Nick Jones: How I Founded Soho House; Brand Marketing Tips; Hiring Advice | 20VC #898
Harry Stebbings (host), Nick Jones (guest)
In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Harry Stebbings and Nick Jones, Nick Jones: How I Founded Soho House; Brand Marketing Tips; Hiring Advice | 20VC #898 explores nick Jones on Soho House: Persistence, People, and Global Lifestyle Hospitality Nick Jones charts his journey from struggling, dyslexic restaurateur to founder of Soho House, emphasizing persistence, learning from early failure, and a deep love of hospitality. He explains how Café Boheme’s success came from reversing everything that hadn’t worked before and obsessing over atmosphere, flexibility, and customer choice.
Nick Jones on Soho House: Persistence, People, and Global Lifestyle Hospitality
Nick Jones charts his journey from struggling, dyslexic restaurateur to founder of Soho House, emphasizing persistence, learning from early failure, and a deep love of hospitality. He explains how Café Boheme’s success came from reversing everything that hadn’t worked before and obsessing over atmosphere, flexibility, and customer choice.
He rejects the word “brand,” framing Soho House instead as a ‘way of living’ and a global home-away-from-home for people with a creative soul, explaining how scale and exclusivity can coexist by adding value through more houses worldwide. Jones also discusses leadership evolution, building and motivating teams, hiring honestly, and creating a culture where people can admit mistakes safely.
Beyond business, he reflects on insecurity, dyslexia, and continuous learning, along with parenting, work-life balance, and the importance of kindness, decency, and hard work. Throughout, he underscores simplicity in storytelling, respect for the customer’s intelligence, and hospitality as a life-skill-rich career path.
Key Takeaways
Persistence matters more than early success.
Jones’ first restaurants didn’t work, but he treated them as vital training rather than failure, learning operations, cash management, and team motivation under pressure—experience he believes was more valuable than an immediate hit.
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Invert what isn’t working and design around how people really live.
Café Boheme succeeded by doing the opposite of his earlier concept—long opening hours, a ‘chameleon’ space, and no insistence on full meals—letting customers decide how to use the venue while prioritizing atmosphere.
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You can’t out-market bad product; the customer will always know.
Jones notes that Instagram may amplify buzz, but word of mouth and repeat behavior still decide success; consistency and genuine quality in experience beat superficial, photo-friendly gimmicks.
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Think of ‘brand’ as a lived experience, not a logo.
He dislikes the word ‘brand’ and instead views Soho House as a way of living and a home away from home, which guides decisions on design, membership, and expansion more than abstract branding theory.
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Scale and exclusivity can coexist by adding member value globally.
Members welcome more houses because each new city (Paris, Mexico City, future Africa/Asia locations) increases the utility of membership; the challenge is keeping standards and community while widening access.
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Keep storytelling and strategy radically simple.
Influenced by his dyslexia, Jones insists on simplifying everything—from design to financial understanding to fundraising narratives—arguing that complexity confuses teams, investors, and customers alike.
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Hire with honesty, promote from within, and normalize owning mistakes.
He admits hiring is imperfect and interviews are ‘a play act,’ so he emphasizes internal promotion, giving clear expectations about how hard the work is, and building a culture where leaders and staff can openly admit when they’re wrong.
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Notable Quotes
“I really did learn what it felt like running a business when it didn’t work.”
— Nick Jones
“The best way to have a successful restaurant, café, private member’s club is to try and make it good.”
— Nick Jones
“I don’t really like the word brand… I feel it really is a home away from home.”
— Nick Jones
“High performance to me is people with passion, who care… and if you get all those Ps sorted out, then the fourth P, which is profit, comes.”
— Nick Jones
“When you make a bad decision, just put your hand up, admit it… and let’s change track now.”
— Nick Jones
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can early-stage hospitality or lifestyle founders practically apply Jones’ idea of making a space ‘chameleon-like’ while staying financially disciplined?
Nick Jones charts his journey from struggling, dyslexic restaurateur to founder of Soho House, emphasizing persistence, learning from early failure, and a deep love of hospitality. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What specific operating practices does Soho House use to maintain quality and consistency as it scales to dozens of cities globally?
He rejects the word “brand,” framing Soho House instead as a ‘way of living’ and a global home-away-from-home for people with a creative soul, explaining how scale and exclusivity can coexist by adding value through more houses worldwide. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How could the ‘Cities Without Houses’ membership model be adapted to other industries looking to test global demand before heavy fixed investment?
Beyond business, he reflects on insecurity, dyslexia, and continuous learning, along with parenting, work-life balance, and the importance of kindness, decency, and hard work. ...
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In what concrete ways can leaders create more psychological safety so that admitting mistakes actually becomes career-enhancing rather than risky?
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Given the Instagram-driven experience economy, how should a modern hospitality brand balance photogenic design with operational realities and long-term member satisfaction?
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Transcript Preview
(instrumental music plays) Three, two, one, zero. You have now arrived at your destination. Nick, this is such a joy to do. As I said, I've been a, a long-term frequenter, admirer of many of your establishments for many years. So thank you so much for joining me today, Nick.
Well, I'm, I'm really honored that you asked me on, Harry. Um, I'm touched.
Not at all, I've been really looking forward... I've been really looking forward to this one. So, I wanna start, um, with a little bit (laughs) of an interesting one, which is, you know, how did you make the decision to go into catering? I read that you said it was a shit job at the time when you went in, (laughs) delicately put.
(laughs)
So, how and why did you make that decision? And then also, what was that first big break for you?
Okay. Well, the reason why I went into catering was twofold. A, um, my options were small because my exam results were nonexistent, and I was very dyslexic. So, all those jobs in the city or in the media were way beyond my, um, qualifications allowed me. So... But also catering. There's... You're, you're thinking 45 years ago here, Harry. I know you, you're... I, I, I'm 58 now. And, uh, it was a time where, certainly in the UK, th- I felt that there was a huge opportunity, um, in, in, in people being able to eat, drink, and sleep in a slightly different way than what they were able to do at that precise time. And I also always enjoyed, you know, when my parents had people round. I loved seeing a room of people, full of people having a really good time. So, you know, there was sort of three reasons why I did it.
Can I ask you a weird one? And I told you we'd go off-topic, but-
(laughs)
... did you, did you always know that you'd be successful? I find often there's this innate belief that you will make it. Did you have this?
No, I didn't.
(laughs)
And (laughs) , and, you know, because I was at school, and, and, and when you're dyslexic, you, you're, you're, you're the bottom of everything. So, you, you, you, you don't expect success. And I wasn't particularly... I wasn't a... I wasn't good at sport. I wasn't very good at art. Um, yeah, I was a sort of below average at everything. So, I didn't think success was, was there for me to grab. Um, and, and i- it didn't really worry me. I, I, and I still think even now, you know, I, I do it because I love it. And I'm lucky to love the job I do. And I... People perceive me, you know, that I've done well, but I don't perceive that in myself.
Can I ask, when did it become very obvious that it was working? When was the first signs that, "Ah, we really have something here, and this is a runner"?
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