Most of the most profitable companies didn’t begin with grand places of work or large investments.
As a substitute, they started on the kitchen desk from house, whereas the founders juggled full-time jobs. They noticed a chance, pursued their ardour and turned their enterprise concepts into thriving corporations.
To offer you inspiration for beginning your individual enterprise, we’ll discover seven corporations that started as facet hustles and grew into industry-leading manufacturers.
1. Harmless Drinks
Founder(s): Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright
Began as: A weekend challenge whereas working full-time
Harmless Drinks was based in 1998 throughout a snowboarding vacation. The founders had been working in promoting and consulting on the time and arrange a smoothie stall at a London music competition. Above the stall, the signal learn: “Ought to we hand over our jobs to make these smoothies?” and clients had been requested to vote by inserting their empty bottles in a “Sure” or “No” bin. When most individuals voted “Sure”, the founders went all in and began promoting their smoothies to native shops.
Within the early phases, the model went by a number of identify adjustments. It was first referred to as “Quick Tractor”, adopted by “Hungry Aphid”, “Nude” and “Bare” earlier than the founders lastly agreed on “Harmless” 9 months later.
The primary three instances of Harmless had been offered to an area sandwich bar, Out To Lunch. It was then later offered to main grocery store chain Waitrose and inside just some months, it grew to become so widespread that it began getting stocked round quite a few different shops throughout London and finally the remainder of the UK.
Harmless started working with Coca-Cola in 2009, which bought a 20% share within the firm. Coca-Cola progressively elevated its stake in Harmless, earlier than finally taking full possession in 2013.
2. Amstrad
Founder(s): Lord Alan Sugar
Began as: Facet hustle whereas working completely different jobs
Any enterprise proprietor or entrepreneur is aware of about Alan Sugar. Whereas he’s primarily recognised because the host of The Apprentice, he additionally based Amstrad – a client electronics firm that offered a spread of house computer systems, hi-fi methods, amplifiers and televisions. Its identify was chosen as a mixture of “Alan Michael Sugar Buying and selling”.
Sugar based Amstrad in 1968 when he was 21. It initially started as a facet hustle whereas he was working completely different jobs, together with at a greengrocer and promoting automobile equipment. He began by promoting automobile aerials and electronics out of the again of a van, making the most of London’s rising demand for reasonably priced expertise merchandise.
The corporate started promoting low cost hi-fi methods and automobile stereo cassette gamers within the Nineteen Seventies. But it surely was the Nineteen Eighties that proved to be Amstrad’s golden period after it expanded into the private laptop market with the launch of the Amstrad CPC 464 – an all-in-one system that got here with a built-in cassette desk and monitor. Following its success, Amstrad launched a sequence of different computer systems, its subsequent main hit being the Amstrad PCW in 1985. Tens of millions of models had been offered, and the corporate was in a position to seize a big share of the enterprise PC market.
BSkyB bought Amstrad for £125 million in 2007 and the corporate is not buying and selling, though Sugar introduced in March 2024 that he was planning to revive the model along with his grandson.
3. Gymshark
Founder(s): Ben Francis
Began as: A facet hustle whereas learning at college
Ben Francis based Gymshark in 2012 whereas learning at Ashton College and dealing as a pizza supply driver. Initially, the corporate offered dietary supplements and clothes by dropshipping, however after questioning the standard of the garments, Francis noticed a chance to design and promote his personal gymwear, regardless of not having a proper background in style.
From there, Francis developed his first marketing strategy and began stitching, display screen printing and delivering the merchandise himself. The Luxe Fitted Tracksuit product was a turning level for the corporate, because it rapidly gained reputation amongst health lovers and fashion-conscious customers alike.
As demand began to develop, Francis expanded Gymshark’s product line – specializing in creating high-quality, trendy activewear that mixed performance with style. The model’s development was additional fueled by social media advertising and collaborations with health influencers, utilising platforms like Instagram and YouTube to achieve a broader viewers and join with clients in a extra private and interesting manner.
Gymshark has now grown into probably the most recognisable health attire manufacturers globally, value over £1 billion.
Beginning your individual gymnasium enterprise
Need to kick off your individual health enterprise? Discover out the whole lot it’s essential know from our information on beginning your gymnasium enterprise.
4. BrewDog
Founder(s): James Watt and Martin Dickie
Began as: A small home-brewing challenge
BrewDog was based in 2007. Its founders, James Watt and Martin Dickie, had been annoyed with the shortage of fine craft beer within the UK, and so determined to start out brewing their very own.
At first, they brewed in small batches and offered their beer from the again of a van. A yr later, The Portman Group – the UK’s regulator for alcohol labelling, packaging and manufacturing – banned the product, however BrewDog continued buying and selling and exporting its beers to Sweden, Japan and America. It additionally grew to become Scotland’s largest unbiased brewery.
BrewDog later opened its first bar in Aberdeen in 2010, earlier than increasing to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London the next yr. Extra bars and breweries continued to open over the following few years, together with abroad in nations like Germany, Australia and the USA. It additionally launched its Fairness for Punks crowdfunding initiative in 2017, permitting followers and clients to put money into the corporate and turn out to be shareholders.
These days, BrewDog operates quite a few bars and breweries worldwide and is recognised as one of many largest unbiased craft beer manufacturers globally, value round £1.62 billion.
Beginning your microbrewery
If you happen to’re within the brewery commerce, learn our information on beginning a microbrewery for all of the necessities you want – from choosing the proper gear to navigating authorized necessities and crafting a marketing strategy.
5. Moonpig
Founder(s): Nick Jenkins
Began as: A artistic interest to counter the day job
Nick Jenkins began Moonpig in 2000 as a facet challenge whereas working in finance. The identify “Moonpig” originated from his nickname in school and was created to permit clients to personalise greeting playing cards. The collapse of the dot-com bubble made progress tough at first, however Jenkins was in a position to elevate funding from non-public traders and enterprise capital, and his enterprise was finally in a position to make earnings in 2005.
Later down the road, Moonpig expanded its merchandise by providing items to connect to playing cards in 2007 and has since prolonged its product vary to incorporate flowers, wine, vouchers and extra. That very same yr, the corporate was chargeable for 90% of the net greeting card market within the UK.
As for Jenkins himself, he went on to turn out to be a “dragon” for the favored BBC Two enterprise sequence Dragons’ Den within the thirteenth and fourteenth seasons. He additionally offered Moonpig in 2011 to on-line photograph printing firm Photobox for round £120 million. Ten years later, Moonpig was admitted to buying and selling on the London Inventory Alternate’s Essential Marketplace for listed securities – marking a big milestone in its development and giving the corporate the chance for additional enlargement.
Beginning an ecommerce enterprise
Need to launch your on-line retailer? Learn our ecommerce enterprise information for a step-by-step breakdown of the whole lot it’s essential begin.
6. Deliveroo
Founder(s): Will Shu and Greg Orlowski
Began as: An concept that wanted time to develop
Deliveroo was based in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski. 9 years earlier, Shu was working as an funding financial institution at Morgan Stanley and had moved from its New York workplace to London. Pissed off with the shortage of fine meals supply choices within the metropolis, he recognised the necessity for a service that allowed clients to order and have meals delivered to their door rapidly.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t till 2013 when Shu and his enterprise accomplice Orlowski lastly had the expertise obtainable to place this plan into motion – first launching its companies in London with a small choice of eating places. Shu initially delivered the meals himself to make sure high quality and perceive the logistics of the enterprise.
Inside simply the primary yr, Deliveroo rapidly gained traction – increasing to a number of neighbourhoods throughout London and establishing partnerships with numerous eating places. In 2015, it raised its first important funding spherical of $25 million (£19m) from Hoxton Ventures, which was used to broaden into new cities and enhance its expertise and logistics. In the identical yr, its service prolonged to cities throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and The Center East.
Now, Deliveroo operates in 12 nations internationally and is partnered with 183,000 UK eating places as of July 2024.
7. Not On The Excessive Avenue
Founder(s): Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish
Began as: A facet challenge whereas working full-time
Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish began Not On The Excessive Avenue in 2006 from Tucker’s kitchen desk – Tucker working in promoting and Cornish working in publishing on the time.
The pair seen a spot available in the market for distinctive, handmade items and needed to create a platform for small artistic companies to achieve a wider viewers. Whereas it confronted fierce competitors from the likes of Amazon and eBay, its core values in giving publicity to small companies didn’t gradual it down.
By 2010, the NOTHS web site attracted 1000’s of shoppers, and its popularity as a vacation spot for artistic and personalised items unfold. 4 years later, the corporate launched its first abroad market in Germany, with greater than 100 German companions on board.
NOTHS now has greater than 4 million clients, and its UK-based market has over 38 million distinctive guests per yr. The corporate additionally introduced in September 2024 that it was partnering with Deliveroo to supply its clients on-demand supply for sure items and merchandise.
Beginning your retail enterprise
Need to open your individual retailer? Our information on beginning a retail enterprise gives you the important suggestions it’s essential arrange your store efficiently.
These seven corporations show {that a} facet hustle can develop into one thing larger than its humble beginnings. Whether or not you’re engaged on a facet challenge or dreaming of launching your individual enterprise, these tales present that with the appropriate mindset, you may succeed.
Your subsequent large success may begin with a easy concept, and who is aware of? You would possibly simply find yourself on our subsequent Startups 100 record!
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