These 2 startup founders quit their Goldman Sachs trading jobs to start a dog food company. They say the bank giant taught them these 5 lessons.
- Former Goldman Sachs traders Kevin Glynn and David Nolan founded Butternut Box in 2016.
- The company delivers home-cooked dog food and has raised $28 million to date.
- Despite being about as far from the trading desk as possible, they say that apply Goldman teachings to their company every day.
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Being a trader at a top Wall Street investment bank isn't easy. Being a startup founder isn't easy.
But could the former help with the latter? Butternut Box cofounders Kevin Glynn and David Nolan say they think so.
Founded in London in 2016, the subscription company delivers home-cooked dog food to your door and has raised $28 million to date. Founders Glynn and Nolan, 27 and 31, worked as traders in high-yield and distressed debt and sales trading, respectively. They met on their first day of Goldman Sach's training program before leaving to set up the company.
Nolan first started cooking dog food at home after his family re-homed a snow white dog called Snowy from Battersea Dogs Home in London. The dog wouldn't eat, but some home-cooked recipes appeared to work, providing the spark which led to Butternut Box's inception.
The company has been growing. It raised an additional £15 million ($19.4 million) in April to continue its expansion. Whatever tricks of the trade they're borrowing from Goldman, it looks like it's working. The firm says it grew sales by 700% last year and is set to grow another 300% this year.
Customizable pet-food subscription services are a booming part of the market, according to research firm Mintel. Greater demand for ingredient provenance and increased customer awareness of products are driving the space, it says.
It's yet another company to be formed by ex-Goldman staff. The bank has a long history of former employees setting up their own companies, many of whom cite Goldman as a major influence on how they build their startups.
"Being at Goldman teaches you a lot of habits which are hard to shake," Glynn told Business Insider in an interview. "You have to be like a sponge and soak up every opportunity, and we've brought that mentality with us into being founders."
Glynn and Nolan told Business Insider that working at Goldman had given them massive benefits which have helped them out of the frying pan and into the fire.
- Network as much as possible
- Always put the customer first
- Apply the same economics to all products
- Execute as close to perfection as possible
- Always listen and try to learn new things
Practically speaking, they say there are a number of ways to apply these lessons.
"If you let the phone ring on the trading floor more than a couple of times, someone is going to shout at you," Nolan said. "It's about the customer, and being customer centric has served us really well so far."
They added that Goldman instilled a "habit of execution" into its employees, which struck fear into its staff. Getting numbers, figures, or other information incorrect became the standard setting, according to the founders - this level of consistency is essential when working at a startup.
Similarly, the same metrics which apply to trades that the bank makes with clients work for the unit economics of dog food. Both Glynn and Nolan added that getting those key figures right as a matter of course has been hugely beneficial.
Finally, Goldman Sachs taught the founders "network as much as possible." It's increasingly important, according to the Glynn and Nolan, with many of their new customers coming from referrals and contacts made over the years. In fact, some of the early investors in Butternut Box were some of Glynn and Nolan's former bosses.