Press

James Watt, the co-founder of Scotland’s largest independent brewery, BrewDog, today launches his first book, Business For Punks, to inspire entrepreneurs to challenge traditional business ‘rules’.

• Business For Punks documents the philosophy behind BrewDog’s success, charting James’ journey from a law and economics graduate, through his years as a sea captain to being at the helm of the UK’s fastest growing food and drinks brand.
• In the book, James lays out the foundations for starting, growing and kicking ass at whatever venture one sets their mind on.
• Citing the rough seas of the North Atlantic as instrumental in developing his approach to business, James Watt exhorts budding entrepreneurs to practice radical and steadfast self-belief in their pursuit of success. ‘Be a selfish bastard and ignore advice’, ‘Don’t start a business, start a crusade’ and ‘Networking is for fools’, are just a few of the mantras James encourages readers to follow.
• Business For Punks tackles every issue aspiring entrepreneurs will face, from managing cash flow, marketing, developing a sustainable brand and the pointlessness of a ‘business plan’.
• With examples from BrewDog’s own story, the book lays out the foundations for success on one’s own terms.
• With the table of contents styled as the ingredients for a business revolution, Business For Punks is a blueprint for the 21st century entrepreneur.
• In just eight years, BrewDog has grown from an outfit of two guys and a dog to employing over 500 people across ten countries and four continents.
• BrewDog’s phenomenal growth is in part funded by its crowdfunding scheme, Equity for Punks, which launched its fourth round in April this year.
• Business for Punks is published by Portfolio Penguin.
• You can buy Business for Punks here!

QUOTES

James Watt commented:

“Business For Punks is a book for people who hate business. It is about adopting a DIY punk approach, and encouraging the next generation to break free from the mundane, risk-averse, colourless template they’ve picked up in business school. The old principles no longer apply.”

James Watt commented

“I’ve often been asked if there’s a method to our madness, and through writing this book I’ve discovered there is rather a madness to our method. We set off to revolutionise the beer industry and quickly realised that the task was impossible through conformity and compliance. We are where we are today because of an unshakeable belief in our ourselves, our mission and our beer.”

“We didn’t know how things were meant to be done, so we just did things our own way, inadvertently creating a whole new approach to business. Our approach is not only applicable to the craft beer movement - we want to empower entrepreneurs in all fields to reject the tired ‘rules’ of business and be driven by passion. We’ve successfully led the craft beer revolution, now it’s time to lead the business revolution.”