VShake

VShake is now a limited company and I'm the sole director. I've employed two people through the Kickstart scheme, have a long-term agreement with a marketing consultant, and have two volunteers who came for a three-week student placement and never left. I'd love to employ them full-time towards the end of 2022.

We're currently finalising the prototype of VShake, a kinetic supplement shaker with dual mixing modes. It can blend powdered shakes such as protein powders and creatine and also pulp soft fruit for smoothies and fresh shakes.

I've identified five possible manufacturing options for the VShake: three in the UK and two in the Far East, and I've carried out checks on them all to ensure that they meet environmental and sustainability standards.

As well as the support from the Advanced Manufacturing Centre and IMPACT30, VShake has been helped in its journey by recent competition wins.

So far in 2022 Jack has picked up three awards:

• Young EDGE (Round 19) at the Scottish Edge Awards:
• Youth Entrepreneurship Award: and
• Best Commercial Award at CREATE, the UHI Inverness Business Competition.

“A massive thing is to get yourself into competitions,” Jack enthuses. “Get yourself on the map. It can be a really scary experience. But I’ll tell you what, even winning some of the smaller ones gives you a badge of honour for your business which means people will take you seriously. For me, the moment we won our first business competition was when this business entered the next level.”

Being 19 and starting up your own company while having no idea about the world of business is extremely daunting. It’s incredibly chaotic trying to navigate your way around everything.

It was really tough at the start. I think the workload involved is hard for anybody to comprehend, never mind for someone my age.

I was 19 and I couldn’t even keep my room tidy, but here I was starting up a business and getting patents. 

Winning the competitions has been a complete game changer. And not just for me, personally, but for the business. I can safely say that if it weren’t for IMPACT30 and my mentor Don pushing me to enter, I wouldn’t have applied for them.

If you’re developing a product, start working with a good patent attorney as soon as possible to ensure you retain ownership of your idea. Even if you don't patent it straight away, they’ll give you good advice on how to navigate your next steps whilst keeping things confidential, so you don’t let fear of losing your idea hold the development back.

Beyond that, Jack also suggests: 

• Make use of all the business support that’s out there – I recommend findbusinesssupport.gov.scot as a resource;
• Find an accelerator or programme of support so that you can be appointed a really good mentor, as that will help you to shine;
• To take it to the next level, you have to know how to speak to people. I used to feel quite anxious about this, so I began by starting up conversations with people in everyday situations just to get into the habit. Developing that has helped me make some amazing connections;
• Enter any business competitions that you qualify for.

I have a lot of ideas and I know VShake is just the beginning. I'm enjoying being an entrepreneur and an inventor, and have ideas for products as diverse as sports apps and environmentally friendly solutions to reduce single use plastic products.