Having the right people join your team is the core reason why your business will grow and therefore it is the one strategy you need to focus most on.
Kevin Glynn, is Co-Founder of Butternut Box, which cooks and delivers boxes of fresh dog food to homes across the UK. His company cooks all of their own meals in a human grade kitchen and they guarantee all of their meals are tested on the team before it leaves their kitchen door. Everything his company does, feeds back into their motto of, “Real good food, Real good times’.
Prior to Co-Founding his company, Kevin spent 4 years on the high yield and distressed debt sales desk of Goldman Sachs. After honing in on his skills there, he decided it was time for a new venture in the pet food space.
Kevin lives in London, UK. In his free time, you can find him boxing, running, listening to Spotify, listening to podcasts about business and catching up with his family, friends and his dog.
Where did the idea for Butternut Box come from?
For Butternut Box, it all started with a dog that wouldn’t stop farting! Rudie was a rescue dog who had a wide range of health issues despite a lot of tender, love and care. One day whilst out on a coffee break with my business partner (Dave), he mentioned the remarkable turnaround Rudie had due to a change in her food to a home cooked diet. That was the lightbulb moment for us and after realising there was no company providing home cooked dog food that resulted in dogs living long and living well, we decided to quit our jobs and set it up ourselves!
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
A typical day would involve me waking up at 6am and making my way to the gym. I am generally in the office for 8.30am with a standing morning meeting kicking off at 9am that lasts about 15 minutes. Everyone runs through what they got up to the day before, what the plan is for the day and outlines if they are having any issues or stuck on any problems. The rest of the day is then jammed with cooking dog food, having meetings on specific areas of the business to make sure everyone is sticking to their KPIs for the week and then also ticking off everything on Asana and my personal daily diary.
How do you bring ideas to life?
We are a nimble team so when we like something, we discuss it, agree or disagree, tweak it if needs be, then someone takes point and puts a deadline on it for a delivery day. Given the stage we are at with Butternut Box, we have the ability to test ideas quickly and can short circuit learnings a great deal.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The use of alternative sources of protein in the food space is fascinating at the moment. You only have to look over to America to see the impact grown meat is having on the market (Impossible Foods). Everything from insect protein to alternative sources of eggs is going to be massive.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Having a morning ritual in my view is the key to unlocking long term productivity gains. Meditation, gym and eating a healthy breakfast would be an easy yet effective starting point to my day. That ritual frames me correctly for the rest of the day.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Things do not happen instantaneously and patience in certain situations is something that is crucial and that you learn overtime.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
There will be no prescribed education system, work week or working hours in the future. Technology and the availability of educational information will evolve so rapidly in the future that diplomas, bachelor degrees and masters will overtime have less value.
People in the future will be benchmarked off of different parameters such as the ability to code or your ability to draw/paint. I believe that the work week and working hours will also have less meaning with more people remotely working from home, freelancing and also the availability of VR will be a game changer.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Carve out time for yourself, your friends and family. It may seem unnatural at the start but it is crucial. Setting up a business is a marathon and you want to be sprinting to the finish line (whenever that is) not crawling.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Having the right people join your team is the core reason why your business will grow and therefore it is the one strategy you need to focus most on.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
We worked very hard but not very smart at the start of the business. Often, I was doing a 100hr work week but the effectiveness of my work started to deteriorate. There are times where it just “has to be done” but other times you can work smarter, plan better and as a result produce better work.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Europe is crying out for a vegan fast food chain that does not have a pure health angle on it. People who are looking to convert to vegan/vegetarianism do not as it is a difficult diet to adhere to. If it was accessible, fast and we were talking burgers and mac ‘n’ cheese then I think you are onto a winner.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
JBL portable speaker for the office. Great tunes, good vibes and everyone loves it.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I am doing three as I believe they are all crucial. Slack for internal communications. Asana for keeping on top of task management and to do lists. A shared calendar so everyone is on the same page, all the time.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz I am in the middle of “listening” to – I hope that counts. It is a great read on all things you should be fully aware of when getting into business – it ain’t easy.
What is your favorite quote?
Stay far from timid, only make moves when your heart’s in it. And live the phrase “Sky’s the limit” – Biggie Smalls.
Key Learnings:
- When starting a business, the people you have involved will shape how successful it is.
- Learn when to say no so that you can be more productive with your own time and have a greater impact with it.
- Have daily rituals that work for you. If you keep repeating them you will see the compounded effect it will have overtime.
- The impact technology will have on our lives in 50 years time is incomprehensible right now due to the impact of Moore’s Law. Have a look at the piece called “The Artificial Intelligence Revolution” on the website Wait But Why.
- Have fun, learn from others, be open minded and go into setting a business up with your eyes wide open.
Connect:
Buttternut Box on Twitter: @ButternutBox
Buttternut Box on Facebook:
Buttternut Box on Instagram:
Kevin Glynn on LinkedIn:
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.