Simon Swan is on a mission to shake up the health supplements market, with backing from former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Two-time founder Swan is the latest guest on The Naked Founder podcast and his second business, Uthful, is already profitable after less than six months.
Uthful is a health supplement business and it’s a far cry from Swan’s previous enterprise, Manchester-based talent marketplace Hiring Hub.
Swan co-founded Hiring Hub in 2011 but announced his exit after 14 years in 2025 with no idea what he was going to do next.
The father-of-two describes his ‘happy place’ as going on five-hour bike rides and it was here that the idea for Uthful started to form.
Swan noticed that, despite exercising regularly and eating well, his energy levels and focus had started to lag in his 40s.
He started experimenting with supplements and noticed an immediate benefit.
Rather than taking multiple pills and powders, Swan tried to find a neat ‘all-in-one’ solution in the UK but drew a blank.
His search led him to respected nutritional therapist Joanne Hill, who set about creating an ‘all-in-one-scoop’ drink containing 24 hand-picked vitamins, minerals, compounds and electrolytes, and the idea for Uthful (pronounced ‘youthful’) was born.
It was around this time that Swan was introduced to Vaughan, who has become a respected pundit since his cricket career ended.
“He was in straight away, not just as an investor, he really wanted to get involved,” Swan told The Naked Founder podcast.
Simon Swan, founder, Uthful
“He was one of the very first people I properly introduced it to so it was a kind of a test of this idea I had.
“At the time it really was an idea. At that stage I had the name, I’d knocked up a few packaging designs and had the formulation and the nutritional therapist onboard. That was it, no website, nothing.”
With its slick website and eye-catching brand, it’s difficult to believe that Swan is the only member of staff (other than his dog Molly).
“I feel I can get the business this year to a run rate of £1m, which is with c.1,200 subscribers,” he said. “We are on the path to that already. It feels more than achievable as it’s just me but the ambition is much bigger than that and I will need to hire.”
Uthful is based on a subscription model, with powder sachets costing £69.
Important to be authentic
Swan has made a conscious decision to share the ups and downs of building a startup on LinkedIn and largely works from home.
“My kids are watching me build,” he said. “It’s a really nice thing to be able to show them as a dad.
“Enjoy every learning, whether good or bad. Life is all a big game and you’ve got to go through it and be happy.”
Until Uthful, Swan was best known for co-founding Hiring Hub, the UK’s fastest-growing recruitment agency marketplace, with Sara Jones.
“When I started my first business I didn’t realise how consuming it was,” he said. “You literally cannot switch off. As a founder you never switch off completely. I’m managing that a lot better in this business.
“I feel psychologically something has changed in that my relationship with Uthful is a lot healthier than it was with the first one.”
At the age of 30, he designed the logo for Hiring Hub while he was on his honeymoon.
Rollercoaster
“It was a rollercoaster,” said Swan. “We had some great times and we had some challenging events. I’m proud of what we managed to build.”
The entrepreneur stepped down as CEO in 2023 after attracting a multi-million-pound investment from European private equity fund MonacoSol before walking away completely in 2025.
Swan recalled: “I was ready. It had been 14 years. I was 30 when I started Hiring Hub. Now I was in my mid-40s with two kids. My life had changed. I wanted to have a go at something else. I didn’t want that one thing to define my career.”
The Naked Founder is sponsored by Financielle and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.
You can listen to the episode here