Can a 20-year-old with no experience turn one TikTok creator into a £250,000 opportunity and build one of the UK’s most respected social-first talent agencies?Benjy Leslie is the founder and CEO of Connect Management, one of the UK’s leading creator talent management and influencer marketing agencies. In just six years, Connect has grown from a lockdown start-up into a major force in the creator economy, working with social-first talent, YouTubers, TikTok creators, brands, agencies and some of the biggest names in modern media.Want more from Building The Brand - connect here:https://buildingthebrand.co.uk/newsletterConnect with Benjy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjy-leslie-837b64144/In this episode, Benjy explains how he made £250,000 from one creator in three months, why social media is “the free lottery” for founders, how Connect Academy generated £1m for micro-creators in its first year, why brands need to move beyond one-off influencer campaigns, and why the future belongs to creators, entrepreneurs and businesses that can build attention, adapt quickly and turn content into long-term brand value.▪️How Benjy Leslie built Connect Management during lockdown

▪️Turning one TikTok creator into £250,000 revenue

▪️Why energy, belief and naivety can beat experience

▪️How creators become salespeople, media brands and business owners

▪️How Connect Academy generated £1m for micro-creators

▪️Why brands need to move beyond one-off influencer campaigns

▪️How YouTube shows are shaping the future of branded content

▪️Why social-first creators are changing TV and media

▪️Building culture through incentives, rewards and high standards

▪️Why founder content drives clients, talent, trust and recruitment

▪️Why social media is the free lottery for entrepreneurs

▪️Launching Connect Management in America without losing culture

KEY MOMENTS:

0:00 — Why social media is the free lottery

1:33 — 3.3 billion views and the bedroom start-up story

3:43 — Making £250,000 from one TikTok creator

5:14 — Naivety, belief and early-stage founder energy

6:05 — What Connect Management does for creators

7:02 — Connect Academy and the creator pathway

10:06 — What makes a creator commercially valuable

13:21 — Using data and AI to track creator trends

15:05 — Scaling to 60 staff while staying bootstrapped

19:51 — PAUSE POINT: Culture as a business growth strategy

24:53 — Best boss PR, incentives and sales motivation

30:52 — Why brands get influencer marketing wrong

31:05 — YouTube shows and the future of branded content

33:08 — Why creators need patience and consistency

37:57 — Targeted sales, attention and commercial logic

40:24 — Why great salespeople listen and move on

47:17 — Why TV is not dying, it is evolving

49:39 — 360 talent management and creator brands

51:30 — PAUSE POINT: Evolution, relevance and content strategy

54:41 — Why founders should treat social media as the free lottery

58:11 — Recruitment, founder brand and social proof

1:00:14 — Launching Connect Management in America

1:02:43 — Selling Fletcher Holman to Wolves through social media

1:03:59 — PAUSE POINT: Finding million-pound ideas in unexpected places

1:06:58 — Scaling without losing company culture

1:10:30 — Ronaldo, Haaland and authentic content

Benjy Leslie is the founder and CEO of Connect Management which has grown from lockdown start-up into a social-first talent agency representing the biggest names in modern media.LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE NOW

Can rebellion, enthusiasm and one strange idea change your entire life?

Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the wider YO! brand, shares the extraordinary journey from boarding school, rebellion, prison, rock and roll stage design and TV rights to launching YO! Sushi at 45 and building one of Britain’s most recognisable modern brands.

Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingthebrandofficial

Want more from Building The Brand - connect here:https://buildingthebrand.co.uk/newsletter

Get Simon’s book YO! Man:https://yo.co.uk/yoman/

▪️Why Simon believes enthusiasm is the trait behind his success

▪️Why rebellion can become entrepreneurial fuel

▪️Going to prison and how it changed Simon’s life

▪️How Simon became a rock and roll stage designer

▪️Working around Rod Stewart, Queen, ABBA, Jethro Tull and major live shows

▪️Spotting the opportunity in music TV rights before the market existed

▪️Why the best founders can be early to a market without being reckless

▪️How a lunch meeting sparked the idea for YO! Sushi

▪️Why conveyor belt sushi, robots and Japanese culture felt like the future

▪️Launching YO! Sushi at 45 with his own money on the line

▪️How word of mouth turned YO! Sushi into an iconic British brand

▪️The story behind YOTEL and building a brand across multiple verticals

▪️Why Simon still believes in YO! Home, YO! Airships and future YO! concepts

KEY MOMENTS:

0:00 — The trait behind Simon’s success

2:06 — Boarding school, authority and rebellion

7:17 — Getting arrested and going to detention

12:43 — Working on yourself as a founder

16:31 — PAUSE POINT: Work on yourself

23:31 — Intensity, enthusiasm and leadership

28:32 — Becoming a rock and roll roadie

32:06 — Band, brand and live spectacle

38:00 — Spotting the music TV rights opportunity

43:06 — Being early to new markets

45:04 — PAUSE POINT: Early or mistaken?

49:24 — The lunch that sparked YO! Sushi

52:04 — Researching and believing in the idea

55:13 — Gut instinct vs market research

56:35 — YO! Home and future living

1:02:09 — Opening YO! Sushi to an empty room

1:02:50 — The queue that lasted five years

1:05:24 — Growing YO! Sushi and YOTEL

1:08:26 — PAUSE POINT: Unrelenting enthusiasm

1:13:57 — Simon’s advice for entrepreneurs