From HSBC to The Vurger Co., and Losing It All | Neil Potts

Neil Potts sat next to Daniele on the trading floor at HSBC. He was also getting up at 4am to buy fresh produce at wholesale markets, running vegan pop-ups in Shoreditch after work, and telling almost no one, because he was scared of getting in trouble for not being his full self at work.That side project became The Vurger Co.: four restaurants, products in supermarkets across the UK, UAE and US, and a real shot at something big. Then COVID arrived, and Neil and his partner Rachel made a decision most of the industry refused to make: they closed completely rather than send their staff across London on the tube to make burgers. What followed was the hardest chapter of their lives, an insurance policy that paid nothing, hundreds of thousands of pounds lost, and debt taken on in desperation.This conversation is about what happens after. Why the fear never fully left until the worst had already happened. Why paper valuations mean nothing. Why doing it for money is the wrong reason. And how a man who lost everything he built now says there is basically nothing left that scares him.Neil today runs Silverwood Rose, a consulting practice in Los Angeles helping food and drink founders navigate what he survived: silverwoodrose.comIf you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com