Most people think successful entrepreneurs spot brilliant ideas.

Sahar Hashemi believes the opposite.

In this episode of All About Business, James speaks with Sahar Hashemi, entrepreneur, author, and founder of Buy Women Built. They talk about Sahar’s journey over three decades building businesses, backing herself, and why entrepreneurship is far simpler than most people make it.

Sahar shares the hard lessons from scaling Coffee Republic to 110 stores and what happened when they handed the business to the professionals. What she learned about founders staying close to their customers, why bureaucracy is the silent killer of entrepreneurial culture, and why the moment you lose sight of who you are serving, is the moment a business starts to decline.

Together they explore what a startup mindset actually looks like in practice, how to know when a growing business is quietly losing its edge, and why the single most important thing any leader can do is keep their people connected to the customer. Sahar also makes the case that something done badly is better than if it’s not done at all, and that the best thing any aspiring entrepreneur can do is start somewhere, however small.

Timestamps

3:13 Discovering New York-style coffee

9:30 The decision to leave law

12:19 First Coffee Republic

16:54 Going public

26:39 The tweet that sparked Buy Women Built

35:05 The Rose Review of Entrepreneurship

40:43 The startup mindset

51:17 No plan, just purpose

Links

Follow James Reed on LinkedIn

Follow Sahar Hashemi on LinkedIn

Find out more Buy Women Built

Submit your application to Reed’s Entrepreneurs Fund for a chance to a £20,000 grant HERE

All About Business is brought to you by Reed Global. Learn more HERE

This podcast was co-produced by Reed Global and Flamingo Media. If you’d like to create a chart-topping podcast to elevate your brand, visit Flamingo-media.co.uk