From Dragon's Den to a food tech unicorn – Timo Boldt, CEO, Gousto

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UKTN

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5 • 6 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Timo Boldt, founder and CEO of Gousto discusses growing his business from a Dragon's Den pitch to a market leader, how sustainability has always been at the heart of Gousto and the importance of new founders finding good mentors.

Gousto is a startup that sends pre-packaged meal kits with ingredients in the exact proportions required for the recipe. The company uses algorithms to tailor recipes to consumers' tastes, health requirements and to reduce food waste. Boldt pitched the startup on Dragon's Den in 2013 while suffering from food poisoning, and after rejecting two offers on the show, he grew the company to a valuation of almost $2bn.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The massive belief I have is we want to be for the masses, not the classes.
0:09.0	Our purpose is to have a positive impact on people on the planet.
0:14.0	I challenged myself to get really uncomfortable and send 100 people a Christmas card saying,
0:21.1	could we maybe have a coffee?
0:22.5	Would you consider mentoring me?
0:24.2	And 97 people didn't return my Christmas card, but three people did.
0:32.1	It's such an open-minded culture, such an inclusive culture,
0:36.5	where foreigners can come here, raise money, register a company
0:39.8	within two days, start a business. I am forever grateful for the UK's openness.
0:49.1	From the first time founders to the funds that back them, innovation needs different. Our episode partner, HSBC Innovation
0:56.8	Banking, is proud to accelerate growth for tech and life science businesses, creating meaningful
1:02.4	connections and opening up a world of opportunity for entrepreneurs and investors alike.
1:08.2	Discover more at www.h.h.bcinc Innovationbanking.com slash EN-GB.
1:20.4	Hello and welcome to the UKTN podcast, a weekly chat with the movers and shapers of the UK
1:25.8	tech industry and the destination for all things UK tech related.
1:30.3	I'm Jane Wakefield, your host, and today I'm joined by Timo Bolt, founder of Gusto, a seller of recipe kit boxes which provide ready measured ingredients and recipes.
1:40.3	Welcome, Timo.
1:41.3	Thank you so much for having me.
1:42.3	Now, I'm going to take you back before we get into what's happening now.
1:46.0	I'm going to take you way back to 2013, and I remember seeing an episode of Dragons Den when you pitched the idea of Gusto.
1:54.0	And I want you to just explain to everybody how that went.
1:56.0	Yeah, amazing to go back there.
	...

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