Thirteen years after winning the 2011 series of the BBC’s The Apprentice, Tom Pellereau, perhaps more commonly known as ‘inventor Tom’, has told the How To Be A CEO podcast that he still has ambitions to one day become as well-known as James Dyson.
He set the record for the first candidate to win Lord Alan Sugar’s £250 million investment, despite being on the losing side eight times throughout the process.
“In terms of what it taught me, I wasn’t strong enough in voicing my view” Tom said.
“I came out of the process really quite empowered, going ‘Tom, it seems like you can see things, but you need to get better at speaking up, communicating why, and getting people to come to you’, fundamentally I don’t think I was pushy enough for the process”.
Thirteen years later, Tom is continuing to make his mark on the world of beauty through his business Stylideas, which has made millions in revenue.
You’ve probably seen, heard of, or used his products before; Tom is best known for developing the first ever curved nail file, as well as the Stylpro makeup brush cleaner which launched in 2016.
“The big, big break came three or four years later when I found out about this problem to clean and dry make-up brushes.”
“I invented this idea which no one had done before to spin the make-up brush on its axis in a bowl, that opens the bristles up, the cleanser can get right in, and then as you lift it, it then spins it dry”
“It’s been a phenomenon, we’ve sold two million-plus units now globally, and he (Lord Sugar) was hugely helpful in helping to make sure I didn’t make too many mistakes on that.”
Since the launch of that product, Tom is now moving his business into the world of red-light skin care therapy, with a focus on making products more accessible.
To hear the full conversation with Tom, listen to this episode of the How To Be A CEO podcast, above, or alternatively find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream your podcasts.
