How 2 Corporate Dropouts Outsold Patrón with £0 Marketing Budget | Co-Founder of Pimentae Drinks

How 2 Corporate Dropouts Outsold Patrón with £0 Marketing Budget | Co-Founder of Pimentae Drinks

From What It Takes with Olly Fawcett by Olly Fawcett

May 11, 2026 · 1h 15m

About this episode

Wynter Karo shares her journey of co-founding Pimentae Drinks and the challenges faced in the beverage industry.

Wynter Karo quit her corporate grad scheme at Sky at 24, called her co-founder Alice, and asked a question nobody had answered yet: why hasn't anyone made a pre-batched spicy margarita? Two months later, Pimentae was on Companies House. Wynter gets into the full story, from product development during lockdown, nearly losing their first Waitrose listing to a blending disaster worth £25k, outselling Patrón at Taste London, landing Diageo's Distl Ventures backing, and building a festival activation model that now makes up 25% of their total revenue. Chapters: 00:00 Wynter's Background & The Corporate Grind 02:47 How Pimentae Was Born on a Balcony 05:42 Why University Didn't Prepare Her For This 07:07 Why Alice Was the Right Co-Founder 10:18 Early Product Development & The MVP 14:47 Going Full-Time & Week One 18:26 When People Started Having Opinions 22:27 The Operational Reality Nobody Warns You About 25:20 What She'd Do Differently 27:06 The Co-Founder Relationship 29:32 The Waitrose Blending Disaster 35:49 Why Festivals Changed Everything 38:23 How They Made Festivals Profitable 41:04 The First Festival — £10k, An Amex & A Prayer 43:28 Distl Ventures & The…

People in this episode

Host: Olly Fawcett

Guest: Wynter Karo

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • startups
  • beverage industry
  • co-founder dynamics
  • product development
  • marketing strategies

Keywords

  • Pimentae
  • spicy margarita
  • entrepreneurship
  • Waitrose
  • Diageo
  • festival activation
  • product development
  • startups

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sky, Pimentae, Waitrose, Diageo, Distl Ventures

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