Speaker

Steve Jennings

Entrepreneur Amping Up Human Potential | Do Radio Guest, It's Not About Trees with John Lunn

Catch Steve on Do Radio: It's Not About Trees with John Lunn 08-14 September 2025

Steve’s journey has taken him from the city of Hull, Yorkshire, where he grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, where he was hugely influenced by the golden age of pop culture, and began his life as an engineer, to realising his boyhood dream of becoming a professional road racing cyclist, to working as an investment broker, to founding Maxim, one of Europe’s leading sports nutrition companies that introduced creatine supplementation to the world at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, to helping found the Canadian open-source non-profit organisation Bicycles for Humanity, to becoming one of the founding members of PepsiCo’s global good-for-you nutrition innovation team, to entrepreneur in residence at Lund Universities Open Innovation Center. He’s now the Co-Founder and CEO of Jenerise, a company focused on redefining creatine as a modern well being daily supplement essential for optimising cellular energy production and supporting lifelong ageless vitality.

Show notes

In this episode of It’s Not About Trees, John Lunn talks to entrepreneur, former professional cyclist, and health innovation pioneer Steve Jennings. From his early years in Hull during economic decline, Steve shares how cycling became both a literal and metaphorical vehicle for escape, adventure, and self-discovery. He takes us inside the professional cycling world of the 1980s, including its darker side, and how a personal turning point led him to channel his drive into building one of Europe’s pioneering sports nutrition brands. Steve reflects on the parallels between sport, business, and life - emphasising curiosity, creative “canvases,” and the discipline of pursuing big ideas. He discusses the rapid pace of change in today’s world, the need for human-first approaches to technology, and the hope he finds in the next generation of innovators.

From chance encounters that sparked new ventures to his time as Entrepreneur in Residence at Lund University, Steve’s story is rich with lessons on resilience, intuition, and the power of collaboration.

Highlights include:

Growing up in post-industrial Hull and the role of sport as an outlet.
The professional cycling world of the 1980s and a conscious choice to step away.
Founding Maxim, a sports nutrition brand, and navigating explosive global growth.
Lessons from Anita Roddick and the importance of community around a brand.
Public-private partnerships and the potential of university innovation clusters.
How emerging technologies could become “superpowers” to solve global challenges.

Lightning Round:

Book: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – Raymond Carver
Song: From the Morning – Nick Drake
Quote: Sheldon Kopp – On the need for someone not only to listen to your story, but to care.

“We need to change our attitude.”

Talks

26:59

What Matters, What’s Possible, And What’s Important

Steve Jennings•Business

Steve Jennings is perhaps an accidental entrepreneur. Disillusioned when an early career in professional cycling became marred by moral dilemmas, he launched what would become Europe's leading sports nutrition company. It was the first step in an on...