James Watt on LinkedIn: My 5 worst investments. And what I learned.   As an investor, I have been… | 304 comments (2024)

When you become a little bit successful at something, it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everything you do will be equally successful.I, like most people, have learned that lesson the hard way.Success in any activity, field or discipline is incredibly difficult to achieve and must always be earned.One of the more fun and more enlightening misadventures I’ve had was when I decided that I would, as a hobby, make a documentary about sharks and just how important they are to our planet’s ecosystem.Sadly, I was not able to sell the documentary or get it fully commissioned. I pitched it to pretty much everyone from Netflix to non-entity production companies. No takers. My passion for this project severely outweighed any remote chances of commercial or even artistic success.However, I did get to meet some fantastic people and come face to face with some huge Great White sharks.And it also meant that I was left with an amazing extended trailer, which I am apprehensively sharing with you all after it has been sat gathering dust in the archives of my MacBook for the last 24 months.I am also not really sure LinkedIn is the right place for shark content, but all my other potential avenues here were not too promising. Please Enjoy – and I am happy that at least some people get to see it.

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Our recent dispute with Durham City Council, where we have had a fully fitted out BrewDog Bar ready to open for 18 months, reminds me of our earlier struggles with the council in Fraserburgh which ultimately led to us relocating our business to Ellon.Fraserburgh is where BrewDog started back in 2007. It was very close to where Martin and I were living at the time. We started in a small industrial unit rented from the local council.As demand for our beers grew in both the UK and around the world it was clear that we needed more space. We wanted to stay in Fraserburgh, but the local authorities made that impossible.We intended to lease the buildings next to us, but the council just refused. We asked them why and they told us it was because they were looking to redevelop them. I offered to sign a lease which they could terminate anytime with only two weeks’ notice, but even that was refused.I found it incompressible that the council would turn down an offer on such favourable terms . They would have received rent on an otherwise empty unit and we would have created well-paying jobs which the area badly needed.Exasperated, we had no option but to relocate. BrewDog HQ moved to Ellon in 2013 and it has been our home ever since. We love being part of the Ellon community and we are proud to have helped created over 4,000 jobs globally since 2007.Fast-forward to today and despite a meeting with Durham Council leaders last week we still have no idea when we can open our new site there (they had originally told us we could open in December 2022)I found the meeting incredibly frustrating. The council refused to take any responsibility or ownership of the situation at all and refused to even let me know when they would be in a position to tell us when we could open the doors.The public sector, and especially the council, just don’t seem to understand job creation and economic development and I believe this is one of the main reasons why we are lagging so badly behind other developed economics.Councils looking after economic development is like a vegan preparing a steak buffet. The mindsets and ways of operating and just so incompatible. Slow, unaccountable and overly bureaucratic businesses go extinct, unfortunately there is no such natural selection in place for public bodies.The UK economy is hurting badly. In the last couple of years, we have seen inflation at the highest levels in living memory, tens of thousands of businesses disappearing and the cost of living for families spiralling leading to a corresponding decrease in our collective standard of living.If local authorities continue to hinder businesses and job creation then it is going to be very difficult for the UK to reclaim its place as one of the world’s leading economies and one of the world’s best places to live.

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What do you do when you’re told your beer is forbidden because it has a bird on it?If you're our clever distributor in Wingman Iceland, you:- Listen to the decision of the ATVR (the only shops allowed to sell alcohol in Iceland)- Put a VERY simple sticker saying 'CENSORED BY ATVR' on the bird's face face- Smile when ATVR then say the sticker means the Wingman cans can now be sold- Go about your business, knowing you are a true BrewDog hero.Vel gert, Iceland!

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Today, I have undertaken the Founders Pledge promise – a promise to donate a significant portion of any future proceeds from my BrewDog equity to help drive positive change in our world. Since starting BrewDog in 2007, I have always steadfastly believed that business should be a force for good and my commitment to the to the Founders Pledge is the latest step on this journey.For those of you who are not familiar with it, Founders Pledge is a ground-breaking global community of entrepreneurs and investors committed to using their collective resources and brain power to address the world’s most pressing problems. As a group, Founders Pledge they are fully focussed on delivering maximum positive impact in everything they do by advising on, facilitating and maximising the impact of their member’s charitable giving. Their team team use extensive research, science and detailed evidence to help identify the best-run, most effective organizations in all fields of charitable giving. Helping entrepreneurs maximize the impact that their giving has.I especially love the Founders Pledge commitment because it means society is invested in enterprise, and enterprise is invested in society, and I fully believe that that the people who create wealth have a responsibility to society that extends well beyond paying their taxes. My Founders Pledge commitment is also in addition to the 20% of my equity in BrewDog which I gifted to our amazing team members 2 years ago. Furthermore, I will also look to commit to Founders Pledge in any of my future ventures too. For any founder wondering how to get started with philanthropy or be more strategic with how you give, I highly recommend connecting with the brilliant visionary David Goldberg, and you can join this now 2,000 strong global community. Let’s build a better world.

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BrewDog Headlines Versus Reality Last week I shared an update on our ambitious reforestation project, the Lost Forest, in the heart of the Scottish Highlands.We have already restored thousands of acres of peatland (peatland restoration is a very effective form of carbon sequestration) and last year we planted the first 500,000 of that will be well over 1 million trees.Due to an incredibly hot and dry summer followed by an unforgivingly harsh winter around 50% of the initial saplings we planted did not survive their first 12 months. This is pretty standard in a project of this size and scale and one whose destiny is solely in the hands of mother nature.A month or so ago, we did a full assessment with our partners at Scottish Woodlands and replanting is ongoing currently and over 80,000 (30%) of the failed saplings have already been replaced and they will all be fully replaced by the end of this Spring. Not a huge deal overall - the weather killed some of our baby trees and we are currently well through the process of replacing them. But normal things don’t sell newspapers and normal headlines don’t get clicks.The media headlines on this have been insanely disappointing:‘BrewDog’s Plan To Save The World Doomed’‘BrewDog’s Lost Forest In Tatters’‘BrewDog In Epic Forest Fail’‘BrewDog's attempt to 'save the planet' in ruins.’We are investing tens of millions to help fight climate change and help save our home planet. Yet sections of media tore us to pieces for something which is completely out with our control and something which we are already well on the way to full rectifying.I really worry about the implications for sustainability here.Companies who try and take on this fight, are never going to get everything right every single time.If normal parts of the sustainability process are weaponized and sensationalised by the press and used to attack companies trying to do the right thing the net result will simply be that less and less companies being willing to take a stand against climate change.And that, sadly, will be a tragedy for everyone.At BrewDog, thankfully we are pretty used to the noise, we are going to tune it out and continue with our steadfast commitment to doing all we can from a sustainability perspective.

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Welcome to the family BrewDog Denver!We officially open the doors today.

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Tiny Baby Trees versus Scottish Weather: A Lost Forest Update. 🌲 How many trees do you think are cut down each year for agriculture, timber and to make way for new towns and cities?Unbelievably, the answer is 15.3 billion. That’s right, every year, humans destroy over fifteen billion trees, replacing only about eight per cent with new planting.It’s reckoned we need to increase planting by about 1.2 billion trees a year to help combat the effects of climate change.Our Lost Forest project in the Highlands of Scotland will make only a tiny contribution to that goal, but it’s something we feel incredibly passionate about. Standing up to climate change can be an incredibly daunting task and it would be all too easy to disengage; to decide to leave it to others and even to deride the efforts of those who choose to fight.But if everyone did that, there’d be no hope for humanity. So, we stay the course, and we don’t let setbacks, such as the one we’re currently experiencing, dishearten us.Last year we planted 500,000 trees in partnership with our friends at Scottish Woodlands. But then came the fifth hottest Scottish summer on record.An incredibly hot and dry summer was followed by a harsh winter as savage gales and sweeping frosts hammered the Scottish Highlands. Woodland projects of this scale are always a challenge. You know that some saplings won’t survive, and you plan for it from the outset. But last summer’s extremeconditions resulted in a higher-than-expected failure rate, particularly Scots Pine, which is one of eleven native species we planted.It’s disappointing. Our partners have estimated that around 50% of the 500,000 saplings planted did not survive their first 12 months. We have done a full assessment with Scottish Woodlands Ltd and two weeks ago we began replanting the failed saplings in earnest and we have already replaced 50,000 of the baby trees that did not survive the winter.At BrewDog we remain committed to doing as much as we can to be as sustainable as possible as we work hand in hand with Professor Mike Berners Lee and his team on our sustainability strategy and sustainability initiatives across our business.One thing that is for sure is that sustainability is hard. Whatever you do, you could do more. Whatever you do, there are critics who love nothing more than to tear it down. Whatever you do, it can feel totally insignificant. And things don’t always go to plan.Sustainability, like life, is hard, but it sure as hell beats the alternative.

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Of all the businesses I have invested in, Tallow + Ash is certainly one of the most exciting.Despite only launching in summer last year, the fledgling laundry business, led by the brilliant Ciara McGurk & Matt Rees, now has a run rate revenue of over £6m.We have just moved into amazing new premises (think warehouse, but make it cute!) and we have just added a brilliant operations director to the team.As we continue to grow we are looking to build out our team as well as find key partners to help the business scale. At the moment we are looking for:A PR agency. Tallow + Ash have never had a PR agency before and we are looking for a scrappy, hungry and tenacious PR partner to help tell the compelling Tallow + Ash story as we continue to grow the brand.A Head of Sales or a Head of National Accounts – we currently only sell direct to our customers and we are looking to add a head of national accounts to the team to handle the huge amount of inbound we get from the grocers and help us take Tallow + Ash to the next level.If you are interested in becoming Tallow + Ash’s PR partner please leave a comment below and we will be in touch with next steps and if you are keen on being the first sales person in what looks set to be a fantastic growth journey please send me a DM and I will ensure you are part of the recruitment process.Tallow + Ash also have some outstanding innovation coming soon and I am confident they can build a brilliant UK based business which scales internationally.🚀

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BrewDog Q1 2024 Recap 📈 With the first quarter of the year done and dusted I wanted to share some details of how our business performed as well as share some context from our wider industry. It is fair to say that the 2 main sectors in which we operate – craft beer and hospitality have both had very challenged starts to 2024. Against that context the performance that our amazing BrewDog team have delivered is phenomenal.Hospitality in the UK and beyond is really struggling as increased costs means prices have had to increase at a time when consumers incomes have been squeezed. The bar industry in the UK is down over 11% versus last year and last week the UK bar industry was an alarming 22% down.Our BrewDog Bars over the course of 2024 so far have been 2.5% down. Not where we want to be, but it is hard to be too unhappy with our hospitality performance when we are 10% ahead of our wider industry.Beer sales in UK grocery are also down on last year (-1%) and in our most important channel BrewDog is an amazing 34% which puts our performance at 35% ahead of our competitive set making us the fastest growing beer business in the UK in 2024 so far.Here are some of our highlights of 2024 so far in UK grocery:BrewDog overtaken Asahi and our now 6th largest brewer.BrewDog the fastest growing UK brewer in both value and volume.Our volumes are up 34% vs total beer down 1%.Lost Lager is the UK’s fastest growing premium lager and is up 58% over the last 12 weeks.Lost Lager is growing 3 times faster than Madri and is now 23% of the size of Heineken.Wingman is now the 5th largest craft brand in the UK (it only launched last October).In 2024 Black Heart is already at 25% of Guinness Draught sales in Sainsbury's’s & Morrisons – a brilliant start to a beer only born in 2023.We also have some amazingly exciting new openings on the horizon with Denver opening next week, Columbus airport next month and Bangkok the month thereafter. We also have our brand new lager, Cold Beer, launching nationwide in Tesco next week.Whilst our Q1 performance has been good, during these uncertain economic times, as a team we remain fully focussed on delivering the best possible beers and customers experiences we can whilst running our business as diligently as we can until the wider economic picture in the UK improves.I hope you all have had a productive start to 2024 in your respective businesses.

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