Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of AKUA, whose kelp jerky product has surged in popularity since launching in 2019. We caught up with Courtney to hear how her journey’s been so far and why kelp is a food trend to watch in the year ahead.

Julie Deane is founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company, the humble UK-based leather bag brand that, in the past decade, defied the odds and became a rare phenomenon. But that story has been told. This week, Julie explains what happened after the success, sharing how and why everything went wrong, and what she did to get the company back on course.

A decade ago, when Londoner Kodj Glover was a teenager, he took a trip to Japan with his mother and became obsessed with high-quality Japanese clothing. He promised that, if he ever started a company himself, he would return to Japan for inspiration. On today’s show, Kodj explains how he’s made good on that dream, having recently launched his own brand, Fuji&Hakone.

This week, hot sauce and productivity drinks. Creative director Drew Wolf explains how and why he launched his brand Kold Sauce during lockdown, and James Beshara shares how a heart condition brought on by too much caffeine and stress led him to launch his company Magic Mind.

Roxana Saidi, founder of new pistachio milk brand Táche, shares the challenges of growing a new product category and lessons on working with your family.

Once upon a time, Jared Ray Johnson and Adam Klein were grad students at MIT, before realising they cared more about physical products than software. The result? An outdoor lifestyle brand called Season Three. They share their journey – from manufacturing in northern Italy to big opportunities in the outdoor space.

Nicole Crentsil, CEO of Black Girl Fest, talks about partnering with Ada Ventures as an angel investor, what she’s looking for in an investment, and her advice for business owners looking to raise cash. Plus, Josh Lachkovic from wine subscription company The Wine List explains new areas in wine to watch.

Nomshado Michelle Baca launched her beauty and wellness brand A Complexion Company only weeks before lockdown. The South African-born, UK-based founder explains how she did it after years of listening, researching and finding her niche in the market. Plus: can email make you calmer? We talk to the co-founder of Berlin-based email product Tempo, who says yes.

We’re with Brittany Chavez, CEO of Los Angeles-based Shop Latinx, a newly-relaunched marketplace of lifestyle products made by indie Latinx brands.

Of all the sectors that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, the events industry is pretty high up there. Digby Vollrath, co-founder of Feast It, explains why he’s bullish on the industry – and he shares opportunities to fill gaps in the market when events bounce back.

Ken Tomita, co-founder of Portland-based company Grovemade, shares his company’s huge successes, epic fails and all the lessons learned along the way.

We catch up with Taco Carlier, co-founder of Dutch e-bike brand VanMoof, about Amsterdam’s history as a bike city, opportunities in the e-bike sector, and commuting bicycles in a time when no one is really commuting. Plus: Charlotte Williams of diversity-focused influencer marketing agency SevenSix explains how best to work with nano- and micro-influencers.

We dig into the future of hype, fitness, fashion, media and a whole lot more with Chris Black from Done to Death Projects and brand consultancy Public Announcement.

The founder of Ace & Tate talks about innovations in the eyewear industry, Sam Valenti from record label Ghostly International explains how musicians are adapting to the new economy and whether New York has a creative future, and Courier columnist Fleur Emery shares details of her new business, Real Work.

Can the 'no code' movement lead to an explosion in new businesses? We talk with Joe Cohen, founder of Universe, to find out. Plus: Dan Frommer explains why the ‘curator’ business case for multi-brand e-commerce is disappearing.

We’re with Mike Mayer from Windmill and Lucas London from Lick Home, who are each trying to grow companies in traditionally old-school industries – paint and air conditioning.

Gabi Lewis once ran a company that made protein snacks out of crickets. He’s since swapped insects for protein-packed cereal as co-founder of Magic Spoon – a direct-to-consumer brand tailor-built for the Instagram generation. This week on the show Gabi shares strategic, cost-effective marketing tactics that have worked for him and his team, from podcast advertising to influencer marketing.

What do you value, what do you want to pay for, and how does this affect the business model and growth of modern brands? We sit down with brand strategist Ana Andjelic, who shares insights from her forthcoming book, ‘The Business of Aspiration’.

We’re with Petra Barran, founder of street food incubator and market KERB, to hear tips and advice for new food and drink brands. Plus, we’re with the CEO of MikMak to learn about her company’s big and bold experiment in remote work.

We’re in California with Aishwarya Iyer, who explains how she built her fast-growing olive oil brand Brightland – then over to Norway where we talk about the future of video meetings with Øyvind Reed, CEO and co-founder of Whereby.

How can you nail your brand’s tone of voice? Check out this special preview of our new Courier Workshop podcast to hear some practical tips and useful examples.

We’re with Mélanie Masarin, founder of the new alcohol-free drink brand GHIA. Mélanie – who previously led marketing at Dig Inn and offline and experiential strategy at Glossier – was supposed to launch GHIA back in April, but things didn’t exactly go to plan. She explains what caused the starts and stops, why the alcohol-free sector is booming, and where she hopes to take the brand.

Four out of five adults say they're ‘time poor’ – they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. We hear tips for reclaiming that time from Harvard Business School’s Ashley Whillans, author of the forthcoming book Time Smart. Plus, Kay Kim from plant brand Rooted explains why he and his team recently closed their shop in New York City’s Chinatown and doubled down on e-commerce.

Few companies or employees are planning a total return to the office anytime soon – yet despite that, co-working spaces aren’t doomed. To find out why, we caught up with Andrew Lynch from Huckletree and Josh Wyatt from Neuehouse.