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Innocent Drinks: profile of Richard Reed, the fruit smoothie king

Guest post by: Sue Stockdale

Article Overview: Innocent Drinks are one of the UK's best known brands, and a small company with big ideas. The company turnover is heading towards £100 million and the business is expanding rapidly across Europe. I heard Richard speak recently and felt that their ethos of sustainability driving profitability is very similar to the principles behind many women-owned businesses. In short, Innocent focus on procuring ethically, reducing and offsetting carbon emissions, recycling and putting something back through charitable living.

Innocent Drinks: profile of Richard Reed, the fruit smoothie king

1. What is your business?
Making natural drinks that taste good and do you good.

2. What prompted you to start up in business?
The idea that life would be more fun if I worked with my friends.

3. What was the market situation when you started up?
There was one other smoothie company, but they made theirs from concentrate so we knew that if we made proper natural smoothies we could beat them on taste and nutrition.

4. Do you have a vision for your business and if so, what is it?
We want to become The Earth’s favourite little food company – a vision that encapsulates both the scale of ambition and the fact that our business has to be done in conjunction with Mother Nature, not at her expense. We also want to prove that there is profit in ethics and that business can, and must, be a source of positive change in society.

5. What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?
No one would fund us. We got turned down by every bank, VC and investor we came across. We were told that we scored 0 out of 5 in the investors’ handbook – as we were too young, had never run a business before, had no experience of the sector, were all friends, and said there wasn’t one leader but that all three of us would lead together.

6. So, how did you find the finance to get started?
After unsuccessfully trying every bank, VC company and investor network, in desperation we sent out an email to everyone we knew that simply said in the subject line, ‘Does anyone know anyone rich?’. We got one response from a friend who had done a year’s work experience in the office of a man who made investments, and the man in question went on to be the sole funder of the business.

7. What are your personal qualities that have that have helped you to succeed in business?
Paranoia. Assume nothing is going to work, and be all over it. Enthusiasm – you need to be a constant source of positive energy. Honesty – it is a rare trait in business, it costs nothing and it creates tremendous value. Altruistic – business can be a great way of doing good. And brighter, more talented people want to be part of such a company, and there is nothing more important than getting great people.

8. How do you keep going when things get tough?
We will face tougher times in the future so you should ask me then, but two things have helped me so far. One was someone pointing out to me that it wasn’t supposed to be easy, because if it was everyone would be doing it. That at least stop me thinking, ‘when is it going to feel easier?’. The second bizzarely was an interview I read in the Sunday Times with Barry McGuigan, the boxer. He said his Dad trained him and had the personal motto that ‘Tough times don’t last, tough people do.’ That blew me away, and made me realise that ultimately a large part of success comes down to resilience, which is something that you can develop and improve over time.

9. How do you measure success?
Health. Love. Friendship. Excitement. Nice clothes and holidays. In that order.

10. If you had one piece of advice for someone starting out in business, what would it be?
Find a couple of people who are good at what you are bad at, but share your values and view of what is important in life.

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Article Tags: ambition, conjunction, desperation, ethics, food company, funder, honesty, investor network, little food, man in question, market situation, mother nature, natural drinks, obstacle, paranoia, personal qualities, positive energy, smoothies, subject line, work experience



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