In this episode of The Burnout Files, host John Glover sits down with Danny Campbell, founder of Hoko Design, architect, and judge on BBC Scotland's Home of the Year.

Danny started Hoko because he became obsessed with one idea: that home is where the most important moments of your life happen, and architects have been ignoring the people who live in them.

He launched the practice before he was fully qualified, no safety net, just a clear purpose and a strategic first hire. That obsession turned into a business. But the journey nearly broke him.

This conversation goes to places most founder stories don't. Danny talks candidly about the employment tribunal he nearly didn't survive, the contractor who walked off multiple sites at once and left Hoko holding the financial wreckage, and a regulatory hearing that threatened to end his career publicly: all while his brother was dying.

He "cried every day on the way to work and every day on the way home". And he kept going.

Danny opens up about the mental health crisis running through the architecture profession, the third most likely to die by suicide, and why the industry's culture of silence makes it worse.

He talks about ego, about stripping materialism out of his life, about why he wears Crocs to every meeting. And he shares what his brother taught him about facing the worst with grace.

If you've ever wondered what's really happening behind a founder who looks like they have it together: this one's for you.

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The Burnout Files is hosted by John Glover. Every episode explores the side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make the highlight reel: the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building something from nothing.

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Danny Campbell is the founder of Hoko Design, an architecture and design practice based in Scotland focused on helping homeowners create spaces that actually mean something. He is also a judge on BBC Scotland's Home of the Year.

He launched the business at 25 before completing his qualifications, and has spent the years since learning the hard way what it takes to build something that lasts.

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