The Industry Leaders is quickly gaining recognition from entrepreneurs the world over. Co-Founder, Rob Barratt explains how.
“This started out almost by accident”.
Those are the words of The Industry Leaders Co-Founder, Rob Barratt, whenever he’s asked how his company became a trusted source of business-building tips for entrepreneurs across the globe.
Starting out in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Industry Leaders was originally intended to be a place for leading lights in the construction and architecture industries to share their experiences. However, the site quickly became popular among entrepreneurs, executives, and freelancers across a range of different industries, who were eager to share their knowledge.
In just two years, the site has gone from a niche blog to a knowledge base of interviews with business influencers, Silicon Valley CEOs, and thought leadership content from business owners across the globe.
However, when he and Co-Founder Kacey Tsang created the site, it was intended to be just an add-on to an online marketplace Rob had set up. “I had a brilliant idea for an online marketplace in the construction industry, but I’d never run an online business before, and it launched just as the first lockdowns were beginning to bite. I spent thousands of dollars advertising online, and not one penny of it brought me any sales. I knew there had to be a better way, so I began to explore how I could grow my network while helping other people in the process.”
It was then that, by chance, Rob was invited to do an interview by an old contact and share his experience of running and selling his previous business.
“I was blown away by the response I got to sharing that interview. People responded in a way they hadn’t to my other online posts, and it was amazing how many old (and new!) contacts reached out. People were genuinely interested in my journey and what I was doing now.
And that’s when I had the idea for The Industry Leaders”.
Rob knew that if he was receiving such a positive response to his own interview, he could help other business owners in the same way.
“I knew if getting interviewed could help me, it could definitely help other business leaders. Especially entrepreneurs who aim to promote their services on a national or global level, where spending money on ads can be prohibitively expensive. It would also act as a knowledge-base for sharing tips from entrepreneurs who’d already overcome challenges and built successful businesses.”
One look through their featured interviews provides insights from business influencers, to Silicon Valley CEOs, and female-owned startups. Notable entrepreneurs who’ve been featured include Kara Goldin, Founder of Hint Water, Jen Dulski, former Google, YaHoo, and Facebook communities expert, and Julian Sarafian, a Harvard law graduate turned Tik Tok Influencer.
“One of my favorite interviews was with Nancy Duarte of Duarte Inc – one of Silicon Valley’s most famous communications agencies. Nancy’s story of how she and her husband built the company from scratch was amazing and I loved her explanation of whether great design or great copy is more important for startups.”
The Industry Leaders quickly became Rob’s focus, eclipsing his marketplace in terms of its ability to help a wider range of entrepreneurs and executives.
“I remember when we published our 100th interview in just a few months, thinking ‘this is crazy’, but it just shows how much appetite there is within the global business community to come together and help each other out.”
The Industry Leaders has since added free Masterclasses in order to help entrepreneurs learn the skills they need to grow and thrive in the post-covid world, as well as providing a podcast booking service.
Their target going forward?
“Ultimately, it’s all about helping as many business leaders as we can. So we want to make The Industry Leaders the go-to source of as much free, high-quality, knowledge as possible for entrepreneurs and business leaders the world over. ”
