S02E08 James Watt - Co-Founder and CEO of BrewDog: Resilience and Vision - The incredible stories behind a billion dollar business.
To celebrate the landmark 25th episode of the podcast, I was delighted to be able to speak with the Co-Founder and CEO of BrewDog, James Watt.
BrewDog is valued at over $1,500,000,000 and is one of the UK’s leading Unicorn companies… However, it’s been far from a smooth ride.
Having decided that a career as a lawyer ‘in a cheap suit doing glorified admin’ wasn't for him, he spent several years working on a North Atlantic fishing boat and that’s where a lot of his business resilience came from.
We discussed many areas of business but these stood out:
- Marketing; He shares some incredible stories about the crazy stunts that BrewDog created to gain publicity. Some were wildly successful and some less so - but they all got tons of attention for the brand.
- The value of constraints: He tells the story of their pitch to the TV show Dragon’s Den and what happened next. It’s a masterclass in creativity and how to use constraints to your advantage.
- A powerful vision: James is crystal clear about his values and that of the company, the team and the community that they’ve created. And he doesn't hold back on defining the vision - total world domination!
James is a world-class storyteller, a rebel, a leader and undoubtedly a Bulletproof Entrepreneur.
You are going to love this conversation- ladies and gentlemen I give you Mr. James Watt.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-watt-21a5a912b/?originalSubdomain=uk
James Watt - BrewDog CEO - YouTube
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
This podcast is produced by GR Media
Sponsored by Capital Asset Management
