I know this because between 1979 and 1988, I built 12 successful pubs across London, each brewing its own beer in an era when the big breweries had convinced everyone this was impossible.
After just nine years, I sold my pub chain for £6.6 million cash, just before my 40th birthday. Whether you’re opening pubs or building the next tech unicorn, here are my top tips, based on a few hard-won lessons that you may find useful.
1: Before you leap into entrepreneurship, spend at least five years learning your industry inside-out. Work for someone else, understand the problems, spot the gaps. You can’t disrupt an industry you don’t understand.
2: Develop thick skin early. Expect resistance, especially from established players who benefit from the status quo. Stay focused on your vision and never give up. If everyone’s telling you it won’t work, you might be onto something big.
3: Build momentum from early successes. Say yes to opportunities that stretch you. The worst that can happen is you learn something valuable. The best that can happen is you stumble onto your next breakthrough.
4: Stop waiting for the perfect funding. Start with what you can access now. Bootstrap, borrow, barter – use other people’s money to prove your concept works. Once you have traction, bigger funding becomes much easier to secure.
5: Only sell equity when you absolutely must and never sell it cheap. Early investors are betting on your potential failure, prove them wrong by keeping the upside for yourself.
6: Identify your weaknesses early and hire accordingly. Your passion for the product won’t be enough. Hire people who love the things you hate and listen to them.
7: Invest in people and systems early, even when money is tight. The culture you create in the first year will determine whether you can scale successfully. Build your team like your business depends on it – because it does.
8: Build sustainability into your routine from day one. Schedule downtime the same way you schedule meetings. Your business needs you sharp, not burnt out.
9: Set exit criteria before you need them. What would make you want to sell? What would you need to see to know it’s time? Keep watching industry trends and be ready to act when the moment’s right.
10: Maintain your enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit. Do things differently, not because different is better, but because authentic is better. If you’re having fun, it shows – and customers respond to genuine enthusiasm.
