Craig Letton quit his corporate sales job in 2011 to take over his parents’ small printing business in Scotland. It was his first time running a business and he learned hard business lessons quickly. Eventually, he discovered a huge need for custom-printed promotional materials by frontline salespeople in the global drinks and beverage industry. He sold their printing equipment to focus just on the software to solve this tricky problem for those salespeople, marketing departments, and regional printers.
Running the business for revenue and profit with no outside funding, Craig grew the MRM Global business slowly with big brands in the alcoholic beverage industry all over Europe. They worked hard and stayed frugal and started to grow. Then COVID hit and revenues evaporated. Their survival tactics helped them keep going and even grow faster when restrictions were lifted. They raised some practical funding from BGF Capital in the UK to stay alive during COVID lockdowns and expand quickly after that.
MRM Global is now a fast-growing marketing technology software company serving many of the largest global beverage brands in 35 different countries. This is a great example of a “small niche vertical market” with a very specific problem presenting a massive opportunity to create a large and valuable company. It’s also the story of grit, perseverance, frugality and intense customer focus creating a huge opportunity for growth.
Best quote from Craig:
“Our original investment thesis was that we could grow this business from £2.5 Million to £25 million in five years. We’ve now changed that forecast and made it bigger. We think this could be a £50-£100 million business.
“The reason for that is because we’re coming to the US and we’re pretty far down the road with those customer and they are very large. There’s already a lot of growth we from our existing customers by going into new countries or adding new products. And there are also new verticals.
“I almost see the funding in reverse. First, just create the opportunity, get the customers, get the deals, get the revenue going— then go find the funding rather than the other way round, which is a bit more typical these days.”
In this episode, Craig explains:
- Why he took over his parents’ small printing business in Scotland after he left a corporate sales job
- How he uncovered a major opportunity in the global drinks (beer and liquor) industry for salespeople to easily create custom, branded promotional materials for their customers using software
- How the small company grew profitably and steadily until COVID shut down restaurants and hotels, taking their revenue to zero
- What they did to survive the COVID shutdown and how he defines entrepreneurial resilience
- Why he decided to take some practical funding to survive the downturn and prepare for growth
- Why he thinks this business will be a £100 million business someday
MRM Global Company Facts
- Founded: Prior business founder in 2001, current software business in 2014
- Description: Interactive software that delivers high-quality, customized printed marketing materials for the hospitality and drinks industry.
- Number of Employees: 65
- Funding: Bootstrapped for 5 years as a growing business, then took a practical equity and debt funding from BGF in 2020 during the COVID-19 downturn
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
