Summary
Overview
Ben Francis, founder of Gymshark, shares his journey from a 19-year-old college student selling supplements from his bedroom to building one of the world's most influential fitness brands. Starting with just a £3.50 domain name and a sewing machine, Ben leveraged early YouTube influencers, focused on physique-accentuating gym wear, and bootstrapped his way to nearly a billion dollars in revenue—all while learning leadership, operations, and business strategy on the fly.
Early Days: From Supplements to Apparel
Ben started Gymshark at 19 as a simple Shopify website selling dropshipped supplements, making just £2 profit on a £52 first order after two months. Realizing the margins were too low, he pivoted to screen-printing gym apparel using his grandmother's sewing machine. The shift to clothing dramatically improved margins—from £2 profit on £50 of supplements to £15 profit on £30 of clothing—allowing them to reinvest and grow.
- Ben learned web development and design at school using Adobe Creative Suite, which felt like 'knowing how to use magic'
- First business was flipping personalized car license plates online while still in school
- Gymshark domain cost £3.50 and the name was chosen arbitrarily because it was available
- First sale took two months and made £2 profit—£52 sale with £50 cost to dropshipper
- Bought a £1,000 screen printer and sewing machine to make their own clothing after supplement margins proved too low
" I loved doing new things I loved learning new things at that point the aim was simply to sell one thing online. "
" The gym was really important to me because it was that first time in my life where I realized that I'll get out of it what I put in. If I go to the gym five days a week for a year, I will be in a better position at the end of that year than I was at the start of it. "
The First Breakthrough: Body Power Conference 2013
Ben and his team attended the Body Power Conference in 2013 with YouTubers they had befriended, selling tracksuits and t-shirts. Prior to the event, they were making around £200-250 per day in revenue. At the conference, they completely sold out of everything, and the following week, when they turned their website back on, they did £30,000 in revenue in 30 minutes. This weekend marked the moment Ben quit university and Pizza Hut to pursue Gymshark full-time.
- Before Body Power, Gymshark was selling £200-250 per day in revenue
- At the event, they sold out of everything they brought and people flooded to their stand
- The following week, they did £30,000 in revenue in 30 minutes when the website went back live
- This was the weekend Ben quit both university and Pizza Hut
- Ben's parents were supportive despite him being the first in his family to attend university
" After the event, I remember we were so tired. We all just lay down on the floor in the stand, and there was a guy who had worked at a different stand, and he walked over to us, and he said, how did you do that? And I remember looking at him and saying, I've got no idea. "
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