Darrel Sheinman is the Founder, Producer and CEO of Gearbox Records, an entrepreneurial record company he established as a hobby jazz label in 2009. Since then, he has built Gearbox into a multi-genre label operating across all formats, with global distribution and a roster of prominent artists. He also created a patent-pending turntable combining analogue and digital technology.
Darrel began his career in financial services, spending 13 years trading precious metals, commodities and energy in New York, London and Paris. In 1998, he founded Pole Star Space Applications, a maritime satellite-tracking business that became one of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies and was sold for $100 million in 2021.
His wider career has included several non-executive, advisory and public-sector roles spanning energy, technology and maritime security. Darrel is also a martial arts instructor, rugby coach and former Harlequins player, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Highlights
I think what you do get as you get older is just that confidence and belief that actually whatever life chucks at you, everything will be all right.
I don’t really care about failing, it’s part of life and I’ve failed many times.
The best advice I always give people is to try and stay in the game for long enough so that the opportunities come and you spot them and take them.
I think being an entrepreneur is a rollercoaster, largely because of cash flow, largely because your timing can't be perfect.
I think chasing the market’s a mistake, and I’ve never really done that so if I like a piece of music, if I like an artist, if I like someone who’s special doing business, I will work with them and it’s my choice, and if I get it wrong, so be it.