Made in Public is the podcast for founders, builders, and dreamers who are tired of waiting until everything is "ready."
Hosted by John Blackburn, Made in Public follows real entrepreneurs as they build their businesses in real time, messiness, uncertainty, and all. No polished success stories. No hindsight highlights. Just raw, honest conversations with people who are figuring it out as they go.
From the back of a camper van to wherever the journey takes us, each episode dives into the mindset, the setbacks, and the bold moves behind businesses being built in public, before the ducks are ever in a row.
If you've been waiting for permission to start, this is it. Subscribe and build with us.
Cycling 1,000 Miles for Uganda: The LEJOG Charity Challenge
This episode has been pulled together at short notice to support an amazing cause. Good friends Matthew Jones and Julian Lee are cycling nearly 1,000 miles from Land's End to John o' Groats (LEJOG) to raise funds for Forest Upcycling, a charity founded by Matt that directly supports communities in Uganda. The video and audio for this episode were captured on the move while out doing the miles on the bikes. Matt's charity sends 100% of donations directly to communities in need, fun...
14 Aug 2026
Why Every Founder Needs a Podcast With Andy Simpson
Andy Simpson has spent his career building businesses in some of the most competitive corners of tech and recruitment - and this time, the tables get turned as he's interviewed inside his very own studio: Vertical Drop. Andy is co-founder of Vertical Drop, founder of ryvr.ai, and host of Recruiting Alchemy. In this episode, we get into the studio horror stories that shaped how Vertical Drop was built, why almost every company that fails does so through a lack of distribution rather than a la...
31 Jul 2026
The Truth About Building a Drinks Brand With John Logue
In this episode of Made in Public, John Blackburn sits down with John Logue, Founder of Chance Clean Cider, to explore what it really takes to leave a successful corporate career and build a challenger brand from scratch. After spending more than 20 years in the drinks industry at companies including Diageo, BrewDog, Lucky Saint, and Distill Ventures, John shares the moment a friend challenged him to stop talking about business ideas and finally take his chance. That decision led to the creat...
17 Jul 2026
From a £21k Startup Failure to Building a Viral Chai Brand in Public with Priya Bowry
What does it take to completely reinvent a food business when your original product plan falls through? In this episode of Made in Public, John Blackburn sits down with Priya Bowry, Founder of MAJI Drinks, to unpack a startup journey that is delightfully unconventional. From starting a viral family supper club with her mum called "Vegetarian Brown Girls," to spending £21,000 on a failed canned drink prototype, Priya shares the honest lessons she has learned from taking risks, making m...
2 Jun 2026
Laura Thompson Building The Yard in Public: Community, Coworking, Movement & Founder-Led Marketing
Laura Thompson, former Deloitte and EY strategic marketer with a dance and personal training background, shares how redundancy and her mother’s unexpected death pushed her to build in public. She now runs Connect Studio, helping founder-led businesses translate strategy into meaningful marketing, while developing The Yard, a “third space” in West Sussex for people to work, move, and belong unfiltered. Laura explains how perfectionism and corporate-style launches can delay progress, arguing in...
27 May 2026
Made in Public Ep.3: Build in Public, Warm Starts, Trust & Standing Out in an AI Content World
In this episode of Made in Public, the John speaks with Ben and James about why founders should “build in public” to avoid a risky cold-start launch and instead create a warm start by building trust, awareness, and interest early—before rent, staff, or agency costs kick in. They explain building in public as increasing “surface area” for luck, shortening the learning curve by iterating in public, and even enabling pre-orders and investor interest. The conversation covers why consumers increas...
20 May 2026
Made in Public Ep.2: Jamie Vaughan on Building in Secret in Public, Launch Noise & AI-First Marketing
This week John Blackburn interviews Jamie Vaughan, co-founder of Restless, an AI marketing company for a social world, days after launch. They unpack what “building in public” means, why Jamie chose “building in secret in public” due to co-founder notice periods, and how the teaser-style content created intrigue, inbound conversations, and even paying clients by launch day. Jamie explains Restless’ two-sided model: Antenna, a managed SaaS platform that ingests proprietary, public, and third-p...
13 May 2026
Made in Public Ep.1: Dan & Elise Rowntree on Launching Mood Haus Before the Ducks Are in a Row
Episode one of Made in Public is recorded in a camper van with Dan and Elise Rowntree, founders of Mood Haus, a sauna, cold plunge, and community wellness concept launched publicly before they had a site or facilities. They explain why they posted that their “ducks are firmly not in a row,” how a Cameron Herold “vivid vision” document helped make the idea real, and how building in public overcame Elise’s fear of public failure after a corporate career. Since posting, they’ve received validati...
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