Leaving professional sport is one of the hardest transitions an athlete can make.
On this week's episode, I sit down with former teammate and friend Alex Shaw, owner of Kickback Coffee.
Alex played professional rugby for over a decade. Leicester Tigers Academy. Sale Sharks. Doncaster Knights. England age groups. He had the career, the identity, the structure.
And then it ended.
What he built next says more about him than any of that did.
Kickback Coffee started in a kitchen with a second-hand popcorn machine and beans from eBay. It now spans five sites and 51 people. A brand identity strong enough to attract world-class talent and a clear mission:
To become the adventure coffee company in the UK.
But this episode is not really about coffee.
It is about what happens when the thing you have built your entire identity around disappears.
How you find the next thing.
Why most people wait until crisis to make a decision.
What the internal experience of walking away actually feels like. And why the athletes who leave something on the table are often the ones who go hardest in business.
We cover the moment in Sydney Harbour where everything shifted. The Covid pivot that turned five wholesale orders a month into 25 per day.
The difference between a safety net and an anchor. The leadership lessons you only learn when you stop being able to be in the room. And why curiosity, not strategy, tends to be the real engine of great founders.
This one is for the athlete who knows the clock is ticking and they need to make a move.
For the founder still figuring out what the next chapter looks like. And for anyone who has ever had to rebuild their identity from scratch and channel that energy into something that actually means something.
I was lucky enough to play alongside Alex at Doncaster. After this conversation, I can promise you that this is one of the most honest accounts of an athlete's transition and founder identity you will find.
If this landed for you, leave a comment or send a message I'd love to hear from you.
But if you are navigating this transition right now and are struggling, drop me a message I'll show you what you should do next.
You can find Alex and Kickback Coffee here:
Instagram: @kickbackcoffee
Website: kickbackcoffee.co.uk
LinkedIn: Alex Shaw
Connect with me:
Linkedin: @willfoden
Instagram: @willfoden
Website www.builtforpressure.net
What is The Built For Pressure Podcast ?
This podcast is for leaders, business owners and executives to find their next 1%.
This podcast will educate those who want to regain their edge, consistently perform during times that matter and turn potential into performance.
- Human Optimisation
- Peak Performance
- Elite Mindset Strategy
- Personal Development
- Communication
- Leadership Performance
- Business Growth
These are all parts of the bigger puzzle for the modern leader.
This podcast is designed to connect and remodel what modern day leadership needs to become.
We are placing the human at the forefront of the performance.