Please note this transcript is generated by AI, apologies for any mistakes 

Pippa Goulden (00:43)
Lauren O'Donnell is the founder and CEO of Oatsu, the breakfast brand making it easy for busy people to enjoy a healthy, convenient start to their day with its award-winning range of overnight oats that I can confirm are absolutely delicious. Five years ago, Lauren launched Oatsu from her kitchen and has since secured national listings with Ocado Selfridges and Holland & Barrett while gaining endorsement from BBC Dragon's Stephen Bartlett.

A passionate advocate for storytelling-led growth, Lauren has built Oatsu largely through organic PR and founder visibility, using LinkedIn and video storytelling to attract press coverage, retail listings, investment and more. In 2023, Oatsu's crowdfund was oversubscribed to 250 % of its target, and this year the brand won a Channel 4 TV ad which aired through Enterprise Nation's Small Business Big Break competition.

Lauren has also been a member of my DIY PR membership and shares her journey to inspire other founders to harness authentic storytelling and PR as powerful tools for business growth.

Pippa Goulden (01:44)
So welcome Lauren to PR Made Simple, how are you?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (01:47)
Yeah, really, really good. Yeah, it's so nice to see you. Thanks so much for having me.

Pippa Goulden (01:52)
it's so

nice for you to be here. I am so excited to deep dive into this because you have had the most incredible ride, haven't you? I mean, we met really early on in your business journey. I think you started in 2020 and it was around then, 2020, 2021. And since then, I mean, if we look at what you've done, you've successfully crowdfunded, you've had endorsement from Stephen Bartlett, been stocked in Selfridges and a Cardo. You've recently won a competition to have an Oatsu TV ad made.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (02:20)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (02:21)
aired on Primetime channel 4. I mean so much has happened. Let's start from the beginning, tell us about the business, what inspired it and talk about your business journey a little bit because it's so interesting.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (02:33)
Yeah, thank you so much. It's a really good round up for everything that's happened. So I'm Lauren, the founder of Oatsu and our mission is to make it as easy as possible to enjoy a healthy and convenient breakfast on the go. And we do that through our overnight oats. So we have both a ready-to-eat range and a just-add-milk range, which is launching early next year. And we're the first brand in the UK to have both. The idea for Oatsu came about when I used to work in the city before Oatsu and

Every time I would go to the shop on the way to work, like a Tesco Express or Waitrose, I just couldn't find many healthy, convenient options. So I would find like a pastry or a piece of fruit or yogurts or like a Pret a Mon J breakfast, but I'd find that a little bit expensive and...

A lot of them were really sugary and just really didn't keep me full. And then I discovered overnight oats through Instagram initially and that really did change everything. I'd prep them the night before, though sometimes I'd leave them in the fridge, which is a bit annoying.

they just really did keep me full and energized and going throughout the whole day when I would bring them and have them at my desk in the morning. And a lot of our customers tell us that they're familiar with overnight oats, they've seen them on socials, but they just don't have the time or the energy to prep them every single evening. You have to spend a good 10 minutes and have everything in your store cupboard. So we just wanted to make it really easy when you are in a rush, on the move, on the go, stressful morning, chaotic morning, that you can just pick something up that will keep you going.

Pippa Goulden (03:56)
And here you are now.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (03:58)
Yeah,

that was like the kind of very like initial spark of the idea ⁓ and then it's been a really big journey since then. I was working, my most recent role was at HSBC in Canary Wharf and it was during that time that I just was really thinking about what do want to do with my life, with my career.

I was in this like massive corporate, felt a little bit soulless in a massive building and had this spark of the idea. I was looking at opportunities in the food space. I considered going into the food and drink world before leaving HSBC. Didn't find a role at the time and I just thought I could start making them in my kitchen and testing them out, making them myself. So

I left my rented flat and moved back home with my mum. Started making overnight oats in my kitchen and yeah, was just like sharing those early days, all my stories, like kind sharing the journey with many friends and family at the time.

and started selling them online and at markets. I was doing an entrepreneurship course in the evenings as well while I was at HSBC and those people that attended that course became my first customers. So it started really small scale, had like handwritten labels on at the start and then it was kind of a long journey from there which I can go into.

Pippa Goulden (05:06)
It's so amazing isn't it and so how has the business evolved then from those early days in your mum's kitchen to now being featured in Channel 4 adverts and being stocked in a cardo?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (05:18)
Yeah, it really feels surreal, though it's taken a really long time. I think I quite naively thought that I would find a manufacturer because I knew I'd have to after making it myself. I thought that that step would be fairly straightforward and quick, which it definitely wasn't. And then I thought that I would be stocked in supermarkets within six months and then quite quickly learned that that just takes a lot, longer than that. So I think the biggest challenge and challenge, but also the most time consuming process was finding the right manufacturing

partner so we I produced myself with a small team for a good like two three years and we started applying some

retailers then like Jiffy the rapid grocer and we became their best-selling breakfast they delivered around London and Then we had the opportunity to supply Holland and Barrett, which is our first nationwide listing It was 650 stores across the UK and then I Started working with a smaller manufacturer It was really challenging to get the shelf life that we needed when we started it was about seven days I knew we'd have to get it kind of beyond 10-15 days to get into retail and it was really tricky so

We worked with that manufacturer, we had a slightly adapted, like a longer shelf life, they tasted really fantastic, but I quickly learned that it was gonna be important for us to push the shelf life even further, up to 30 days or beyond. And then I ended up going on a very long search for another 12, 18 months. And we've now partnered with a really great manufacturer who has helped us get the shelf life up to 65 days, is, yeah, honestly,

my wildest dreams, we don't need to use any preservatives in that process and

kind of, yeah, that's been a journey. And then since we've been able to share that we've got this kind of industry-leading shelf life, a lot of doors have opened and we've been able to get our products into. Now we're in Ocado, which we launched in, in July, which is going really, really well. And Selfridges, we're with a distributor called CLF. We're in our first export listing So yeah, I think that was like kind of the biggest unlock.

Pippa Goulden (07:10)
It's amazing and it just shows, doesn't it? Like that tenacity that you've had to keep building and keep going, even when, you know, whatever issue you're facing, whether it's a manufacturing issue or you're with the wrong person, rather than go, that's it, I'm done. You have kept going. And all credit to you for doing that because that's why you're still here and that's why you're getting these amazing opportunities for the business.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (07:17)
Yeah.

Yeah, thank you, Pippa. You have to kind of have the right mindset and keep reminding yourself of what your goal is, ultimately, and where you want to get to. But yeah, I'm not going to lie, it's definitely been really tricky, ups and downs, like when something's not working, you think it's going to be the end of the road. But you can see if other people have done it, then it's possible for you too. You've just got to keep kind of going step by step.

Pippa Goulden (07:54)
Yeah, the small business roller coaster, it's a ride, isn't it?

so this is a PR podcast, so I want to dive a bit deeper into PR and how you've used it because from the beginning of, you know, when we first met, I remember thinking, she is so good at this, you're so good at doing your own PR. I think sometimes without realizing that you're doing it, so I really want to kind of dig into that a little.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (08:15)
Mm.

Pippa Goulden (08:16)
bit more. What has been your experience of PR so far and where and how do you think it works for you best?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (08:23)
Yeah, so I just see it as like sharing our story and sharing my journey and bringing people along that ride because I've really enjoyed watching other founders, particularly in my early days, seeing behind the scenes, all the challenges, like everything that goes on in what's involved in building a business. I've done a few different things. So as I mentioned, like sharing our journey on our stories, on our Instagram.

Pippa Goulden (08:38)
Yeah.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (08:45)
looking out for any PR opportunities with journalists, if there's any call-outs, and I know you share that and there's lots places that you can find where people are looking for someone to speak on a certain topic that might align with your industry and what you're doing. And then I'd say applying for awards.

Where it's relevant can definitely help But they can be quite time consuming to apply for, so I just make sure that it aligns with your strategy. And just generally, think the platform that's been most impactful for Oatsu, my personal brand has definitely been LinkedIn. I think the organic reach that you can get on there is still unparalleled and it just helps spread whatever you're sharing, not only with the people that you're connected with, but all of

connections as well. So any achievement, win, challenge that we've overcome, any news really, I just try and share it all there and that's been really great for us.

Pippa Goulden (09:35)
Good for opening

doors as well, think, for you, hasn't it?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (09:38)
Yes,

yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. So we've had like the listing that I mentioned, Jiffy, the rapid grocer, the buyer reached out through LinkedIn. I've connected with other different retail buyers through that. When we shared about our crowdfunding campaign, we had some retail buyers like comment on there saying, oh, this looks interesting. And then the conversation started from there. Investors came across us. Some of our biggest investors in our crowdfunding investment race came through seeing our posts on LinkedIn that we shared about that too. So yeah, definitely.

Pippa Goulden (10:04)
I think what you're really good at doing is building your profile and you've done really well as like you're saying, like talking about your founder story and getting known for what you do. So you're often asked to speak on stages and that kind of thing. Was that a deliberate thing or did you start doing a little bit here and there and realize that that was working to connect you to the right people in the right places?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (10:25)
my idea was just to share what we were doing and I was inspired by so many other founders doing the same and it really was just the opportunities came about quite organically through doing that and I think that can be the same for anyone. If you're sharing what you're doing, you're doing great things and achieving great things.

you will get noticed if you're interested in doing things like talks and panels and speaking, which I really, really enjoyed the opportunity to share what I've learned on this journey with other founders and if I can help in any way, I really love that. So yeah, it's kind of been a byproduct of that. But yeah, I would just say share what you're doing. ⁓ Really, there are so many opportunities in so many different areas that will benefit you, your business that will come about from that, as well as so many connections with founders that I probably wouldn't have had otherwise.

Pippa Goulden (11:06)
Yeah, and I think what's really interesting about it is that that

approach of going out there and building your profile in other places then gives you really interesting content for your socials doesn't it because it's not just you saying we've got a product we've got a product we've got a product it's a you talking about your business journey and it's elevating your profile it's making people say oh she's been asked to speak on that stage so she must have something interesting to talk about so it does a really great piece for your kind of credibility and authority I think as well doesn't it.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (11:17)
Yeah.

No.

It does.

Yeah, definitely. I think that like third party endorsement through speaking at prestigious event or having a publication, speak about you, it just adds so much credibility, trust, you know, to what you're doing. And then obviously mixing that in with things that you're doing. if I am even like sampling at Selfridges or at an Accardo event or speaking on a panel or whatever.

More recently I've brought in a videographer to film that and then we'll edit it into a little reel afterwards and just take people behind the scenes of that event or sampling session and just share what you're doing and I think it benefits, it can inspire other people who are on the same journey. It's great for the retailer or wherever it is that you're at. It will encourage customers to come into their store and maybe help you connect with more people. Yeah, so many benefits.

Pippa Goulden (12:25)
Yeah, so many. And I think also it's really inspiring for other product business owners because often I think, you know, it's when you're a service business, you actually really do have to step out there because you're, you know, you're talking about your services. But I think often product businesses feel like they shouldn't outshine their products in a way, or maybe they use their products to hide behind. So what's your experience there of getting the balance between

the founder, the brand and then the product as well. Because obviously, your products are amazing, they are a regular in our fridge. What do you find there? How do you get the balance right?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (13:00)
Yeah, like you said, I think it really is important to get that balance. But I would say it's even more important to put yourself forward and be the face of the brand because people buy from people, people that they know, like and trust. And if they're bought into and following your journey and they're finding it really exciting to see where you're popping up and where you're going and what you're doing as a person, then when they next see it in store, they'll feel that kind of warm, fuzzy feeling towards your brand and probably pick it up and want to try it.

I think there can be and I see some brands pages, it's just full of product shots, just product shots, somewhere like Instagram.

you wanna follow someone's story and someone's journey. And I definitely find watching reels a lot more exciting than just seeing a plain product shot. So definitely mix it up. And I'd say, there are great brands like Midday Squares, they're based in Canada, Perfect Head, like so many brands where the founders have put themselves like at the forefront. And I know that I personally have been really brought into their journeys and what they're up to. So yeah, put yourself out there.

Pippa Goulden (14:00)
Yeah,

and I think that's a really good example of, big brands who are scaling like yourself can still have a person behind them. It doesn't have to just be small artisan brands, does it, at all? And I think that's what you do really well. And you've spoken on stages and had alignment with like meta and brands that were huge.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (14:10)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (14:21)
other brands from a collaboration perspective before you got to that point so you've had I would say from an outsider's perspective you've aimed high with your collaborations and the things that you've been doing from the beginning it's not like you've waited for those till you're ready for those opportunities you've gone out and got them for yourself.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (14:25)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. The Metta campaign opportunity, it came about just, got an email in my inbox, I thought it was spam, but they were like, do you want to be part of this Metta campaign? I'm really, really glad I opened it. And again, I think that opportunity came about through just being active on socials. It was an opportunity to film a commercial with Metta in a massive studio with a massive team a few years back, and that was shared across their socials. It was all about finding.

customers who love what you do and using meta ads so we were like a kind of spokesperson on the day but yeah the whole set was built around Oatsu it was absolutely incredible Stephen Bartlett was part of the campaign and he shouted us out on his socials as a part of that so yeah it was was insane and then with the channel 4 TV ads competition

run by Enterprise Nation recently. Again, when we were pitching for that, so there were 2000 applicants, we were one of three winners in the end, but there was a pitch day with about 10 businesses. We really wanted to bring to life what the ad could look like, but also I think coming across well during the pitch and the presentation was really key. And so I think the more of this kind of thing that you do, the more ready you'll be when that amazing opportunity comes up and you're ready to share why you are your best place to win it.

Pippa Goulden (15:50)
Yeah and I think

it shows that you know how to amplify all of this stuff which to the people behind these things that's really attractive because they know that you're going to want to use it across your socials and through your brand building and all of that kind of stuff and that is appealing in itself isn't it you're not just winning an ad you're seeing it as how you can then

it through your whole strategy.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (16:10)
Yeah,

yeah, 100%. It was really important. They did want to know how we would build the whole marketing campaign out of it. What would we do to kind of share and celebrate? We just decided to hold our first in-person event as a celebration evening, which I'm really excited about. So that's taking it kind of from the digital world into the in-person world for all of our community, our investors, crowd-funded investors, customers. So yeah, I'm really excited about that. And they were really pleased to hear that we were going to be doing that as well. So yeah, 100%.

Pippa Goulden (16:37)
Yeah, I love

the way that you layer it all together and you don't just have things sitting in silos. And I think that's what works really well. your, PR feeds into your marketing, which feeds into your brand building, which feeds into your profile building. So it all wraps itself together really nicely. And that, from my experience, working with big brands is how you get the most bang for your buck from all the activity you're doing. And it makes it easier in a way because you're not having to look at...

things in different siloed parts, you've got that continuity. Do you find that with your activity and when you're kind of planning what you're doing?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (17:11)
Yeah, I think so. think so. As I said, like we'll do our own content wherever we can. And then if we've got a piece of press where it's like a third party endorsement, we'll also share that and throw that into the mix. And I also did want to mention that...

you are always going to be the best spokesperson for whatever's happening in your business, the cheapest, most affordable spokesperson as well. So yeah, just go for it. And I've also seen a lot more of a rise of employee generated content as well. So definitely encourage your team to share what they're doing, encourage them to build their own personal brands.

that will only kind of help to amplify what your brand is doing. So it's not just you as a founder, but you could have, you know, five, 10 people sharing about these amazing achievements in your business as well. So I think we're to be seeing more of that in the future.

Pippa Goulden (17:55)
Yeah,

absolutely. you're you're a community, aren't you, with your workforce and it's looking at how you can leverage each other's strengths for the greater good. And can we talk about your crowdfunding campaign as well? So when was that?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (17:59)
percent.

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, so that was in 2023, so two years ago. yeah. Yes, we achieved, so we raised 250 % of our initial target on the crowdfunding campaign. So definitely, yes, surpassed our expectations.

Pippa Goulden (18:10)
and it was very successful.

So can you talk us through that? Why do you think it was so successful?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (18:25)
Yeah, so it was our first fundraise. It was the first time I was going into this, learning it all kind of on the fly for the very first time. But I knew that we needed to raise a certain amount before we came to the public crowdfunding platform. So did that more behind closed doors, had one-to-one conversations with direct investors, raised an amount and then brought that to the platform. So we raised with Cedars, who's now called Republic, CrowdCube being another large one. So we were discussing with both.

We'll see this in the end and we went live with the campaign. One tip is we set our target.

a little bit above what we'd already raised. But yeah, a tip is that you do have to come to the platform with something like already committed so that you can hit your target like relatively early on into the campaign ideally, and then you just kind of see where it goes from there. So as I said, we reached 250 % of our initial target, which definitely surpassed our expectations. But I made sure to plan that it was about weeks that we were live in the end. we had, I think it's

normal to have an initial surge of interest in the beginning, a little bit of a quieter middle, so in those middle weeks make sure you've got things planned, you've got announcements.

you might have hit certain milestones in your campaign, like 100%, 150%. You've got two weeks to go, one week to go. Just make sure that you've got content. We filmed a lot of high quality video content initially, at the same time that we filmed our crowdfunding film, which is the main three minute video that you put on your page. We shot these announcement little segments and then we shared those throughout the campaign, which really, really helped keep momentum up.

and then just made sure that there was anything that was happening around that time, any bits of news, we were just really active on socials. And then at the end, you will see probably the biggest spike of interest and investment. So it's in those last few days. I think naturally everyone tends to wait, you know, during a campaign, you wait to see how it goes, if it's going well, you put your money in then. So we just saw like a big uplift at the end.

So again, just being prepared if you need to fit in a shoot day in the middle of your campaign to get some content for the end, it's going to be a busy time. But I'd say the biggest, the two biggest things were filming high quality video content, having it planned out and then sharing it across particularly LinkedIn because everyone there tends to be more interested in business and investing and startups and

the crowdfunding campaign, were people who regularly look at Cedars, who invested, that's great. But there were lots of people from LinkedIn who came from that platform, who I didn't know before. Two of our biggest investors in that campaign came just from a founder who I know liked our LinkedIn post. They were an investor in them, so they saw it, they got in touch. yeah, there really is so much power in LinkedIn, sharing what you're doing, especially on a public campaign like that.

Pippa Goulden (20:59)
Yeah, that's

amazing. And I remember seeing your investment deck that you'd put together. And I remember thinking all that PR that she's got in there, it was really powerful, wasn't it? Because it's not just you saying, invest in our business, we're great. You've got all that third party endorsement and other people. That credibility piece is so important, isn't it? When it comes to investment

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (21:19)
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, so we were able to share that we were part of that meta campaign in our recent fundraising deck. We've mentioned that we've been in Forbes. That came off the back of the Channel 4 ad when the grocer is a really, really important one for us being in the food and drink world. So look out for what's the most important trade press that you can get.

We've been in the grocer a couple of times, like when we launched in the Cardo, when we did our last crowd fund and we hit our 250 % target, when we've had our Channel 4 ad win. So that's been important. Certain investors who are really active in food and drink have mentioned, it's great to see you in the grocer. I know a lot of buyers read that. And so, yeah, I would look at whatever industry you're in, like what's the kind of key one. I wouldn't go after like every single trade magazine because there were just so, so many out there. But for food and drink, definitely the grocer.

Pippa Goulden (22:03)
Yeah, I think it's about being strategic, isn't it? And it's knowing what's connecting you to your target audience or audiences. In your case, you've got the consumer audience and the buyers and the retail audience as well, haven't you? So it's knowing when and how to communicate.

your messages and the stories that you've got within the business. And I think what you're so great at at Oatsu is creating those stories and putting yourself out there and doing things that will create that traction for you. So you're constantly telling stories, you're constantly doing innovative things and, doing things that are slightly different to a food and drink brand because you're trying things and you're putting yourself forward for things and they're paying off.

It's such an inspiration for people when, you know, often we're hiding behind things and we're thinking, no one's going to want to hear about me. And actually you, from an outsider's perspective, seem to just go for things. And I'm sure there's lots of things that you don't get, but the things that do get, my God, they're amazing.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (22:58)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. think, as I said, I would just pick a few ⁓ strategic things that are gonna have the biggest impact. Something like the chance to win a TV ad. Obviously that's absolutely incredible to get your brand in front of millions of eyes and in homes across the UK. just be strategic, put yourself forward, keep doing it, because the more you practice, the more you'll get used to sharing, writing. I'd also say something that I've learned

particularly in the last year as there's been more going on in the business is

having a good network of people who can help you film this stuff and come with you. So whether that's a videographer or social media manager who can capture content on their phone, who in your team can come with you to things? Because in the early days it would just be like, you know, I'd take a picture if I was doing a talk or something like that. Obviously there might be event photography on the day organized by the organizer. But if you can also bring your own someone with you in the team who can capture it, it just makes all the difference.

tell it from behind the scenes on the way in, coming into the building, how you felt doing it afterwards. We hired a videographer to specifically film a behind the scenes video of our Channel 4 TV ad.

on location, so we brought them on set and he was in and amongst all of the amazing stuff that was being set up and happening throughout the day with the crew and the team. And then we made an amazing high quality video out of that, which has been so nice to be able to share. And the engagement that we've got on that video has been as much as us sharing the ad itself.

Pippa Goulden (24:21)
Yeah, because the ad is reaching the people who are watching it specifically at when they're watching Gogglebox or whatever, but all of the stuff that you're doing around it.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (24:27)
Yeah.

Pippa Goulden (24:29)
telling the story of that ad and that reaches so many more people in other ways as well you know it's it's reminded me to buy my Oat Sue in my Ocado shop

you are, doing all of the things, you're layering in. You're not just saying, we're on the telly, so we'll leave it at that. You're then layering in all the bits and that just builds this really great story it's helping you be discovered by other people, but it's also bringing.

your fans of the brand back into your world and reminding them why they're there in the first place, it's brilliant.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (25:00)
Yeah, 100%, like if you get an amazing opportunity, I know it takes time, but just try and plan out like what all the different things that you can do. Can you share this in third party press, like across all your platforms? Can you tell the behind the scenes story of how it was filming it or doing it? What's the aftermath been? What's the effect been on your business? Just like, yeah, just think of it holistically.

Pippa Goulden (25:21)
Yeah,

I love that, it's so great. And so what would you say to somebody who's hearing all these amazing things that you've done and wants to start doing PR for their business but maybe hasn't got to it yet or it's fallen by the wayside? Like what would be your advice?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (25:33)
Yeah, I think there's just so, so, so much that you can do yourself and I would encourage you to just put yourself out there. Initially, you might not have a team around you to support you, but you can share your story on your stories. You can share why you started the business, what is the idea, what problem are you solving, who are you helping. You know, all these platforms are completely free, which is amazing.

So I would say just like do what you can do initially, look out for press call outs that are relevant for your industry, share what you're doing on your website, on your socials, look at events that you can network at. I did that in our earliest days. I went to Bread and Jam. I absolutely love their events and their conferences, connecting with other founders.

make yourself known to the event organizers and then you may be asked to share your journey as well on stage at those same conferences. So yeah, I would just say put yourself out there, look out for opportunities and make sure you're active on LinkedIn if you're not using it. I think I saw a stat that only like 1 % of LinkedIn users share content on there. So it's much more of a passive platform at the moment and that's probably why the organic reach is so great. So definitely use it to your advantage.

Pippa Goulden (26:40)
Yeah,

I love that. And what about the mindset stuff that goes behind that? How do you pick yourself up from a knockback or make yourself do it? Because sometimes that's the thing, isn't it? I know it gets to the bottom of the to do list because it's not like an urgent manufacturing issue. how do you make yourself keep doing this? do you have any tips on that?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (26:59)
So it definitely can be tricky, like 100 % relate to that. I would love to share like even more of what we're doing. It's just about finding the time it

I think it's just all about planning and making sure you've got support in your team if you need it. And if it is just you working for yourself, then just like putting it in your calendar and making it non-negotiable that I'm going to spend like that half an hour or that hour to prepare

Pippa Goulden (27:19)
and then also just doing the do isn't it sometimes it's you know it's stop the time that you're spending overthinking something that you might whether you're you know should I should I apply for this competition or not like sometimes you've just got to get on and and and do it haven't you.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (27:21)
Yeah.

Yeah.

100 %

100 % especially if you're a solo founder

or if you've got a co-founder and you're a small team, you've really got to just go for these opportunities because it's such a crowded space and there's just so much happening, but these things can really help step change your business and your personal brand. So you've just got to go for it and you apply to lots of different things and I'm sure you'll get one of them. It's just really sometimes like a numbers game. So just really just go for it ⁓ and you're the best person to do that.

Pippa Goulden (27:58)
Yeah. Have you felt,

I talk about kind of like the momentum build that, you know, this kind of work does for you in terms of at the beginning it feels really hard and like you're kind of sending pitches and they're not getting, you're not getting the replies, but then you start getting things in and then you kind of see the snowball.

rolling down the hill and the momentum keeps building and building and building and then you start getting people coming to you and saying would you like to do this or would you speak at this event? you seen that kind of step change from being the one that's doing the pitching all the time to actually then the one that people are asking to do things for you?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (28:33)
Yeah, definitely, definitely. I was applying to more things in our earlier days.

just wanted to have some news to share. I remember when we got our overnight oats when we had the handwritten labels that were featured on a vegan event slash website called Veevolution and that was the first piece of press and I was just like absolutely elated and over the moon. But I think that as you become more visible online and your business has more success you might be stocked in more places. That's a natural place for people to discover you. So yeah, opportunities will start coming to you. So yeah, you just got to kind of make that first step and it will definitely become easier every time.

Pippa Goulden (29:02)
Yeah. Yeah. And I love that. love, I can see

that you're experiencing that from everything that you do share. can see that, you know, those opportunities are yours now. And that's, that's so exciting. And you are, you're raising investment now. Tell us a bit about that.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (29:16)
Thank you.

Yeah, yeah. this year we've just been totally focused on getting our new chilled overnight oat range with that longer shelf life that we've now got up to 65 days without using any preservatives live and out in stores. So we've launched that range into Ocado, Selfridges, and now we are just focused on growing that chilled range and really rolling it out nationally. So we're in conversations with lots of supermarkets, which I'm really, really excited about. Just really want to become the go-to overnight oat brand.

We've also got our Just Add Milk range that's coming out early next year. that's a really exciting, like a cereal box of overnight oats and you simply soak it in milk for 15 minutes or overnight and you can have it at the office or at home. Customers mentioned they wanted something in their store cupboard that they could keep and make whenever was convenient for them. our focus is just like launching.

launching the ambient Just Add Milk range, growing our chilled range, we're working on some new flavours excitingly. So this raise is really to support that national rollout and we are in the middle of raising now from direct investors, so we're going to be doing a first close soon of those who are interested and then we will...

we're thinking about. We might do a crowdfund again, it obviously went so well for us last time. So yeah, we'll see how that goes over the next couple of months, but yeah, we could have that coming.

Pippa Goulden (30:36)
exciting

and so what does 2026 look like for you? What's what's round the corner for Oatsey?

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (30:41)
So I guess right now we're like right in middle of this kind of TV ad campaign and that's our biggest focus and then our in-person event at the end of the month. And then kind of January, February is when we're to be launching our new Just Like Milk range. So I'm really, really excited about that. Then at the same time, I'm going over to our factory and we're working on this new product development in terms of extending our chilled range and our ready to eat range with some really exciting new flavors and developments. A lot of customers have said they'd love.

more protein in the pots, so we've got five grams at the moment, so we're seeing, you know, can we get that a little bit higher? So yeah, lots of exciting stuff happening for us. Yeah, just really, really looking forward to everything that's to come really. I think the last 18 months have just been really focused on getting this new range ready and out in the market. Yeah, just excited to see where it goes.

Pippa Goulden (31:25)
well

my children will be very happy. I have to hide my pot at the back of the fridge where they can't see so that they don't just devour them when they get home from school or in the mornings, whatever it is. So yeah, they'll be very thrilled to know that there's more flavours for them to try big fans in our house.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (31:38)
to hear. Amazing.

Yeah, that's so, lovely.

Pippa Goulden (31:43)
brilliant

and thank you so much for coming on PR Made Simple. I think it's just so interesting to, look at where you've come from 2020 to here and I am excited for your future as well because it is lots going on and it's very exciting so congratulations to you.

Lauren O'Donnell - Oatsu (31:58)
Thanks so much Pippa. I've so appreciated your support on our journey and I appreciate all of the amazing PR advice that you've shared throughout and it's definitely been such a great support and help for us. Thank you for having me on, it's been lovely to catch up.

Pippa Goulden (32:12)
⁓ you too, see you soon!

Pippa Goulden (32:15)
Well, if that hasn't inspired you to start doing PR for your business, then I really don't know what will because Lauren has really nailed it when it comes to building her personal profile, getting out there, using PR to really leverage all the amazing opportunities that come her way. Make sure you are following Lauren on LinkedIn, Lauren O'Donnell. I'll put all of the links in the show notes. And if you are ready to crack on with your PR and you are listening to this on the week of release of the podcast episode,

then you will be able to get a £1 for 14 day trial in my DIY PR membership, which is where Lauren learnt all of her PR knowledge and you can come in, give it a go for yourself, see if it's for you. That is running until Friday, so be quick Friday the 21st. If not, you can use the code POD50 to get 50 % off your first month in my DIY PR membership and I also have my one-to-one and different ways of working with me too, so find out more.

the pr set.com and you can also find me I am Pippa Gordon on LinkedIn and Pippa the PR set on Instagram. Come find me, slide into my DMs, I'd love to know what you're doing with your PR, what you're going to be doing to help your business grow and thrive and I will see you again very soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.