The Unlock with Oliver Bruce

What does it take to grow a gin brand with no distilling license in a market flooded with competition and very little knowledge? Felix and his 3 siblings founded Sibling Gin before most of them could legally drink alcohol. Having never run a business, been to University or worked in the food and beverage industry before, all 4 of them took the plunge in 2013 and formed family owned brand Sibling Distillery.

Having enjoyed the boom of the gin market as it became 'cool' in the early years, the recent pandemic saw Felix and his team have to pivot their business from the supply of gin into the supply of hand sanitiser and pure alcohol for use within the NHS. Facing tough times like so many business Felix looks back on what have been an exciting few years and a turbulent few months. 

 

At 25 years old and with over 120 staff Harry Hugo seems to be doing everything right. Aged 18 he raised £25million to start his second business after being turned down earlier on by the Bournemouth Echo for being 'too young' to write for them. 

Now Harry is one of 3 founding partners at the influencer marketing agency Goat and with offices in London, New York and Singapore Harry talks to Oliver about how COVID-19 and enormous overheads left them with 3 options; to sell, raise funding or trade out the crisis.