9. Thankyou Co-Founder: "We innovated because we had NO MONEY!" Daniel Flynn

Looking to get a look at the reality of scaling a social enterprise? Start here. 

Determined and resourceful, Daniel Flynn is the co-founder and managing director of one of Australia’s most successful start-ups, Thankyou.

He co-founded Thankyou at the age of 19, and today 12 years later, Thankyou’s products are stocked by major retailers in Australia, with every product contributing to helping end global poverty. 

Daniel is also the author of best-selling book Chapter One, a story that generated $1.4 million in sales in its first month using an unorthodox ‘pay-what-you-want’ model. He is known for his disruptive marketing and has received widespread media coverage for some truly unconventional and highly successful campaigns that led to Thankyou products being stocked by some of Australia’s biggest retailers.

Daniel’s achievements as an entrepreneur have also been widely celebrated. In 2014, he was named an honoree in JCI’s Ten Outstanding Young People of the World, and in 2015 Daniel won EY Entrepreneur of the Year (for the Southern Region). In 2016 Daniel was named in the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 for Social Entrepreneurship.

In this episode, Daniel goes through his motivations, personal struggles and how he finds the strength to innovate and grow his business to a position of raising more than $18m to charitable initiatives around the world. 

Timestamps
0:00 Trailer
1:22 Intro
2:02 What is Thankyou
2:40 Upbringing
6:15 Finding Purpose
7:57 Start of Thankyou
13:27 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
21:56 Keys to Innovation
25:56 Hardest Years of Thankyou
34:34 Innovative Capital Raising
39:20 Dealing with Failure
43:10 Thankyou's Impact
47:06 Personal Cost
50:28 Feedback from Team
53:05 Journal Advice

Follow Thankyou:
Youtube -  https://www.youtube.com/@Thankyouaus