From Google To Building The Fastest Growing Healthy Meal Subscription Business with Simmy Dhillon, Founder of Simmer

“I was finally getting all of these jobs that I always wanted, but I was always more passionate about my own business and would keep working on it outside of my normal hours.”  Landing a role at Google as a graduate will make most people put thoughts about their next moves on hold. Not for today’s 40 Minute Mentor.  We’re joined by the brilliant Simmy Dhillon, Founder of Simmer, the meal subscription service on a mission to nourish and delight through food by making eating well everyday easy and delicious.  What started out with cooking jerk chicken in his university dorm room, turned into one of the fastest-growing meal subscription services in the UK.  In today’s episode, we get a front row seat to their incredible journey and hear about:  ➡️ What celebrating diversity should actually look like [05:40]  ➡️ Simmy’s upbringing and where his entrepreneurial spirit comes from [07:47]  ➡️ Where the idea for Simmer came from and the humble beginnings of the business [10:24]  ➡️ How Rice & Spice evolved into Simmer [13:31]  ➡️ Why he couldn’t stop thinking about his side hustle, even after joining Google [16:20]  ➡️ The compromises you have to make when going all in on your side hustle [19:35]  ➡️ The difficulties of hiring in a bootstrapped business [21:57]  ➡️ Bootstrapping vs raising investment [22:54]  ➡️ The power of podcasts for early stage Founders [25:58]  ➡️ Working with celebrities [31:58]  ➡️ Why you should try Simmer and a special Birthday offer for you [34:48]  ➡️ Building a business with your family [38:35]  ➡️ Why you need to stay authentic when building your personal brand [40:39]    ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ More about Simmy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simmydhillon/ ➡️ Check out Simmer: https://simmereats.com/ ➡️ Redeem your offer to get 50% off your first order, plus 25% off your first month following this link https://simmereats.com/?code=jbm50 or by using “JBM50” during check out    💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors: Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance. To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/  to find out more.    🏆 Want to partner with us?  Do you want to get your brand in front of leading Startup Founders, Investors and C-Suite decision-makers, and attract some of the sharpest talent in the Startup/Scaleup scene? Get in touch with our Head of Marketing and Producer, Hannah to find out more about how we can co-produce content that will help you stand out and engage with over 40,000 loyal monthly listeners. You can reach her on hannah@jbmc.co.uk   🤝 Explore Hidden Pages:  For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience.  We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from. This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ   ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices