🚀 Your Weekly Slice of UK Consumer Startups

TrueStart is delicious, healthy coffee that makes you feel great.

Simon and I started the business in 2015, after we became obsessed with the idea that coffee should taste amazing and also make you feel good. We were training for triathlons and drinking a lot of coffee, but I'm sensitive to caffeine and kept experiencing jitters and heart palpitations.

That sparked the idea for clean coffee - carefully tested for quality and purity, from consistent caffeine to being free from harmful levels of mycotoxins and heavy metals. I didn't even drink coffee until I lived in Colombia, where I fell in love with the taste and buzz around it. That's what TrueStart is about: warm, energising, feel good coffee. Our first product - our original Barista Grade Instant Coffee - launched at a muddy race in Taunton, and seeing runners light up showed us the genuine, meaningful impact positive energy and delicious coffee can have on people's day!

ADHD has shaped TrueStart in every way - from the product to the culture and how I lead. I've always been hyper-aware of how caffeine affects focus, mood and energy. Too much and I'm anxious, too little and I'm foggy. That's why consistency became everything for us. Knowing exactly how much caffeine you're getting matters, especially for neurodivergent brains.

My own dopamine needs have definitely influenced our brand - TrueStart is a constant positive energy drip, even on tough days.

I do think that understanding my brain better has made me a better leader. I care massively about every member of our team and am open and honest. When you lead with honesty, others do the same and as a result we've created a culture of safety where people can really be their best selves.

Being bootstrapped for so long taught us discipline. Every pound has to work hard. We've focused relentlessly on unit economics, repeat customers and profitability at a product level before scaling spend. Marketing has always been about depth over reach - building genuine brand love, community and word of mouth rather than chasing vanity metrics.

We've also done a huge amount in-house over the years, which has given us a strong instinct for what actually moves the needle. I talk a lot about building on concrete, not sand - consistently delivering a product people come back for, backed by genuinely caring customer service. You can't fake caring, and customers feel that. Heavy cash burn has never sat comfortably with me - I blame my Scottish dad!

We didn't raise because we needed to survive - we raised because we were ready to accelerate. After ten years of proving the model, building a trusted brand and getting demand to a really exciting place, it felt like the perfect time to pour rocket fuel on it. The frustrating flip side to being bootstrapped is having to choose just one great idea when there are many you want to pursue.

JamJar have been our dream partners since the very beginning. Simon even found an email I sent back in 2015 when we were considering fundraising, saying they were our number one target. They've been everything we hoped for - supportive, straight talking and they really understand founders. The same goes for DLF Venture. It feels far less like "taking money" and far more like adding brilliant people to the team.

We're making it super easy for people to enjoy amazing coffee that's also good for them. More formats, more occasions and more ways to help people get the benefits of caffeine without the downsides. We're putting people in control of how they feel.

Coffee is the original energy drink and TrueStart will keep building products for people who want taste, health and energy - not spikes and crashes. Ultimately, our mission stays the same - to help people feel their best every day. Doing it at scale, while staying true to our values, that's the dream.

We're deliberately doing the opposite of an industry dominated by hype and complexity. I'm also proud that we're a true challenger brand in a category controlled by some of the biggest food companies in the world.

When we started, Simon and I had zero background in food and drink. We just had a clear belief and a lot of determination. Our ambition is to become the UK's favourite coffee (and beyond!) - a loved, trusted household brand that makes peoples lives just a bit better. If you stay focused, curious and stubborn enough, anything really is possible.