[13][12], In 2012, aged 19, he launched Gymshark in his parents' garage with school friend Lewis Morgan. At the time, both were 20-year-old university students. Genealogy for Lewis Morgan (1672 - 1734) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The three-floor, 18,000 sq. Since it was started by 29-year-old Mr Francis and his friend, Lewis Morgan, in 2012 its trajectory has been skywards. [33], Francis and his girlfriend Robin Gallant were engaged in April 2021, and married on 9 September 2021. Gymshark was founded by Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan in 2012. [13], As a start-up, Francis marketed the brand through partnering with social media influencers, including body builders Nikki Blackketter and Lex Griffin. Francis developed his ideas by hand at his parents house. . [9] Both aged 20, they set up the brand while studying at university. Descendants. could have lived with distant relatives or friends of the family, or. A post shared by Lewis Morgan (@lewis_morgan), Although long term childhood friends, Francis and Morgan have recently exposed their split of friendship and business partners because of disputes over specifics. Francis will be in St. Peters Square for Palm Sunday, a spokesperson said. At the time, both were 20-year-old university students. When he got home from the expo, Francis decided to turn the store back on, sharing on Facebook that it was live again. "But that's not saying that the U.K. is where it starts and ends for us, we also want to be a truly global brand.". new documentary that's been sweeping the festival circuit with its exploration of the impact of being kind. Whilst still there, and with cash in the bank from skimming margins, Ben and Lewis were able to stock all the gym wear they could get their hands on. Mark P. Edwards, 52, of Havertown, a partner since 1998 in the Philadelphia law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, died of cardiac arrest at his office Friday, Nov. 4. "We were two kids running a multi-million pound business and, somehow, doing it well. It was while doing work experience as a teenager for his grandad, who ran a furnace lining company, that Francis decided he also wanted to start his own business. [5] He attended South Bromsgrove High School. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. [16][17] He learned how to sew from his grandmother. 'It was four years of mayhem. By comparison, Nike reported a net income of $5.7 billion for the year. February 3, 2022 The co-founder of Gymshark and chairman at the AYBL Group, Lewis Morgan, cashed out of the business he owned with Ben Francis in 2020. It was here that Morgan met Ben Francis, who would later become his business partner. I wish I had been the brains behind OpenSea. But selling supplements was a tough business. We're incredibly close. The expo was filled with supplement brands, with bodybuilders signing autographs at the back of their stands. Brother Reiss and Kristian Edgerton of AYBL Group (left and right) with Lewis. He said he liked how different countries have their own big-name sportswear brands, such as Lululemon in Canada, Nike and Under Armour in the U.S., as well as Adidas and Puma in Germany. So how did Ben Francis get Gymshark off the ground? Ben would eventually quit university too. That a company of that size and scale can keep innovating at the speed and regularity it does, is truly exceptional. Ben launched Gymshark in his parent's garage in 2012 at the age of 19 with school friend Lewis Morgan. Fast forward a few years, and Lewis and Francis built one of the fastest-growing businesses in the UK. By 2020 it had 125 influencers on its payroll. Gymshark has also nearly doubled its number of employees in the last 12 months alone, up to over 800 members of staff. He incorporated the business with schoolfriend,. "You're not going to order from two kids from Bromesgrove", he explains. Within a few years, we were two kids running a multimillion-pound business and, with the help of some great people, doing it surprisingly well. He still retained a 21% stake in the company. ), Bodybuilding wear just wasnt available here, Francis told Forbes in 2020. 28 October 2022. Ben founded Gymshark when he was 19 years old, while still a student at Aston University. Height. Gymshark's startup days allowed us to become the UK's fastest growing company by: Fitness, social media and direct to consumer businesses we're all on the cusp of blowing up when Gymshark started in 2012. The company sent free products to prominent bodybuilders and fitness influencers. But just as the information of his childhood is kept private, there is very little known about their relationship. Francis has spent the last six years rotating through a number of roles, including chief technology officer, chief marketing officer and chief product officer. Son of Francis Lewis Esq. It was a huge learning curve. Francis likened it to "being able to do an exam and just do it as often as you want until you get the resultthat you want," and said the decision to temporarily step back as CEO ultimately "turbo-charged" his development as a business leader. The question about what Tobin Anderson was doing the morning of Mar. All my heroes were YouTubers, so Id send them products.. The business has since grown to become one of the world's most popular brands, with the company now valued at over 1billion. I cover the world's richest people and how they made their billions. [15] In 2013, branching out from supplements, Francis began designing and selling fitness apparel on Gymshark's website. They used the money earned from dropshipping, as well as what Francis had earned working as a deliveryman for Pizza Hut, to buy a sewing machine and screen printer to start making their own fitnesswear. Since then, Gymshark has continued to grow. Lewis Morgan, 28, and his friend Ben Francis, both from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, set up Gymshark when they were 19 and studying at University Entrepreneur sold his stake in the company. I joined AYBL Group in 2021, which consists of women's fitness brand AYBL and fashionwear label Because of Alice. Gymshark founder Ben Francis says he doesn't view big-name sportswear brands as a threat to his relatively young $1 billion label. Now he's back at the helm, and spoke to CNBC about why he feels his original decision to step back was best for the company. Get the latest SOCCER news on Lewis Morgan. These three lessons had a big impact on Gymshark and Francis, who returned to the CEO role after gaining experience from different senior positions. [8], Francis started going to the gym as a teenager. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Well break down Gymshark below to find out how the business started, where Gymsharks early growth came from, and what the future holds for this brand. Based on this gut feeling, he booked a spot for Gymshark for the next expo. Loads of stuff went on behind the scenes, which Im not going to talk about, loads of nasty stuff.. Nine years ago, Lewis Morgan was working two jobs - scrubbing dirty dishes as a pot wash and selling mens clothes in the high street chain Burton. Because of his financial limitations, Francis decided to start selling fitness apparel through dropshipping. Discord Explained, Impossible Foods Business Model: How Fake Meat Built a $4b Company, Pinterest Business Model Explained Inside the $31B Social Platform, Building the $1B Dating App Bumble Business Model and Story. The company also has an office in Denver and opened its first brick-and-mortar store on London's Regent Street in October 2022. He said this has given him time to both work on his weaknesses and build on his strengths "without having to worry about failing," because he had the full support of Hewitt and Chairman Paul Richardson. 1 preparing for Fairleigh Dickinsons first-round Northeast Conference tournament game against St. Francis (NY) wasnt complete when Anderson began nodding. It started with stringer vests and quickly grew from there. [9] He later said "the structure, consistency and work ethic I found in the gym I realised, could be applied to different areas of my life and it would work". How A Former Pizza Hut Delivery Guy Used TikTok And Instagram To Build Gymshark Into A Billion-Dollar Sportswear Brand, New Billionaires 2023: Jimmy Buffett, LeBron James And 148 Others Join The Ranks This Year, Kanye West, Sam Bankman-Fried, Yvon Chouinard: Here's Who Fell Off Forbes' 2023 Billionaires List, The World's Richest Female Billionaires 2023, Here Are The Biggest Gainers On The 2023 Billionaires List, Forbes 37th Annual Worlds Billionaires List: Facts And Figures 2023, Trumps Net Worth Plunges $700 Million As Truth Social Flops. It meant he didnt have to buy stock and risk his own cash running his business. In 2011, Ben was a 19-year-old student at Birmingham's Aston University. [28], Francis is a car and motorcycle enthusiast, and a season ticket holder at Aston Villa. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. In August 2020, a year after Gymshark hit $214 million in revenues and $18 million in net income, General Atlantic purchased its stake, just as the Covid-19 pandemic shut down gyms around the world. Ben partnered with his school friend, Lewis Morgan, in 2012, and the pair sought a plan to dominate the fitness industry. Bridie Pearson-jones For Mailonline Gymshark pioneered influencer marketing and harnessed the power of social media. Updated: 12:35 PM EST December 13, 2021. After selling his shares for a hundred million, no one knew the reason behind the entrepreneur walking away from such a high valued company. [11] What is OpenSea? This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. They were looking for something streamlined and tapered, but all that was available was large, boxy, and baggy. He posted pictures of himself at No 10 last July, with one captioned: From the sewing machine to 10 Downing Street.. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. We sold out of everything we took to that event. The reorganisation saw Francis. [6] He first became interested in computing after studying IT at school. [7], While at university between 2010 and 2013, he worked for Pizza Hut as a delivery boy earning 5 an hour. Forbes estimates that Francis 70% stake in Gymshark is now worth $1.2 billion, making the 30-year-old entrepreneur one of the youngest newcomers on the 2023 Worlds Billionaires List. I just wanted to enjoy my life. This was more than theyd sold in their entire history. [11], Before launching Gymshark, Francis developed two fitness applications, Fat Loss Abs Guide and iPhysique. "When we first started we never thought we would be where we are but every year we knew we were bigger and bigger.". Francis had voiced several times that Morgan had left the company in 2014 due to the pair having different visions which tells a contrasting story to what Morgan had to say. Charlie Tucker left the show without any explanation at the . At the same time, Francis was having trouble finding outfits that would show off his muscles. Gymshark, on the other hand, launched its Luxe tracksuit. At this moment, Francis knew hed created something special. Its been a long journey for the college dropout, who still runs the business out of Solihull, a town near his parents home outside of Birmingham. To put that into perspective, Ben and I had achieved half that in the same time at Gymshark. His big plan for the future is to start an investment fund, with the goal of offering up to 50million to start-ups to help others fulfil their dream. If you'd like to be on the next episode of ceocast be sure to message us on Instagram or email us at:Ceocastinfo@gmail.com Ben Francis was born in the West Midlands, England.