Meet the founder of Pips

I’m Kate, the founder of Pips. My entrepreneurial drive arose around 10 years ago, when I launched a profitable e-commerce business and YouTube channel.

I’ve always been a passionate environmentalist and animal lover, so 9 years ago I decided to go plant based. I then realised I wanted to make a positive impact by combining my passion for plant based food, with my drive in entrepreneurship. Which is how Pips started.

What’s the most common problem your customers approach you with?

‘I want to go vegan or more plant based, but I don’t know how!’

On the surface, it seems we are spoiled with choice of different vegan options these days. It certainly wasn’t like that 9 years ago, when I started my plant based journey.Despite this, we are still facing a huge issue: accessibility of nutritional education and support for new vegans. We are raised predominantly in a society that eats animal products, so to all of a sudden cut out meat, eggs and dairy, is a bit daunting. 

Not only this, but 25% of people in the UK have a dietary restriction, such as gluten, nut or soy intolerances. Becoming more plant based is a pivotal movement for the future of our planet, and with the growing demand for vegan food, we need to match that with support and guidance. 

This is the most common problem that my customers came to me with when I first started Pips as a CPG - Is it soy free? Is it gluten free? Is it nut free? There needed to be a solution in the supermarkets themselves. 

Pips takes away the pain of scanning the ingredients list whilst food shopping. Everything in Pips’ store is 100% vegan, and we’ve separated our products by different dietary restrictions and requirements. Not only for intolerances, but for dietary preferences, like high protein or high fibre. We also have snack subscription boxes catered to these requirements.

Pips is making veganism more easily accessible for everybody.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

Don’t just start a business, solve a problem. 

When you start focusing more on the problem, you begin to unravel and create a solution that is so much more valuable. When a problem is big enough, your customers will do anything for a fitting solution. So much so, you won’t have to push for sales, your customers should be pushing you to get hold of your product.

As entrepreneurs, we are responsible for creating solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. We should always focus on the problem.

What are your thoughts on failure?

Failure is important. Without failure, we wouldn’t know resilience, and we wouldn’t learn how to be better.

Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?

I set aside 30 minutes every morning for gratitude journaling and meditation. By the time I sit down at my desk, I’m clear headed and ready to start the day.

If you could be in a room with 4 entrepreneurs, who would they be and why?

Chris Gardner - Chris’ story has always inspired me. It shows that true entrepreneurship is about grit, perseverance, and hard work.

Anita Roddick - I have always looked up to Anita, not only as an inspiring female entrepreneur, but as a woman who shaped ethical consumerism. 

Gary Vaynerchuk - I respect his tough-love style of motivating his audience.

Ethan Brown - Admirable for founding Beyond Meat, one of the largest vegan companies in the world, shaping a more vegan future.

What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?

Before anything, be passionate about the problem you’re solving. Network like your life depends on it, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

How did you fund the launch of your business and what creative strategies did you use to execute a minimal cash flow?

Pips is completely bootstrapped thus far - I believe in starting lean (if possible) until you absolutely must raise. 

When you’re strapped for cash, every expenditure needs to be impactful. Take our packaging for example, I initially thought our branded postage boxes would be the most expensive part – as the suppliers have high MOQ’s and I would have to hire a designer. Instead, I ordered plain boxes and branded them myself using the free graphic design platform Canva, and printed the designs onto bespoke tape, which saved a huge expense.

How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?

I remind myself that if being an entrepreneur were easy, everyone would be doing it. It is challenging, but what pushes me through is my why. The reason I started Pips was to build a plant based future for our health, our planet and our animals, and that’s what drives me to succeed everyday.

What would be your top marketing tip, to grow a business that is niche?

Content marketing is so valuable.

If you have a niche business, content marketing is a great way to build brand awareness and authority in your industry, which builds trust with potential customers. By creating relevant, valuable and informative content, potential customers will want to sign up to your mailing list and may even share your content within their social circle. Not only is this fantastic for SEO, but it allows you to get a foot in the door with your customers.

The best thing about content marketing is that it doesn't have to be expensive if you know which tools to use. For instance, our content designs are all done using Canva, so it's removed a big barrier for me as a sole founder, because it saves me so much time and money.

What are your responsibilities as a business owner?

As sole founder, I wear many hats. My main priority each day is to ensure we’re moving forward and growing, so sales and marketing takes up a big chunk of my responsibility. I’m also distributing all products myself, so I’m often quite hands on during shipping days. The responsibilities as a business owner never end - there is always something I could be getting on with! 

Thankfully I have two talented women on my team (Victoria Forbes Watson and Arianna Zampieri) who create a lot of our digital content. They have been fantastic at taking on that responsibility, to create fun and relevant content for our customers.