Five questions for Colin Pyle, co-founder, Cru Kafe

published 27 January 2017

Sum up your business in 75 words

Cru Kafe is an organic, Fairtrade, high-altitude coffee, served in recyclable pods or as beans or ground coffee. Every sip of Cru is an exciting story of adventure, provenance, artistry and taste. We are distributed through retailers including Wholefoods and Ocado, and served in places such as Soho House rooms worldwide.We are an exciting and ethical coffee brand.

What's been your greatest achievement so far?

Closing our first institutional round of funding with some top venture capitalists and angel investors in London. They saw our potential and believed in us. It's such a great feeling and reaffirms that you have tapped into something really exciting.

What have been your biggest challenges?

Taking the time to find the capital required to continue to fund the business without hindering our growth. It's also always a challenge to lay strong, robust foundations and process learning fast enough, while acquiring customers at the scale and speed you want.

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The big wins are fantastic, but it's all the small wins that keep you going through the day. You also have to meet lots of people to find the right people for all aspects of the business and that's very time consuming. In 2017, we want to move from start-up to small business and hit profitability. It will be great to get out of the uncomfortable stage of make or break.

What are your plans for hitting your targets?

We want to build our data and understand our customers inside and out. Life in a start-up is all about building strong foundations and finding the most efficient ways to build upwards. There will always be obstacles when you least expect them, but we have the right experience to call on and the right team in place to build a world-class business. We want Cru to be known for exceptional products.