Oliver Cookson 開始する，打ち上げるs supergreens 商売／仕事 Verve 栄養 - can he replicate his multimillion 続けざまに猛撃する MyProtein success?
When Oliver Cookson was in 最初の／主要な school most of his friends 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be an 宇宙飛行士 or a racing driver.
When he was asked to draw what he'd like to be, he said he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to build a 商売／仕事 and 雇う lots of people.
Some 35 years later he'd done 正確に／まさに that. His mum 手渡すd him 支援する the 製図／抽選? a few years after he sold his company, MyProtein, in a multimillion 続けざまに猛撃する 取引，協定.
Oliver Cookson 開始する，打ち上げるd MyProtein in 2004 before selling it for millions to THG 7 years later
After a few years dabbling with さまざまな 投機・賭けるs and a fair dose of philanthropy, Cookson now wants to take on the supergreens 産業.
Can he replicate the same success he had with MyProtein and be a British success story a second time 一連の会議、交渉／完成する?
It all started in the playground
We 会合，会う in an upmarket Victorian hotel in Cheadle Hulme, 近づく to where Cookson grew up and 現在／一般に lives part-time.
The 残り／休憩（する） of the time he lives in Monaco 'for the 日光… and 商売／仕事 advantages'. It is やめる （疑いを）晴らす that while he might be a 地元の boy, he has adjusted 井戸／弁護士席 to the high life with his designer 着せる／賦与するs and flashy car.
While Cookson might now be used to the finer things in life, his しつけ wasn't plain sailing.
His father, a second 手渡す car salesman - 'a bit of a wheeler 売買業者' - and mother, a 長官 at a 年金s 会社／堅い, separated when Cookson was young.
He and his mum had to start all over again, moving into a 会議 flat with an electricity メーター and no central heating.
'I was away from my friends, 孤立するd… not wearing the nicest of trainers. There's worse poverty but I was certainly poor.?
'I remember thinking I want better than this but I didn't know how to do that. That's what instilled the 運動 within me and maybe some natural entrepreneurship.
'I know it's a bit of a cliche now [but] I used to buy and sell things at school.'
Starting MyProtein with a £500 overdraft
While Cookson might have been entrepreneur ial in his teenage years, he struggled academically and left school at 16 with no GCSEs.?
After school he spent six months 'doing nothing' until he saw a David Lloyd gym 開始 近づく his home.
'I'd never been to a gym before and I thought it would give me a bit of 焦点（を合わせる） and a bit of discipline. I was 宗教的な, going five times a week.'
From there, the natural progression was to start 研究ing protein 砕く and 補足（する）s which, at this point, were for bodybuilders rather than casual gym-goers.
Cookson 開始する，打ち上げるd MyProtein with whey protein 砕くs before 拡大するing his 範囲
He had his 'eureka moment' in his mum's kitchen.?
'I was looking at the whey protein I was using at the time and I didn't even know what it was.?
'It was liquid gold, 酪農場s were throwing it away.?
'I called them up and asked them how much natural raw whey protein was.?
'It was £3 a kg and the 製品 I was using, which was 908 grams, was £30.
'I thought £3/キロ with some flavouring you could sell it for £15 and still have a 抱擁する 示す up,' and the seeds of MyProtein were born.
Cookson was, by this point, a self-taught web developer, having learnt the ropes from his dad's 隣人 David at the age of 9.?
It meant he was able to become the first person to put a branded protein 製品 online.
'If you want to create an e-商業 場所／位置 now, there's a few clicks and you're done but there was nothing like that in 2003/4. I built the whole 壇・綱領・公約 from the ground up on my own and in my spare time.'
While many 創立者s might （人命などを）奪う，主張する to be 負かす／撃墜する to earth, he seems genuinely baffled as to how he managed to make it work: 'I built the whole 倉庫／問屋 管理／経営 system.?
'If I'm 完全に honest, I have no idea how I did that. I don't think I could do it again.'
'It was profitable after week one'
Before Cookson 開始する，打ち上げるd MyProtein, protein 砕く was predominantly sold in the likes of Holland & Barrett or even on eBay but it was 'spit and sawdust'.
The market was nowhere 近づく as saturated as it is now - it is 概算の to be 価値（がある） billions globally.
にもかかわらず 存在 the first mover in the market, Cookson still had an 上りの／困難な 戦う／戦い to climb.?
Gym-goers tend to be more conscious than most of what they put into their 団体／死体, so a 挑戦者 in the space 申し込む／申し出ing half-price protein nat urally brought scepticism.
Cookson chose to market to the hardcore bodybuilding market first, which helped 開始する，打ち上げる MyProtein to its 核心 demographic in a pre-influencer world.
'My message to them was 効果的に, you're buying a 製品 designed for a 16 year old starting out, or a 20 year seasoned プロの／賛成の.?
'MyProtein is designed for you. We broke 負かす／撃墜する every 成分 so they could buy it on its own or create a custom 決まり文句／製法.'
Cookson sold MyProtein to THG, the ecommerce company 設立するd by Matt Moulding
'I started it with £500, that's the honest truth. It was my overdraft. It was profitable after week one and since then I never took a 続けざまに猛撃する of 投資 or 貸付金, it was 完全に bootstrapped.'
Cookson kept the team lean and 雇うd his mum as 長，指導者 blender after six months before 追加するing 操作の staff to pack orders.
'16 hour days sound like a cliche... but I was doing everything from packing the order s to website to 顧客 enquiries to new 製品 開発 and marketing.'
He only 雇うd middle 経営者／支配人s a few years after, before 追加するing a 上級の 管理／経営 team in 2009, five years after 開始する，打ち上げる.
Sale to The Hut Group
There （機の）カム a point though, when Cookson started to 調査する his 選択s and looked at selling a 少数，小数派 火刑／賭ける to 私的な 公正，普通株主権 before a possible 十分な 出口.
'I hadn't burnt out, there was no loss of passion but I had no 安全. The analogy I use is a fruit machine. If you keep on 圧力（をかける）ing that button you get jackpot, jackpot, jackpot. One day you might spin and lose your money.?
'One day something could have happened which was outside of my 支配（する）／統制する, like a new 法律 （機の）カム into 禁止（する） protein 砕くs or something.
'I thought, I want to change the 遺産／遺物 of the Cookson 指名する and I can do this because I've got a hell of a lot of 公正，普通株主権. If I can take some 半導体素子s off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and still keep some 半導体素子s in, that'd be a wise move.'
It didn't やめる work like that though. In 2011 Cookson sold MyProtein in its entirety to The Hut Group (now THG) for £60million 加える 株, which he 収容する／認めるs wasn't his first 計画（する）.
Some years later there was a 法廷，裁判所 戦う／戦い between Cookson and THG over the sale and the valuations that each 味方する had 大（公）使館員d to the 商売／仕事.
He doesn't seem 完全に comfortable with how MyProtein panned out.?
'Am I happy with the direction [MyProtein has taken]? When you 反映する on things in life I think you always 反映する on the best things… I try not to live with 悔いるs.?
'You make those 決定／判定勝ち（する）s in that moment and you've just got to live with it.'
While he was sitting pretty with millions in the bank, what he wasn't 用意が出来ている for was the '完全にする 無効の' that the sale left him.
'I would have loved to have spoken to someone before I sold MyProtein because it was my life, my 目的 was a 完全にする 無効の.
After a year of 'kicking around' he 開始する，打ち上げるd GoNutrition, which he now 収容する／認めるs was a '膝-jerk reaction' and a 'mistake.'
'I knew I was never going to be doing 16 hour days, but I knew I could 追加する a lot of value. I wasn't as fully 投資するd in it, it was いっそう少なく than a part time 職業.'
He sold the company for a six-digit 利益（をあげる） in 2019.
Life after a multimillion 続けざまに猛撃する sale
Now Cookson thinks it's time to move 支援する into the 栄養 game, but this time he wants to 取り組む the supergreens 産業.
They're the 最新の 傾向 to take social マスコミ by 嵐／襲撃する, with influencers 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）ing some spurious health （人命などを）奪う，主張するs.
Cookson 開始する，打ち上げるd Verve 栄養 at the end of 2023 with an 80 成分 superblend. It seems an 半端物 move for the entrepreneur who has tended to be ahead of the curve rather than joining in on 傾向s.???
It's not even the first time he's dabbled with greens 砕くs, having 開始する，打ち上げるd one in 2008 with MyProtein.
Cookson has 開始する，打ち上げるd Verve 栄養 and hopes to take on the 抱擁する supergreens 産業
He （人命などを）奪う，主張するs there will be a 'unique element that will be 開拓するing' which he will 開始する，打ち上げる in time, but for now 顧客s can just buy the 300g V80 blend - 30 servings - for £75.
The landscape for 商売／仕事s has changed. While Cookson was at the 最前部 of ecommerce in 2004, it is easier than ever to 始める，決める up online, whether that's through Shopify or TikTok shop. It means more people can flog their own 製品s. What does that mean for Cookson?
He thinks transparency is 重要な to the success of Verve and he thinks he can shake up an 産業 that 猛烈に needs to change.
Cookson （人命などを）奪う，主張するs 95 per cent of the proprietary blends 申し込む／申し出d by most companies will be 十分な of filler and cheap 製品s.
'You're getting a ぱらぱら雨 [of the expensive 成分s] just to get the label （人命などを）奪う，主張する and you're getting 絶対 no 利益 どれでも. For me that's a 反対／詐欺 and that's not okay. If I'm 消費するing a 製品 thats supposed to be a health 製品, I want to know how much of everything I'm getting.
What I've done is turned it upside 負かす／撃墜する - every 選び出す／独身 of the 80 active 成分s in Verve, we'll tell you what's in there. We don't have anything to hide.'
Unlike his 試みる／企てるs at 商売／仕事s after the MyProtein sale, it seems Cookson is raring to go and thinks he can make as big an 衝撃 on supergreens as MyProtein did for protein 砕く.
He has a lot more than a £500 overdraft behind him this time, but he also has a lot いっそう少なく to lose.
