BrewDog’s James Watt is poised to become the next big TV entrepreneurial capitalist.
This comes in light of allegations about “toxic attitudes” at his company, allegations he vehemently denies. The allegations stem from a recent lawsuit and even a lawsuit the young and successful entrepreneur insists are baseless.
James Watt and BrewDog
Watt’s trajectory started as a young lobster fisherman who became the CEO of the brattish beer maker BrewDog. He took the reigns when company revenues were £3 million in 2010 and grew the business to £33 million by 2023. However, profitable growth comes at a turbulent time for Watt and BrewDog.
Allegations have surfaced that Watt ran a company fostering a “climate of fear” and “toxic attitudes.” It is an ironic suggestion from a brewer who lovingly sells a brew called Punk. Watt admits to being “too intense” and “demanding” as a boss, but remains incensed over the allegations, particularly by the thought that he behaved inappropriately toward women. When asked if he denies the allegations, he vehemently states, “ Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely deny it. No truth in it whatsoever. Just no truth in it whatsoever. People say a lot of things about me, people say a lot of things in terms of how I am to work with, and there’s just no truth in it whatsoever.”
Workplace Allegations
Watt’s alligators include a group of ex-employees united under the banner Punks With Purpose, deny that the moniker is only a public perception, and claim the company is run by fear, humiliation, and sexism. They wrote a letter in 2021 complaining of sexism and failing to be treated with basic human decency at BrewSog. Watt issued an apology and said that the company had changed.
A year later, the BBC aired a documentary, Disclosure, which uncovered more allegations, some of them against Watt personally. The allegations include “inappropriate behavior” towards female members of the staff. Watt fought back, calling Disclosure a hatchet job, and protested the claims to the watchdog Ofcom, but they rejected his claims last year.
People question whether Watt changed after the allegations. He responds, “ I think they were so far out, like, so far away from any type of reality. But it was such a difficult thing to go through. It was a painful thing to go through. It is what it is, but it was definitely a tough time.” “ I love to move fast. I think it’s important to business. As a business, do we get everything right? Absolutely not. Have we made mistakes? Yes. But they’re well-intentioned mistakes and no more mistakes that any other similar company would make on that growth journey.”
Upcoming Television Shows
Watt logically asserts that any entrepreneur faces loss daily because of the economy and other variable factors. However, he is currently seeking success in another venture: television. Contestants on his show “House of Unicorns” vie for a portion of a pot of £2 million of Watt’s fortune, half of it awarded on his say-so, half by viewers who can then invest in the winners.
His focus on the the show is to encourage, not discourage contestants. He said, “ ‘The Apprentice,’ ‘Dragons’ Den’– They focus so much on entertainment that I think the cost is at times they make the entrepreneur, the founder, seem a bit deluded, seem a bit crazy, seem a bit delusional. Whereas I think it’s these founders that we need to be championing, we need to be hero-ing. They’re creating jobs.”
Watt admits his fear for “House of Unicorns” (a unicorn is a start-up valued at $1 billion or more; BrewDog’s valuation is more than twice that amount) is that it might prove dull without the mockery of aspiration. This may be an ironic twist leveraged at Watt, whose career path has shown so little of it if the allegations have merit.
