Welcome to Ignition Law’s ‘Igniting The Spark’ series where we spend five minutes with inspiring entrepreneurs, talking about the key moments that defined their careers.
This month we caught up with Steve Wilkinson, Co-Founder of Skinny Drinks Group. Skinny Drinks Group are on a plant-based mission to pioneer a healthier way of drinking for the consumer and the environment without compromise on taste. Their award-winning hero brand Skinny Tonic is the world’s first mixer range to be zero sugar, zero calories and 100% natural. www.skinnytonics.com
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The moment that ignited the spark in me to start a business was:
Meeting my business partner, Ian Minton. We share the same vision of becoming trailblazers and making a difference to people’s lives by using innovation to create a soft drinks revolution. We bounce off each other formulating strategies to push our company forward. I feel a great sense of achievement now that I see our strategies delivering growth.
The toughest challenge I’ve faced is (and how I overcame it)…
Getting someone to make our products who shared our extremely high standard of production values and was committed to making drinks with sustainability and the environment in mind was the biggest challenge. Quite simply, there was no one out there. So we decided to do it ourselves. We set up a production plant from scratch at a 6000 square foot unit which seemed massive until we moved to our current 45,000 square foot home a few months ago. We are already looking to take more space after huge contract wins commencing 2022.
The biggest success has been…
Whilst the business as a whole has had many successes over the last 18 months from Skinny Tonic being the No.1, 2 and 3 best-selling tonic water on Amazon to working with Marks & Spencer as their health innovation partner and producing their own-brand products for them.
My personal biggest achievement has been overseeing 3 hugely successful funding rounds. Firstly raising £1.8m which was 300% over subscribed and closed 10 days early. The Second raising £4.2m which was over 200% oversubscribed and our Pre-IPO round which is in the process of being finalised and is closing in December 2021 where we are looking to raise up to £10m ahead of a stock market listing, hopefully in about 12 months’ time. Contact Investors@SkinnyDrinksGroup.com for more information.
I’m very good at..…
Being self-aware. I know my own strengths and weaknesses. This helps with my decision making and how I align my skills with the rest of the team.
The type of person I look to recruit is…
Someone with a can-do attitude who buys into the ethos of our company, understands the journey we are on and the differences we are looking to implement.
The part of my day I most look forward to is…
First thing in the morning, I’m full of ideas, energy and enthusiasm…. once I have had a cup of tea or two!
If I could give fellow entrepreneurs one piece of advice it would be…
Jump, do it now ! Don’t wait and see opportunities pass you by. Even if you think you are not ready, you might never be 100% ready if you don’t take that first step. Be focused and resilient, It will be a rollercoaster. You will have problems, you will have low moments. There will also be huge highs, make sure you celebrate these and enjoy the journey.
Outside of work I can be found…
Enjoying quality time with my family. The fun I have playing with my children spins into creating a burning hunger inside me to succeed. They are my biggest motivation.
My philosophy on life is…
I believe that I can be a nice guy and still deliver great success. Treat people how you would want to be treated yourself. It’s simple and obvious. You don’t need to tread on people to get to the top. I live my life with a smile on my face and try to surround myself with positive people.
Client story
What was your business challenge? Executing our fundraise.
How did you work with Ignition Law on this? What support did we provide you with? Worked closely in organising board minutes, share cap tables, share certificates, receiving and reviewing application forms from investors.
What did you enjoy most about working with the team at Ignition? The team are always available and extremely quick to respond even in the evenings or a weekends.
