Sahar Hashemi
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Start Up Culture
What's love got to do with leadership?
How to behave like a start up when you are not a start up
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1-on-1 executive coaching
“Leap and the net will appear.”
- Sahar Hashemi
Sahar Hashemi OBE doesn’t just talk about change—she makes it happen. She transformed the UK from a nation of tea drinkers to coffee lovers when she co-founded Coffee Republic, the country’s first US-style coffee chain, and shifted consumer habits again with Skinny Candy, bringing sugar-free treats into the mainstream. Now, with Buy Women Built, she has built not just a brand, but a movement that is redefining the visibility and commercial power of female-founded businesses—turning a single tweet she saw during the pandemic into a movement of over 2,000 brands generating more than £2.5 billion in turnover.
Sahar believes the entrepreneurial spirit isn’t just for startups—it’s what drives momentum, innovation, and action. But in large organizations, that energy gets buried under layers of process, hesitation, and the false comfort of certainty. With a powerful mix of storytelling and real-world experience, she connects with audiences to reignite entrepreneurial energy and break through inertia—rekindling the deep connection to customers that fuels innovation and growth.
Start Up Mindset
The relentless pace of change is forcing big companies to innovate not only their products but also their culture.
That’s a challenge but also a huge opportunity:
What could be better than combining the agility and energy of a start up with the scale and talent of a big organization?
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I have seen firsthand how the start up magic can fade when a company grows into a big business. It happened to both companies I founded and I’ve seen it in the cultures of the 400 or so corporations I have worked with.
Many believe this shift away from agility, experimentation, curiosity, resourcefulness and resilience is inevitable — that start-up culture is something you grow out of. It’s not. Of course a big company can’t be run like a small kitchen table start-up. The sheer size and scale demand a certain amount of systems and controls. But it is possible to retain – or ignite — that startup magic. All it takes is removing the obstacles that stand in its way. That’s why I called my latest book, Start Up Forever. Acting like a start up isn’t a phase companies grow out of, but instead a culture you should fight hard to hold on to.. forever.
