BrewDog founder James Watt has said there “has never been a more difficult time to start a business in the UK”, blaming the Chancellor’s Budget for making it tougher for entrepreneurs.
It came as the Scottish businessman, whose comments about work-life balance have stoked controversy in recent weeks, announced plans for a new reality show with the largest cash prize in UK TV history.
Mr Watt is seeking entrepreneurs to take part in House Of Unicorns, in which they will have a chance of winning £2m to help grow their businesses, with the aim of seeing them grow to be worth £1bn or more.
The entrepreneur, who co-founded craft beer giant BrewDog in Aberdeenshire in 2007, will invest £1m of his own cash into the winning business, with another £1m from Founders Capital, Europe’s largest founder investor community.
Mr Watt departed his position leading BrewDog last year, though holds a non-executive role of “captain and co-founder”. Before his departure there had been several issues among employees, with a section reporting a “toxic” workplace environment and a “cult of personality”, as a signed letter claimed.
The co-founder apologised at the time and the company promised to learn from the episode.
There has also been backlash from staff after BrewDog rowed back on an earlier pledge to pay the real living wage.
Mr Watt is teaming up with Sony and Whisper Productions to make the new programme, having previously invested in a raft of businesses through his The Next Unicorn online show.
Founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders will be put through their paces over the course of six weeks to compete for the chance to claim the £2m prize.
Mr Watt said the plan for the show stemmed from frustrations over the current array of business investment shows, such as Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice.
He said: “I’ve always been so disillusioned and, frankly, fed up with the tired format of reality TV business shows relying on worn-out tropes and stale stereotypes of entrepreneurs for comedy value, which are well past their sell-by date.”
He said he hopes to “double the amount” of UK unicorns – firms valued at £1bn or more – through the show. The Times report 86 of the UK’s 400,000 start-ups have achieved this status.
However, he told the PA news agency he believes policies by the new Labour Government have made starting a new business harder in the UK.
He added: “I think we partly wanted to do this because it’s never been a more difficult time to start a business in the UK.
“There are still an amazing batch of entrepreneurs and opportunities in the UK, but I think the environment at the minute does mean that some need that extra support to really grow to their full potential.
“I don’t think the autumn Budget was helpful, and we are seeing founders leaving to run businesses overseas, so I really hope we see the momentum shift soon.”
On what to expect, the TV show’s website suggests: “The show will take a group of ambitious companies on a journey to not only scale their businesses but also build brands that evoke emotion, inspire loyalty, and become famous.
“Over six intense weeks, these start-ups will experience a crash course in what it takes to not just grow but become a staple of the UK economy and be on a path to unicorn [status].”
