Running 3 Business & My Camera Wasn't Recording | Week 4

Founder Journey

About this week's journey

Week four of the Founder Journey begins with the most literal kind of production failure: Chris and Helen realise that most of their first take was never recorded because the DJI camera had been left in photo mode. The restart captures the point of the series rather well. This is a look at running three businesses in real time, including mistakes, pressure, disagreements and the decisions behind Thread A Pixel, Two Krakens and Built Not Born In Business.

The week was also overshadowed by the fires in Stourbridge, close to where Chris and Helen live. They describe being fortunate that their own home remained safe while Helen's parents were unable to return home, and they praise the fire service, farmers and local community for their response. The hot weather has also been shaping day-to-day demand at Thread A Pixel, with more customers asking for lightweight and sleeveless workwear. Helen links that back to a simple workplace reality: when people are physically uncomfortable, it becomes harder to function well at work.

One of the biggest founder lessons this week came from Chris working from home for two days. He explains that working away from the office had always made him feel strangely guilty, despite usually being first in, last out and working beyond normal hours. Instead, he found the time productive. More importantly, it highlighted how central he had allowed himself to become to too many parts of the business. Chris and Helen discuss the founder bottleneck, the need to let teams make more decisions and the confidence that can grow when founders deliberately create space rather than automatically answering every question. Helen also shares progress training new team member Gemma, who has been learning the processes and choosing from the company's workwear range.

At Two Krakens, the team pushed two client videos out for first-draft approval, helping clear an editing backlog before agreed deadlines became tight. Another project, however, has become a lesson in scope and stakeholder management. A film that had originally been storyboarded, discussed and signed off has remained open for around six months while feedback has moved between several people. As requirements have changed, new requests have started to sit outside the original scope. Chris and Helen use the experience to reflect on the importance of project closure, clear approval responsibility and continually reviewing whether a customer still fits the company's ideal client profile.

The final focus is marketing clarity across all three businesses. Helen has been working on separate marketing and content plans for Thread A Pixel, Two Krakens and Built Not Born In Business so that each brand knows who it is speaking to and what it is trying to communicate, even though the three businesses can support one another as an ecosystem. Chris also shares the next stage of Built Not Born In Business. The original idea was always larger than a podcast, with plans for a community and learning hub that helps business owners find practical answers across areas such as people, legal requirements, IT and day-to-day company building. They are now exploring how AI can form part of that platform, while also planning a few days in Wales to batch their own content. Week four is therefore less about a single breakthrough and more about removing founder dependency, tightening client fit and building clearer systems for what comes next.