Tej Lalvani - Dragon & CEO (@tejlalvani)

Surrounded by some of the UK’s fastest-growing companies and the entrepreneurs behind them. It was a real honour to deliver the keynote to a room full of founders who are not just growing businesses, but challenging established industries, creating jobs and building what could become the next generation of great British companies. What struck me most was the ambition in the room but also the openness. The best conversations were about what’s working, what isn’t, and how to keep improving even when things are going well. That was really the message I wanted to leave with everyone: Fast growth gets you noticed. What you build from here is what makes it last. A huge congratulations to everyone recognised and I’m excited to see where you take it next.

So getting the opportunity to see OneRepublic perform at a private concert during a recent weekend in Monaco was something to remember. I've always enjoyed making time for live music whenever I can and evenings like this are a reminder of just how much I enjoy it. It's also nice to step away from the usual routine and make the most of opportunities to experience something a little different. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip and an evening I won't forget in a hurry.

Our next career now you’ve retired from Dragons Den @toukersuleyman 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽

Bain Capital is to acquire the Vitabiotics Group as we begin an exciting new chapter of international growth. My father founded Vitabiotics in 1971 with a simple belief: that science and nutrition could improve people’s health. I have been privileged to spend more than 30 years building on that vision alongside an incredible team. This partnership isn’t about changing who we are. It’s about accelerating what we can become. We will continue to be driven by the same science, quality, values and commitment to improving everyday health. With Bain Capital’s support, we will be able to invest further in innovation, expand internationally and bring our trusted brands to millions more people around the world. A huge thank you to our colleagues, partners, healthcare professionals, retailers and the millions of consumers who have trusted us over the last 55 years. I could not be prouder of what we have built together. The next chapter starts now.

At the start, obsession is almost unavoidable. When you're building something from nothing, balance is hard to find. Everything takes your attention, your energy, your time. That came later for me. Much later. Now it's about being deliberate, picking where my time actually goes. You don't get balance by accident. You earn it, then you protect it.

At seventy eight, most people slow down. Sidney Frank built a two point two billion dollar brand. He didn’t change vodka. He changed perception. While others competed on price, he anchored Grey Goose to France, craft, refinement. The bottle felt premium before anyone tasted it. Then he priced it higher than everyone else from day one. The industry hesitated. Consumers didn’t. Price became trust. Eight years later, Bacardi paid $2.2 billion for Grey Goose. The lesson isn’t vodka. It’s understanding how people think, then having the conviction to act.

Rate this opportunity Yourself or a private business? They're completely different investments. One compounds through knowledge, experience and mindset, the other through business performance and returns. For me, investing in yourself will always come first. What would you rate each in the comments below?

When your business starts making money, the question comes up fast. Do you put it straight back into the business or do you move some of it into assets? For me, it’s both. Reinvest to keep momentum, but also think about where money can work without demanding your time. That’s why assets matter and why real estate often makes sense. It scales quietly, doesn’t need daily attention, and lets you stay focused on what you’re building. Money is a tool. The goal is freedom, not just growth.

If Touker could sit down with his 21-year-old self today, he'd tell him one simple thing: cash is king. You can build a business turning over millions, even billions, but if you can't pay wages on a Friday, you're finished. Revenue is vanity, valuation is opinion, but cash flow is survival. We've seen businesses, especially in tech, spend more time raising money than building sustainable foundations, constantly going back to the market for more. There's nothing wrong with raising capital, but you must know how to generate and manage cash. Pay your bills and staff on time. Create breathing space. That stability is what allows you to invest in growth properly. Without strong cash flow, there is no real business - just momentum waiting to run out.

Jeremy Clarkson was not just the face of Top Gear, he was the platform. When it ended suddenly in 2015, it looked final. The BBC closed the door. Amazon opened a bigger one. Creative freedom, full backing and the same team led to The Grand Tour breaking records on launch. Same people. Different rules. Sometimes losing a platform is just the moment you realise your leverage.

There was a point where Touker was given 24 hours to live. When you're in that position, money means nothing. Status means nothing. Business means nothing. The only thing that matters is your health. We spend our lives chasing success. But none of it matters if you're not well enough to enjoy it. You can rebuild a business. You can make money again. But you can't replace your health. Success isn't just about wealth. It's about having all the pieces of the puzzle aligned and health is the foundation. Never forget that. Appreciate Touker for always keeping it honest and real.

If you were starting again today, would you build a personal brand earlier, or keep yourself in the background and let the business speak? In a world where visibility helps but is not for everyone, does putting a face to the brand really change the scale of what you can build, or is it just one path among many.

Around half of businesses fail and from what I have seen, mindset is a big reason why. Many first time founders leave a job but keep the employee way of thinking. They rush into offices, furniture and early hires before the business has made any real money. Spending starts before it has been earned, usually because that is what they think an entrepreneur should look like. The reality is simpler. Build the idea. Make some revenue. Then decide what you actually need. Most successful founders I know started at kitchen tables or spare rooms with no ego and tight control of costs. Building a business is not about looking successful. It is about staying solvent long enough to become successful.

Two are operationally intense, margin tight and service heavy. The other is scalable, future-facing and driven by technology. Two rely on footfall, location and consistency. The other relies on innovation, disruption and speed. Both require expertise. Both carry risk. But some industries are structurally harder than others. So if you had to rate them, how would you rate these investments and why?

The 9 to 5 gets a bad reputation, but quietly it has created more millionaires than most people realise. The idea that success only comes from chaos and big risks sounds exciting, but it rarely plays out that way. What I have seen work far more often is a solid 9 to 5, done properly. It gives you paid time to build real expertise, understand how industries actually work and develop skills other people will later pay a premium for. That stability buys you time and clarity. Once you become valuable, your role turns into leverage. That is when the 5 to 9 starts to matter and equity gets built quietly. The 9 to 5 is not the enemy. For many, it is the foundation.

Crypto or property. Two investment methods that could not feel more different. One is fast, volatile and driven by sentiment, timing and belief. The other is slower, tangible and built around leverage, cash flow and patience. Both can work. Both can fail. The results depend far more on the investor than the asset. So if you had to choose, how would you rate crypto versus property as an investment method and why?

What's the most successful British retailer no one talks about? Next. £6.3 billion in sales, £847 million in profit, and five years of steady performance without hype or noise. While others chased trends, Simon Wolfson focused on discipline, systems and operations, the unglamorous parts of retail that actually move the needle. The result, £3.8 billion in profit across five years and a business that sits perfectly between value and premium. Not the coolest brand, just the one people reliably buy from. The lesson, reinvention isn't always the winning strategy. Sometimes discipline, systems and quiet consistency outperform the loudest ideas in the room.

There is a strange thing that happens sometimes when one person in a relationship starts doing well. Ego creeps in. Insecurity. Competition. I have never understood that. With Tara, it has always been the opposite. When someone you love is capable of great things, why would you ever want to hold them back. Imagine the confidence it gives them. The happiness. The momentum it creates. Nothing excites me more than seeing Tara succeed, genuinely and I know she feels the same when things go well for me. Root for each other. Properly. On the good days and the hard ones too. That kind of support changes everything.

Most founders don’t fail because they lack ideas. They fail because they chase too many at once. In the early stages, focus isn’t optional, it’s everything. One product, one audience, one clear problem to solve. Master that before you scale.

Most people think the only way to get rich is to quit your job, start a business and take massive risks. But the truth is, you can build serious wealth while working a 9–5. The 9–5 millionaire isn’t a myth, it’s someone who understands discipline, delayed gratification, and the power of consistency. It’s not about the hours you work, it’s about what you do with the money you earn.

Starting a business today is easy. Scaling one? That’s a different game. Anyone can launch. Few can grow. Why? Because attention is harder to earn than ever. Consumers move fast. Platforms change weekly. Trends expire in days. What worked last month will not work next month. If you’re just starting out, do not try to be everything to everyone. Find a niche. Own it. Go deep, not wide. Focus on solving one problem so well that nobody else can compete with you in that space. Master a niche first, then scale. That’s how you build a business that lasts, not just a brand that trends.

When Charlotte and Sean walked into the Den, I knew straight away they had something special. Their passion for health and belief in their mission stood out instantly and I knew I had what it would take to help them turn that vision into something big. Fast forward to today, @Rheal Superfoods now does £20 million in sales. That’s the result of relentless hard work, focus and staying true to their purpose. I couldn’t be prouder of both Charlotte and Sean and I’m genuinely happy to have been part of their journey from the very start.

I still remember the moment on Dragons’ Den when Look After My Bills walked in. Their pitch was straightforward, sharp and instantly, it clicked. They weren’t chasing complexity. They were fixing a real pain: switching energy providers. A task everyone puts off because it’s clunky, confusing, and oddly emotional. One year later, they’d saved customers £30 million. Soon after, GoCompare snapped them up. Proof that the right idea doesn’t need noise it needs purpose, clarity, and scale built in. What problem is your idea quietly begging to solve?

One of the most underrated skills in life is staying in a great mood even when nothing around you gives you a reason to. It’s easy to feel good when deals close, the team’s flying and everything feels effortless. Anyone can lead on those days. Your real character shows on the slow days, the setback days, the days where life feels heavier than it should. I’ve had plenty at Vitabiotics. Collapsed deals, missed opportunities, launches hitting problems. If I let every one of those moments decide my mood, I’d have nothing left to lead with. Someone once said, if you can be in a bad mood for no reason, you can choose to be in a good mood for no reason. And it’s true. Mindset is contagious. Your team feels it, your family feels it, your whole environment shifts because of it. Staying positive isn’t about ignoring reality, it’s about choosing how you show up. That choice doesn’t just change your day, it changes your direction.

Grind didn’t start as a coffee empire. It started as one tiny Shoreditch café with neon lights, loud playlists and a feeling people wanted to be part of. They weren’t selling coffee, they were selling identity, the vibe, the energy, the lifestyle. When lockdown hit and the cafés went silent, they pivoted fast. Home-compostable coffee pods, beautifully designed and Nespresso-compatible, carrying that same Shoreditch attitude and that’s the real lesson. Grind didn’t scale stores, they scaled brand. The cafés built attention, the pods built distribution and the identity is what turned one café into a national lifestyle company.

Evri is one of the quietest turnaround stories in the UK. A few years ago they were the punchline about lost parcels. Today they're moving more than 800 million deliveries a year and posting £118 million in profit. The rebrand wasn't cosmetic, it came with real investment, better systems, better service and even pensions for twenty thousand couriers. Then came credibility moves like Post Office access and Amazon Prime. It's proof that if you improve the service relentlessly, trust follows. Evri didn't chase flash, they chased discipline and the numbers show it.

Everyone thinks WeWork failed but the part nobody talks about is this, it didn’t. £72 million in revenue and £151 million in losses looks terminal, yet the doors stayed open and that alone tells you the real story. In the UK, WeWork didn’t die, it reset. They cut bad leases, closed the wrong sites, tightened operations and focused on cities that actually perform. Hybrid became normal. Flexible workspace went from luxury to infrastructure. So WeWork shifted too: All Access passes, enterprise floors, proper corporate partnerships. Not workspace as a dream, workspace that works. Revenue went up. Net assets turned positive. Sometimes what looks like failure is just the rebuild phase.

Most people think the only way to get rich is to quit your job, start a business and take massive risks. But the truth is, you can build serious wealth while working a 9–5. The 9–5 millionaire isn’t a myth, it’s someone who understands discipline, delayed gratification, and the power of consistency. It’s not about the hours you work, it’s about what you do with the money you earn.

Most founders don’t fail because they lack ideas. They fail because they chase too many at once. In the early stages, focus isn’t optional, it’s everything. One product, one audience, one clear problem to solve. Master that before you scale.

It started with a keychain. Then came the TikToks, the unboxings, the celebrity sightings. Now Labubu is everywhere. From resale platforms to fashion week. What began as a niche character from a Hong Kong illustrator is now one of the most in-demand collectibles in the world, with now a mini version about to drop. Proof that in the age of social media, cute sells but scarcity and storytelling sell harder.