WHY NOT NOW! S1E4 with special guest Juliet Barratt: Building Grenade from £500 to a £200 Million Exit

Four years without a salary. A tank driven into the NEC. A £200 million exit. And a feeling nobody had prepared her for.

This week on WHY NOT NOW!, Emma Elston MBE and Chloe Everton sit down with Juliet Barratt, co-founder of Grenade, to talk about building a globally recognised brand — and why selling it felt more like grief than celebration.

Juliet shares the reality behind the success: years spent learning the industry, bold packaging, relentless work, break-ins and the pressure of private equity. There was no overnight breakthrough. There were plenty of days when she just had to keep going.

She also opens up about working with her husband, navigating their separation while running the business, and finding her identity again after stepping away from something that had consumed her life for 14 years.

Honest, funny and full of lessons you won’t find in a business textbook.

IN THIS EPISODE

• How a small distribution business laid the foundations for Grenade.
• The story behind the name and its distinctive packaging.
• Why taking a tank to a trade show made perfect marketing sense.
• Four years without a salary — and the myth of easy entrepreneurship.
• Marriage, separation and running a business together.
• Private equity, selling up and the emotional reality of an exit.
• Finding purpose again through new businesses, charity work and dogs.

CHAPTERS

00:00 — The hidden downside of a successful exit
02:24 — Meet Juliet Barratt, co-founder of Grenade
03:21 — From teaching to meeting co-founder Al
04:31 — Learning the ropes through distribution
04:58 — Launching Grenade
06:21 — How Grenade got its name
07:18 — Standing out in sports nutrition
08:34 — Branding, marketing and attention to detail
10:01 — The grenade-shaped packaging: a blessing and a risk
10:30 — Taking a tank to Body Power
11:54 — Knowing the business was onto something
12:53 — Being a woman in a male-dominated industry
14:45 — Private equity pressure and break-ins
16:35 — The myth of the easy entrepreneur story
17:01 — Four years without a salary
18:55 — Why timing mattered
20:43 — Marriage, trust and working together
22:07 — Separating while running the business
24:08 — From building a business to selling it
26:32 — Losing your identity after an exit
28:55 — Why the sale felt anticlimactic
29:20 — What Juliet is most proud of
30:42 — Life after Grenade
32:32 — Can entrepreneurship be taught?
33:02 — Red tape, timing and opportunity
35:19 — The quick-fire round
39:00 — Juliet’s dream dinner party

“It was like grieving. You're grieving something that's been 24-7 for the last 14 years.” — Juliet Barratt

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