This week, we had the pleasure of catching up with Stuart Lewin, after he dined with Ken Valledy last month. Stuart, who is the Founder and Creative Director of BTL Brand, gave us an insight of his business and what they have been up to since they launched. Here is what he had to say:

What’s the elevator pitch for your business?
We like to help brands ‘do better’ online and offline. (That’s usually enough to get people to want to know more.)

What were you doing before you launched your company?
I was the Creative Director of a branding agency called Vivid Brand. This was the day job whilst I was rebuilding a derelict house.

If you have co-founders, where did you meet them?
I don’t have any co-founders.

What’s your biggest ‘hindsight’ moment?
To have a co-founder. I have become a zen master at spinning plates whilst juggling many balls.

What will the rest of 2015 bring?
We are very lucky to have a diverse range of clients. The rest of the year will involve us working with start-ups in Helsinki, Lisbon, Barcelona, Glasgow and London, helping them launch financial, insurance, aviation, pet, chocolate and snack products and services.

One piece of advice for someone starting a business in your sector?
Some start-ups are more focused on the destination and might underestimate just how much hard work is needed for the journey. We have a Venn diagram scribbled on the chalk board in the studio to help us keep focused on our journey. The over-lapping circles are labelled Hard Work, Focus & Passion. The three circles are bounded by another circle labelled Certainty. The centre of the over-lapping circles is chalked in and labelled Success. That is my one piece of advice.

The next bit of advice doesn’t really qualify as a second bit of advice as it’s so ridiculously obvious… and everyone should know it already. This next bit of non-advice is our mantra. We recite this mantra every day: Less is more. No matter how many times a client will try and convince us otherwise, we always remind them with a smile that less is always more.

Convince someone to use your product/service in under 50 words.
We’re a team of experienced brand people with studios in London and Barcelona. We always push ourselves, and our clients, to ‘do better’ at every stage of the strategic and creative process. We help established brands and start-ups with a bold approach to strategy, identity, packaging, digital and social.

What’s your favourite startup in your sector (not including your own)?
Ok. I’m gonna bend the rules a little bit here. My favourite start-up, in my sector, would probably be a small agency called B&B who are doing good work at the moment. This is where I get 1 out of 10 for originality but my favourite start-up, outside of my sector, has to be Uber. It never ceases to amaze me how good they are at getting the basics right. All the start-ups out there who are just getting going, please take another look at Uber. Less (done very well) will always be more.”

What’s your favourite London restaurant?
The London Particular in New Cross is a little nugget of gold in South East London.

What’s your favourite meal?
That’s easy. I used to live in Barcelona and I got addicted to the grilled seafood kiosks in the local markets. I could quite easily live on grilled razor clams, squid ink black rice and salted cod with garlic.

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