From side hustle to success: 7 small businesses that grew into major brands

Many of the most successful businesses didn’t start with grand offices or huge investments.

Instead, they began at the kitchen table from home, while the founders juggled full-time jobs. They saw an opportunity, pursued their passion and turned their business ideas into thriving companies.

To give you inspiration for starting your own business, we’ll explore seven companies that began as side hustles and grew into industry-leading brands.

1. Innocent Drinks

Founder(s): Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright
Started as: A weekend project while working full-time

Innocent Drinks was founded in 1998 during a snowboarding holiday. The founders were working in advertising and consulting at the time and set up a smoothie stall at a London music festival. Above the stall, the sign read: “Should we give up our jobs to make these smoothies?” and customers were asked to vote by placing their empty bottles in a “Yes” or “No” bin. When most people voted “Yes”, the founders went all in and started selling their smoothies to local stores.

In the early stages, the brand went through several name changes. It was first called “Fast Tractor”, followed by “Hungry Aphid”, “Nude” and “Naked” before the founders finally agreed on “Innocent” nine months later.

The first three cases of Innocent were sold to a local sandwich bar, Out To Lunch. It was then later sold to major supermarket chain Waitrose and within just a few months, it became so popular that it started getting stocked around numerous other stores across London and eventually the rest of the UK.

Innocent began working with Coca-Cola in 2009, which purchased a 20% share in the company. Coca-Cola gradually increased its stake in Innocent, before eventually taking full ownership in 2013.

2. Amstrad

Founder(s): Lord Alan Sugar
Started as: Side hustle while working different jobs

Any business owner or entrepreneur knows about Alan Sugar. While he’s mainly recognised as the host of The Apprentice, he also founded Amstrad – a consumer electronics company that sold a range of home computers, hi-fi systems, amplifiers and televisions. Its name was chosen as a combination of “Alan Michael Sugar Trading”.

Sugar founded Amstrad in 1968 when he was 21. It initially began as a side hustle while he was working different jobs, including at a greengrocer and selling car accessories. He started by selling car aerials and electronics out of the back of a van, taking advantage of London’s growing demand for affordable technology products.

The company began selling cheap hi-fi systems and car stereo cassette players in the 1970s. But it was the 1980s that proved to be Amstrad’s golden era after it expanded into the personal computer market with the launch of the Amstrad CPC 464  – an all-in-one system that came with a built-in cassette desk and monitor. Following its success, Amstrad launched a series of other computers, its next major hit being the Amstrad PCW in 1985. Millions of units were sold, and the company was able to capture a significant share of the business PC market.

BSkyB purchased Amstrad for £125 million in 2007 and the company is no longer trading, although Sugar announced in March 2024 that he was planning to revive the brand with his grandson.

3. Gymshark

Founder(s): Ben Francis
Started as: A side hustle while studying at university

Ben Francis founded Gymshark in 2012 while studying at Ashton University and working as a pizza delivery driver. Initially, the company sold supplements and clothing through dropshipping, but after questioning the quality of the clothes, Francis saw an opportunity to design and sell his own gymwear, despite not having a formal background in fashion.

From there, Francis developed his first business plan and started sewing, screen printing and delivering the products himself. The Luxe Fitted Tracksuit product was a turning point for the company, as it quickly gained popularity among fitness enthusiasts and fashion-conscious consumers alike.

As demand started to grow, Francis expanded Gymshark’s product line – focusing on creating high-quality, stylish activewear that combined functionality with fashion. The brand’s growth was further fueled by social media marketing and collaborations with fitness influencers, utilising platforms like Instagram and YouTube to reach a broader audience and connect with customers in a more personal and engaging way.

Gymshark has now grown into one of the most recognisable fitness apparel brands globally, worth over £1 billion.

4. BrewDog

Founder(s): James Watt and Martin Dickie
Started as: A small home-brewing project

BrewDog was founded in 2007. Its founders, James Watt and Martin Dickie, were frustrated with the lack of good craft beer in the UK, and so decided to start brewing their own. 

At first, they brewed in small batches and sold their beer from the back of a van. A year later, The Portman Group – the UK’s regulator for alcohol labelling, packaging and production – banned the product, but BrewDog continued trading and exporting its beers to Sweden, Japan and America. It also became Scotland’s largest independent brewery.

BrewDog later opened its first bar in Aberdeen in 2010, before expanding to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London the following year. More bars and breweries continued to open over the next few years, including overseas in countries like Germany, Australia and the United States. It also launched its Equity for Punks crowdfunding initiative in 2017, allowing fans and customers to invest in the company and become shareholders.

Nowadays, BrewDog operates numerous bars and breweries worldwide and is recognised as one of the largest independent craft beer brands globally, worth around £1.62 billion.

5. Moonpig

Founder(s): Nick Jenkins
Started as: A creative hobby to counter the day job

Nick Jenkins started Moonpig in 2000 as a side project while working in finance. The name “Moonpig” originated from his nickname at school and was created to allow customers to personalise greeting cards. The collapse of the dot-com bubble made progress difficult at first, but Jenkins was able to raise investment from private investors and venture capital, and his business was eventually able to make profits in 2005.

Later down the line, Moonpig expanded its products by offering gifts to attach to cards in 2007 and has since extended its product range to include flowers, wine, vouchers and more. That same year, the company was responsible for 90% of the online greeting card market in the UK.

As for Jenkins himself, he went on to become a “dragon” for the popular BBC Two business series Dragons’ Den in the thirteenth and fourteenth seasons. He also sold Moonpig in 2011 to online photo printing company Photobox for around £120 million. Ten years later, Moonpig was admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities – marking a significant milestone in its growth and giving the company the opportunity for further expansion.

6. Deliveroo

Founder(s): Will Shu and Greg Orlowski
Started as: An idea that needed time to develop

Deliveroo was founded in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski. Nine years earlier, Shu was working as an investment bank at Morgan Stanley and had moved from its New York office to London. Frustrated with the lack of good food delivery options in the city, he recognised the need for a service that allowed customers to order and have food delivered to their door quickly.

However, it wasn’t until 2013 when Shu and his business partner Orlowski finally had the technology available to put this plan into action – first launching its services in London with a small selection of restaurants. Shu initially delivered the food himself to ensure quality and understand the logistics of the business.

Within just the first year, Deliveroo quickly gained traction – expanding to several neighbourhoods across London and establishing partnerships with various restaurants. In 2015, it raised its first significant funding round of $25 million (£19m) from Hoxton Ventures, which was used to expand into new cities and improve its technology and logistics. In the same year, its service extended to cities across Europe, Asia, Australia and The Middle East.

Now, Deliveroo operates in 12 countries across the world and is partnered with 183,000 UK restaurants as of July 2024.

7. Not On The High Street

Founder(s): Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish
Started as: A side project while working full-time

Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish started Not On The High Street in 2006 from Tucker’s kitchen table – Tucker working in advertising and Cornish working in publishing at the time. 

The pair noticed a gap in the market for unique, handmade goods and wanted to create a platform for small creative businesses to reach a wider audience. While it faced fierce competition from the likes of Amazon and eBay, its core values in giving exposure to small businesses didn’t slow it down.

By 2010, the NOTHS website attracted thousands of customers, and its reputation as a destination for creative and personalised gifts spread. Four years later, the company launched its first overseas marketplace in Germany, with more than 100 German partners on board.

NOTHS now has more than 4 million customers, and its UK-based marketplace has over 38 million unique visitors per year. The company also announced in September 2024 that it was partnering with Deliveroo to offer its customers on-demand delivery for certain gifts and products.

These seven companies prove that a side hustle can grow into something bigger than its humble beginnings. Whether you’re working on a side project or dreaming of launching your own venture, these stories show that with the right mindset, you can succeed. 

Your next big success could start with a simple idea, and who knows? You might just end up on our next Startups 100 list!