Watt ‘blown away’ by response to Second Best – Daily Business

James Watt: building something better (pic: DB Media Services)

BrewDog co-founder James Watt says he has been “blown away” by the response to his new beer venture.

Since announcing the creation of Second Best 10 days ago, more than 16,000 “punk” investors have registered to claim their free equity.

Giving an update on his plans, Watt said: “Thousands of BrewDog team members held a stake in the business and I will honour their equity in Second Best as well as all Equity Punks globally.

Watt is gifting up to 19.5% to the community and every equity punk investor can claim the exact stake they once held in BrewDog, for Second Best, completely free of charge.  

Some see Second Best as an act of redemption for Watt who was accused of leaving his former punk investors out of pocket when Brewdog was sold to Tilray Brands earlier this year.

Watt, who no longer has any links to BrewDog, is bankrolling the new business but has yet to announce a launch date.

Explaining why he has returned to brewing, he said: “I believe I owe it to the Equity Punks. I want to do all I can to create value for them by building a brilliant beer business that we own together. That was always the vision and that was always the dream.

“And secondly, I have unfinished business in beer. There is a version of this that I have always wanted to build, and Second Best is my shot at building it properly”.

Revealing the number of individual investors who have been in touch, he said: “The response has honestly blown me away.”

He said he was giving away almost 20% of the business “because thousands of people backed me when BrewDog was tiny.

“They believed in a crazy idea, helped build an amazing business and played a huge part in creating the world’s leading craft beer brand.

“I can’t change what happened afterwards. But I can make sure those same people have the opportunity to be part of what comes next.

“And I can take everything I learned from the last journey and use it to try and build something even better this time around.”

In view of criticism over the treatment of staff, he said paying his new team the real living wage “will be written into our constitution as a business and it is fundamental to everything I believe in. We will also share a percentage of any profit we make evenly amongst all of our team members.”

He also cautioned against high expectations. “There are absolutely no guarantees whatsoever – Second Best will be a startup in what is a very, very tough industry. I will give it everything I have got, but as with any startup, the odds are stacked against us

He explained the name by saying: “hopefully the second beer business I build with the community is going to be the best one!

“Secondly – the best way to enjoy beer is straight from the tank in the brewery – with Second Best we are going to focus so much on freshness that it will hopefully be the Second Best way to enjoy beer!”

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