Not to be mistaken with Ann Landers? ?Wake Up and Smell the Coffee? or ?Wake Up and Smell the Profit?, a guide to making more money in your coffee business ? Wake Up And Sell The Coffee is the new book by an extraordinary entrepreneur who set out to build a high-growth business with a simple idea and the will to do whatever was required to make it successful; and just twelve years later sell the business for a cool £23m.
The entrepreneur turned author is Martyn Dawes and the company was Coffee Nation.
The company has sold more than 100 million cups of coffee, been ranked in consecutive years as one of the UK?s fastest growing private companies, was winner of the Sunday Times Fast Track Innovation Award and Martyn Dawes is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner.
Most businesses start small and stay small; only 1.5% of start-ups reach 20 employees. High growth companies represent only 6% of all UK companies employing ten or more people. In writing his new book, Wake Up And Sell the Coffee, Martyn Dawes gives helpful and candid to help more British start-ups start well, survive and get on the right track to becoming high-growth companies.
Through the course of a compelling narrative, Dawes starts by introducing the reader at the very beginning, at the very roots of having a good idea and how he set about turning that into a successful company. He shares his experiences of growing a business and his knowledge of what you should and shouldn?t do. Mistakes to avoid are revealed just as honestly as the good decisions, making this is an unusually frank and valuable account for anyone looking to build their own business.
Along the way, among many highs and lows, there was the thrill of seeing an idea come to life, costly failed trials and false starts, countless business plans, learning how and when to raise funding, the personal journey of surviving when success seemed so distant and securing contracts with some of the biggest retailers in the world. This is the story of how a great British business was built ? from a blank sheet of paper ? and how it came to be one of the nation?s favourite consumer brands. It?s also a guide to help any aspiring entrepreneur put their business on the path to high growth.
Dawes says ?What really encouraged me to write Wake Up And Sell the Coffee is the need to help more entrepreneurs not just start a business but to survive and grow. I noticed that so much of what is written and talked about relates to start-ups, not what comes later. Beyond survival towards growth gets little coverage.
He goes on to state:
?We need more ambitious entrepreneurs who want to start high quality enterprises that go on to become high-growth global success stories. There are just 12000 high growth businesses (employing 10 people or more) in the UK and these account for more than half the growth in jobs. Between 2005 and 2008 the average high growth UK company almost tripled their headcount. High growth firms attract and retain the best talent and advance society. Wake Up and Sell the Coffee distils what I learnt and may help you improve your chances.?
All areas from start-up to exit are covered in Wake Up And Sell The Coffee, including how to come up with an idea and know if it?s any good; researching and testing your business model; and when you should not write a business plan and why not.
Coffee Nation is a high-growth success story and Martyn Dawes?s book can only help an increasing amount of start-up companies survive and go on to become high growth companies. 70% of high growth companies are at least five years old. Dawes is adamant it is high quality businesses that survive long enough to become high growth ones.
About Martyn Dawes
Martyn Dawes is a successful and award-winning entrepreneur. He founded his first business in 1991, which continues to successfully trade today under the names Dawes Ryan Consulting and Coachmatch. Most famously, he grew an idea about selling coffee through convenience stores into one of the nation?s favourite consumer brands, Coffee Nation, and sold it for £23million in less than ten years. He has won numerous awards, including the Innovation Award at Sunday Times/Virgin Atlantic Fast Track Awards in 2006, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2005, and Best Business Leader at the Sage Business Awards in 2003, and regularly acts as a guest speaker at major business events.
