Podcast Summary: Daring Creativity. Daring Forever.
Episode: "Dare to put yourself in luck's path"
Host: Radim Malinic
Guest: Barney Mauleverer
Date: September 6, 2025
Overview
In this episode, Radim Malinic sits down with serial food entrepreneur Barney Mauleverer. Together, they unpack the power of "putting yourself in luck's path"—taking calculated risks, embracing uncertainty, and letting curiosity drive your path. Barney shares a candid, often funny account of his unorthodox journey: from chaotic jobs in his twenties, building FMCG businesses, to founding and later selling Fuel 10K. Now, he's championing open collaboration and innovation in the food industry with his “Future of Food” initiative. Along the way, Barney offers insights on finding joy in one's work, the role of luck, the value of being a generalist, and why entrepreneurs—not buyers or investors—are the true industry rockstars.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Embracing Chaos, Curiosity, and "Back Strategizing"
- Non-linear career path: Barney describes how a series of “random,” often unrelated jobs—from hospital porter to complaints hotline to bartender—built the foundation for his future success (05:14–08:31).
“There was very little strategy, there was a lot of searching, but there were certain moments... that got me into the seat where I ended up... it was about luck and trying to put myself in the path of luck.” (05:14, Barney)
- Advice to young creatives: Try different things, learn what you love and don’t love, and recognize your formative experiences as building blocks, even if they seem chaotic at the time.
“Just go and try lots of different things... because the rest of your life is ahead and it’s okay to take a little bit of time to figure it out.” (08:31, Barney)
2. Key Lessons from Innocent Drinks
- Joining a Rocket Ship: Barney was employee #7 at Innocent Drinks, learning on the job from visionary founders and applying an intensely hands-on approach (14:16–19:35).
“My job title was fruit nut, and I was given a cow van... told to go and sell innocent smoothies to anyone that might wear a kilt.” (14:16, Barney)
- Importance of understanding people: The founders knew how to bring out the best in their team, treating Innocent as both a business and an informal incubator for entrepreneurial talent (19:35–20:58).
- The power of being a generalist: Early Innocent teams were filled with generalists—people interested in many fields—serving as invaluable “connectors” who could drive forward new ideas.
3. The Generalist vs. Specialist Debate
- Barney champions the undervalued skillset of the generalist: people who connect dots across disciplines and see opportunity in chaos (21:31–23:29).
“I recognized that I was a generalist very late in life and I wish someone had said to me much earlier in life, do you know what? It’s okay. In fact, it’s a superpower if you know how to use it.” (22:13, Barney)
4. Building and Losing: From Fresh Marketing to Fuel 10K
-
Learning from failures: Multiple failed product launches (popcorn, coconut water, yogurt snacks) became stepping stones (29:47–34:33).
“It was expensive and hard and emotional... not to be put off, we then tried a whole iteration of other things.” (29:47, Barney)
-
Fuel 10K origin story (see notable moment below for full details).
5. Creating Luck and Listening to the Market
- Selling before you build: Barney describes “reverse entrepreneurship”—pre-selling an idea to a supermarket buyer before the product or brand existed (37:30–41:10).
“If a supermarket said yes, you could work extremely quickly to then create the product and packaging for it all to be put together.” (35:00, Barney)
- Empathy as a sales tool: Success comes from solving the buyer’s real problem, not pushing your own agenda.
“So few founders really think about the alternative perspective... what’s going through the buyer’s head right now?” (38:12, Barney)
6. Collaboration and Open Knowledge in Industry
- Rethinking competition: Barney highlights how too many businesses treat knowledge as something to be hoarded or sold, arguing for open-source sharing to drive collective progress (51:56–54:02).
“My view is it should be open source now... there’s way too much of this management consultancy thing where it’s: I’ve got this nugget of information and I’m going to sell it... I want to have a go at blowing up some of those hanger-ons as it were.” (53:23, Barney)
7. Future of Food: A New Platform for Food Entrepreneurs
- Supporting the true risk takers: Now, Barney is uniting founders, innovators, and industry leaders to solve tomorrow’s food challenges together.
“...investors, buyers, journalists, they are all seen as the gods in the industry... But actually it’s the entrepreneurs that we should be crediting for taking the ballsy risks and the emotional strain it takes...” (54:38, Barney)
- Highlights from the Future of Food event: Collaboration, cross-disciplinary invention, and breaking down silos.
“All agree. Let’s... say that we’re never going to buy cardboard for our own label breakfast from these guys... and then they would have buying power together.” (54:38, Barney)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
The Origin of Fuel 10K (00:37, 34:33–37:30)
“He said, well, look, if you think you’ve got something, book a meeting, then come up and show me... I left the trade show then and there and got the Yellow Pages out. Granola manufacturers in Europe, anywhere, any manufacturer, and found four manufacturers... and during the meeting he ate the whole pack pretty much. And he said, okay, that’s it, we’ll go for that. He literally said, I’m going to give you 600 stores and you’ve got to be ready in 16 weeks. Oh, by the way, what’s the brand? And it was... that is how Fuel 10K ended up being born.” (00:37 & 35:00–36:20, Barney)
On Adaptability and Resilience
“You gotta be a bit careful that you're not flogging a dead horse... but I just knew we had something and it was worth just going that one more time, just one more time.” (45:08, Barney)
Empathy in Entrepreneurship
“The sale happens when you’re listening... You don’t know my pain points. You don’t know what I need. I don’t need a prettier packaging...” (39:52–41:10, Radim re: Barney's approach)
On Team and Shared Success
“Literally without the people and the engaged people around me, none of it would have happened.” (46:40, Barney)
Future of Food: Why It Matters
“There are many common issues founders and management teams are going through... there is no real sort of safe zone... for them to share each other’s pain.” (54:38, Barney)
The Value of Opportunity & Luck
“Let’s continue to be lucky. But to be lucky you have to put yourself in the path of luck and that might be quite a wiggly journey.” (61:26, Barney)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Early career chaos and “back strategizing”: 05:14–08:31
- Joining Innocent Drinks, generalism, and learning on the job: 14:16–22:13
- Transition from Innocent to founding Fresh Marketing: 23:49–29:22
- Learning from product failures, experimentation: 29:47–34:33
- The birth of Fuel 10K—pre-selling, "putting yourself in luck’s path": 34:33–37:30
- Lessons on empathy, listening, buyer-centric innovation: 38:12–41:10
- Branding failures, rapid iteration at Fuel 10K: 41:10–44:27
- Handling rejection, resilience: 45:08–46:20
- Team building, importance of people: 46:40–50:45
- Future of Food—purpose and insights: 50:45–54:38
- Open knowledge, collaboration in the industry: 51:56–54:02
- Abundance, challenges in food industry, opportunity: 58:40–60:39
- Final words on creating your own luck: 61:26
Final Reflection
This episode is an energizing, brutally honest look at the realities of building something from nothing in a chaotic world. Barney Mauleverer demonstrates that daring creativity often means acting before you’re ready, listening rather than assuming, and treating every misstep as a chapter, not a dead-end. His “luck” is the product of relentless curiosity, unapologetic generalism, strategic improvisation—and perhaps most importantly, putting himself where the action happens.
“To be lucky you have to put yourself in the path of luck and that might be quite a wiggly journey.” (61:26, Barney)
Those seeking permission to zig, to experiment, and to collaborate as they build creative careers or businesses will find plenty of fuel for their own journeys in this conversation.