making like a big mistake so that's why I wanted to you know kind of like delay the time that the moment where I have to communicate about like what I was doing um that was very clear in the vision I had like when I left I never left to say oh I'm gonna open like a cute smoothie bar and just have one I always knew that I wanted to build like a multi-million dollar brand if that makes sense so for me it was um really try to for me the thing that kind of like helped me was really to try to focus on the big picture rather than focus on on the moment of being like oh yeah I'm living to do this I was just when I left I just said I'm going to take a bit of time to think about like what I want to do but it's probably not going to be you know in in finance and also I kind of knew that worst case scenario I could still go back if anything was going wrong yeah yeah it's it takes so much courage And I think other people's opinions are so strong in those moments.

15:48I had a similar experience when I left my corporate world recently. And everyone starts to get quite nosy as well. Because I do a similar thing of saying, oh, you know, I'm just thinking about what's going to come next. And then I'm going to take some time out. And so many people were so nosy. What are you doing next? What are you, you know, what are you thinking? Are you going to do this? Are you going to do that? And I was a bit like, why is everyone, you know, and I actually didn't have a bit of a plan. You know, I had a kind of loose plan in the back of my head, but I thought, okay, let me, yeah, take a step back.

16:21Take a step back and think about it first. But it's interesting because I feel like people do come in quite hot with their opinions when you decide to take bold leaps. and it's incredible because so many people probably do listen to those and think oh yeah actually like you're right maybe I should stay on the corporate path and you know what was it that you felt within you kind of gave you that self-resilience and trust to say no actually

16:50Julia Baldet:I know that I'm on the right path here oh that's uh that's a tough one because it was really a tough period in the sense that as you say people get super nosy and even you know some some people that I used to work with that that was not close to or kind of like were never checking on me I know they were asking to other people being like oh so how is the project like going and and everything so it's true that when you kind of know that people start to get like nosy with what's going on and don't always have the best intention sometimes it's also to kind of like give their their opinion and you're like okay thank you but you know I don't necessarily ask you for for that um i think that for me i i think that really kind of like helped me is one realizing that worst case scenario if i was trying to launch something and i would you know lose maybe one or two years from the corporate path and i think that everything that i've done before is not lost in the sense that if you know for whatever reason tomorrow elevate doesn't work and I'm like okay I want to go back to a more like corporate role I think that it would just be a bonus maybe I would have lost two years compared to my peers but who cares at the end of the day yeah so I think that it's kind of like knowing that there is some sort of like safety net if that if that makes sense like that nothing is um it's not like a decision that can't be changed so realizing that I think kind of helped me and I also also thought that you know I'd rather take this risk than having like regrets because I kind of like you know I'm approaching my 30s and I kind of like realized that time goes so fast that was like okay it's time to do it now before you know I'm actually married with kids and like a mortgage and some obligations so I was I just thought that it was the right time.

18:45Julia Baldet:Plus, of course, all the accumulation of what happened at work and the fact that I was burned out and unhappy really with the whole situation. That created kind of like the perfect storm, I would say, for me to say, okay, it's time for me to try and enter this new chapter of my life. One thing I didn't fully appreciate before running my own business was just how much mental energy everyday decisions take. When you're spinning a lot of different plates and always thinking a few steps ahead, even the small things can start to feel surprisingly draining. After leaving corporate to set up my business last year, I realized if I wanted to stay focused and make good decisions consistently, I needed to simplify wherever I could, especially when it came to my health.

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20:39That's wishinew20 for 20 % off your first month. I hope you love it just as much as I do. It's so interesting because I think you've done it in the perfect way where you've got a few, like some good experience behind you. You've gone out, like you said, if you decide to flip it back, you're only losing a couple of years and you're not starting from scratch. and I think that there is definitely this I mean I do really believe that like everything is figureoutable and that no matter what situation you're in you can always change and pivot your path regardless but I think it's so smart and strategic that you've thought of it that way especially in your 20s because that's the time when you've got to be able to experiment with things right and this is what I say to a lot of people um like mentees and I do some mentoring where people will say, what should I do?

21:31You know, I'm like, go move city, start a business, you know, go travel. Like, because when you have children and, you know, or if you have children, that, you know, life doesn't get easier with time. It only gets more difficult in the sense of how much more responsibility you add to your plate. So while your plate has got no responsibility, just get out there and do it.

21:54Julia Baldet:I completely agree. And that's the approach I've picked because I knew that otherwise I would have more responsibilities, as you said, and it would become like only harder. Yeah, exactly. Not impossible, but it's harder. It's definitely much harder. And what inspired you to come up with the idea for Elevate? So it really started, I would say, as a personal frustration. So it was a very selfish move in a sense that. So I was like really, you know, kind of like working so much, really burnt out. and inevitably the stress like caught up with me um and you know it started to show signs like in terms of like um health would it be both like mental health and physical health um so when I you know kind of like finally took the time to see a doctor do some exams the doctor told me listen you have like two options either you kind of take a bit of time off to really recover or you try to you know kind of like sleep more exercise more eat properly because I was always like skipping lunch because I didn't really have time or I was eating something you know crap in front of my laptop and of course you know kind of like taking time off was not an option so I was like okay I can't sleep more either because it doesn't depend on me of course I would love to sleep more and go to bed early but I can still try to make you know nutrition and movement like a priority in my life so it's when I started to exercise and also exercise I would say change the type of exercise I would do because before that I used to do type of exercise that would like really stress my body and like spike my cortisol like you know soul cycle or like cobox which is great when you need to um let the stress out but at the same time it really stresses your your body so I started to do some gentle movement like pilates working to go to to work for example and you know after the gym when I was on my way to the office I was like okay now I'm craving like a nice breakfast option and I couldn't find anything out there I think that all the options that were out there was were like full of hidden sugars and you know I don't want to drink a juice in the morning that has like 80 grams of sugar or you know like what I was finding on like supermarket shelves like protein shakes and drinks they are full of like additives um and like artificial stuff in there so i was like no this is not what i want to put in my body because right now i've also come to understand that what you put in your body is really your fuel so it needs to be like really clean and you need to read the label what's going on because i don't want to eat something and just because it's written protein on it i think it's healthy yeah most of the time I mean, it ends up being like ultra processed food.

24:44Julia Baldet:So you better off like eating something else. So it's just like when I came to that realization that there was a gap in the market, that I thought it was like really interesting, especially when thinking of the US market, where there are so many like good options for like smoothies and like healthy breakfast, protein shakes, everything. I decided to do a bit of research on the market, speak with senior people from a lot of like big brands in the UK and the US. And I really applied my private equity approach in that regards because I was, of course, like risk averse and didn't want to like leave my job like without a proper plan.

25:25Julia Baldet:I spent like, I would say, four to six months doing some proper market research, trying to understand, you know, the big wellness trends, saying like if that could be like a profitable business model, how to scale. Because again, the idea was not to just open my coffee shop but really create like a global brand so I spent some time also like researching that before before starting it's so interesting and you're so right on the the options that we've got here are just not the same as anywhere else in the world I mean I find the US especially like I used to love when I traveled to the US a lot for work I would love it because you can just go there and it's easy like you know what you're gonna get you can go to any supermarket and you can you know that you'll have like a healthy alternative when you're trying to be conscious is really powerful and when you're like on the go it's always like you've got it there whereas here yeah like protein bars I think I think I looked at a protein bar versus like a normal chocolate bar and the protein bar is actually like worse like I don't know what.

26:34Julia Baldet:I'm not surprised. Yeah. I'm really not surprised. So that was like my main pain point. And I also figured out that some people, you know, would feel the same way. And, you know, if my breakfast is going to be like 80 grams of sugar, I'd rather eat maybe a croissant for breakfast rather than something that is like seemingly healthy. Yeah. So the whole idea of Elevate was that you could come in the store and you were assured of like what you would get. Yeah. And you could also kind of like get this full transparency and customize everything to tailor it to like your diet or your taste. And how did you come up with the name Elevate?

27:11Julia Baldet:It actually came like, I don't know, I was like thinking about it and I was like, I like the name Elevate. Because for me, it's the idea of, and it came quite naturally because I had this idea of like inspiring people. And I wanted to be more than just like a food and beverage brand. I wanted really for people to come to the store, get their smoothie or protein shake and feel like elevated, like they've done something for themselves and they're going to have a good day. You know, if if they've done that, they've like made something for them. So that was really the idea behind that. But it really came like naturally.

27:50Julia Baldet:I think I was working on this project and I was like, oh, that sounds nice. Yeah. Oh, it's such a great name. Really, really great name. um and so when you had the idea what was like the process that you went through to actually launch because am I right in saying you like retrained as a barista yeah you're you're absolutely right um so I left my job um and I was like okay now I have this great idea I need to raise a bit of money because it's it's actually quite expensive um to start like a retail project especially in in London um so I knew that I needed to raise a bit of money and I thought okay like you know I'm gonna raise money I'm gonna be speaking with investors and for being an investor myself like what would be the reasons for which I would like decline the investment because at the time you know I I was like pre-revenue pre-store pre-product pre-anything so I was just like pitching a piece of paper basically an idea on a piece of paper um so I thought okay I think that the first thing you know I would I would kind of like flag is the fact that I don't have any operational experience as a as a barista so I decided to you know correct that and go work as a barista for two months um and it was definitely like um I think like the best thing I could do because I've learned so much like on the job just like understanding you know the processes like how you know like the staffing works uh speaking with like customers seeing what like works well but also I think you know just understanding like what it is to be a barista and I always I've always thought that to be a good leader you need to lead by example and like knowing what you're talking about and having done also the kind of like hard part um so it was definitely like very rich in learnings and for sure you know when I was like pitching to people and they were like oh okay I love that but you know you don't have any operational experience I was so like proud when I was like I'm currently working as a as a barista so I actually know what I'm talking about I love that like and I really believe that as well like you're only a good leader if you know how to do the things that you're delegating to a degree but it makes you it makes you more respectable as well I think to the people that you hire because they appreciate that you've been in their shoes and you know how it works did you ever feel any like fear of judgment like going from a big swanky bank um to then retraining as a barista like what was your like I guess thought you know how did you feel and think about that in the moment so I think you know I've actually kept that a secret from from most people I would say for um the time that I was there and I've kind of like told my friends after being like oh hey by the way I've done that haha so funny and you know I was like very scared that people would judge me or like make fun of me but I was also like terrified to you know meet somebody that I know and that this person was like what are you doing here like you know it's kind of um it is strange isn't it like it's strange in certain countries that that's like the thing and that's so crazy I think how we can get attached to like our social status and like perception that people have of us yeah um so yeah I was like definitely like very scared of that I think also you know when I interviewed for the role I said that I was like transitioning and I wanted to resume my studies and do something else so I wasn't honestly I didn't feel any like judgment I would say from my colleagues and the people I was working with I've actually made some friends but it was more from you know people from my I would say former life where I was kind of scared of like what people would would think of for sure it's such a brave thing and honestly like also something to note about like the I would say the attachment to social status is that it actually took me a bit of time when I was you know still launching Elevate was kind of meeting people in like social situations when they're saying oh what do you do I would always start saying oh I used to work in finance and now I'm doing this and it took me time to kind of like realize I was like still saying this as if it was like a validation of something of like my worth and you know what I've done before so it was definitely a transition to say oh yeah it's actually like I'm launching like a smoothie bar and like it's not open yet like we still it's still very much work in progress yeah um but I've definitely like noticed that for sure it's incredible isn't it because I feel like there's a real um it's like your identity yes is attached to either the name or the industry that you work in and I can relate to that a lot actually leaving corporate and my last role was at Amazon and when I first went out my own people would say what do you do and I'd say I just left my job at Amazon and did it and and it takes a while doesn't it to realize actually I'm Julia yeah you know not julia from or julia who works in you know i'm julia and this is what i'm doing um it's funny because that that identity and attachment and like we said oh you're about like external measures of success still linger in some ways right no 100 but also something that i've noticed like going through all of this is that you know it's actually not the most successful people that are going to judge you like the most successful like entrepreneurs investors they would always kind of like say oh that's amazing go for it yeah and they would never judge you for doing something that can seem a bit like crazy and you know I've noticed that the judgment or maybe what I thought would be judgment was potentially coming from people that would not do anything and get stuck in that loop so once you kind of like realize that and also realize the second thing is that we always like overthink what people would think of us like people don't think that much of ourselves like I think like we do think a lot more than yeah then we do think a lot more of ourselves than what people do like everybody's self-absorbed at the end so I think that once I've realized that it was actually quite freeing to yeah to just like do my thing and be happy about that and be like yeah I'm Julia I'm opening a smoothie bar or I like to do this and I like to do that yeah and just detach myself from this like previous role it's so true and I just thought of that like saying that people say where when you're looking at people that are making opinions or judgments of you you shouldn't trust someone's opinion who you wouldn't go and ask for yeah so if you wouldn't go and ask that person for advice why should you listen to their opinion And I do feel like more often than not, the people that have the opinions, like you say, are the people that are not doing it themselves.

35:16And it's actually like self-projection versus actual genuine advice.

35:20Julia Baldet:No, that's very true. And I think I've also noticed that while kind of like building in public and before opening that, you know, when you build in public and try to put yourself out there, which is like the hardest thing to do, because obviously some people are going to come and like comment on like your TikTok or everything. so it's it's true that it's something you know that I think you need to kind of like go through the process to actually learn that and be like okay it's not like that important I'm not gonna value what they have to say or just kind of like taking it because might be good feedback sometimes but you know it's it's also learning how to kind of like detach yourself from that for sure hi my loves just a quick pause to say if you're enjoying wish I knew please please please hit the subscribe button and leave a quick rating or review it really makes such a difference to the show and helps us to keep bringing you amazing guests and stories now let's get back to the episode and speaking of building in public so you decided to publicly speak about what you were building before you actually launched right yeah which is an amazing strategy I mean was it meant to be a strategy or was it just so I think it was like for me in a way So I started actually posting on like TikTok and Instagram almost a year ago.

36:37Julia Baldet:So that was like December. I remember it was like between Christmas and New Year, you know, like when you're just home, not doing much. I was like, OK, I'm going to start posting. And for me, I think it was almost a way to kind of like trap myself into action in the sense I was like, OK, if I put it out there, now it's out there and I have to do it. because of course, I'm not going to tell you that the journey was like a slow ride and, you know, that I didn't have any doubts. I had a lot of doubts on the journey and a lot of times I was like, OK, am I doing the right thing? Like, should I give up?

37:09Julia Baldet:Should I pivot? Should I do something else? So I think that in a way it was for me to be like, OK, now you've raised the money, you have to do it and like don't kind of like there's no way back. So I started posting on TikTok and you know the first video I posted actually went viral and I got like close to a million views and I remember that my worst fear when posting it was like oh I hope it does well but I hope that no one from work from work like sees it and like literally the first week of January one of my best friends from like my first job like text me and he's like oh by the way like Like we're having lunch and like the partners are discussing your TikTok video.

37:51Julia Baldet:And I was like, oh, my goodness. Like that was like that was quite funny. But I think that was great because once, you know, you've kind of been confronted to your worst fear and you notice that nothing happens. Like, OK, that's fine. I can just keep posting and build in public. And again, it's kind of like I would say it's a good like reinforcing loop. and honestly even though they were of course like always when you post something on socials like a couple of mean comments I would say 99 % of the comments were like words of encouragement and people reaching out and saying this is amazing like um you know I've I've been thinking of leaving my finance job as well my consulting job my law firm whatever and like I'm cheering for you and you know so many people were just like go go for it and like cheering like for me that it was definitely like a great thing to do and like build this community before opening wow that is incredible I actually saw I think it was that it must have been that first post but I remember seeing that's crazy yeah and um thinking at the time oh my god that's so inspirational oh my god thank you yeah so yeah honestly it's incredible and I think that you're right in the sense of once you say something out loud or you post it I mean posting it is different because you've got nearly a million people that have seen it now yeah exactly like you have to do the thing yeah exactly I'm like okay I have to do it I didn't know they would like get viral and kind of like just like kick off the journey like that but for sure now I was like okay that's that's the proof I need it now I need to trust the process and keep going and what did you like feel in the moment of like having a post go viral that you didn't expect so it was honestly like very surprising but exciting and it was the first time also that was kind of like seeing that some people you know like very having interaction let's say with people that are external from my circle of like friends or like former colleagues or family um that were you know discussing the idea with me as well so it was great to get feedback and some people were saying oh yeah this is very much needed like please like do this type of thing had some like vegan options like at the macros like so I think it was great to kind of like get the feedback from the community and people like that cared about that to really understand how you know we could like make the product like almost perfect for for the audience and and really do something that people wanted to get it's incredible and how did you find going to investors and pitching for investment i know there's the stat that is still like i can't believe it's even a stat but the fact that two percent of females get investment in the uk yeah that's um honestly that's a very i would say not concerning but at the same time it's also i think it can also be explained because women are launching less businesses and i think it's also because we internalize more the kind of like pressure of like doing well, waiting for everything to be perfect before going to investors.

41:00Julia Baldet:Well, I think that potentially male counterparts, like they're like, OK, I have this idea and they go out, they pitch it and, you know, they are maybe more confident, I would say, overall. And it's something that I've noticed as well, like when I was like more on the investing side, that women, you know, we tend to wait for everything to be perfect and this is something that I was also kind of like waiting for in the sense I was like no I can't speak to investors if I haven't figured out um perfectly from like this thing and this thing but actually I've noticed that you know clarity comes from like action and also kind of like discussing ideas with with other people um so definitely like um I had to kind of like push myself to go out there and like pitch investors and it's you know definitely not a walk in the park for sure it was it was really tough um especially when you know you're raising like your first time entrepreneur raising money for an industry that you know is not mine I didn't have like extensive experience in in hospitality didn't have like a store open so that was like an extra layer of difficulty, let's say.

42:11Julia Baldet:But I think that the advantage that I got is that I was coming from the investing world. So I knew like what people would expect, knew what numbers I needed to kind of like work towards and how to kind of like pitch a good concept, I would say, to investors. What advice would you give to other women who were looking to get investment? I would say start before it's perfect really it's you know just put yourself out there speak with some people you know I think that a lot of times like you realize that it's by having those conversations with people that might be investor might not even be investor maybe like random people that you made like at like social events or but they really come from like this external point of view because a lot of times I've noticed that friends or family they tend to be a and they try to comfort you and say, oh, yeah, that's a good idea.

43:04Julia Baldet:Or I think maybe potentially like the other, you know, I would say extreme opposite where they would like, oh, no, that's a terrible idea. Don't do that. So I think it's always good to have like some external feedback to get like constructive feedback and observations and how you can improve. So definitely start before it's perfect. And don't also, I would say, don't kind of like hold to your idea and make it a secret. um I really believe that you know ideas maybe five percent of the project the rest is 95 percent execution so don't be afraid of like someone stealing your idea because if it's not you doing it it's going to be different anyway so I would say like just put yourself out there I love that that's so inspiring I mean that links back to you building in public as well right because you have to you have to be comfortable with the fact that people might steal and copy and I think it's such an interesting topic um actually I think there was a a podcast I listened to with Simon Sinek yep um who was talking about this exact same concept and was saying uh he tells everyone his ideas and he was like I tell I tell everyone my ideas I don't keep my ideas secret because your idea is only as good as your execution right so like if someone else wants to steal it or copy it great but like how they deliver something will be completely different to you yeah and that's also like again like start with your why you know like being like okay like you're a specific person with like a specific why and I think like it all come down like to why you started this why you're doing this and this is also what you know will make you different and like make you like execute differently and also kind of go through hard times in the long run because you know entrepreneurship and I'm sure you know this because now you're like working for yourself it's a lot of like highs and lows so for sure you need to have like a strong reason for doing things otherwise it's really easy to to give up and I really believe that you know if someone wants to come and like copy and whatever idea it is if they're not like if they don't feel strongly enough about it at some point like there's a chance they would also like give up because it really becomes tough at some point it can't be always like easy for sure yeah yeah and so elevate has launched you have your store in the royal exchange yes that's right in bank um when did you launch so we opened at the end of june 25 so like yeah four months ago now amazing and how's the response been so it's been great um i was really kind of like surprised to see that it took off like so fast and i think it was from like the second or third week that you know we started like seeing really big cues at the door and i was a bit like shocked being like oh my god what is this going on so it definitely felt you know like surreal when we're like you know at peak peak time like during lunch hour that we're selling like the smoothie per minute I was like oh my god like this is crazy um so yeah the response has been has been great um but you know I've been working behind the bar as well of course um and for me it was great to do that to speak with customers to also get some feedback because of course like the product was not perfect when we launched and we've done so many like improvement on the product now that you know I'm almost like cringing when I think of the first version I'm like oh my god but that's a good thing you know in terms of product improvement it's a really good point actually because there is this famous quote in the like tech world that says if you're really proud of the first version of your product you launched it too late yes and I think it's so true that like the first version of your product you should feel really cringe yeah exactly and I'm like okay like now the priority is to make it exist and we can like perfect it you know later on and just taking this approach of like getting one percent better every day and making those improvements or small improvement to get to a place where you know the product is is great but I can't say that right now the product is 100 % perfect you know there's always something we can improve um so that's definitely like an interesting part of my job right now is to kind of like spot those like micro improvements and like really try to to you know deliver like a seamless customer experience and you know think about the things that you wouldn't think as a customer, but we kind of like make them to make your experience really seamless.

47:50Definitely. And what plans have you got for the future that you can talk about?

47:56Julia Baldet:So we're actively looking at the second location. So the idea would be to open it first half of 26. So actually very soon, in like six to eight months. And that would be more West because I've got like so many requests from people being like oh my god like you need to come like west and you know where we don't have like anything like that but the city is a bit too far um so that's that's definitely like I would say like the big project that I'm working on at the moment yeah exciting yes let me know I live west and I'm the type of person that I need where do you live I'm in Chelsea oh yeah me too but that's uh that would be really nice Chelsea But no, I'm thinking a bit more central, more in the kind of like Marylebone, Mayfair area.

48:45Julia Baldet:Lovely. Yeah. Chelsea and Notting Hill are like definitely on the radar. Yeah, for sure. And it is true that like I think people now spend more time in their areas than before. Like I don't really leave West. You agree on the weekends, I'm like very, you know, territorial. I started my podcast here at Cube in The Frame, their flagship podcast studio. and it changed the game for me. With my membership, I work alongside a professional production team so it looks polished and sounds incredible as soon as the cameras start rolling. They also have smaller self-service podcast studios with different set options so you can choose the vibe that fits you.