This is  Between the spreadsheets, a series of conversations with inspirational couples who combine love and work to run a business together.

Episode 1 is an inspiring story of true resilience. Julianne Ponan was ready to give it all up when potential investors told her she’d never launch in a supermarket. She has often not been taken seriously at exhibitions as a young female founder. A year in to the business Julianne fell ill with pneumonia and it was her partner Matt who stepped in to help out, initially, temporarily. That soon changed with Matt leaving his teaching career and joining Julianne full time.

Talking to them now they love building the business together and can’t imagine doing it with anyone else. As an anaphylaxis sufferer Julianne knew she wanted to change the world for allergy sufferers. 7 years on this incredible Couplepreneur have created an Award winning business doing just that in building Creative Nature Superfoods, a Free From brand that makes snack bars, baking mixes, and superfoods that cater for the top 14 allergens. This is a raw, compelling and heartfelt story of their journey and how they have gone on to achieve a hugely successful crowd funding campaign. They also share with us some of what lies ahead.
www.creativenaturesuperfoods.co.uk

I’m Tricia Bacon and I’m the founder of Couplepreneurs, a growing global community of couples in love and in business. This is a growing economic segment and one that I believe is somewhat undiscovered, unknown and undervalued. As I set up my consulting business in 2015 helping companies to scale, I started to attract couple owned businesses through no intention and as I began to research the market more it became very clear that there are many thousands of Couplepreneurs in the UK, millions globally and this is definitely a thing. It’s happening in all sectors and across all ages. There are ridiculous myths that exist around being a Couplepreneur not least that they aren’t a viable investment opportunity.

 

Couples can be stronger together, they have each other’s backs and complementary skillsets that enable the business to thrive. And Couplepreneur businesses are being set up in a myriad of ways whether through a strategic plan, falling upon an idea, at a particular life stage and also, at times, as a result of trauma. Many themes are emerging. And as we live the 100 year life we are witnessing more couples exploring ways of working together. The time now feels right to shed light on these incredible people and what and how they do this. We also need to bust open the myths and find out what it’s really like to be a Couplepreneur.  

 

Each couple we meet will share their insights into just how they juggle work, life, love and everything in between. These are real, raw and inspiring stories of their journeys together.  

In this series we meet: The Cheeky Panda founders Julie Chen and Chris Forbes, Lara and Charlie Morgan who built and sold Pacific Direct, Julianne Ponan and Matt Ford who run Creative Nature Superfoods, Sxollie’s cofounders Laura Clacey and Karol Ostaszewski, Michaele Apostolides and Michelle French from Cama and Duncan and Kate Skipper who are scaling their global Creative Services Agency Skipper & Skipper.