The Ledger
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Solly Solomou: Lack of constraints ruins entrepreneurial creativity
“I believe entrepreneurs are creatives. At heart. And I think if you have too much to go up, if you have no constraint, that creative process is ruined. So for me, I believe in that pressure that creates the output.”
Solomou: Hiring candidates lacking culture fit creates organizational chaos
“So for me, putting more emphasis on taking a little bit more time with hiring, being clear on what the culture is, and also accepting that maybe that person with that additional experience or that additional technical skillset, Is probably not the right person…”
Solomou: Generative AI will compose 25-30% of future movie content
“So for us in an entertainment business, you can imagine a world where we're creating movies. And because of that democratization and the access to technology and using and embracing technology like that, the cost of creating a movie where maybe 25%, 30% of it …”
Solly Solomou: Wearables Will Replace Mobile Phones Within 10 to 20 Years
“Well, I guess, you know, from that perspective, I think, let's say, maybe 1015, 20 years, that's what we may be looking at. As wearables become more advanced, as you're able to put more processing power into smaller things, I believe that the phone will become…”
Solomou: Location is not a priority for early-stage founders focused on survival
“I think when you start a business, and this is just my personal experience, location, Isn't even on the mind. It's just survival or moving forward.”
Solomou: Snapchat is the number one messaging platform for young demographics
“They are huge amongst the younger demographic. It's the number one messaging platform.”
Solomou: All incumbent social tech giants including X will win
“I believe are all going to be winners. I don't think there's any of them that I would particularly show, including X on that basis. I've kind of taught myself, I've taught myself out of it now, but I just wouldn't.”
Solomou: Nike has lost its way, but retains deep brand equity
“No, I think it's a very, very special brand, and I believe it's lost its way, and sometimes businesses do, and we work with them. They want to understand Gen Z in a better way, and we're working with them on that basis. But I do not. I think it's got too much …”
Solomou would have started LADbible in the US if doing it over
“If I was to rewrite the script, I definitely would have started the business in the US.”
Solomou bought the original LADbible Facebook page for low thousands
“So he's in the low thousands. I won't say specifically how much, but he's in the low thousands.”
Solomou Used Accidental University Email Lists to Recruit Early LADbible Staff
“So what I did is I took all of those emails, Sent a note around saying, who would like to do some work experience? And I had a huge amount of applicants. So even in the early days where we had this office above the printer shop, I had like five people at a tim…”
Solomou: 11% of the US population identifies as content creators
“I saw a statistic that said that 11% of the US population classify themselves as content creators.”
Solomou: UK media strategies cannot simply be copied to succeed in the US
“So to go in there and think that you could just take the UK style and repeat it in the US, it is, is not, it's not gonna fly.”
Solomou: Low-production content weaves brands into culture without expensive TV ads
“That's a way in which you can weave brands into culture. In a way that doesn't necessarily need to be ridiculous production value, a TV advert.”
Solomou: LADbible Group may consider a US dual listing as US operations expand
“That could be an option in the future. As we grow and build our US business, a dual listing might be the way to go, but we need to build on the success Of what we've started with the Betches business, and our organic business out there, and really continue to …”
Solomou: London Stock Exchange reforms will revitalize UK market investment
“I believe some of the steps that they're putting in place will certainly revitalize and rebuild some of that UK investment that maybe isn't there right now, and that is going into US markets and other places.”
Solomou: UK pension funds and ISAs hold underutilized growth capital
“There's a huge amount that is sat in ISAs, that is sat in low return pension funds that could be utilized to grow at higher rates, But also stimulate and encourage more innovation and more businesses in the UK market.”
Solomou: The US market offers 5 to 8 times more opportunity than the UK
“Would they be bigger in the States? Well, you're talking a three hundred million population country versus seventy million here. You're talking a market that in some ways is nearly, you know, five to eight times the sizes here in the UK. So you do have more op…”
Solomou: TikTok Shop and social commerce will reach $1T within five years
“In the next five years or less, it's expected to be a one trillion market. The TikTok shop social commerce world overall is expected to be a one trillion market.”
Solomou: Snapchat will remain an innovative hub for Gen Z over 5-10 years
“I believe Snap is an interesting place over the next five to 10 years. Whether it can compete with the TikToks, and the Metas, and at this scale, I mean, these players are Huge. And we've seen what they've done in AI. We've seen what they're doing in e-commerc…”
Solomou: TikTok and Meta are top social platform buys
“I would say TikTok, I would buy. Meta, I would buy on their big bets that they've made.”
LADbible Group has 500 employees and 500 million followers globally
“500 people across the UK, Ireland, the US five hundred million followers across all platforms.”
Solomou messaged Facebook's CTO on LinkedIn to restore deplatformed LADbible page
“We managed to get through to the CTO. So we spoke to the CTO at the time, who very kindly spoke, he didn't have to take the call, he took the call, and in fairness, a week later it was sorted.”
LADbible's business model relies heavily on consultancy for major global brands
“Even our business model today has a big aspect of consultancy. So we work with Nike, Vodafone, Unilever, P and G, some of the biggest brands in the world.”
LADbible Group reaches over 100 million audience members in the US
“So we have over a hundred million audience members out in the States, and we know that we've done the hard bit.”
Solomou: Traditional media market share dropped from 80% to 20%
“Traditional TV, newspapers, magazines, et cetera. The numbers speak for themselves. That market has gone from being 70, 80% of the market down to 20%.”
Solomou invested £3,000 to £4,000 to launch his initial business
“So straight away, I probably had to outlay about three, 4000 pounds to facilitate during the year in industry.”
Solomou: I rolled the dice on every decision before becoming a father
“Before, before I had Alfie, our first boy, I would just, I would roll the dice on every decision. Everything. Put, put it on the table. No problem.”
Solly Solomou launched LADbible using takeaway box logo prints and direct local pitching
“I was utilizing the printer shop by getting these bugs printed off with the logo. Sending them all around the different takeaway companies. I was doing flyers, all of that kind of stuff. And then I was going around the cafes, bars, clubs, and selling them adve…”