Eureka moment
I was sat in a McDonalds in India back in 2012 and although the menu had been ‘Indianised' to reflect certain flavours and tastes associated with the country, the sauce offering was still completely American (ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard). At the time, there were only three main brands in India that were making ketchup and I began to think about the gap in the market for a sauce that makes non-Indian meals ‘taste Indian'.
Finance
Having been a ‘one-man band' from the start, I've had to implement a lean start-up mentality and work on a shoestring budget the entire time - everything has been put together under tight financial constraint. However, our recent successes have allowed us to start fundraising to scale up the Pico Sauces brand and focus on growing our presence internationally.
Regrets
That I didn't bring Pico Sauces to the UK sooner! The opportunity to disrupt the Indian packaged foods market has been prevalent for a while (with a visibly positive reaction in recent years), so I wish we'd conquered the UK market five years earlier instead of spending that time in India, Singapore and other parts of Asia.
What would you have changed?
I would have liked to start Pico Sauces with a bigger founding team in order to have an additional support system focused and dedicated to the same cause. There's a lot to be said for start-ups that bring in several co-founders with different experience and insights who can help carry the burden of getting it off the ground
