What’s Your Dream? Why Simon Squibb is sharing his business knowledge for free
Simon Squibb wants people to find their purpose in order to beat the race against AI. (Parker Floris) Last year, British entrepreneur Simon Squibb posted a video on YouTube where he shared ‘30 years of business knowledge in 2hrs 26mins’. It is now regarded, thanks to 15 million views already and counting, as one of the world’s most popular business videos and he says that its whirlwind success is “a symbolism” of where he wants to go in his ventures helping others. “If kids say they want to learn business and teachers don’t have the capacity, I want kids to be signposted to this video and it will give them what they need,” says Squibb, who has founded 19 companies and invested in over 70 startups. Squibb's social media popularity began around six years ago after he sold his multi-million pound, Hong Kong-based marketing and creative agency in 2016 to PwC, retired to start a family back in the UK and then doubled down on offering business advice for free. Read More: 'We lost 50kg between us and now own a £35m meal prep business' “I didn’t need the money,” he says, “but after one year I realised quite quickly that one-to-one attention was needed and I couldn't sit down with thousands of people every week. “There needed to be a way of helping people at a scale that didn’t necessarily involve me.” After meeting co-founders Jack Whettingsteel and Adam Smith, in 2023 the trio launched Helpbnk.com, a free mentorship and community platform where entrepreneurs can seek business advice while members can also give support. There are currently 300,000 users on the platform. Whettingsteel and Smith have also been the catalyst behind Squibb’s millions of social media followers. The trio began testing the water with video and engagement until they hit upon an opening theme called ‘What’s Your Dream?’ where Squibb has asked the question to thousands of people in the street. Simon Squibb has launched an app-based clone of himself to help people in their business dream. · PARKER FLORIS This summer, they developed a What’s Your Dream? app with Squibb featured as a clone of himself, supported by AI, which has drawn on his career knowledge as well as five years of YouTube videos. Since launch, Squibb says his clone has engaged in nine years of conversations with users through the app. “With most AI we don’t know the basis of where the knowledge has come from and who is giving you advice,” he says. “With young people in particular, social media can be a bit fake and AI is in that realm at the moment. “In the next five years, a lot of people will lose their jobs so why not hedge your bets, plan ahead for that time and get new skills in your arsenal like how AI works?” Squibb began his business journey aged 15 when he was forced to sleep in a stairwell in Cambridge after his father died and he fell out with his mother. He launched a gardening business started after plucking up the courage to knock on the door of a house with an unloved garden and agreed a £200 fee with his first client. Read More: 'We started with £800 – our group tour travel firm is now a £30m business' “It was a tough business and it failed in the end,” recalls Squibb, whose career later took off when he flew to Hong Kong aged 23. “Winter came, which didn’t help, but I didn’t have a purpose. Mine was just to take care of people’s gardens and make money. “If I was a teenager today I would help people stop vaping and get the shops close to schools to shut down. I’ve helped a kid come off a vape and he is now a fitness influencer. There are so many things in the world that people can do to make the world a better place, and that gives purpose to business.” In a nod back to his teens, Squibb spent £25,000 at an auction in 2023 on a disused stairwell in Twickenham, London with the aim of providing rent-free space for fledgling small businesses. It also sparked his ‘Doorbell of Dreams’ idea, where budding entrepreneurs queue up and record their 60-second business pitch into a camera. The initiative is still going strong today. During our interview, Squibb looks at the webcam and notes four people queuing up. Simon Squibb purchased a disused stairwell at auction for £25,000. Squibb, now 51, says he measures success in both financial and impact terms. He subscribes to the ‘for profit, for good’ model and aims for “Google revenue” but to spend profit on people who follow their dreams. Ultimately, his defining element is for the business to offer its services for free and not to sell courses or put its content behind a paywall. Squibb says that HelpBnk’s revenue mainly comes from video advertising. It helps that the serial investor also lays claim to being the most followed business influencer in the UK on Instagram. Not bad for a social media entrepreneur who started out on his own in his forties with a phone and without making much traction for the first few years on social media platforms. Read More: My laundrette closed early so I set up a £27m global laundry service Today, Squibb is enthused most about the community aspect of HelpBnk, which last year was valued at £50. “There is something amazing when you reach out to the universe and say ‘who wants to help today?” he says. “Making it convenient for people to help is the exciting thing we have unlocked in all of this.” So too with the younger generation HelpBnk employs, which works remotely and occasionally meets up at the Twickenham stairwell. The mentor platform employs around 50 staff, with all but two under 30. “What I’ve noticed is that this is the hardest working, most purposeful generation that I’ve come across,” adds Squibb. “The key is that they want a purpose, not just profit. If you tap into that, they are all in.” University If university was pitching itself as an option today it would lose. I see universities of four years at the prime years of your life, on average £50,000 of debt, and without any promise of a job at the other end. I want people to have informed consent. Going to university and getting a job is now a risky route. Starting a business is less risky. Dyslexia We had a school assignment in English class where we had to read Jane Eyre and come back with a synopsis. As a dyslexic this was a nightmare so I interviewed every classmate and asked them for their takeaway. If I had read the book I would have had one point of view. Now I had 33 different views and I got an 'A'. I feel lucky to have that so-called weakness as you learn to engineer your brain in a more constructive way. Leadership I love the way American author Simon Sinek thinks and one of the things he says is ‘good leaders speak last’. Let everyone have an opinion before you deliver your own is a good mantra. I also attest to 'Don’t manage people, manage purpose.' 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