The Untold Podcast
UNTOLD Podcast is where business, family, and life collide—raw, unfiltered, and brutally honest. No fluff, no fake success stories—just real conversations about the highs, the struggles, and everything in between.
The Untold Podcast
Bonus Episode | Risking It All: From City Job to Startup Graft with Nathan Hobden
🎧 BONUS EPISODE — This one's different.
At 28, Nathan Hobden walked away from a high-paying city job to chase his own dream — and didn’t stop at just one business.
In this unfiltered conversation, Nathan shares the honest truth about:
- Quitting stability to build something from scratch
- Creating the loyalty platform Kyco for pubs and restaurants
- Working full-time while secretly building the Closr app
- Getting investors through social tennis (yes, really)
- Sacrifice, sleepless nights, and self-belief
- What entrepreneurship really looks like in 2025
This episode isn’t about hype. It’s about doing the work and showing up — even when no one’s clapping.
👊 If you’re thinking of quitting your job or launching your own thing, this is the one you need to hear.
🎯 Follow us on TikTok & Instagram: @UNTOLDPodcast.official
📲 Listen to all episodes here: https://linktr.ee/untoldpodcast.official
And this episode is for anybody that's looking to go on an entrepreneurial journey.
Speaker 2:I knew what I had created was unique, so I always believed in the proposition.
Speaker 1:He's 28 years old, left a well-paid job in the city to start his own business.
Speaker 2:I'll adjust my work schedule around my lifestyle and what needs to be done.
Speaker 1:Leaving. Was it a leap of faith or a calculated risk?
Speaker 2:Please don't quit your job. If someone says here's 100 quid, you can make it work.
Speaker 1:Is there any point where you thought this is too much, I can't do this?
Speaker 2:Time was the biggest sacrifice Time, with family events xyz.
Speaker 1:Setting deadlines for yourself in business is imperative.
Speaker 2:There's enough of them around. It's now about giving the local independents the upper hand and competing on a technology standpoint.
Speaker 1:Today's episode is sponsored by Closer, the app that helps you discover exclusive local deals right here in Sussex. Whether you're after a pint, a haircut or a last-minute gift, closer shows you where to go and what you can save, all from the comfort of your phone. It's free to download, easy to use and packed with offers from the best spots around. Download the Closer app today from the App Store. That's C-L-O-S-R. Save money, support local with Closer. Welcome back to the Untold Podcast. Today's episode has a slightly different dynamic. I'm going to interview Nathan Hobden. Nathan is a local guy who I've met through business, and his story is quite phenomenal. He's 28 years old and he left a well-paid job in the city to start his own business. Not only that 18 months into his first business, he decided to create an app all by himself. There's thousands of hours gone into it. He's a top bloke, and this episode is for anybody that's looking to maybe go on an entrepreneurial journey, to learn about themselves and to crack on. So, without further ado, welcome Nathan to the Untold Podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me Absolute pleasure. How?
Speaker 1:are you doing? Looking forward?
Speaker 2:to this. Yeah, very well, thanks, ash, very well, good, good, good so you used to work in the city, am I right? Correct. Yeah, the dreaded city of London for a number of years.
Speaker 1:What was you doing up in the city? What was your job up?
Speaker 2:there it was SaaS sales, so software as a service. So this was in relation to email marketing, website personalization, essentially helping large enterprise brands drive more revenues and increase their sales.
Speaker 1:So how long did you do that for?
Speaker 2:Two years in London, prior to that, five years in Brighton. So the same sort of space helping big brands, you know work, the likes of BBC Warrior, protein NewsQuest, all sorts of different businesses, all shapes and sizes, but predominantly average deal values 30,000 to a quarter of a million. Yeah, wow, that's incredible. Different businesses, all shapes and sizes, but predominantly average deal values 30 000 to to a quarter of a million yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. Um, take us back to the day you handed your notice in for that job. What was going through your mind?
Speaker 2:it's probably one of the greatest days of my life, to be honest. Uh, I had a very big bust up with my boss. I felt severely mistreated in my role. Um, there was a real lack of respect from from the business towards myself. Uh, from a number of angles personal angles, you know, work, work side of things and, um, it was such a relief to actually get out of the workplace. You know, as daunting as it was. Going into my own startup world, um, I couldn't be more happy to to get it off my chest really was it leaving?
Speaker 1:was it a leap of faith or a calculated risk?
Speaker 2:it's a calculated risk because, uh, a couple of months before that I was on leave anyway. So I sort of dabbled my toe in an idea, uh, with a friend of mine and uh, we thought I'd give it a test in two months prior to handing in my notice. And uh, with it being a very small success, it wasn't good at all. It was a very small you know dip in the ocean, but um, we thought we'd go with it and run with it and um, go full leap of faith into it really what made you?
Speaker 1:what made you decide to start something on your own and not jump from that company to another one and take that safety net? You had seven years of experience. You probably could have just jumped in another job with another company. Am I right 100%?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know not to be big headed, but there was job offers on the table every single day working in SAS sales. You know everyone, all of our competitors, were looking for the next sales person, next account executive, to come in start driving numbers. But for me it was more of the work life balance. You know, traveling to London hour and a half each way, three hours a day, nine hours on site, you know it's ridiculous hours for doing work for other people. I think that's what it comes down to. It's not for yourself, you know you're driving money.
Speaker 2:You're making deals for other people. You're signing, you know, 50 000 pound deals. The business is getting 45 000 pound a lap upwards and they've done zero input. You know they may provide you the technology. However, you're the one find the deals, you're the one sourcing it, you're the one demonstrating it contract negotiations, proposals. You're doing the whole sales process from start to finish and you're getting a small fraction of the pie when actually I wanted to do something for myself on a much smaller scale and have a better way of life. You know, if I want to go and play tennis on a Wednesday, I'll go and play tennis on a Wednesday. I'll adjust my work schedule around my lifestyle and what needs to be done.
Speaker 1:And how did the people around you react when you decided to give up the cushy safety blanket of having a job to say, right, I've quit my job, I'm going to go out on my own and do my own thing? How did people around you react? Were they supportive, skeptical?
Speaker 2:They all thought I was nuts. They're absolutely nuts. You know you're leaving a well-paid job in London and take on a startup that's generating you know 300 pound a month revenue and when it's just you going from, you know potentially six to 10,000 pound a month and dropping that salary down to 300 pound a month, that is a big drop in a number of factors. You know, rent children, family days out is a big cut on that and a big sacrifice, and I went with an idea that I thought I could pull it through and after describing it to my friends and family, they also agreed that this could be a good venture. So once I started running through the figures, the stats and so on, what the potential was, the belief started being put into me. Yeah and um, and that's what started making me want to push on with. You know I've got people supporting me. Now I've got to make this work. It's not only me, it's my family at risk. I've got to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so where did the idea for Kaiko come from? What was the, what was the big driving point behind it? What problem did you see that you thought you could?
Speaker 2:solve. So it literally stood over a pint, like all good ideas do. I was at my tennis club, wickwards, and we were having a pint, me and my friends. We were discussing one of our friends who owns a sports shop in a hove, nick Rivett Sports, and he had an issue with data. So, understanding his customers, you know when they were coming in, what sport do they play, capturing that data, leveraging it in marketing communications and so on and then we built a prototype which was very, very basic. It was literally a plinth with a QR code and a sign saying scan here. The customer would walk in, they would scan this plastic plinth. They would then complete a customized form of which the data would be integrated into his existing email platform, and then he could then mine the data.
Speaker 2:So it's something that we call customer profiling. So you know what sport do you play, is it tennis, is it running, is it paddle, is it cycling, how often do you do it? How often do you need your strings done? We start profiling every single individual, and that allows him to send tailored communications on a one-to-one level, therefore increasing his sales. So that's how the idea all started. Down the road, we now have a number of clients um, I believe we have around 30 now. But the funniest thing is, the person we built it for doesn't work with us. So the reason we built it, we don't work with him but that that's every single journey, every single idea.
Speaker 1:I can imagine there's thousands of entrepreneurs out there that have had an idea and they want to run with that idea and the reason they're successful is because they've let it run its own course and not tried to stick with. No, this is what we want to do. So then it moved into hospitality, of course yeah.
Speaker 2:So with the ability of having your own business, you you have the flexibility to customize it, you know, as whatever extent you like. So when I was in london or working for corporations, it's very strict. You know, I think we should do this. That then goes to your boss, that then goes to the director, then we'll put it on the roadmap to be completed in a year's time. With kyco, start a startup business. We're very agile.
Speaker 2:An idea could come to the table from a customer or from a staff member. We normally implement it in a week. Whatever it could be, we find a way to do it. It could be something that come up, which was subscriptions. So there's a company called Woolfox Coffeehouse. They do a coffee subscription club. So you pay X amount of money per month I think it's around £40 per month and they got unlimited coffees. We never had that. Customers suggested it to us. Within two or three weeks we put it live in the platform and people are using it. So I think it's the ability to be agile and adapt to your technology stack, to each individual's use cases.
Speaker 1:And try and trial, and try and trial, and trial and trial and fail and fail and fail, and then one day you throw enough shit at a wall one day something's gonna stick in it.
Speaker 2:That's exactly it. And um, that that's really what happened with our first major client, or first client of kyco. Um, there's a pub in hurst pier point which people may know called the horse in um lovely country pub. I met with the owners, tim and laney, a number of times to discuss my idea, or prototype, about revolutionizing their pub and bringing it into, like, the modern, modern century when it comes to technology. Yeah, so we basically kitted it out like it was a weatherspoons or a costa coffee.
Speaker 2:Now, a lot of people are against stuff like order to table, so we didn't fit that. But what we did install is bits like Wi-Fi data capture stuff that you know McDonald's and Starbucks are using QR tags on the table that allow them, that allow your customers to view the menus or follow your social medias or download loyalty cards. We then installed digital loyalty cards to Apple wallets and Google wallets. You know. We've then done additional things on top of that, and the list just goes on and on, and we ran with the idea.
Speaker 2:We put it in place for a number of months. We had absolutely no idea if it would work. The customer loved it. They thought it was one of the best things that's ever happened to their pub. We've got only five star reviews about the product and our services, and the most important thing is that the end customers loved it and enjoyed it as well. And then, once you prove the prototype, we're like we've got something here. We've got a little package or marketing suite that we can take to individual independent businesses whether it be pubs, coffee shops, bars, restaurants and give them the same technologies as these high street killers, as I call them, like your Wetherspoons, your Costa coffees there's enough of them around.
Speaker 1:It's now about giving the local independence the upper hand and competing on a technology standpoint yeah, yeah, because data capture is so important now I've messaged you before and said, yeah, I've just been to not catch, for example, yeah, and I can sign into their wi-fi and they don't ask for any information from me. Yeah, now that's worth to a business like that. That's worth, I'd imagine, thousands and thousands of pounds just not capturing a name and an email address a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:I mean some great use cases or case studies would be uh, one client, burger and bird in peace haven. We've worked them for around two years now, collected around 3 600 contacts via wi-fi and data capture. We now sell out their comedy nights and different events they hold utilizing that data. So we'd market to it saying don't forget, book your comedy tickets here, insert the email you know, put the links in there. People were buying through our emails that we're sending out and now they're sending out events and that wouldn't be possible without the services we put in place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so go back now to the first sort of six months of business. What were the sacrifices and things that you had to make in order for this business to be where it is today?
Speaker 2:uh, first thing's time. Yeah, that is what everyone says they don't have enough of, and it's true. You know, you, I was working end to end. You know. Wake up at nine, finish at 1am. You know we're not at nine, finish at 1am. You know we're not talking nine till nine, we're talking nine till one, nine till two. Get seven hours sleep, get back on it. Whether that be technology development, shaping the right package, there was so much trial and error about what will work for each individual, because it's a bespoke platform. What might work for one pub won't work for a coffee shop. So it was defining what the package is and how to take it to the next level essentially. But time was the biggest sacrifice. You know whether that be time with family, time at events. X, y, z.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you feel? Was there any point where you thought this is too much, I can't do this?
Speaker 2:Um no, because I knew what I had created was unique. So I always believed in the proposition. So, despite the monthly incomes going from, you know, 300 to 500 to 700 a month, still nowhere near a salary. After that six month to a year period it started getting to the thousands mark and at that point I'm thinking well, no one's left us. We've obviously got some good proposition here, because people want it, they're telling their friends about it and it's only ever growing. So I had faith and the relevant, the right feedback to know that I could keep pursuing this dream of mine to become self-employed and an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:And by the sounds of it, you believed in yourself and you believed in what you were building.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. If you can't, if you don't believe in yourself, what's the point? You know you want others to believe in your products and you, but you have to believe in yourself to make anything worthwhile. You have to wake up in the morning, believe you can do it. Regardless if the things are going your way or not, you have to crush them thoughts and keep on pushing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's tough, though's very tough. You know it's tough. There's so many thoughts that go in your head thinking is it worth it? Do I just go back into this job, this job, xyz? But no, you know. You know what you're doing is the right thing. You know it's best for your, you know your long-term well-being and, as I said earlier, having the ability to say you know I'm going to take wednesday, thursday, off this week, I'm going to go play tennis or I'm going to go and do X, y, z and money. Money can't buy that, really it really can't. You know you're not having to be dragged into London. You don't have to be dragged into your office or being checked in by a boss. You know where are you. I can't get hold of you. That's the biggest thing for me is not having someone almost harass you every day going where are you? You're not answering your calls, I'm doing this. That's the biggest thing for me is knowing whatever efforts I put in, it is all going to be my reward or my family's reward, etc and freedom.
Speaker 1:Freedom. You say that that's. That's. How would you class? Obviously there's this whole. You spoke earlier about finding a work-life balance. This is a big thing and there's no right or wrong answer, but what is your take on work life balance?
Speaker 2:I think for me. I'm not really the right person to ask on that because I I essentially don't have any outset hours. You know, I will work nine to a knife needs be. Some days I'll work throughout the whole night. Some days I'll be up till 5 00 am it, all shifts. So I I would class myself. I don't have defined hours, you know, and the beautiful thing about that is you just tailor your life around it. You know, you schedule a day, the next day's working ahead of it, depending on what you're doing the night before, and you just keep building off that. So for my freedom, it's however much effort and work I want to put in will then determine what days off I can have and when. Xyz. So if I so, if I know I want to take Thursday, friday off, I'll work extra hard on the Tuesday, put my time and efforts in and then take the next few days off. Yeah, so freedom is having the ability to define your own calendars and own life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like they say what's the point in go back? There must be one moment in the whole building of kaiko we'll talk about kaiko in the whole building of kaiko. There must be one moment that really, really sits with you, ideally a positive moment. It must be a moment that you remember that you can put yourself in the place now that you were like. I've done it. This is amazing. Can you go back to any of those moments? Is there any that stand out to you?
Speaker 2:yeah, there is one in particular. Uh, it was a deal with quite a large um vape store. Essentially, I know it's a market that a lot of people detest or dislike. However, it's a big market, you know there's a lot of money in it and I spent months and months you know six, there's a lot of money in it and I spent months and months you know six months trying to get all of this contact who owned a number of vape stores all independent and the day came where I finally had the courage to cold call him after trying to find his number for ages.
Speaker 2:There's a number of people that are afraid of the telephones and I think that's the modern day. People would rather message rather than pick up the phone, and that's just how life is these days. But picked up the phone, spoke to him, told him the idea. We put in place a three-month POC. We absolutely crushed it in terms of data capture and development, and then we rolled out Kyco across 12 of his locations and it was the biggest deal we've had and probably going to be the biggest deal we're going to have in a long, long time. And when we landed that deal, I had such a massive sense of pride that someone of this size has believed in this project and they can see the value of it and going from testing it in a local pub to then rolling out across essentially the whole of Sussex in every single location of theirs was was a real wow factor for me and my family going. You know you've done it.
Speaker 1:And it was at that point where I've gone.
Speaker 2:You know I've actually done it and you can. You can take yourself, go, wow, you know you can sit back and reflect. I don't think a lot enough people sit back and self reflect on what their wins are. A lot of people will sit back and look at the negatives or what's gone wrong in the day, whereas I was taught at a very young age to do three wins in a day. You know what are your three wins of the day. You say I did this, I did this, I did this. That's a good day, no matter what they are. Hasn't got to be sales. It could be. I've picked up the phone, spoke to this person. I was afraid of calling. That is a win because it's saying you had negative in your mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's how I based it. Yeah, that's um, that's pretty good, pretty good. And I I used to have a very negative mindset and I would look at the negatives that have gone on in a day, and then, obviously, I, I started a new business 18 months ago and after the first year, I sat back and I spent maybe two or three hours writing down and reflecting on everything that I've achieved in the past year and when you go back on it.
Speaker 2:It's phenomenal, isn't it?
Speaker 1:there are big ones phenomenal, what, what you can achieve in a year yeah whereas when you look forward, you look to the future and think, oh, it's impossible to do that, I'm never gonna do that, but you gotta look at where you've come from you've gotta look at where you come from, and not enough people do that honestly.
Speaker 2:I talk to a lot of people in in business around. You know not only my tennis club, my social networks. They all look at like the little small negatives and actually there's much bigger things that you should be proud of to then take the business forward and start propelling. And business always grows on positivity, not negativity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, 100 agree with that. So if we can talk about this, tell me, tell me no if not. But you started kyco. You had an idea. Obviously these things cost money. Did you get investors? Did you get any investment?
Speaker 2:yeah, we did, um, we got investment via um my social tennis, my social tennis club, um Wickwoods, um, talking about sort of networks and where you hang around is some good stories. So I watched a podcast a number of years ago now about a young man who started a clothing business and he had no money in his bank. He decided to join a gym which was 250 pounds a month just the gym and he had no money or resource behind him. He thought I'm just going to give it a go because of the people that could be there. He then joined the gym, started networking, gathered a 1 million pound investment from the people he was surrounding himself by other businessmen, entrepreneurs. Then his business is worth tenfold that. So I sort of I I found that after I've already done what I've done in my own network. So being around the right people can really shape your future and always open doors and opportunities.
Speaker 2:So where I play my tennis, um, there's a lot of wealthy individuals. I don't join it for the people there particularly. I join it because I love the place, I love the environment, I love the stress-free and peace of mind of the of the countryside. However, the people there obviously a fantastic bonus and they often and they are just lovely individuals and without me being there, I wouldn't have the chances I've had today or be where I am today without their idea sharing the knowledge that they've gathered over their years.
Speaker 2:Some businesses businessmen have been in, you know, had their companies for 50 years, and so on. I'm sadly having a pint. How did you overcome this struggle? How did you overcome this challenge? I'm Over their years. Some businesses businessmen have been in, you know, had their companies for 50 years, and so on. I'm sadly having a pint. How did you overcome this struggle? How did you overcome this challenge? I'm learning from the experts every single day of my life. I've been there for 10 years, since I was 18 years old, and I've just learned and learned from these wonderful people and then put it into my own business and my own self.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I've always said, I've said you're an average of the 10 people that you surround yourself with. You're always going to be an average of the 10 people. Yeah, if the 10 people you're hanging around um take to heroin, chances are you're going to take to heroin. If you hang surround yourself with 10 millionaires, chances are you're going to be millionaires, and a lot of millionaires would say, right, I've done that. Now I want to hang around with billionaires because that they want to elevate that and it's your circles, exactly. Your network is your net worth, isn't it? Especially today?
Speaker 2:and the sad thing is, you know I've lost a lot of friends. You know of my age, you know, I'd say, my friendship circle the average age is 40 years old, you know, and and I have two or three friends that are of of my age 28 and I lost all my school friends, childhood friends, etc. Everyone goes their separate ways. They go to college, university. I didn't go to either of them, I went straight into the workforce. So I think it's also you know what, what surrounds you put yourself in, like I say, to where you're going to grow and develop. Yeah, um, I just found people my age were very immature, couldn't really have quite good conversations with them, and then I found out I preferred hanging around with the guys that know what's best really, yeah, yeah, and that have lived it, that have lived it, they've been there, they've done it, they've got the experiences and they can help mould you and shape you as an individual, and that to to me, is invaluable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, a hundred percent. I would agree with you. You can sit around a table with people that are better than you, know more than you. You're only going to get knowledge. That's why another reason why I want to do this podcast because I've learned a lot from having conversations. That's what life's about. Having conversations, of course, building relationships with people, yeah. Do you think that showing up in life and consistency like you've been consistent, like you said at your tennis club for 10 years do you believe that that consistency and showing up sort of allowed you to mould yourself and almost create your own luck, if you like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's an interesting point of discussion. So I always say I've had lucky breaks in my life, in every element of it, whereas my dad nonstop says you haven't been lucky, you put yourself in these positions and that's why it's come about. Put yourself in these positions and that's where that's why it's come about. So I always try and be very, you know, like sort of looking back on life. You know, first job was at Curry's PC world, for example. 18 years old, was there for a year or two, promoted to business manager, store manager. Then I went on to be Apple representative in the place. Then I had someone randomly come in offer me a job to work for the times newspaper. I know absolutely nothing about newspapers. I just say yes, let's do it. I then start working in London with the newspaper job, working for the sun and the times newspaper. Then one day they send me a massive delivery of Yazoo milkshakes, pallets of it. I'm like what the hell is this? They're like you're now selling Yazoo milkshakes whilst you're visiting the stores selling in the Sun and Times newspaper. Fair enough, the amount of milkshakes I had I've got. As you can see, I hate them now.
Speaker 2:And then whilst I was doing that, I got offered another job in email marketing by someone I met in a store in Brighton. I know nothing about email marketing. I just say, yeah, let's do it and give it a go. I thought email marketing was very boring and laborious and I knew nothing about behind the scenes technology. But the amount I've learned in that space is ridiculous and it's so fascinating to understand the psychology behind emails, wherever it be the heading, the presentation, the personalization, the content. There's so many factors that we don't think about. When you receive an inbox, it hits your inbox. You open it, you read it, you delete it, you mark it as spam. But the behind the scenes time and thought processes from these marketing wizards is beyond your imagination. You know how it looks and feels.
Speaker 2:Then I got offered another job in the email space whilst at an expo, and I took that job in London. So everything that I've done I've just said yes to, and I think that's what's opened all the doors um, to be where I am today, which I'm very thankful for, and I would always sit back and say I was lucky, I was in the right place where I met this person or I met this person. Then my dad always shuts me down he says look, you've worked hard enough that these opportunities come around and present themselves to you and you're the one that's saying yes to them. So I'm thankful for him to try and sort of not ground me, because I think I'm extremely grounded because I believe everything's luck. But he's saying you know, it's not luck, you've done it yourself.
Speaker 1:I've always said that luck is, and this has only happened the last couple of years. I always said that luck is, and this has only happened the last couple of years. I've always said that luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Yeah, like you're not going to win a lot if you don't go and buy a ticket, that's you preparing. That's obviously it's a lot different in business, but if you prepare yourself and if you wanted to be a public speaker, for example, you've got to be ready to be able to speak on stage and then someone might come along and give you the gig and
Speaker 2:I think that's a big preparation meets opportunity, equals luck yeah, and also think it's your willingness to learn and take on those new challenges. You know, if you're gonna say yes, you've got to be prepared to put the work in, learn and and my biggest thing in life is self-development. I really believe anyone can achieve anything if you try hard enough. Whether it's business, sense, fitness, sense, love, life, whatever, the same can be applied anywhere. If you want it, if you want it enough, you can go and get it as simple as that, If you're willing to put in the work and the grind if you're willing to put in the work, willing to put in the grind.
Speaker 2:You know every single thing. That every skillset I've learned, I've that. Every skill set I've learned, I've self self-taught. You know whether it be websites, whether it be seo, ppc, loyalty cards, qr tags that I've learned everything myself by utilizing the tools around us. In the modern day we're so uh lucky to have youtube and tiktok for stuff like learning. You know, these people are putting content, our experts in their field, and they're giving us the thing, the tools we need to to learn it and be as good as them. And if you're willing to go and watch 10 hours of how to build a website on youtube, you can go and build websites and then suddenly guess what. You have a website business. You can start sending them in, you can start making money. So you can make money in the digital space from any angle, as long as you're willing to put the time and effort in and that's a big thing that I, I I believe self-development is the biggest skill so you can have yeah, you've got.
Speaker 1:I think everything's got to come from the inside, everything's got to come from the info. It's like old my good mate, stephen bartlett, said you fill your knowledge bucket and the more your knowledge bucket fills, it spills over into other areas of your life and no no one can ever take that knowledge away from you. Once you've learned it, you've learned it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that's quite important. So that takes me on to the next crazy moment in your life where you decided that you wanted to build an app.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From your bedroom. Yeah, with very little technical experience on building apps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tell us about Closer Deals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was an interesting discussion with my partner and my family. You know I already thought I was insane creating one business and then, when I had the idea of starting another one I think my mum had kittens she couldn't believe it. She's like you haven't even got this one exactly where you want it, let alone starting up another idea. But the, the idea of closer um, to sort of tell the public what closer is. Closer is a mobile app that supports independent businesses. It helps customers save money and it also gives back to charities. So it's a winner every single angle. It's a really unique project. It's something that hasn't been done before. I've not seen anything else like this in the world.
Speaker 2:So, essentially, businesses can get listed free of charge, such as a pub or you know your business yourself. They have to put an offer within the app. They get free advertisement. There's no membership fees for businesses. You can literally put an offer in there and then we'll promote that to all the users around Sussex.
Speaker 2:So right now it's a Sussex based app. It's been out for around five weeks, about over a thousand downloads from the general public, and the general public can choose to subscribe to the app if they want to and then they get access to the exclusive offers. We wanted to make the price really low and affordable for everyone to try and help them save money as well as go and support independent businesses rather than go into the big chains that everyone knows. So the cost is £1.99. 5% of all profits go to local charities chosen by the users, so it's a full 360 application to try and help everyone, everyone. So rather than people go to Prezzo or Costa coffee, they can now go to the horse in pub or, you know, buy some beer and go and get a pint of beer on the offer, for example, sake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so, so, so what sort of? Obviously we've got an offer on there for the podcast studio. You can rent the podcast studio Half an hour, half an hour taster session to rent out a podcast studio. That's an offer that we've put on there. So what are some of the other offers that the members have put on? So what can the customer, what can the end user gain? What sort of things?
Speaker 2:There's some outrageous deals. I mean people may say I'm sound biased for that, but if you subscribe at one pound 99 a month you can go and get 20 off at james ross in port slade of gold and silver. You can go to the tall book pub in cookfield and get 25 off your main courses monday to thursday. Yeah, you know, these are big offers to try and get people out and about and try and support the local economy again and it's making a difference. But coming back to your original question surrounding what made me do it, it was surrounding data. So with Kaiko, we collect data on behalf of the businesses and when I look back, we've collected something like a quarter of a million contacts and I'm looking at that going. Well, none of that of that's mine, none of that I can target. So how can we start tapping into this demographic and market to it? Essentially so the idea of Closer came about to try and capture our own database to then start promoting to and trying to drive our own sales.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So how did you go about building an app with very little tech background?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, there was. I honestly have zero experience in building apps, Absolutely zero. I, hand on heart, mean that I've never done it before. I had no idea how to get an app into the Apple store or the Google play store. I just did endless research again on the likes of YouTube websites and so on, started tapping into and looking at going I think I can do this and I started building it. It took me around six to eight months to build the app from start to finish, but that's in the background of working with Kaiko. So obviously Kaiko be something like nine till five on the days I'd work and then I'll get home, have dinner and I'd work on closer seven till 2am 3am every single day. Pretty much for for the duration of six to eight months to build and release this app. Um, but I did it again through self-learning.
Speaker 2:I spotted a gap in the market where the likes of Tastecard, these big corporations that most people know they're supporting you know, Prezzo, Pizza Express, Cineworld and so on People don't want to go to those venues anymore. They want to start supporting local and if they can start getting the same deals as these big high street killers, then they're going to go and support them. So that's how the idea came about and it's sort of it's community based. It's community, it's a whole thing's community based. The beautiful thing about it is when you download the app, you can recommend your favorite business that you want us to go to, so you can say I've got a pub around the corner I would love for them to go onto. Added, we put a deal in place and then we hope you like it. Yeah, it's as simple as that. So it's full-on community base. It's a bit like ways or something where you pin drop where you want to go.
Speaker 1:We'll go and do the work for you, we're going to get you an offer and then you can go and start benefiting that's it as well, because I, like, I know the tool, but the one you mentioned, the Talbot 25% off meals from Monday to Thursday I mean that's phenomenal. Yeah, that is a really good offer and the Talbot does some banging food as well. It's fantastic. It's really good. It's a really nice place down there.
Speaker 2:Well, you go out as a family of four, you're probably talking 100 quid, so you get £25 off your meal, yeah, and then it's paid for itself. Or you go down, james Ross, like I say go buy a bracelet for 1600, get 320 quid off. Yeah Bang, you've got your next 10 years worth. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I mean. I love the app. You obviously we've had conversations from you building it, naming it, doing all sorts of things, um, and it is a wicked app. So, if you're listening to this, download closer off the apple store, google play and have a play with it. If you're not in the sussex area, it is coming to your area soon, isn't it? It is, it is. It's putting him under pressure now now I'm working on expansion.
Speaker 2:Every single day. We're trying to nail Sussex initially Within the five weeks of being live. We've got 150 venues signed up. You can download the app for free, you can browse all locations, you can browse all the deals and then you can choose to subscribe or not to subscribe. But we've got 150 venues, over a thousand downloads. The aim is to have 500 venues by september and 10 000 downloads by the end of the year and the figures we believe we can easily achieve. And then during the next year, so 2026, we're then going to start scaling out into, you know, kent, surrey, maybe even into london. So we have plans to expand it and try and give the end user maximum. You, you know, maximum discount?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it is. It is wicked and I really like it. And what Nathan's built, I didn't think he was going to do it. I'm not going to lie, I didn't think he was going to do it, but I mean, we spoke the other day and it's what? Did we work out 1600 hours, 1600 hours? Yeah, 1600 hours, 1600 hours. Yeah, that you've put in on top of working full-time, yeah, um, which sort of leads me on to the next question. There's a lot of talk online about becoming an entrepreneur. There's people on the internet telling you quit your job. Here's 100 pounds to go and start a business, and stuff. What is your take on that? What's your take on that? What's your take on entrepreneurship?
Speaker 2:Entrepreneurship for me is having bills come out at both sides. You know you're having to pay out money and also sort of you have to bring in money, simple as that. So having staff underneath you that rely on you that, for me, is the biggest thing. So we have one full-time member of staff that works for us with Kaikoco, knowing that you have to pay that wage every single month because their life's depending on it. So you've got people that believe in you throughout the whole process. So entrepreneurship for me is having idea and having bills over side, essentially having those responsibilities on your head. Going to bed every night, going am I going to be able to afford that member of staff? Can I pay him? Can he pay his rent? Can he feed his family? That's all things people don't think about, whereas on our heads we're saying we think about every single day making sure that everyone's comfortable and everyone's else is okay before yourself that's the most important thing it's always before yourself if you're going to hire someone and take them on board.
Speaker 2:They are the first priority before you take any money out of the business yeah, and it's hard.
Speaker 1:It's hard like I've had months where I'm like I don't know how am I going to pay. Am I going to pay the staff's wages this month? How is it going to work? And the bigger you scale, the bigger problems, the bigger those financial responsibilities get. Yeah, it's like having other children, it's like having more children, having staff 100, because you don't ever want to see them go without. Obviously, there's a lot of, there's a lot of big businesses out there who they pay someone what they can get away with paying them. Now. I'm not like that. I want all the people around me to want to come to work because the rewards are big enough, whether it's financially, whether it's that they get holidays, etc. Etc. Um, and I think becoming an entrepreneur in 2025 is not as easy as the influencers make it out to be.
Speaker 2:Not at all please don't quit your job if someone says here's 100 quid, you can make it work. Yeah, please don't do that. It's not. Yeah, no, it's not, did you not?
Speaker 1:Did you have money? Did you so when you you left your job? Now, obviously we're going into money. I don't really want to put you on a spot, but did you have a safety blanket?
Speaker 2:Not, not, not a big one, not a big one. There was enough to survive for, say, sort of three months Logistically. You know you're not talking a lot of money, talking three months worth of salary. I had to make it work in three months. If it didn, I might have been slower, slower, yeah, and and not been taken as serious because I know I don't matter, I've got enough money in the bank to survive next month and the next month and it's all going to be all right anyway. But because I literally had nafe, you've got three months, you've got to make this work go all out. You have to do this. That's what I think helped the most.
Speaker 1:I think as well. I think I was watching something the other day and setting deadlines for yourself in business is imperative, even if you don't need to set realistic deadlines that you will be good for you to achieve. Don't lapse too much and be too relaxed about it, because I always worked for a deadline. I've always done it through my gcses, and when you had to write all those essays about macbeth, yeah, I wouldn't get it done until the last minute, but I would get it done because there was a deadline there. Of course and it's very similar in business if you set yourself a realistic goal and a realistic deadline, that's going to be a struggle to reach, yes, but if you put the hours and the effort in, you can get there.
Speaker 2:100, yeah, and also planning you know, I've I think believe it was from one of my colleagues. They said planning is key. You know, without preparation you're going to fail. And I had, I've got installed this idea in my brain where they put everything into three categories.
Speaker 2:I think I told you before maybe, but if you get an idea, you write it down. You put in one of the three categories like must do, as in this gets done today, yeah, needs to be done, which is your sort of two to five day window. You write in that section and it gets done, and then there's can be done down the line which is an idea should be done at some point, not as essential, but when these ideas come into your mind, note them down in one of those three columns and living life on structure and planning. Like that can really help you sort of take the next step in terms of progression, because sometimes you get so many ideas in your mind you don't know where to start, where to finish and so on, whereas this idea that I was told in this principle does work really, really well by setting out your own structure and your own planning what would be your strongest one piece of advice if anyone's listening and they're thinking of quitting their job.
Speaker 1:A gun on an entrepreneurial. Your one bit of advice that you wish you knew all those years ago when you decided to jump ship and do it your own way I would say you know it's a bit standard, but find a niche but, more importantly, make it a passive income.
Speaker 2:I don't think passive income is discussed enough between businesses, um, so I'm making sure you have money coming every single month like a subscription.
Speaker 2:I think subscription-based businesses are definitely the way to go.
Speaker 2:You know, I've created two with kyco and and closer app, but it does help with those sort of sleepless nights because you know that you don't have to land a particular deal for the money to come in. So every single month, you know what money is going to come in, regardless of if you put zero work in or if you work every single day. If you want zero work in or if you work every single day. If you want to work every single day, then yes, that monthly sum next month will always increase because you're going to gather more clients. However, if you get to a certain size and you want to take a week or two off or three weeks off, you know you're going to get the same amount of money coming in anyway, as long as you're dealing with the support, the support side of things. So my biggest piece of advice would be try and find something of a passive income? Yeah, um, I think that is is vital in the modern day, with everything being pretty much digital yeah, my business is completely different.
Speaker 1:I can't have a passive income, but there are so many times I've tried and tried to work out if there's a way possible. Yeah, do you know one thing that I read the other day? There's a barbers that have now a subscription. Yes, there's a mean. I'd love that. I would do that every if I knew that I was paying. What if I was paying 40 quid a month to a barber subscription? And I could go in two, three times have my hair cut. Do you know I'd be there once a week? Yeah, no.
Speaker 2:I'd be there once a week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would go there once a week. I think that's phenomenal for barbers. If you're a barbershop listening, then get in touch with Nathan and he can probably help you set all that up.
Speaker 2:We don't have one at the moment, but I'm certain we can build it. That's how we can do it. But it's really funny. You mentioned haircuts because literally last night or the night before I was thinking single day, I think, I worked out. I pay about 300, about 500 quid for the year Because my haircuts aren't a lot. I think I paid 20 pounds for my local hairdressers, but I get it done once a month, so normally it gets all frizzy and absolute mess. Lucky for you, I thought I'd dress myself up a little bit today, wearing snow leopard shorts and a black bin bag top. But yeah, I think 500 pound is the sum that I'd put on there. I wake up every day, no matter what it's as I want it and it's done.
Speaker 2:So having a subscription would be a really good idea and um a great idea of a passive income. A lot of restaurants that we we work with are thinking about introducing like vip cards, so for sort of short-term cash injections, so they could introduce a vip black card. So you pay 40 pound for the year, you get 10 off every time you go and visit. Now for your locals and regulars it's an absolute blinding deal. But if you're going to have a thousand on your register book and 100 people are signing up to that, you know that's a four grand injection instantly.
Speaker 2:So a lot of people are starting to look down that route of vip passes, vip cards, to get that cash injection to help their businesses. So things like subscriptions are just getting only ever more popular, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know some stories and it's sickening. It's sickening what people are earning off of charging someone £5 a month and giving them value. Yeah, it's mad.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is, we're so used to it. Now you know the average household has got Amazon, prime, Netflix, spotify. Nearly every single household has got those three and you're talking 30, 40 quid just for those three alone. Got your bank account, but you don't even think about it because it's a must have. And having an idea that is a must have will create that passive income that I believe you need to to to create.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, before we wrap this up, what does success mean to you?
Speaker 2:Success means to me living a happy lifestyle, just a lifestyle that you can wake up, love what you do. I think loving what you do is the key part of anything. What don't do, what you don't like, and every day in a wake up, presenting it, wondering is it worth it thinking about changing jobs. You have to do what you love and I'm very fortunate to fall into a place where I love working with independent businesses. They're real people on the front line and I come into here, I'm meeting the owner of the business. I go into a pub, I'm meeting the landlord. He's working every day on the front line. He knows his business like a, like a ship and his crew.
Speaker 2:That's what I love dealing with people on the front line, whereas in the corporate space it was sort of dealing with drones a bit, because you call up people. I've had 50 emails about this today already. Or are you trying to sell me another till machine, wi-fi machine, car machine? I've got all that. I don't need ppPC websites and they're just so sick of the same thing every single day. Whereas dealing with the locals, it's so rewarding because you get pride in it, because you're helping them and and two, you build such solid relationships where, you know, I've been invited to birthday parties and Christmas parties and all sorts and all I do is help them on a day-to-day basis of their technology. So success for me is doing something you love and living a lifestyle that isn't all about work. Yeah, easier said than done when you have a passive income, rather than saying, well, you know if they're going to close a deal because you've got the pressure of that deal landing, so, but I believe it's that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool and lastly, has it all been worth it? A hundred percent, yeah, a hundred percent, yeah. I love. I love every single day. What I do every day is different, um, and I get out of bed smiling and I think if you're, if you're doing that, you must be onto a winner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wicked. Well, that's been Nathan Hobden Really lovely guy. Go and check out Closer App. If you've got a business hospitality business around the Sussex area and you don't know about Keiko, I strongly advise you to drop him a line and he'll come and have a chat with you. So that's the Untold Podcast. I've been Ashley, this has been Nathan, and we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you.