How Piemonte Drinks Founders Nearly Lost Everything

They didn’t grow up in the drinks industry. They didn’t have investors lined up. They had £12,000, two corporate jobs, and a spicy margarita made on a balcony during lockdown.

In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with Alice Parmiter and Wynter Karo, co-founders of Pimentae, to unpack how they turned a tequila knowledge gap into one of the UK’s fastest-growing tequila cocktail brands.

From discovering real tequila culture in Mexico to spotting a gap in UK supermarkets, they bootstrapped their first 1,400 bottles, hand-delivered influencer hampers, and then put £20,000 down to run a festival bar with no safety net.

That decision funded their business.

Since then, they’ve raised £2 million, scaled into grocery, travel and festival spaces, navigated a product recall, and built a brand rooted in community and authenticity.

This is not a “glam startup” story. It’s about blind optimism, operational mistakes, difficult fundraising conversations, and staying aligned as co-founders.

Key Takeaways

• Why blind optimism is often required at the start

• How bootstrapping builds stronger commercial discipline

• The risks of taking the wrong investor too early

• Why festivals became their most powerful customer acquisition tool

• How authenticity protects your brand as you scale🎧 This episode is powered by WorldFirst, specialists in international business payments. If your business pays overseas suppliers or receives payments from abroad, those transaction fees can quickly add up.

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