The £7M question: What if your "safe" career is the riskiest choice?
From Hedge Funds to Coffee Beans: The Career Reset Nobody Saw Coming
THE RESET
Every failure is a fresh start—every Tuesday
From Hedge Funds to Coffee Beans: The Career Reset Nobody Saw Coming
Peter Grainger had it sorted. Cape Town kid, degree in finance, climbing the ladder at Investec, Citigroup, GLG Partners. London. Hedge funds. The whole shebang. Then 2008 hit, and suddenly he’s sat there wondering what the hell he’s actually doing with his life.
So he did what most of us fantasize about but never actually do, he quit. Packed his bags. Seven months traveling through South and Central America. And somewhere between processing trades and processing his life, an idea sparked at a mate’s wedding in Cape Town: coffee pods. He knew nothing about coffee. Nothing about manufacturing. Nothing about retail. But he saw a gap, and more importantly, he couldn’t shake the idea.
In 2011, Peter and two former finance colleagues none of them coffee people launched CafePod to take on Nestlé in the Nespresso-compatible pod market. Today? They’re in Tesco, Waitrose, Ocado, with millions in turnover and a physical store in Clapham teaching people how to actually make decent coffee at home.
Here’s what Peter’s journey teaches us about starting over when the old path stops making sense.
Lesson #1: Your “Inexperience” Might Be Your Advantage
Peter walked into the coffee industry as blank canvas, and that became his superpower. While industry veterans were stuck in “this is how we’ve always done it” mode, Peter saw coffee through the consumer’s eyes. He didn’t know the unwritten rules, so he didn’t follow them. He focused on what customers actually wanted: bold flavors, better value, products that worked with their machines.
The result? CafePod became the UK’s first brand to offer Nespresso-compatible pods outside of Nestlé. They built products based on what coffee drinkers needed, not what the industry assumed.
Apply this: What field are you avoiding because you feel unqualified? That fresh perspective, the one that makes you feel like an imposter, might be exactly what’s missing. Sometimes not knowing “how things are done” means you’re free to do them better.
Lesson #2: If the Idea Won’t Leave You Alone, Stop Ignoring It
Here’s the thing about Peter’s coffee idea, it wouldn’t shut up. It started at a wedding. A casual conversation. He flew back to London and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Mentioned it to friends. Researched it. The idea kept showing up, demanding attention.
Most of us get these persistent ideas and dismiss them as fantasies. Too risky. Too different from what we’re doing now. Not the “sensible” choice. Peter had every reason to ignore his: he was in his early 30s, knew nothing about the industry. But the idea persisted, so he listened.
Apply this: What idea keeps circling back to you? The one you dismiss but can’t quite forget? Pay attention to persistence. Not every idea deserves your life, but the ones that won’t leave you alone? Those deserve investigation. Give yourself permission to explore it, even if it scares you.
Lesson #3: Taking Time Out Isn’t Giving Up—It’s Getting Clear
Peter didn’t go from hedge fund analyst to coffee entrepreneur overnight. There was a gap. Seven months of it. He questioned his career during the 2008 crisis, stepped away, and travelled. That wasn’t avoidance, it was reconnaissance.
During that break, he found the clarity to recognize what mattered. He gave himself space to notice the coffee conversation at the wedding. Without the noise of his daily grind, he could actually hear what his gut was saying. The break didn’t delay his next chapter, it made it possible.
Apply this: If you’re feeling stuck or questioning your path, taking a pause isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom. Sometimes you need to step off the treadmill to see where you actually want to go. What would change if you gave yourself permission to reflect without guilt?
The Quote That Matters:
“When I set up, I was in my early 30s, working in the city, surviving on coffee—but knew absolutely nothing about coffee! I decided that we could learn everything there was to know to launch a coffee business, but in reality we had no experience, money or base knowledge—plenty of reasons not to do it.”
— Peter Grainger
This is the entrepreneur’s confession we need more of. Peter didn’t wait until he was “ready.” He didn’t gather all the credentials first. He acknowledged he had plenty of reasons NOT to do it, and did it anyway. Not recklessly, but with a willingness to learn everything he didn’t know.
Your Reset Challenge This Week:
Think about the career or life change you’ve been dismissing as “too late” or “too risky” or “I don’t know enough.”
Now ask yourself: If I gave this idea the same chance I gave my current path, if I approached it with curiosity instead of fear, what would the first small step look like?
You don’t need to quit your job tomorrow. You don’t need a business plan by Friday. Just take one tiny action this week that moves you toward the thing you can’t stop thinking about. Research it. Message someone who’s done it. Write down what you’d need to learn.
Peter proved that “I don’t know how” isn’t a stop sign—it’s a starting line.
Want the full story? Listen to Peter’s complete journey on My Perfect Failure from the life-changing advice at the hedge fund to how CafePod went from a wedding conversation to supermarket shelves.
Got a setback you’re wrestling with? Hit reply—I read every message.