#265 - Hospitality Meets Chris Davies - The Story of the Office that Smells Like Itself

The story of the office that smells like itself

What do university ASBOs, Stash Monkey, Sarah Beeny, private equity cold calls and an office with its own recognisable smell have in common?

They all feature in the unconventional journey of Chris Davies, CEO of flexible office brand Uncommon.

Recorded inside Uncommon’s Fulham podcast studio, after Chris and Phil had already used up most of the good material during an hour-long pre-podcast chat, the conversation explores accidental entrepreneurship, yellow energy and the value of making decisions before certainty finally arrives.

Chris also invents the word “Un-Starbucks-ise,” reveals why his university time resulted in an actual legal threat and casually announces that he would eventually like to create a hotel brand.

Naturally, we made a note of that.

We Cover

• Why every Uncommon building looks different but somehow feels the same
• Recognising an office by its smell
• The university business that nearly earned Chris an institutional ASBO
• Being sued over the name Stash Monkey
• Why your dream investor should not receive your first-ever pitch
• Making decisions when you are only 51% certain
• The joy and danger of filling a business with yellow energy people
• Why a company is a team rather than a family
• Learning to manage the energy you bring into a room
• The hospitality stories that definitely cannot be shared publicly
• Saunas, ice baths and Chris’s future hotel ambitions

Quotables

“People need to think of time as a resource.”

“You kind of don’t want your best shot to be your first one.”

“We’re a team. We’re not a family.”

“People can be odd.”

“I like doing, in my personal life, as many reckless things as possible because I think it makes me feel alive.”

Final Observation

Uncommon began as a happy accident: a residential development that failed at planning and became an experiment in creating somewhere people might actually enjoy working.

But what followed was not accidental.

It took uncomfortable calls, imperfect pitches, wrong decisions, difficult conversations and a willingness to move while only 51% certain.

The result is a growing business with five distinctive locations, a strong hospitality instinct and an office brand that Phil can apparently identify with his nose before he has even reached reception.

Which is either excellent branding or the beginning of a very niche superpower.

Show Partner

A big shout out to today’s show partner, RotaCloud — the people management platform built specifically for shift-based teams.

RotaCloud lets managers create and share rotas, record attendance, and manage annual leave in minutes — all from one simple, web-based app.

It also makes life easier for teams, allowing staff to check rotas, request holiday, and pick up extra shifts directly from their phones.

To find out more, head to RotaCloud

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