One third of BlueSkyFriday’s founders on giving you that weekly dose of sunshine.
A ‘new kid on the Lime bike block’ in the cycling world, Harry has pedalled into work on the morning we speak. ‘A guy ran out in front of my bike today. I looked at him and said ‘what are you doing?!’ And it turns out, I knew him’. Of course he did, Harry knows everyone.
Having spent the past 15 years running BHB, a boutique service to look after private families and individuals ‘as they navigate the world’, Harry spends a lot of his time on the road; ‘this week alone I’ve done five trains and two aeroplanes’. BHB operates between London, New York and Monaco, with an office opening in Paris any day now. ‘Balance is something that I’m trying to get more of’. Meditating for 20 minutes twice a day provides a certain degree of calm, and I can see where the kindness and empathy Harry feels for busy BlueSkyFriday members comes from. He wants to bring a moment of joy to inboxes on a Friday morning and to have created a platform that drowns out the white noise, not piles it on.
But how did it all begin? Harry got talking with members’ club guru Astrid Harbord and sister-in-law and freelance Personal Assistant Becks Becher, about setting up a community of likeminded individuals, ‘hopefully offering them things that are useful, interesting and enlightening. Everything that I do in life is looking after people. My whole background has been in hospitality in its different guises’.
Fundamentally, BlueSkyFriday is an invite-only marketplace for members to buy and sell goods and services. But it is so much more than a facilitator for faceless transactions. What has always struck me is the care and respect the three founders have for the platform’s users. For them, it’s consistently about enhancing customer experience both on and off-site.
Though there may be no physical building, Harry wants the ethos of ‘bees, trees and mental ease’ to permeate through our phone screens.
‘In a roundabout way, it’s a virtual private members’ club for people to get access to interesting things and events to support their mental well-being, to support their families, and support each other.’
Over the past 16 weeks, many members have signed up and there have been four exclusive events hosted by BSF, including the recent special preview of the Marina Abramović exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. It’s been a period full of growth and experimentation. ‘I feel pretty excited in that we’ve got that many people every Friday waking up to a really nice piece of editorial’. Thanks, Harry. ‘All the colour around it and the playlists, the meditation, the chefs. You know sometimes, especially in these start-ups, you start off with one plan and it veers completely to another. Whereas with BlueSkyFriday, we’ve really stuck to what our plan was. There are a few things that haven’t worked and that will continue. You’ve got to change and adapt and evolve. But I think to date, we’ve stuck to the path we wanted to create and I’m really proud of that. The numbers reflect that, the growth reflects that. 16 weeks is only 4 months old, and that’s cool, you know?’
Next year brings greater expansion with BSF opening in New York, where Harry spends half of his time. He recently married and lives with his wife between the Cotswolds, London and the ‘crazy loud, mad and graffiti-led’ East Village, NYC. Life is about contrasts and Harry is winning.
‘I love it. I’m very lucky. My poor wife - Monday morning, I love. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to get going. You know by Sunday at about 4, 5, 6pm I start getting a bit…’
I wait. Itchy?
But that’s it, our time is up. Harry has another meeting, cooking up something delicious, I’m sure. He’s so grateful to all BlueSkyFriday members for your continued support in its inaugural year, and hopes you’ll continue to join us on the adventure.
December, 2023
