The direct to consumer playbook with Mike Stevens

Mike calls himself "the start-up guy" having learned the ropes in the early days at Innocent, and then founding and successfully exiting from his own confectionary brand Peppersmith. He realised the importance of the direct to consumer channel but found little useful guidance out there, so he decided to write it himself. He joins Wax/On's Harry and Mark to talk about his own start-up and scale-up experiences, and what he's learned interviewing other Founders to gather the insights for his book on direct to consumer best practice. Mike explains how Innocent's "superbrain" was the key to its success; his post COVID positive outlook for direct to consumer brands; and how he hopes his book truly inspires the next generation of Founders. One of the reasons he loves D2C is because "it's the best way to test the market without a retail buyer telling you your product's not right for their store."   If you're interested in D2C, you must give this a listen.