Recently Madlug founder, Dave Linton, was invited to brunch with Sir Richard Branson in London to share the story of Madlug. It was an amazing opportunity to tell the leader of a global brand like Virgin the story that EVERY child in care is incredible and that no child should carry their life in a bin bag.

Over brunch, Sir Richard gave us some key tips to follow as we continue on the Madlug journey:

The way you behave at home should be the way you behave in business

Behaving in a business like you would at home with your family helps to build relationships and loyalty. People are the foundation of every business and so treating your people like family creates a sense of buy-in to aims of the business.

Do your best to be a force for good

Business has a notorious reputation for being too focused on maximising its own profits and disregarding the greater good of society. At Madlug, one of our key goals is to be a force for good in society by showing incredible young people that they have value and worth and empowering them to be the best they can be.

Find staff who are jacks of all trades

For small business and start-ups like ourselves, Sir Richard spoke of the importance of getting people into your business who are able to do a range of different tasks to drive growth. In the early days of business, the resources aren’t available to employ lots people in overly focused roles and so versatility is key.

Always strive to keep at least 51% of your business

Sir Richard has kept 100% control of the Virgin brand which has allowed him to make the key decisions and maintain ultimate control of the direction and fate of the brand. Instead, he branches out his risk-taking to sub-ventures like Virgin Atlantic at which stage big investors do become involved but don’t have any overpowering influence on the Virgin brand.

Tell your business story well

People feel connected to stories. For us at Madlug, our story is central to everything we do. The whole reason we exist is to enable our incredible customers to show that they care about incredible young people in care, helping them realise that they have value, worth and the right to live their lives with dignity.

PS: We love that our bags really do look the part against a great global brand like Virgin as well as make a huge difference.