#77 - How John McClarey Got on Dragon’s Den | Building a Business, Productivity & Pressure

#77 - How John McClarey Got on Dragon’s Den | Building a Business, Productivity & Pressure

March 15, 2026 · 59 min · Episode 77

About this episode

John McClarey discusses building his business and the journey to Dragon’s Den.

John McClarey joins me on Episode 77 of The Struggle to talk about building Business Fives from scratch, what it really takes to grow a business over years, and what happened behind the scenes before stepping into Dragon’s Den. We talk about: how he started the business in 2016 taking action before things feel perfect productivity, prioritisation, and focus time the 1-2-3 / 1-3-5 framework Getting Things Done and the 2-minute rule the full Dragon’s Den application and pitch process public speaking, preparation, and pressure motivation vs dedication meditation, journaling, breathwork, and morning routines and entrepreneurship is actually like behind the scenes. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, self-development, productivity, mindset, Dragon’s Den, or building something meaningful , this episode is for you. Guest: John McClarey Podcast: The Struggle with Gregor Thomson Subscribe for more conversations on psychology, philosophy, ambition, discipline, freedom, and building a meaningful life. #DragonsDen #Entrepreneurship #Productivity #BusinessPodcast #SelfDevelopment References mentioned in this episode The Lean Startup — Eric Ries Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of…

People in this episode

Host: Gregor S Thomson

Guest: John McClarey

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dragon’s Den, Insight Timer, BBC, Business Fives

Books & works: The Lean Startup, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Getting Things Done / GTD, The Miracle Morning, Miracle Morning Millionaires, Tools of Titans

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