Millennial entrepreneur behind a £35 million supplements startup Heights wishes he could tell his 20-year-old self to ‘sack off NFTs’
Heights founder unwinds by stroking his cat ‘for hours’, rents out his £2 million home for photoshoots and flies economy to not spoil his two year old daughter.
What would you do if you had a six-figure salary? Perhaps you’d never cook another meal again or indulge in a monthly Thai massage and a Soho House membership to unwind from the stress that comes with being at your A-game.
Here at The Good Life you don’t have to imagine what life at the top looks like anymore: Get real-life inspiration for how the most successful live their lives.
Today Fortune meets the London-based serial entrepreneur Dan Murray-Serter.
The 38-year-old ditched a promising career in account management to found Grabble in 2013 with his lifelong friend (and current cofounder), Joel Freeman.
The mobile shopping app took off and Murray-Serter was on the fast track for success. Like Tinder for shopping, users could swipe to “like” and then buy the latest looks from Reiss, ASOS, Topshop, and more. But by 2018, Grabble joined the 45% of small businesses that have failed in the first five years of launching.
Since becoming a founder, Murray-Serter openly admits he’s experienced three more failed ventures and three major mental health problems—but the experience inspired him to start a wellbeing newsletter, which opened his eyes to the largely unregulated world of supplements and led to his latest venture, Heights.
£35,000,000
Heights’ recent valuation
It’s coming up to the dreaded five-year mark for the “science-backed” supplement brand. However, with a reported 30,000 monthly subscriptions, £10 million in annual recurring revenue and a recent valuation of £35 million, it looks like Murray-Serter and Freeman are finally onto a winner.
A clip from Dan’s business podcast, Secret Leaders:
Imagine turning down Facebook as a 15 year old 😱 pic.twitter.com/SYdafiuoSl
— Secret Leaders (@secretleaders1) March 7, 2023
Now, he’s finding out what’s worked for other founders—and more importantly, what hasn’t—on his highly-rated business podcast, Secret Leaders.
The finances
Fortune: What has been the best investment you’ve ever bought?
Arguably my home. It cost £1.2 million and we spent over a year (and about £500,000 doing it up) but it’s recently been valued at over £2 million. We rent it out for shoots and all sorts so it’s been a pretty good investment.
The worst?
How long have you got to discuss NFTs?
Courtesy Dan Murray-Serter.
What do your childcare arrangements look like?
We have one daughter who’s just turning 3 and my wife and I have both been exceptionally committed to being equal parents and taking it all on ourselves as much as humanly possible. She goes to nursery five days a week—we split drop-offs and pick-ups evenly and I do every bathtime and bedtime (probably 98% of all of them over the three years) because it’s been a very important, healthy and valuable way to get me away from my work. I’ve loved doing it.
How do you commute to work?
Heights is hybrid. Monday and Tuesday are in our office in Oxford Circus, so I take the tube and walk (around 15 minutes) from Regents Park to help me get my 10k steps. I am obsessed with steps and walking generally.
On Wednesay and Thursday I stay at home or go to a local cafe to work.
On Fridays I go to work in Shoreditch with a bunch of other founders, we get a co-working office all together via my Foundrs community—it also means I have East London covered for meetings.
Foundrs community dinner for great entrepreneurs who also happen to be creators hosted at @AliAbdaal‘s and featuring @TimArmoo, @simonsquibb, @donnellycss, @simmydhillon_, @AlfieGWhattam and more.
— Dan (@danmurrayserter) July 16, 2024
Where do you shop for your work wardrobe?
Arket or Massimo Dutti mostly.
“Invest in S&P 500 index funds now, buy Bitcoin, and sack off NFTs. But the best investment you’ll ever make is in yourself…”
Where’s your go-to watch from?
I use the Samsung S6 Watch. I got really into a longevity protocol from Peter Attia this year and one of the things is Zone 2 training twice a week. After research I found this is the best watch for that, so I bought it. I’ve always been quite anti-smartwatch but I really like it.
What personal finance advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
Invest in S&P 500 index funds now, buy Bitcoin, and sack off NFTs. But the best investment you’ll ever make is in yourself, so spend money on training, take it seriously, and figure out how to turn yourself into a financial resource.
The necessities
How do you get your daily coffee fix?
I have a proper Sage Barista machine at home and I don’t skimp on coffee. It’s one luxury I take seriously—I have about 4 coffees a day, almost 30 a week and I spend about £30 every fortnight on beans. I am a fan of Pact Coffee. When I am out, in an ideal world I’m spending £4 to £5 on Monmouth Coffee. I would rather have no coffee than average coffee. That and warm beer are my big red flags, not worth it, rather stay tired or sober.
Joseph Branston/T3 Magazine/Future via Getty Images
What about eating on the go?
When my daughter was born I realised I couldn’t really cook and I didn’t want that to be all on mum, so I got into a whole bunch of meal delivery boxes. My favorite has been Gousto. Great food, super healthy. I really enjoy it and it feels like a bargain. We spend about £60 a week on this and probably £60 a week or so from M&S, Sainsbury’s, or our local Tesco on other fruit and veg.
Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images
When I’m in town my favorite places for a quick and easy lunch are either Farmer J or LEON. I go to Soho House quite a lot, but I’m not really sure why—it’s never that good, the service is terrible, the price is high and the food is average—and yet I go back—there must be something wrong with me!
“I am simplifying my life instead of getting more gadgets and things.”
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home?
Dine out—what’s that? Realistically, since having our daughter, we try to do a date night (though a lot less), and they tend to be at the theatre or cinema more often than dinner.
I would say we cook at home six times a week and dine out once if we are lucky. Our favorite is The William Pub in Kensal Rise.
The treats
Are you the proud owner of Meta’s smart glasses or anything other futuristic gadgets?
I have a bunch of useless crap that might be considered futuristic but not the glasses. For now, though, I am simplifying my life instead of getting more gadgets and things.
How do you unwind from the top job?
Since January I’ve been working out five times a week, including two hour-long Zone 2 training workouts on my Peloton and weight training three times a week.
But to be honest, my main way to unwind is with my two cats Archie and Bells. I can sit stroking them for hours listening to an audiobook, watching TV or playing music and time just passes. I find it the most relaxing thing on earth.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Every six months I also book myself a solo trip at a cabin in the woods for three days, where I sit on my own in silence. You lock your phone away and there’s no TV or internet. I just write loads, read loads, cook loads, walk loads, come and feel like I can take on the world.
I am quite an extreme person so my ideas of unwinding are going to Burning Man or Glastonbury every year—being on my own in silence with no phone or internet.
What’s the best bonus treat you’ve bought yourself?
I’m not really a material things guy. I spend money on experiences and making my life a little easier.
Johannes Mann via Getty
Arguably the flashiest thing I do lately is go away once a year for a month to work remotely in January to avoid the rain. We did Portugal, California, Bali and last year, Cape Town. When my daughter was under 2 I upgraded us to business class for those flights because it felt extra worth it. Now I have to pay for her too and don’t want her to get spoiled, though, so we all have to suffer together back in economy (and I just splash on myself with business class when flying without them!)
How do you record your notes in a meeting?
I use a Remarkable and I absolutely love it. It’s a bit overly analogue, but that’s kind of its charm and nothing else has really worked for me. I love the idea of it all being handwritten; it feels more impactful.
Here at The Good Life you don’t have to imagine what life at the top looks like anymore: Get real-life inspiration for how the most successful live life. Dive into our other ‘The Good Life’ profiles.
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