Episode description

Steve Jobs once said, ‘I’d rather be a Pirate than be in the Navy.’ He believed it so much that often, the Skull and Crossbones would be flown at Apple HQ, so what can businesses learn from pirates?

Our guest today, Sam Conniff is here to answer that with his book, Be More Pirate. 

Sam is a multi-company founder from the UK, starting with Don’t Panic London, a creative agency that he founded out of his bedroom when he was 20 years old in 1997. Since then he’s gone on to co-found a youth centered marketing agency Livity, and it’s sister company Digify Africa, as well as to produce and present content on BBC 4 and Netflix.

Sam has gone on to speak and consult with major companies around the world such as Google, Salesforce, Mercedes-Benz, Coca-Cola and more, bringing his insights from over 25 years in the startup world, and lessons learned from those “living on the edges”.

During the Golden Age of Piracy, as Sam goes on to uncover in his book, pirate crews were some of the most democratic and diverse teams in the world, where leadership, teamwork, and absolute trust in culture decided whether or not a crew scored some treasure, or sunk to the bottom of the sea.

‘Tis is one of the most unique conversations we’ve had on the podcast, so with that…let’s bring it in!