Richard Reed

Shared by Ed Make Your Mark team

Richard Reed co-founded Innocent Drinks with two friends in 1998. The company - which prides itself on acting responsibly - has grown quickly and now has a turnover of £76 million.

What gave you the idea for setting up your own business?

My friends, Adam Balon and Jon Wright and I had always talked about setting up our own business. We all went on to different jobs after we left uni, but we’d still talk about business ideas.

We had a couple of random thoughts – the amazing electric bath, anyone? – but eventually we thought we should heed the advice of a former boss of mine: if you’re setting up a business, make sure you know your target audience.

The only target audience we absolutely knew was our friends and family, and what we identified was a need for something healthy that we and our friends and family could consume despite the long hours we worked and relatively unhealthy lifestyles we had as a result. Innocent was conceived from the idea of making it easy for people to do themselves some good.

What made you decide to make it a reality?

In the summer of 1998, when we had developed our first smoothie recipes but were still nervous about giving up our jobs [Richard worked in advertising, Adam and Jon in consultancy], we bought £500 worth of fruit, turned it into smoothies and sold them from a stall at a little music festival in London.

We put up a big sign saying ‘Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?’ and put out a bin saying ‘YES’ and a bin saying ‘NO’ and asked people to put the empty bottle in the right bin. At the end of the weekend the ‘YES’ bin was full so we went in the next day and resigned.

Basically it was three friends getting together, coming up with an idea and deciding to give it a go. We were working incredibly hard, not afraid to see how far we could take it, and not afraid to start small.

How did you feel when you took the decision to leave a secure job and launch yourself into the unknown?

Both apprehensive and excited; there’s a book with a fairly cheesy title that I think sums it up perfectly: Feel the Fear – and Do it Anyway! You shouldn’t have to feel comfortable when you’re setting up your own business.

Having said that, doing it as part of a team made a big difference; I wouldn’t have even contemplated doing it on my own. We had a lot of support from friends and family, which helped too.

But I would say that anyone starting their own business needs to have a clear idea of what they are selling, and dogged determination. You also need passion – but without letting go of the original idea. You have to be focused, single minded and never lose sight of what it is you’re trying to achieve.

What future plans do you have for Innocent?

We want to become a global, natural, ethical smoothie company; at the moment we’re a European, natural, ethical smoothie company. Our ultimate aim is geographical expansion, but we would also eventually like to take our principles to other areas of food.

Do you think it’s important for young people to grow up in a culture that makes it easier for them to make their ideas happen?

In the main, I’d say yes – but the defining idea of an entrepreneur is that you don’t wait for external factors to get things flowing for you. If you’re not the kind of person who’ll make an idea happen, you’re not an entrepreneur.

However, a society which is supportive and liberal about enterprise is a great environment in which to progress. We benefited from setting up a business in a country that is very liberal about helping people do this.

What qualities do you think a budding entrepreneur needs to have?

Obviously every individual is different, but I would say that one unifying trait every entrepreneur has, or needs to have, is initiative; the desire to ensure that things keep improving, and learning from what they do.

Budding entrepreneurs are the people at school who say, ‘there’s no after school drama group’ or whatever, who says, ‘I know, why don’t I set it up’. A lot of people have the idea, or the attitude, that life happens to them – but it’s the complete opposite: only you can make things happen for yourself.

What do you think of the notion of trying to encourage enterprise culture in the UK?

I think that anything which puts out that entrepreneurship is an option, is great. I don’t remember anyone raising it when I was starting out. I had a great education, but all education seems to be geared to the idea of ‘going and getting a job’ – no ever said, ‘actually, you could be your own boss’.

There are, of course, people for whom that isn’t the right course of action, but it would be good for people to know that the possibility exists and is attainable.

The entrepreneurship route is slightly underrepresented; you’re told how to get to be a lawyer or a doctor, etc, so why not how to become an entrepreneur? The main thing people need to know is how much of a grind it’s going to be!