David Hieatt is an entrepreneur, marketeer and brand builder. Leaving school at 16 to open a market stall selling sneakers taught David the importance of sales (and a good pair of shoes) - on a good day he had money to buy to enough petrol to get home. On a bad day with no sales, he walked. At 21, he joined Saatchi and Saatchi. There David learnt to take risks from Paul Arden, one of the true mavericks of advertising. He was taught to trust his instinct. And to fight to make his ideas happen. In 2001, he moved back to Wales and created Howies, a clothing company that was heralded as the Patagonia of the UK for action sports.

After selling it to Timberland, he co-founded the Do Lectures, a globally acclaimed ideas festival (held annually in California and Wales) and online platform, with an audience of millions. More recently David has created Hiut Denim, a jeans company that is helping to bring the jeans industry back to Cardigan in Wales. A town that used to have Britain's largest jeans factory. David has a cult internet following, and has spoken at Apple, Google, and many other top companies and events.