Maxim Gelmann’s career is anything but linear. He began in strategy consulting, working across FMCG, retail, healthcare and fashion. These early years gave him a grounding in business fundamentals, but more importantly, exposed him to the reality of operational complexity, customer behaviour and the importance of strategic clarity. A formative moment came when a manager handed him Blue Ocean Strategy and asked him to apply its thinking to a live project. The book became a defining lens for how he approaches innovation: look for uncontested space, create distinctiveness, and build from first principles.

A second turning point arrived far outside the corporate world. During a week at Burning Man, the festival’s “leave no trace” ethos stayed with him in ways he only recognised later. It shaped how he thought about value, impact and how people engage with sustainability. Those principles quietly informed the thinking behind Stroodles long before the idea itself was born.

The spark came when Maxim saw a short video of tubular pasta being used as a straw. Unlike previous ideas he had considered but never acted on, this one clicked. He was between roles, open to possibility, and ready to create something with genuine impact. He ordered samples, mapped out a simple supply chain and launched Stroodles. He also kept consulting in parallel to manage risk, a practical reminder that execution often requires scaffolding, not blind leaps.

From the start, he approached Stroodles not as a product business but as a brand capable of stretching into experiences, events and education. That decision shaped everything that followed. His products, edible cups, spoons, plates and bowls — act as accessible entry points into sustainability. People try them because they are fun, curious or photogenic. Only afterwards does the sustainability message land, often more powerfully than traditional messaging ever could.

His appearance on Dragon’s Den became a catalyst in unexpected ways. Maxim worked with a speaking coach who taught him how to hold an audience and tell a story without losing authenticity. Although he didn’t secure investment, the experience sharpened his confidence, deepened his understanding of media framing and expanded the reach of the Stroodles brand. It also reaffirmed that awareness, not funding, was the real prize.

Selling into hospitality and wholesale distribution has been a different kind of challenge. Restaurants and venues rarely buy directly; they buy through distributors. For Stroodles to scale, Maxim needed to create pull, customer demand, visibility and cultural momentum that made distributors want to list the product. Over time, this created a two‑way credibility exchange. Challenger brands gain legitimacy and reach by being stocked, while wholesalers gain reputational value by carrying innovative, sustainability‑led products that set them apart. It is a dynamic that speaks to a wider truth in B2B: innovation spreads fastest when both sides gain.

The conversation explores how sustainability communication has drifted into abstraction, carbon credits, certifications, back‑of‑house initiatives that customers never see. Maxim argues for a more human, experience‑led approach. Make sustainability visible. Make it enjoyable. Let the message land through behaviour, not lectures. From whipped‑cream tiramisus in edible cups to kids’ workshops, he is shifting the narrative from guilt to delight.

The episode also digs into the mindset required to act on ideas. Maxim is clear that most people overestimate the risk of sharing their concepts. In his experience, the real risk is staying silent. Ideas grow through conversation, and momentum comes from the energy you create around them. He encourages founders and leaders alike to share more, test more and worry less about competition.

What stands out most is his optimism: sustainability does not have to be heavy or moralistic. It can be playful, practical and commercially strong. For senior digital leaders in B2B, this offers a useful provocation. Sometimes the most powerful way to change behaviour is not to persuade harder, but to design experiences people talk about, remember and instinctively share.

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