The Gstaad Guy Podcast

The Gstaad Guy sits down with Ben Gorham, founder and former creative director of BYREDO, who spent his first eighteen years intending to play professional basketball and the next twenty building a fragrance house that only looked sudden from the outside, to explore what patience is worth when nobody is keeping time. With a career built on turning memory into something invisible, Ben reflects on making things for himself long before he knew who would want them, the absurdity of selling scent by gender, and why the people who change the world so often get described the same way.

The conversation dives into the moment he first smelt his own work on a stranger, what maximum ambition costs at home, and why spotting a gap in the market no longer works. Ben shares the business plan that lost him the room, the diaries that became one of his bestsellers, and the two questions he asks about any boy his daughter mentions. A grounded look at memory, patience, and building something designed to outlast the person who made it.

Filmed at Faena Miami Beach, Premier Oceanfront Corner Suite.

(00:00) Intro 🎙️✨

(01:30) Relearning America 🇺🇸🔄

(04:50) A Twenty Year Overnight Success ⏳🏆

(06:19) From Basketball To Perfume 🏀🌸

(07:52) Mapping A Life Through Smell 🗺️👃

(12:05) Selling Smells In A Swedish Winter ❄️🇸🇪

(13:43) Simple On Purpose ◻️✨

(16:50) The Stranger At The Airport ✈️🤝

(20:12) Eighteen To Eighty Five 👥🌍

(21:01) A Menu For Men 🧔🍽️

(24:02) The Brand Versus The Business ⚖️💼

(27:59) No Game Clock ⏱️🚫

(34:30) Why Young Men Fell For Fragrance 🌿😏

(37:33) Built For A Hundred Years 🏛️⏳

(40:19) Letting The Baby Grow Up 🕊️👶

(41:43) Ambition And Fatherhood 👨‍👧🔥

(47:26) Does He Have A Sister? 😄👀

(48:51) The Taxicab Theory 🚕💡

(50:57) Finding The Gap Ten Years Out 🔭🎯

(57:11) Betting On The Next Decade 🎯🚀

(1:01:21) Why The Mountains ⛰️❤️

(1:02:47) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨

(1:05:03) Against All Odds 🔥💪
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with Jeremy King, founder and CEO of Jeremy King Restaurants, the restaurateur behind Le Caprice, The Ivy, The Wolseley, The Delaunay and Fischer’s, and now behind Arlington, The Park and Simpson’s, to explore why a great restaurant has almost nothing to do with food. With fifty years spent on the floor rather than in the boardroom, Jeremy reflects on building rooms that act as a catalyst for whatever people bring to them, why he is always led by a building rather than a concept, and the uncomfortable truth that a whole career can turn on a single throw of a dice.

The conversation dives into the ladder of belonging and why he refuses to put up a sign to the loos, what luxury actually is once the bling has been stripped out of it, and the behaviour code he would far rather enforce than a dress code. Jeremy shares what he learned sweeping a school gym at fourteen, why the things that first attract you to a person are the ones you later try to change, and what he told his daughters to watch for in anyone they brought home. A generous look at service, restraint, and the quiet engineering behind every room that makes you feel at home.

Filmed at AP House London.

(00:00) Intro 🎙️✨

(02:40) Colbert, And The Tube Station 🚇🍽️

(03:32) What A Restaurant Is Really For 🍽️💡

(05:45) A New York Grand Cafe 🗽☕

(09:09) Led By The Building 🏛️✨

(10:17) The Dice Man 🎲🔄

(13:51) Sweep It Better Than Ever 🧹✨

(15:30) Everything Has To Change 🔄💡

(17:11) Why The Wolseley Worked ☕🏛️

(20:16) Less Than Once A Year 📉📅

(22:31) Restaurateur Or Owner? 👔🤔

(23:19) My Core Customer Is Me 🪞🎯

(25:36) In Praise Of Single Diners 📖🍽️

(30:08) Great Design Never Shouts 🤫🎨

(31:21) Togetherness, Even Alone 🤝💭

(35:04) You Only Ask Once 🚪☝️

(36:03) We Go To Be Loved ❤️🍽️

(38:44) Glassware, Cutlery, Shadow 🥂🍴

(41:25) True Luxury Is Silk Underwear 🤍💎

(43:39) It Just Happened 🛎️✨

(46:52) The Eras Of London 🏙️⏳

(48:23) Bombs Through The Windows 💥🪟

(51:08) Fifty Years Of Openings 📋🎉

(55:41) Celebrate Why You Were Attracted 💍✨

(58:57) I’ll Know 🪟💭

(1:02:53) Respect Is The Bedrock 🫱🏛️

(1:04:07) Where To Sit At A Table 🪑🍽️

(1:07:08) Watch How They Treat The Staff 👀🤝

(1:08:55) Manners Versus Respect 💬⚖️

(1:12:22) Oiks In Suits 🎩😏

(1:14:27) What A Members Club Should Be 🔑🏛️

(1:18:54) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨

(1:23:04) Only Do What You Want 🧭❤️
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with Peter Rahal, founder and CEO of David Protein and co-founder and former CEO of RXBAR, one of very few people to have built a category leader twice in the same aisle, to explore why the best product in a crowded market is a design problem long before it is a marketing one. With a career built at the intersection of food science, packaging and consumer psychology, Peter reflects on why he will not build a brand on a diet trend, what it takes to make a three dollar bar feel like a status object, and why being contrarian only counts if you turn out to be right.

The conversation dives into the prestige playbook he borrowed from Starbucks, the engineering that pushed a protein bar to its physical limit, and why most food founders are quietly hostile to technology. Peter shares the thinking behind a campaign that ranked boiled cod above his own product, the lawsuit he treats as a compliment, and the one trait he hires for above any hard skill. A sharp look at design, discipline, and how an ordinary object becomes something people want to be seen holding.

Filmed at Casa Cipriani New York's Premier River View Suite.

(00:00) Intro 🎙️✨

(01:38) Fridge Status Is Real 🧊✨

(02:42) Banned From Italy 🇮🇹🚫

(03:45) Twelve Bars In A Kitchen 🍫🍳

(06:23) Never Build On A Diet Trend 📉🥗

(07:40) The RX Name Problem 💊🏷️

(09:16) Naming Phobia, Then David 🗿😅

(09:53) There Are No Secrets Anyway 🔍🤫

(11:03) Round Two Is Easier 📈💪

(13:36) I’m Never Going Back To Food 🚪🍽️

(14:29) I Bet I Could Do It Better 🔁💡

(16:03) When The Market Turned To Protein 💪📈

(19:18) Designing To The Limit 🧪📏

(21:19) The Biophysics Limit ⚛️🔬

(23:04) So Good We Got Sued ⚖️😂

(24:15) Your Body Is Not On Fire 🔥🚫

(25:49) The Starbucks Prestige Play ☕👑

(28:31) The Bronze Bar 🥉🍫

(30:25) Why It Costs Three Dollars 💵🤔

(32:01) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨

(33:25) We Actually Sold Cod 🐟😮

(36:05) Nutrition Is Asymmetric 🥗⚖️

(38:25) Food Founders Are Luddites 🔬😏

(40:14) Hiring For Humility 🤝🙏

(42:25) A Sexy Protein Bar 😏🍫
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with Zaid Rahman, founder and CEO of Flex, who has never held a normal job, never spent a day at university, and now runs the financial platform behind some of the fastest growing companies in the world, to explore what building actually costs and why the people who look like they have already made it are so often the ones getting the least help. With a childhood spent watching his father’s construction business rise and fall in Dubai, Zaid reflects on where ambition is inherited from, why finance is the part of running a company nobody wants to touch, and what it means to hand someone the cofounder he never had.

The conversation dives into what an agent actually is once you strip the terminology away, the strange economics of token maxing, and where the value in AI will settle once the noise clears. Zaid shares what it looks like inside a company where forty five engineers ship twenty four products, where an intern can spend two hundred thousand dollars over a weekend, and where the most expensive department is now legal. A candid look at money, machines, and the unglamorous work behind every business that looks effortless from the outside.

Filmed at The Peninsula in London.

(00:00) Intro 🎙️✨

(03:13) Saudi, Then Dubai 🏗️🌍

(04:15) No Lamborghinis, No Butlers 🚗😏

(06:06) First Business At Thirteen 💻🚀

(06:54) Perspective Is The Greatest Luxury 🔭💎

(07:22) Flex Fuels Ambition 🧾🔥

(10:47) Paid To Drop Out 🎓💰

(13:15) Fifty Of Three Hundred 📊🏆

(17:00) Zero Days Of College 🏫😏

(17:55) Chaotic In The Nicest Way 🌀❤️

(20:41) Chewing Glass 🪟💪

(21:23) Why Finance Sucks 💸❌

(23:10) Wait Until You See Construction 🧱😮

(27:03) Sixty Days Of Float 💳⏳

(30:07) Hiding The Complexity 📱✨

(32:29) What AI Native Means 🤖💡

(34:01) Beacon, Your Financial Wrapped 📈✨

(38:32) The Best Thing Was Anthropic 🚀🤖

(40:03) What An Agent Actually Is 🗺️🤖

(43:19) White Collar Goes First 💼⚡

(45:06) Token Maxing ⚡🔥

(46:53) The Two Hundred Thousand Dollar Weekend 💥💰

(48:29) Charging For The Highway 🛣️💰

(54:47) Where AI Is Heading 🔮🌍

(59:22) Generalists Win Now 🧠🏆

(1:01:39) Flex Elite 💠✨

(1:04:07) Acquiring Selfbook 🏨💼

(1:05:42) The Most Confusing Age 🧭💭

(1:07:49) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨

(1:11:26) Ask Me In Five Years ⏳🔮
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, and one of the few people running a company of that scale who was once told plainly that her ambition would make her unhireable, to explore what it takes to hold your nerve when the quality that makes you good is read as a threat. With a career built across Berkeley, Paris, London and Seattle, Ariane reflects on adapting to a culture that will not adapt to you, betting on yourself when a room has already decided what you are, and the quieter work of knowing what you want before you ever say it out loud.

The conversation dives into manifesting as a practice rather than a slogan, why the roles nobody else wants are so often the ones worth taking, and how you hold a startup’s speed inside a company of fifteen thousand people. Ariane makes the case for expanding the pie rather than dividing it, for building a business that creates value on both sides of a marketplace instead of sitting in the middle of it, and for a purpose simple enough that everyone from the engineer to the lawyer can see their part in it. A grounded look at ambition, leadership, and an industry that exists because of what people choose to remember.

Filmed at The Londoner in London.

(00:00) Intro 🎙️✨

(02:34) Thirteen Years To CEO 🪜🏆

(03:33) A Household Name Of Household Names 🏷️✨

(05:19) The Brands Under The Group 🧳🌍

(07:11) A Berkeley Girl, Not A Hippie 🎓😏

(08:29) Twelve Months Became Thirteen Years ✈️⏳

(08:52) Eight AM In Paris, Empty Office 🥐🏛️

(10:37) They Didn’t Fit Me In A Box 🇫🇷💡

(12:05) Immigrant Of Love 💘🌍

(12:48) A Bird Without Wings 🕊️💭

(13:23) Too Ambitious To Hire 💼🔥

(15:11) On Manifesting 🔮✨

(17:53) She Wants Your Job 🏢😏

(21:49) Fourteen Days Versus Twenty Eight 🏖️⚖️

(23:06) Euro Curious Americans 🇪🇺🇺🇸

(25:44) Families, Pets And Travel 📸❤️

(26:34) How Expedia Started 🚀💡

(29:44) Holding Company To Platform 🔗📈

(31:57) What Partners Actually Get 🤝💎

(34:35) Expand The Pie 🥧✨

(35:57) The AI Question 🤖💡

(38:34) The NASA Janitor 🌙🧹

(40:54) Nobody Else Wanted That Job 📈💪

(42:22) Killing The Bureaucracy 🧹⚡

(44:06) Why He Left Apple ✨🍎

(47:19) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨
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