Asserting ideas, achieving goals: be an asshole!
// ByJames Watt
If you want to push your ideas through and achieve goals, you have to be an asshole in a way. At least a certain amount of egoism is part of it: Because not everyone likes that either: Those who want to be successful do (usually) well to ignore the advice of others.
Tear the rules to shreds!
In the 1970s, punk rock changed the world. It was more than just music. He was a cultural phenomenon. Our business at BrewDog is built on the punk mentality. At its core, punk is about learning the skills you need to do something on your own terms. At BrewDog we reject the status quo, we are committed, we don't give a damn about everyone and we always do things that make us true to ourselves. From the beginning we had an anti-authoritarian and non-conformist approach.
Inspired by everything that is punk, we wanted to instigate a contemporary rebellion against types of beer that conformed to the mass market without any taste and a tough revolt against brands that are so meaningless that you immediately forget them. We took an anarchist, undoubtedly daring, do-it-yourself approach, tore the business rules to shreds and did our own thing. The results have been overwhelming.
"From my point of view, punk means being an individual and swimming against the current." Johnny Ramone (punk archetype)
"I've always said that punk is an attitude ... It had something to do with destruction and the creative potential that lies in it." Malcolm McLaren (original punk)
Hello, let's change the world
Flashback to 2007. BrewDog was born in a shed in a remote, godforsaken industrial estate in northeast Scotland. Martin Dickie (my best friend) and I started a tiny brewery with a huge mission: to revolutionize the UK brewing industry and completely change British beer culture. This book documents the philosophy behind our wild roller coaster ride, from which BrewDog emerged as a disruptive catalyst for the craft beer movement in the UK and beyond.
Prior to founding BrewDog, I had turned my back on my legal career and tried my hand at the surging waters of the stormy North Atlantic, first on the deck of a deep-sea trawler and then as a fully trained captain. Five years of work in one of the harshest environments in the world and in captain training taught me a lot about people, leadership, teamwork and setbacks. It was incredibly tough, but I loved every second of it. Ultimately, effective crew leadership must be top-down, bottom-up, and every other direction in between.
There is no room for doubt in the most dangerous place on earth
Many of my unorthodox business strategies that blew the sails of the pirate ship BrewDog were shaped on the stormy Atlantic. In one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, there is no room for doubt; risk is lurking everywhere, leadership must be quick and determined, and survival is always the first step to success. I found it hard to hang up my captain's hat, but I discovered something I loved even more than the sea: craft beer. I've always been passionate about beer, and I started homebrewing in retaliation in 2004 when Martin and I brewed a storm in our garage.
The chance encounter with the legendary British beer specialist Michael Jackson led Martin and I to take the step of realizing our dream and founding our first own craft brewery. After Michael tasted one of our homemade brews, Michael said we should quit our jobs and start brewing. That was the last advice we ever took.
From two-man operation to global success
For the past four years, BrewDog has officially been the fastest growing food and beverage company in the UK and the fastest growing bar and restaurant operator, topping the growth charts in not just one but two industries, both domestic as the international business became noticeably stronger. Our operation, which started at just £ 30000 *, now has sales of over £ 50 million and has made solid profits every single year since it was founded.
What started in 2007 with two people and a dog has grown naturally in less than eight years to a company that employs 500 people. We deliver our BrewDog beers to over 50 countries because we want to question people's perception of what beer is and, in the end, infect others with our passion for craft beer by bringing diversity of flavors and craftsmanship back into beer glasses. Martin and I also do the longest-lived beer show in television history: BrewDogs is now broadcast in over 20 countries.
Come on and show what you can do!
Our brewery, still in the north east of Scotland, is one of the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly in the world. In addition to our state-of-the-art brewery, we now own and operate over 40 BrewDog craft beer bars in flagship locations in Tokyo, London, Edinburgh, São Paulo, Rome, Barcelona, Helsinki, Berlin and Stockholm. And recently we started building a flagship brewery in Columbus, Ohio. Starting an ambitious small company with almost no start-up capital is daring, turbulent - and lonely. Our blissful naivety and lack of experience turned out to be our greatest asset. We didn't know how to do that, so we just went to work and did it our own way. And on that occasion, we inadvertently created an entirely new approach to business. Business for Punks outlines this revolutionary philosophy and states that there are both good and bad sides to learning how to run and grow a business the hard way.
The conditions for small businesses have changed radically in recent years. Business for Punks is a manifesto for 21st century companies. Tear up the thick old textbooks, defend yourself against the status quo, bring down the establishment and welcome the dawn of a new era! The following applies: Business start-ups are not for homeless self-protection militias. In all likelihood, a company will fail.
80 percent of all start-ups fail right at the beginning
The stars are bad. 80 percent of all company start-ups fail within the first 18 months. That's 800 out of 1000, eight out of ten, four out of five start-ups that flop and perish after being founded. It's just a fact. No matter how you write it, it doesn't read nicely. These devastating mortality statistics are a relentless reminder of today's brutal economic environment. So, if you are thinking about starting a business, in all likelihood it will fail. And it's not just your business that gets hit in the proc
