At 19, Ben Francis was lifting weights during the day and delivering pizza at night. He didn’t have money. He didn’t have fashion experience. He didn’t even know how to sew. What he did have was a front-row seat… to a new online trend. Before Instagram and influencers became a strategy, a handful of YouTubers were redefining gym culture — building identity and community online.
With his gymwear brand Gymshark, Ben didn’t try to compete with Nike. He didn’t try to buy ads. He did something much more powerful: He built relationships. He sent free T-shirts to the Youtubers he admired. He learned what gym-goers actually wanted to wear: tapered tracksuits, and shirts that emphasized their muscles.
Today, Gymshark is valued at more than a billion dollars, and Ben is the youngest billionaire in the UK. But his story is not just about business. It’s about identity, discipline, humility—and learning to grow as fast as you can learn.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to build a brand by building community first
- How to hire smart people without losing control of your company
- Avoiding imposter syndrome by creating your own apprenticeship program
- How to get stronger by staying in your lane
Timestamps:
06:15 - The IT education that changed Ben’s life
17:48 - Gymshark’s first sale: a £2 profit that had him dancing in his bedroom
20:06 - Early apparel—Screen-printing T shirts, a single sewing machine
23:50 - How YouTube bodybuilders became their best marketers
40:48 - How Ben hired his own boss–and what he learned from him
47:44 - Expanding to the US: a bone-chilling trip to Ohio
50:35 - The bodybuilder’s aesthetic: big shoulders, narrow waist
53:58 - The painful breakup between Ben and his co-founder
1:04:49 - Why he earned the nickname “Hurricane Ben.”
1:12:30 - A legacy company: Resisting the urge to grow beyond the gym
1:19:19 - Small Business Spotlight
This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.
Follow How I Built This:
Instagram → @howibuiltthis
X → @HowIBuiltThis
Facebook → How I Built This
Follow Guy Raz:
Instagram → @guy.raz
Youtube → guy_raz
X → @guyraz
Substack → guyraz.substack.com
Website → guyraz.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.