Could you be where Innocent Drinks are now?

So Mssrs Reed, Wright and Ballon have just sold a stake in their company, Innocent Drinks, to Coca-Cola for £30million, valuing the company at £300million.

That means that each of these founding individuals now has a shareholding valued at £30-60million. Not bad for 10 years work from complete start up.

10 years ago at Parsons’ Green Jazz Festival the three set up a stall with a sign reading: “Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?” alongside two bins for the empties, one labelled “yes” and the other “no”.

Should they have sold to Coca Cola? Will it compromise their brand? Are they right to stay with the company and not sell out altogether?

All valid questions but the real point of interest for me is they were backed in the early stage by a business angel to the tune of £200k. A lot of hard work and clever management has clearly been applied since but would they be here facing those questions today without that initial investment? I doubt it.

For full story see: Smoothie drink pioneers sell Innocent stake for £30 million