3 Business Lessons from a Beer Billionaire

I was delighted to speak with James Watt, the co-founder and CEO of the BrewDog brewery, pubs, and hotels group.

BrewDog is an outstanding British success story. It's one of the world’s leading beer brands, valued at almost ￡2 billion and has come a long way from humble beginnings in its hometown in Scotland, where "two men and a dog" brewed its homemade version of craft beer.

But it wasn’t easy, and James shared several valuable life lessons during our conversation.

Constraints can be valuable.

Desperate for investment in their early days, James and his co-founder, Martin, travelled to Manchester to audition for the TV show Dragon’s Den.?

They rehearsed their pitch during the drive to the TV studio and planned to ask for ￡100,000 for 20% of their business. They were confident they’d receive a great offer from one of the Dragons.

Unfortunately, at the audition, the producers decided they weren’t a good fit, so they were denied the chance to pitch their idea. They went home utterly dejected but knew they had to find another way to find investment; otherwise, their business would fail.

Eventually, that led to the launch of ‘Equity for Punks’, the world’s first crowdfunding scheme. Thousands of small investors who enjoyed Brewdog beer and were part of their community pledged to give money to the company in return for shares in the business.

James said that the scheme has had the single biggest impact on their long-term success. Now, over 230,000 Brewdog fans have joined the programme and invested in their favourite beer brand.

The crazy thing is that if a Dragon had invested ￡100,000 for 20% of Brewdog back then, it would now be worth over ￡350 million and would have been the most successful investment ever made on the show!??

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade (and add it to your beer!).??

To err is human, but fix your mistakes.

Brewdog has gained notoriety for its outrageous public relations stunts, such as driving a tank through London to announce the opening of their first pub and dropping stuffed "fat cats" from a helicopter to announce their fundraising, which was carried out without the aid of "fat cat" bankers and money men.?

However, one campaign that backfired was the infamous "gold can" promotion. They announced that they would be giving away a number of solid gold cans hidden amongst the standard packs of beer. However, the cans were gold-plated and not solid gold, and numerous recipients complained that they had been misled.

So, James decided to pay anyone unhappy with the gold can the value it would have had if the can was solid gold. The payment would be from him, not the company or shareholders, and the whole episode cost James ￡500,000!

It was a painful mistake, no doubt, but he protected the brand and his reputation by ensuring that no customers lost out due to his error.?

Sometimes, you’ve got to own up, say sorry, and fix the problem.

‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. Warren Buffett

The power of a vision

James is crystal clear about his values and those of the company, the team, and the community they’ve created. He doesn't hold back on defining the vision—total world dominance!

They also want to do good for the people who work for Brewdog, their customers who buy the products, and positively impact the planet. Every decision they make at the company is through the lens of this vision.?

So, they’ve backed it up with clear actions, such as ensuring that 50% of profits in their bars are shared with the staff. They've purchased a large estate in Scotland on which they plan to plant millions of trees to help pull carbon from the atmosphere and ensure they become a zero-emissions company.

Even if you’re not planning to take over the world, having a vision of where you want to go is vital. Once you’re clear on what a ‘life well lived’ looks like in your unique circumstances, you can ensure that every decision you take moves you towards it and not away from it.?

James is a world-class storyteller and entrepreneur. By the age of 40, he had taken the germ of an idea and turned it into a wildly successful business through his tenacity, relentless focus, and sheer determination.

There are lessons there for all of us.

To listen to my conversation with James, click this link or find it on any pod platform.