Eureka moment

I was out running, training for a half marathon when I tried my first energy gel and gagged. It was disgusting and didn't sit well on my stomach, then after my run I had a protein shake and it made my stomach worse. Curious as to what was disagreeing with me, I looked at the ingredient lists and was shocked to see an abundance of lab-made ingredients and no real foods. My interest was piqued, making me question why sports nutrition couldn't be made with natural ingredients rather than man made chemicals.

This set me - and my wife Liz - on the road to developing all-natural sports nutrition for endurance athletes, starting first with protein powders and then expanding our range to include marine collagen, seawater magnesium and maple syrup-based energy gels.

Finance

Protein Rebel [1] has been self-funded, supported with a Kickstarter in 2022 that financed the launch of our maple syrup gels. This approach has allowed us full control over our business direction. Now that we have strong foundations in place, we want to accelerate our growth by looking for investment in 2025.

Regrets

Hiring "experts" who promised so much but ended up being a costly drain. Eighteen months' ago we stripped everything back and focused on doing the basics right ourselves, before gradually bringing in external expertise in a more managed and strategic way.

What would you have changed?

I wish we'd expanded our product range earlier as this has taken our business to a whole new level.