"The Climb" with Ben Dancer: Building One of the World's First Performance Sleepwear Brands

Ben Dancer is the founder of Zed Sleep, a new brand creating performance sleepwear designed to help people sleep better. This episode is part of “The Climb,” our series featuring founders in the earliest stages of building their brands.


Expect to hear about:

– From Harry’s to Founder Life: Why Ben left his role as Director of Brand at Harry’s after six years to start his first venture.

– Why Sleepwear: How opportunity in the sleepwear category and a lifelong interest in wellness inspired him to start Zed Sleep.

– Technical Apparel: How Ben's partnering with fabric mills in Austria and sleep scientists to create temperature-regulating and ultra-soft garments that improve sleep.

– Brand Challenge: Stretching into a space where "performance" and "sleep" go together, and creating an aspirational brand.

– Early Founder Lessons: The emotional rollercoaster of launching his first company and learning to make decisions without perfect data.


Find Ben on:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/bendancer/

What is High Stakes Growth?

High Stakes Growth® takes you inside the boldest decisions behind today’s most exciting consumer brands. We bring you candid conversations with the founders and CMOs who built them—unpacking the high-stakes moments, tough calls, and game-changing strategies that made these brands what they are today. No fluff. No surface-level insights. Just real stories from the leaders who made it happen. Hosted by Forest Bronzan and Leah Lloyd, they bring a combined four decades of consumer brand expertise to these conversations.