The Bottleneck Podcast

Clarke Ching — author of The Bottleneck Detective — joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack why progress stalls, how leaders quietly become constraints, and why fixing the obvious problem often makes things worse.
Most organisations don’t fail because of a lack of effort.
They fail because effort is applied in the wrong place.
From traffic systems and hospitals to founders, governments and scaling teams, this conversation explores how bottlenecks hide in plain sight — and why seeing them requires a different kind of thinking.
This episode is about the uncomfortable truth that growth rarely fails where people expect it to.

Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Clarke:
Linkedin: in/clarkeching/
https://clarkeching.com/
Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
TikTok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
LinkedIn: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
LinkedIn: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Clarke:
Linkedin: in/clarkeching/
https://clarkeching.com/

A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Ama Amo-Agye scaled Plantmade from £100 to £13m — and discovered that success changes the rules faster than founders expect.

Ama joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to explore how the skills that drive early momentum can quietly become constraints as a business scales.

From building in public to recognising when the company had outgrown her original operating model, this episode examines why success can become the hardest thing to manage.

Follow Rory:

Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips

Tiktok: @Rorysutherlandclips

X: @rorysutherland

Linkedin: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:

Instagram: elfriedsamba

Linkedin: in/elfriedsamba/

https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Ama:
Instagram: @amaa__official
Tiktok: @amaamoagyei
Linkedin: in/ama-amo-agyei/

A @Sassy+ original podcast series

Growth stalls when founders lose focus.Lottie Whyte, founder of MyoMaster, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to unpack how simplifying the business, listening to real demand, and saying no to opportunity unlocked scale.From early trade-show insights and customer objections to near-failure and relentless focus, this conversation explores how clarity, not complexity, drives sustainable growth.

Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
Tiktok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
Linkedin: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
Linkedin: in/elfriedsamba/https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Lottie:
Instagram: @lottiewhyte/
Linkedin: in/lottie-whyte
https://myomaster.com/

A @Sassy+ original podcast series

This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast discusses the toxic nature of modern politics. Economist Nicholas Gruen joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to explain why debating now feels like a never-ending battle, where the centre ground gets drowned out by the most extreme voices and most people are trying to win arguments rather than solve problems.

They also explore why everyday communities often handle difference better than the internet does, and why GDP is a weak guide to how well a country is really doing. Education and housing, they argue, have increasingly become status bottlenecks rather than engines of shared progress, leaving us spending more without necessarily living better.

Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
Tiktok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
Linkedin: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
Linkedin: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Nick:
LinkedIn: in/nicholas-gruen-783354a
X: @NGruen1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/NicholasGruen

A @Sassy+ original podcast series

This episode of The Bottleneck Podcast explores what it really takes to build a billion-dollar brand. Ben Francis MBE, founder and CEO of Gymshark, joins Rory Sutherland and Elfried Samba to discuss how obsessive focus, community, and self-awareness turned a side project into one of the UK’s most successful global companies.

Together they unpack the real story behind Gymshark’s rise — from sewing T-shirts at his nan’s dining table to leading a worldwide fitness brand — and reveal why staying close to the customer, thinking like a 19-year-old entrepreneur, and protecting startup energy remain at the heart of Ben’s philosophy.

Follow Rory:
Instagram: @rorysutherland_clips
Tiktok: @Rorysutherlandclips
X: @rorysutherland
Linkedin: in/rorysutherland/

Follow Elfried:
Instagram: elfriedsamba
Linkedin: in/elfriedsamba/
https://www.butterflyeffect.xyz/

Follow Ben:
Instagram: @benfrancis
TikTok: @benfrancis
LinkedIn: in/gymshark/
YouTube: @BenFrancis

A @Sassy+ original podcast series