HOW TO START UP by FF&M
Guy Blaskey: How to scale your business to £30m+ of sales
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Episode notes
Starting a business is a huge effort, but scaling it to new heights takes a great deal of skill. So, I wanted to hear from a serial founder who has not only grown and scaled a multi-million-pound business, but also decided to start from scratch and do it again.
Guy Blaskey founded healthy pet food business Pooch & Mutt in 2007. Having scaled it to £30 million in sales, he sold the business in 2023 for £11.5 million. Since then, Guy has founded Detrash to upcycle waste products into high quality watches.
Keep listening to hear Guy’s advice on what he learnt about a sales strategy, selling a business & why laying the operational foundations is one of the most important things you can do.
Guy’s advice:
- Think about how you can do things differently
- Don’t spend too long on your business plan; get going and make a plan afterwards
- If you need a retailer, remember it’s less about the product (and less about you) and more about what makes your buyer’s life easy: filling a gap in their range, price point etc. Think about them
- Always think about your customer and how you can help them achieve a result
- It takes time and rigour - and some failures - to get everything right and become a strong business
- You need a strong understanding of the finances; it’s not just about the brand
- Budget properly; predict sales and follow through
- Don’t overfund early on; if you start small you can track the money and see what works and what doesn’t
- Produce the product and get going with a small budget before considering looking for VC
- Marketing and distribution channels are quite as important as the product
- Work on your business rather than in your business; in other words, delegate the knowables
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Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason. Email us at [email protected] or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason.
FF&M recommends:
Buzzsprout for directory listing
Zencastr for recording remotely
MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & Licence