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The 8 Billion Dollar Food & Drink Founders Scaling Secrets: Life-Changing Lessons from BrewDog & Pret A Manger, ITSU Founder
Dan Pope
November 08, 2024
At 7.03am
The Disease poured out the gutters on Berwick Street. Two roads away from Victoria station. The street lamps turned a gunky green punctuating the Cornish mackerel coloured moody skyline. Everything smelt of kebab onions, ghastly giblets and odious offal. The Disease was here.
At 7.14am
9 year old, Ferocious-Precocious Philippa trot-trot-trot-trotted at thoroughbred clip to her Violin lesson in Belgravia with her Digestives Biscuit-addicted teacher Carrie.
Carrie asked Ferocious-Precocious Philippa to play. Play she did. She played a panoply of putrid ear-splintering wank. She was infected too.
At 7.18am
Sleepy red buses crawled:: chugged:: coughed :: around Victoria Station. Lipstick red prisons housing a myriad of miserable sods, faces splattered with sadness like fallen-on-the-floor pancakes.
Big monstrous cancerous clouds crawled in over London like bad breath at a networking event “Hi my name’s Karl, I sell IT software, my fun fact is that I’ve got a cat called Ralph and I’m here today to build out my network”.
Inside Victoria Station, the Cafe Nero and WHSmiths’ and Upper Crust lurid anaemic lights flashed:: lurid carousels :: flashing :: flashing::T he Disease got them too.
Underneath Victoria Station, London’s underbelly was glittering galaxy:: a million Christmas Lights. Rats scurrying - - running - - screaming - - frothing - - dancing in the wild delicious bewilderment of the disease.
By 7.20 am
The Disease crawled from Kingsland Road, Shoreditch to Piccadilly Circus bolting across to Hammersmith Bridge.
At 7.49am
Ferocious-Precocious Philippa’s Mother, Over-Night-Oats-Olivia called her secret lover, her personal trainer, Gregarious-n-Girthy-Garth, for her 8am F45 session. Fornicating-for-Over-45’s
(Girthy Garthy often would say laddish accent to the lads at the pub ”you’ve gotta niche down, innit boys”)
Olivia called Garth on his phone, unleashing Sloaney waves of pumpkin-spice-puckish flirtation. Dropping her usual coquettish cannonball
“ohh Garthyyy, whyyy are you so bladdy Girthhyyyyy?! hehehe, Me ready for my F45 session… even?”
But, no?
Whaaaaat???
He didn’t answer his phoner?!
Olivia checked STRAVA.
Girthy Garth hadn’t uploaded his 6am Battersea Park 10k time to STRAVA?! She thought Nooooooooooooooooooooooo Gregarious n Girthy Garthy is infected too.
At 8.13am.
Lardy-Tardy Larry, TFL through and through, Chelsea Blue, through and through, too. Started screaming “See It, Say It, Moooooooo SAAAALLLLLLAAHHHHH” as he bowled past Wasabi and ITSU.
Everyone is infected with the Disease.
You.
Me.
Your Mum.
Your Dog.
Your Boss.
Your employees.
The Disease?
COMPLEXITY.
We’re all quaffing back Complexity Cocktails, scoffing Complexity Candy Floss.
My MO is complicate fucking everything.
I recently podded with James Watt, BrewDog and Julian Metcalfe, ITSU and Pret a Manger.
Two founders who scaled Billion Dollar Brands - the lesson?
Keep it simple.
Julian said:
“Simplicity is HARD, Complexity is EASY”
“Complexity is a cancerous disease spreading through your mind, relationships, organisation, work and life.”
“Humans and founders complicate everything. Our goal HAS TO BE to simplify, simplify, simplify’
How Julian Keeps Things Simple Scaling a Billion Dollar Brand?
4 things Julian taught me to find simplicity in complexity
1.Simply Scaling £1 billion food and drink brands
The biggest mistake Julian made scaling Pret and ITSU occurred when he lost focus on the
PRODUCT + CUSTOMER.
Founders must relentlessly pursue excellence.
How?
Product Excellence.
OBJECTIVELY look at your PRODUCT: “how can this be better?”
Customer excellence.
OBJECTIVELY look at your CUSTOMER: “how can this be better for the customer?”
Julian said it really, really is simple: it’s the relationship PRODUCT + CUSTOMER
Brands/Founders, as they scale, make it so so so so unnecessarily complicated.
Julian said product + customer that is LITERALLY 80% of the battle. The rest is easy to fix.
2.Surround yourself with Simple
Julian said, “my default (like all humans) setting is to complicate things, only through time and discipline do I simplify them”
Founders, accept (most of you) (and me) are incredibly complicated human beings.
Be kind to yourself.
Your complicated mind is your genius.
Put people around you who can simplify your thinking.
3.The Pendulum Swings: Keep it in the middle
Founders building HUGE brands: you must ACCEPT two opposing forces are in constant flux like a pendulum.
The forces:
Complexity <> Simplicity
Creativity <> Process
Order<> Chaos
Success <> Failure.
One month, you’ll be too creative and chaotic = hellish to work for.
Another month, you’ll have too much process and systems = don’t move fast enough.
Julian says “founders your goal is to keep the pendulum in the middle, and every single day it will try and swing one way”
Or a la Nassim Taleb adopt a Barbell strategy.
4. 0ther Simple Disciplines I am implementing for my complex nut :
Julian says Finding Simplicity in Complexity requires daily discipline.
Just pausing in the day: asking myself, am I adding complexity here?
Writing on a piece of paper: what would this look like if it were easy?
Reading a book in the middle of the day for 20 mins: this gives you altitude “Charlie Munger: Time is Never Wasted With a Book In Your Hand”
How James Watt Keeps Things Simple Scaling a Billion Dollar Brand?
1.Barnacles on a Boat Principle
James talks about complexity like barnacles sticking to the bottom of a boat. Initially, a few barnacles of complexity don’t slow the boat down. It’s not an issue.
Barnacles: meetings about meetings
Barnacles: Pointless systems
Barnacles: 1 hour meetings when they can be 1 minute voice notes
Barnacles: not making decisions quickly
Over time, say a year later, suddenly, your boat (or brand) is covered in barnacles, slowing down your brand boat.
You’re anchored down with complexity disease.
As a founder your goal, James like Julian, find simplicity in complexity.
Scraping away the barnacles at the bottom of your boat, is the same as ensure the pendulum is in the middle.
2. Digital Desk vs. Analogue desk.
No wonder things are complicated, we are fucking swamped with notifications plugged up our digital shit box.
Take a blank A3 sheet piece of paper
Write questions on the top
Answer those questions
Relentlessly LEAN IN TO HARD. HARD = UNFAIR ADVANTAGE.
“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” - Albert Einstein
Questions are the answers you may need - Oasis
Quotes from James on the podcast:
“Good founders solve problems, Great founders use obstacles to find a different way and unlock a new level of thinking”
“You can’t create the future looking at your inbox“
Questions James writes on a piece of paper.
If you had a gun to your head how would you 5 x your business in 12 months?
How could you kill your business right now?
What are the 5 biggest challenges facing my business right now? How can I run at them HARD
If we spend this £1 can we 10x our growth vs. our competitors?
What do both James and Julian Do Similarly When Scaling a Billion Dollar Brand?
Finally to tie the bow between James and Julian both RUN SO FUCKING HARD AT HARD.
Things should be HARD.
Building is HARD.
HARD is an unfair advantage.
When something feels hard, LEAN IN. Realise that’s when most people are going to give up.
James: “HARD is where the magic lies, lean into hard, most people wont”.
Julian: “Excellence is really, really, really fucking hard”
Can’t wait for you to listen to these poddy’s!!
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