How I Built a Multi‑Million Pound 3D Printing Business in My 20s (The Brutal Truth)

Описание: What does it really take to build a multi–million pound manufacturing business from your mum’s garage—and why might it break you in the process?

In this PodFast episode, Mitchell Barnes, founder of RYSE 3D, gets brutally honest about survival mindset, leadership guilt, losing friends and relationships, and why most people should not be entrepreneurs. At just 29, Mitchell has built a 3D printing company supplying automotive and F1, won a King’s Award for Innovation, and been named West Midlands Leader of the Year 2025.

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or 1 Mill Street member trying to build something real in the Midlands, this one will hit you in the gut.

Timestamps:

0:38 – Erasing the line between vision and reality as a founder

1:28 – How his childhood turned into a survival drive

2:09 – Why he lives in “survival mode” and how it sharpens decisions

2:51 – The real operational secret to innovation

3:33 – Hardest part of managing people: business vs person, pandering, and consequences

4:13 – Learning “hire slow, fire fast” the hard way + redundancy at 23/24

5:03 – What it feels like to carry people’s livelihoods at 28

6:18 – How he copes: putting trauma and stress “in a box” to keep moving

7:03 – The personal cost: losing friends, straining relationships, losing yourself

8:25 – Why not everyone should be an entrepreneur (and how to know if you are)

9:15 – Inside 10 Downing Street: the voice in his head and why he felt like a cow in a steakhouse

11:06 – One message to the world: “Don’t give up—even when it’s over”

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