Member Article

Oliver Pugh, co-founder and CEO of EarlyBird: ‘It’s more than just a box of snacks’

If you’d told me last week I’d be speaking to an emerging competitor to the Graze box, I’d have been more than doubting of their business acumen. However, after a quick chat with Oliver Pugh, founder of snack subscription service EarlyBird, I’ve changed my mind (it doesn’t happen often).

The energetic and endlessly-positive entrepreneur told me about his lightbulb moments, the intrepid move to the big city and what it’s like pioneering a creative startup in a one-company marketplace.

“I used to run the day to day business of an events company back in my hometown of Northampton. My friend and colleague, Jamie (Trinder), and I would receive Grazeboxes at work but we quickly became bored the concept,” Ollie told me. “Being an entrepreneurial pair, we had a look around in the market and saw there was nothing else competing on that level.”

Not someone to sit still, Ollie got cracking on a business plan for EarlyBird, a new snack subscription service with a twist. He recalled: “One day, I wrote a story about two guys sat in an office in Northampton who thought we could take on Graze by bringing together food, art and music by creating a festival in a box.

“I sent this idea off to a few brand agencies and, before I knew it, Ian Stephens from Saffron Brand Consultants returned my message. We met up a week later and, by the end of a detailed planning meeting, we had decided to partner up with Ian and his team, giving them five per cent equity in the business”

The EarlyBird team

For Ollie and Jamie, there was no doubt about moving to London to launch EarlyBird. “We walked out of the meeting in disbelief.” He continued, “I packed my bags and, a month later, I moved down to London to put a team together and start researching funds. That’s where the CrowdCube campaign came in - we raised £126k in our first round and we are now looking to use crowdfunding to boost the company once again.”

Following a highly successful first round of crowdfunding, EarlyBird began to grow. They moved out of Ollie’s front room and into central offices, while expanding the team. EarlyBird currently employs seven people in its London HQ and three people in the Derbyshire factory, to which it outsources the box production.

“When we first started up, EarlyBird’s [London] headquarters was in my flat so that was a personal challenge in itself!”

As well as being a creative mind, Ollie certainly has his numbers hat on. He said: “This business only works at scale. We knew from day one that we’d have to raise a significant amount of money to get where we wanted to be. We have seen revenue steadily increase and we reinvest gross profit into additional advertising, which is then supplemented by investment funds that we raise.

Although not a London native, the entrepreneur has built a strong network in the city in the only way he knows how, he added: “I try and get out and about as much as I can. Table Crowd is an amazing service in London, which gets you meeting people you might not always meet in the city. They arrange meet-ups and dinners for like-minded entrepreneurial people and I have met a lot of smart and business-savvy people from that.

“In addition, we currently have 131 current investors, thanks to CrowdCube, and each one of them has a strong support network we are able to tap into.”

“Once we perfect the triad of things - food, art and music - we will be the most striking and individual brand in the marketplace.”

Due to Ollie’s contagious enthusiasm, you’d be easily fooled into thinking the launch of EarlyBird has been a breeze for the duo, however that was far from the case.

“The biggest challenge I’ve faced moving down to London was certainly in the early stages.” Ollie admitted, “When we first started up, EarlyBird’s headquarters was in my flat so that was a personal challenge in itself! Finding and affording suitable property in general has been hard in London, but it’s to be expected in such a vibrant, growing city.”

As an emerging startup in a one-company marketplace, EarlyBird is refreshingly self-aware and determined. Ollie is keen to focus heavily on brand and product development for the startup, while focusing closely on the financials. He concluded: “Once we perfect the triad of things - food, art and music - we will be the most striking and individual brand in the marketplace.

“We are currently working on other themed boxes and we want to become this subscription house with all of these lovely convenient products, peppered with fun. It’s more than just a box of snacks delivered through your door.

“We are beginning the hiring process for several roles within the business. We are looking to grow our digital marketing team as well as our tech crew. We want to push towards break even, which looks at around 7000-8000 weekly boxes.

“Focusing our efforts on people, products and development will help us continue to grow in the next year as we develop our brand and continue to challenge the marketplace.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .