In 2010, Juliet Barratt and her husband Alan launched sports nutrition company Grenade in a bid to bring new products such as drinks and snack bars to fitness enthusiasts.
The pair enjoyed phenomenal growth and success over the following decade, including not one but two private equity buyouts and a string of awards.
This culminated in the duo selling the Solihull company for £200 million in March to Mondelēz International, the US food and beverage firm behind legendary Birmingham-based chocolate brand Cadbury.
READ MORE: {}
Now, in the first of a brand new series of profile features on BusinessLive called How I Made It, Juliet, 47, tells us about her former company's journey and what the future holds.
What is Grenade and how did it first start?
Grenade is one of the world's fastest-growing performance nutrition brands and one of the most exciting fast-moving consumer goods (FMGC) companies in the market.
When we started it, we set out to create an iconic brand that could be trusted and recognised by people all over the world.
We made a commitment to make a serious product for serious people, whether they were high-performance athletes, weekend warriors or elite military, but to never take ourselves seriously in the process.
We would embrace humour and humility and, if we didn't love it, we wouldn't do it. Our first product was so effective, a friend described it as explosive…."like a grenade".
Most Read
This product became (weight management supplement) 'Thermo Detonator' and the brand name Grenade was born.
Sign up to our free daily email newsletters here or why not
What was your 'eureka moment' when you realised you had a good business?
If I'm honest, there wasn't really a eureka moment. This is normally when you have the idea for a business but there were lots of moments that made us proud.
For example, seeing the first product on the shelf in Tesco and getting the first round of private equity investment in 2014.
The first time we got a call from (specialist retailer) GNC in the US wanting to stock our product was obviously big for us and creating the 'Carb Killa' protein bar in 2015 was a hugely important moment in the business.
That actually moved us from sports nutrition into a healthy snacking brand which was obviously a lot more FMCG friendly. Those were moments when we knew that we had a good business.
With the beauty of hindsight, what would you tell your younger self when you were starting out?
Try to get as much work experience as possible, listen to people who have got businesses and experience, take on any advice you can and really strive to find what you want to do before committing.
I would also suggest getting some sort of qualification that is applied to the trade you want to venture into rather than getting a degree with no vocational slant. I did my degree in geography which was fun but didn't really give me a profession.
What does the future hold?
Don’t miss
More business and property. I work as a non-executive director for a couple of food brands - LoveRaw vegan chocolate and Hip Pop, a kombucha gut health drinks company.
I also chair Mister Free'd, a gluten-free, tortilla chips company so I enjoy working with SMEs on their own growth journeys. I also have quite a portfolio of commercial property and I really enjoy working on that.
I'll never sit and put my feet up as I'm useless at relaxing and I haven't ruled out starting another business but it would need to be something that really interests me and I thought there was a genuine need for it.
Who is your role model in business?
Richard Branson. I was lucky enough to meet him and he has a brand that is so strong that he has managed to diversify. All of his companies associated with Virgin have the same brand values and he genuinely seems to have fun doing it.
Which business or business person is getting you excited at the moment?
I like disruptive businesses, particularly those disrupting the food sector, and I also like challenger brands. While Apple seems to have the tech market sewn up, you have smaller brands that are really making it interesting - virtual reality for example.
Finally, which business idea do you wish you had had?
Grenade but ten years earlier…..but then the business might not have worked as there might not have been the need for it back then. I also think the Amazon platform is a great business idea. The fact it is bringing all these products together in one marketplace to sell is super genius.