George Frost of The Duppy Share (00:09)
If someone is about to walk into a room full of potential investors to pitch their idea, what is the one piece of advice you can give them?
George Frost of The Duppy Share (00:26)
Ah, it’s hard! For me, we’re fundraising at the moment, and I think it’s a blend of clearly being a dreamer—having a massive goal you want to achieve—but being realistic about it. When we go in to pitch, we hear a lot of stories from investors about people who come in trying to sell £98 bitters and expecting to sell 100,000 of them. You’ve got to have that tinge of realism to it. They say passion and enthusiasm can win over anything, but it has to have that realism. As Dawn points out as well, research the opportunity until you’re blue in the face and know that you’ve got the answer. Brand people will tell you the most important thing in a business is the “why” and why you’re doing it, but if there’s not a gap for your product, then what’s the point? It comes down to knowing your numbers. My boss is one of the most amazing entrepreneurs—the third-biggest whiskey collector in the world, a visionary, an incredible man. I know so many people who have pitched to him, and he knows numbers inside out; he’ll look at a pitch and say, “That doesn’t work. You’re not being realistic.” So really know your numbers and make sure you have a clear understanding of whether it’s achievable. If you don’t know your numbers, find a business partner who does—that’s what I’m lucky to have.
Dawn Davies of Specialty Drinks (02:00)
Hi, I’m Dawn.
Audience Member (02:09)
You said there’s no point pitching another unique gin to you. What would make it appealing to you to listen to another gin pitch? Also, if the category you’re in isn’t very large and you’re trying to find a benchmark to test your product against, what would you suggest when benchmarks are hard to find?
Dawn Davies of Specialty Drinks (02:38)
That’s a really good question. For me at the moment, I’m delisting gins quicker than I’m buying them. Why am I doing that against what everyone on the planet is saying? Because I want to be the trendsetter in five years, not just follow the trend now. For me, I’m growing rum as a category, mezcal as a category, and non-juniper botanical spirits as a category—not alcohol-free or low alcohol, but alternative botanical spirits. When you’re a buyer, you have to have vision. I want to be known for launching the best products. If a gin comes along now, it has to be good liquid. If it’s not good liquid, don’t even bother me. I say no to probably 95% of the gins I try because they’re not different.
Dawn Davies of Specialty Drinks (03:32)
How do you benchmark when you’re in something that doesn’t have much to benchmark against? Benchmark against liquid quality. Balance is the most important thing in a liquid: nothing should stand out, the alcohol should be balanced, and the texture should be good. Go look at other spirits that are well-known to have good qualities.For instance, take non-juniper botanical spirits—that’s not really a established category at the moment, but we’re developing it because, I’m sorry, gin (the clue is in the title) should fucking taste of juniper! Non-juniper botanical spirits are much more interesting because we can play with different flavor profiles. Look at what pioneers in that space—like René Redzepi and the team at Empirical Spirits—are doing. They benchmarked against things that were sensory-adjacent. If your botanical spirit has aniseed notes, benchmark it against something similar.If you’re doing something that doesn’t have much category scope around it, that’s a good thing! Just go give it to people to taste and ask, “Would you like this?” At the end of the day, people will tell you if it’s good, bad, or indifferent.
