A.J. Lawrence:
Really great to have you today.
Amanda Thomson:
I’m delighted to be asked.
A.J. Lawrence:
I love the concept because as someone who years ago decided that as an ex-rugby player, I realized that my alcohol levels as I was growing older, having a family and all that, it was like, ooh, this probably needs to be brought a little bit into more control. So I tried to change from just drinking as everything as a young person does, to being more careful and focused on higher quality beverages to enjoy. But as science and as I’ve gotten older, that’s even become a little bit more. And a lot of more science is about probably the worthwhileness of drinking less in our lives. We’ll just leave that there. But I still enjoy good beverage and I really heard some good things about Noughty. I really like that concept of being able to swap it in and out, as I was doing it. So I would love to hear a little bit more of like how you came around to this and just where you are in your own entrepreneurial journey.
Amanda Thomson:
Really interesting to hear your story and I think that hilarious sort of very close link with sport and alcohol is interesting. In the modern world, it’s being slightly dismantled, isn’t it? Because it doesn’t make rational sense. And yet now I think we’re realizing that most smart people, I think it cuts interestingly across age demographics, are realizing that perhaps alcohol too much doesn’t serve us and we’re the least sanctimonious brand. We take no position as to whether people should or shouldn’t be drinking. But I hear stories like yours so often and just to really rewind my, I guess, positive history, what brought me to today talking with you and in 2024 and I’m a first time founder. So I’m not like you, no serial businesses behind me. I was actually a journalist, a broadcaster, so I worked for the BBC for a long time.
A.J. Lawrence:
I know, listen to your act.
Amanda Thomson:
For me that synergy really is in curiosity, storytelling. I suppose as an entrepreneur I feel like the relevant skills are just that sort of thirst for knowledge, innovation and wanting to get to the heart of something. And of course that links up for me. Now I look back and join the dots. To cut a long story short, found there was nothing for me to drink A.J. when I wasn’t drinking. And what I mean by that was I was a wine snob. Truthfully, not literally. As in I wasn’t wealthy buying expensive wine all the time, but I was always super fussy about what wine I was drinking. And back in the day before social media, arts, journalists, we were quite spoiled. I was in the arts world and I’ll be honest with you A.J., it’s quite a different world. I could be fussy about the champagne I was drinking. I think it’s very different today, both in journalism with budgets and also with the onset of the digital world. But I became really a champagne snob as a journalist and that led me into really being curious about what was in my champagne and my wine. I trained in fine wine in Paris at Cordon Bleu, left my career behind and actually originally launched a champagne business. And then there was this nexus when I realized that I would be at my favorite wine dinner, first world problem obviously, and I would perhaps A.J. have one or two glasses. I was never a big drinker. I believe in addictive personalities and I definitely didn’t have one. And I would often leave early because I would have like one glass or two max and then I switched to water. And midweek I perhaps wouldn’t really want any wine at all just to keep my brain sharp and wake up early and do my yoga, yoga, whatever. And that really led me to explore what options there were for me and there was absolutely nothing for me as a wine drinker. So rewind to before the pandemic, I launched my first bottle of Noughty in 2019. Prior to that, and don’t get me wrong, there are a few legacy brands and I’m absolutely not ever rude about any brand whatsoever. We don’t talk about other brands, but in terms of having a wine that didn’t have alcohol for a discerning wine drinker that wasn’t kind of cheap and full of sugar and full of chemicals like cheap alcoholic wine, exactly the same way and really cared about branding and could sit equally on a table if you were drinking a fine wine, there was really nothing. So that really was my light bulb entrepreneurial moment, which was that transition point from champagne fine wine to alcohol free. But that was only the beginning. It’s that classic founder thing, isn’t it? Having the idea is one thing. Execution is a whole different ball game.
A.J. Lawrence:
Well, let’s kind of talk about into that journey because starting right before COVID increase in difficulty, but at least probably an increase in a market awareness around I think we all spent a good portion of 2020 just trying to drink our way through it and then going, oh, whatever’s going on is not going to end. But then two is figuring out how to be more responsible so that while creating more difficulty, probably created more opportunities for you also as you were growing. But what sort has happened over the past four or five years?
Amanda Thomson:
You’re a New Yorker and New York was really the first place that woke up to what I was doing in many ways. Just prior to that, the famous wine critic Jancis Robinson on her website, Tamlyn Currin, who works with Jancis, had reviewed my first ever launch bottle, which was a blanc de blanc, like my favorite champagne. And we launched that in London in the traditional way in hotels and upscale bars and restaurants. And this is of course before the pandemic hit in 20. But I’d had couple of wine critics talk about me and the New York crowd woke up really early. New York Times wrote about me really early. Eric Asimov said tasty. Later, Florence Fabricant came on board. When I say came on board, I just mean in the sense of talked about what I was doing. And as an ex-journalist married to a publicist, I guess for me I’ve never grown up thinking about brand build with the traditional marketing budgets that most drinks brands bring to the table. In my mind, if I had something special I’d done and there was a story and I could get it into the right hands, I was all about organic media because that was a world I knew. And so that was the touch paper that got so beautifully lit. And there’s a few journalists that I would be forever grateful for. And that was really how it all started. And so actually, although I launched in London, New York blew up actually much quicker. So it’s kind of what every global sort of entrepreneur dreams of because everybody has New York as their mecca in many ways. Although a lot of British brands obviously come out of London too, so I’m not putting my own home city down at all in that regard. But I think it’s fair to say everybody wants to make it in New York. And so because the great and the good of the drinks industry and that kind of whole non-alcoholic buzz was starting, everybody was online in a way they’d never been before. So while in 24, it’s unusual for me to talk to you online because we’re not online quite so much at all are, but of course in 20 and 21 we were all talking like this constantly. And I guess as a Brit, I was more unusual. I would say my American friends seem to grow up comfortable in front of cameras. Brits can be generally a little more reticent. I was online an unhealthy amount. I was online from morning until my night, but that took me through to California and Texas night. So often I was online through to London time, through to American bedtime. And I was really just sharing my story and that was the golden opportunity really. And I think you touched on, if you dig into the stats, quite dark. Alcoholism, we kind of joked about it on the one hand, middle class drinkers, whatever. Alcoholism actually is very sadly was on the rise around the world. But as you also kind of alluded to then became a point when most people who could take a bit of sensible analysis on the subject and look at themselves realize that, come on, you know, this party is going to end now and it’s going to go on for quite some time and I can’t carry on this way. And so I think you got that kind of thought leadership piece of the smarter crowd. Sadly, it was left with all kinds of other problems underneath. But the thought leaders realized that that’s what you balance. And so my bottles were kind of poised, I guess, for that moment.
A.J. Lawrence:
I like that a lot because as someone who does do all sorts of tracking, I have oura ring and all that. A small cocktail early enough in the day, a slight impact on sleep. More than two, especially later, my sleep deteriorates. Yet there is something about end of day, that sort of small ceremony. And it’s funny how that end of day celebration and as much as I’ve tried with kombuchas and stuff like that, it doesn’t quite have the same impact.
Amanda Thomson:
Exactly, A.J.
A.J. Lawrence:
I look forward to testing that. So it’s funny, I just want to kind of get a little bit. So you got talked about and discovered in New York City even though you were launching. Are you sort of in like Astor place wines? Is it some of the restaurants?
Amanda Thomson:
Well, I mean a few upscale places now and it’s just really starting to build out. I mean you’ve got quite an unusual situation with my brand at the moment which is where I’m trying to think of a good example. I guess one could have looked historically to really when plant based movement was starting to kind of take off and infiltrate the mainstream. You’ve got to strange moment where the great and the good and the thought leaders understand very easily where a brand like mine fits into not only their life but also the restaurant scene. But then you often get pushed down to the old distribution models where middle management or buyers and procurement don’t necessarily understand the opportunity. And of course one never likes to talk about gender in the modern world, but the great and the good of that kind of mid space it’s often quite male dominated and often because a lot of places have many non-alcoholic beer options now in the modern world. Usually way more than one and sometimes as many as five, six, seven on the modern lists. Also spirit free and non-alcoholic cocktails which have been a thing for a while are just transitioning from mocktails or smoothies. We have quite an interesting piece of work that we do alongside the positioning in restaurants which is also the education piece because most people don’t even realize. I know in my echo chamber we all do outside that don’t even realize that a really good non-alcoholic wine exists. So it’s not really a kind of light the touch paper and every single cool bar and restaurant in New York will service. It’s more a case of you get an account one by one by one and then that’s kind of how it starts to build. One of my favorite places a couple of weeks ago, I was sipping a glass of Noughty at the bar at the Metropolitan. So the Michelin star, they’ve got the cool bar there, somewhere like that.
A.J. Lawrence:
But the bar is separate from the restaurant. The bar is a great bar.
Amanda Thomson:
Yes, exactly. So we were sipping Noughty there, the sommelier and I. That was a moment. We’re launching at Soho House in New York and across the US we’re in places like the-let me think of other places-The Pierre, Mercery. Lots of lovely places, lots of places in Brooklyn. It’s a one by one by one thing. It’s not a kind of blanket bowl because in many ways, A.J., if I get a ton of accounts but the staff don’t understand it and they haven’t had the training to recognize how to offer it, that’s not really a win. It really flies when you’ve got that understanding piece. But the most interesting thing for me, and I’ve just been learning as I gone, is the lost margin that happens with wine drinkers when Noughty or similar upscale non-alcoholic wine is on the list. So the data is now starting to show, it’s such a new piece of data and analysis data, is now starting to show that wine drinkers are very commonly like me. We leave early. So the loss margin, if there’s nothing, if there’s no Noughty on the list, the margin that’s lost from people like me is I leave early so I may not stay for dessert and more drinks because I switch to water and I go home an extra. It also affects the alcohol margin because it affects the whole table. Not trying to see how wonderful I am as the most exciting person in the room at the party, but anybody in a group who’s leaving early affects the whole party. So you’re losing affiliated food margin if people are eating and affiliated alcohol margin. So this is when it becomes really exciting. And of course, as long as it’s priced correctly on the list in a beautiful location and the bar team understand how to sell it, everybody wins. So it’s a really exciting opportunity. But that hand sell piece has to be there.
A.J. Lawrence:
I like that because I have friends who have restaurants and I’ve dabbled in and out either in investing in different alcohol brands or in helping alcohol brands find their market. This does have a very interesting play into that space so I’m very curious to see how this goes. Now that you’ve been growing a bit and you’re starting to get this foundation set, what are you finding is changing compared to early on? Now that you’re in more markets, you’re expanding through the US through the Soho that’s a great partnership. New York is a great location. I still love their Turkish Istanbul one, but for whatever reason that was just like coolest little place. But you’re expanding now. You’re starting to actually have a real ongoing business. What are you finding has changed as you try and grow this company?
Amanda Thomson:
I think my attitude has changed in the sense that I’m calmer to problems because of course as you grow your business the problems become bigger.
A.J. Lawrence:
More. More money problems, yeah.
Amanda Thomson:
But I think I’m more confident about dealing with them. So that’s quite interesting. Because I can remember really early days blowing my top privately. I’ve never been one to blow my top at people physically, but privately blowing my top many times. I can remember acutely back in the day with what I would now view as really minuscule problems. So it’s almost like the problems become, as our turnover becomes bigger, our challenges become bigger, our brand build, we’re more in the spotlight. All of these things are much bigger. But I think my aptitude for understanding how to manage increasingly difficult situations, that of course are relevant to businesses every week, every day. Often you deal with them in a very different way, or at least I do, so I feel like I’ve grown seismically on a personal level. From a leadership perspective, am I any less sort of tolerant of people not doing things properly? Probably not. I mean, I think it’s important to be honest. What I like now is that I can delegate dealing with the problems that would absolutely frustrate me because I would feel like I didn’t have time to deal with them to perhaps my number two, who’s got a brilliant amount of patience. We’re not great as Brits at self-analysis. You’ll probably know that most of us don’t have therapists in Britain even though we probably should. But from a self-analysis point of view, I think there’s this kind of strange juxtaposition that you need as being a founder because a lot of my qualities that will make me hugely successful, I almost recognize I don’t really want a dampen. And yet you do need to grow. So I think there’s a constant, almost fight in your head regarding that. Or at least there is for me, if I’m very honest.
A.J. Lawrence:
Well, no, I like that concept because that is very true. That constant fight within your head is something that I think is just part of the entrepreneurial journey. What can be, what should be, what can be done, all those variations and that constant creation of your world. That’s what we do as entrepreneurs is just create the world. And it’s the more we push to create it versus accepting. I think it is that tension because I think you seem to have a very elegant style in doing so compared to I think some of us who are a bit more bruiser. I have a tendency of like, hey, there’s a brick wall. Let me see how many times I can hit it with my head to see if I can go through it versus, oh wait, let me walk around it. I like that approach. What do you think has helped you deal with that tension?
Amanda Thomson:
I sort of see it as a muscle one exercises, I suppose. Like that resilience idea is like the more you get, the more used to it you are, metaphorically, I mean, my joke used to be nobody dies. And then I had a situation with my husband who had leukemia and a stem cell transplant, and I had about a year and a half when he probably would die. And then he didn’t die and there was a happy ending. But I sort of realized with my husband’s black British humor that perhaps I better stop making that joke. So I’ve always thought twice before how to make that joke since then. I don’t even know if I’ve said that publicly since then. So I think just the literal exercising of the muscle and the recognizing that I will always be impatient, I will always be visionary. I know exactly where I’m going. My team are incredible. I can’t expect them to have the same level of obsession as I do. I mean, I have to always remind myself of that. But what’s brilliant is I think, going back to like having that number two or a variety of number twos, but just that kind of delegation piece of having brilliant people that fill in all of your shortcomings. I mean, that was always the way I saw my business. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always said as an entrepreneur, I’m brilliant at probably two things and maybe three. I probably do my talents down. I’m very visionary, I’m great at palate when it comes to wine, and I’m a good communicator. Let’s say those are my three key skills. Yes, of course I want to learn. I mean, I’ve got a classic growth mindset since being born. I was a journalist. But there’s not enough time for me to learn to be brilliant at everything, clearly. So how do I fill in those gaps and work with brilliant people who I don’t have to micromanage, who will just do what I need them to do? Obviously that’s easier said than done but I like to hope that at the moment, touch wood, people take a couple of junior positions. I’m in a pretty good spot and I think for me, that’s the key. I sometimes speak to founders much, well, certainly at the stage I’m at on my journey, and I’m always a bit shocked that the bits they’re telling me they’re really bad at, they’re kind of outsourcing. I’ll give an example. I’m a visionary entrepreneur, I’m a creative. I’m good enough at numbers to look at 1, 2, 3 key numbers. I am certainly not good enough at numbers to not have the best FD and forecaster working with me. So he’s technically my business partner now. And I’m just shocked that I’ll sometimes speak to founders really. I don’t know how they got this far ahead, but they’ll kind of go, yeah, we didn’t have a full time FD, you know, yeah, we were bad at numbers, we’d raised this much. And I just feel like, well, not only is that beyond shocking that the investors came in the other side, but also how the hell are you thinking that that’s going to work big picture? And then sure enough, often these businesses self combust. Because I think when people take their eye off that cash is king concept, we’ve all seen where that goes and it’s not pretty.
A.J. Lawrence:
I know from my own experience as I grew right there. And I love the FD concept because we call it CFO or whatever. Financial director.
Amanda Thomson:
Financial director, sorry, CFO, yeah. We use both.
A.J. Lawrence:
Two countries divided by a common language. I’ve worked in London before, I’ve had so many great experiences. But also like what? These are the same words. How do we completely misunderstand each other? It is the fun of just our language. But that is very, very true. I know for the longest time I thought I had to bootstrap everything. Early in my journey I tracked everything, but what I tracked was what I was afraid of, not what was going to help me grow from a financial point of view. And it was finally when I did bring in a professional fractional CFO that all of a sudden it was like, oh, there is a future. I can look into the future. My whole fear was always could I make payroll? That was like my night and day. Like literally every day logging in, calculating how much money I had in hand and nothing else. But yes, getting into that, having an FD, having that ability to understand where you are and what it means for what you can do in the future and what has happened and what can you pull from inside, I think is a fascinating. I do that more from a marketing point of view but I do love that kind of constant like, all right, what has happened? So what can we do now? I think that that’s a great approach that you have. Let me ask this, where did the Noughty as f^ck as AF come from?
Amanda Thomson:
Well, there’s a good story though.
A.J. Lawrence:
I should have asked that earlier. Why that name?
Amanda Thomson:
Yeah, this is me now being very British. It was always Noughty, just as Noughty. Obviously, for anyone watching, listening, it’s a play on words, obviously. Mischief. I just thought so many alcohol-free brands had been a little sanctimonious. In the UK, in Britain and London, naught is zero. So that was kind of double play on words there. And my American friends all liked it. And so we were like, right, this works. Because I’d always had my eye on America and the UK is where we were launching really consecutively. And quite early in the journey, I was on one of those conversations during the pandemic, talking with some drinks founders, a couple of people in New York, and they were like, oh god, Noughty AF. I love that. And I was like, oh, yeah. And they started laughing and they said what you said. And I just had this incredible, really, I went really old school British with shock. And I said, alcohol free. And it was just this really hilarious moment and flushing between my ears. My brain was like, okay, have I really screwed up my crown in one fell swoop? Are we back to like, we gotta really deal with this? And then of course, the rest was history and America loved it. And it’s kind of a really lovely thing that not only is there the play on words with the Noughty, but also with the AF, and technically, A.J., it’s alcohol free.
A.J. Lawrence:
I didn’t even give it that thought. I was just like, I saw AF together and I’m like, oh okay. They’re just not saying it, all right. Oh my god, I’m so sorry. And I’m also like, wow, I’m so American. I’m in New York.
Amanda Thomson:
I’m so glad you asked. It’s the thing.
A.J. Lawrence:
I’ll slink away in shame for my dirt.
Amanda Thomson:
No, no, no, no. That’s how we’ve ended up pushing it in that playful way. So that’s the point. Yeah. Alcohol free or AF.
A.J. Lawrence:
Okay, so as you grow and as you continue to expand and remain in the premium, are you going to go beyond wine beverage? Is it wine beverage or is it just an alcohol free wine?
Amanda Thomson:
We see we’re a wine brand that’s not alcoholic. And the reason is I think there’s so much drama about the wine space. Obviously in your country, it’s not definitely not so present here, but you know, with cannabis use going up.
A.J. Lawrence:
Wine is not as good usually.
Amanda Thomson:
Alcohol going down. You’ve got some amazing wines in America. I always want to drink great American.
A.J. Lawrence:
I miss living in Spain. That’s all I have to say when it comes to wine.
Amanda Thomson:
What I find is my discerning American friends nerd out over European wine. And when I get there, in fancy places when I’m lucky enough to be, I always want either Oregon wine or Sonoma wine. And of course, most fancy places in New York or California, they’ll often have so much European wine. It’s kind of ironic.
A.J. Lawrence:
One quick side on that, I think what happens in America so often is we have some really great wines but we have so much bad wine and we don’t have a culture.
Amanda Thomson:
We do too in Europe. I think you get the good stuff in the US, of course, in any nice restaurant, there’s stuff, aren’t they? If I go into a supermarket in London and a supermarket in New York, you know a smaller retail in New York whatever, we can all find bad wine too easily from everywhere.
A.J. Lawrence:
I completely agree on that. I just think having lived in Spain where even the little cafe, the €2 glass of wine is usually 10 times better than the typical glass of wine.
Amanda Thomson:
But if I was sitting with you in Sonoma or Oregon drinking Pinot Noir-
A.J. Lawrence:
If we would.
Amanda Thomson:
Come on.
A.J. Lawrence:
Yeah, okay. I mean, within reason. Let’s not-all right, we’ll go off. I have anti-American sentiments when it comes to wine. Not the producers, because I think we have some amazing producers. Just the wine drinking culture.
Amanda Thomson:
I find over there, I find this conversation very common. I find I’m the British sticking up for American wine. This is the conversation I’m always having. It’s kind of funny. Anyhow, you were asking about my brand. We’re growing and it’s way important to build a brand, which for me is quite different from chasing hard, fast sales. Because if I was just doing the latter, I would probably just hard jump on every single US, UK, European retail deal. But then where’s the pull through and where’s the brand build? So it’s a really interesting thing. I’ve always been excited about brand and my business partner grew a very famous British brand which beer drinkers know quite well called Camden. And it was out of North London and it was a very famous exit to ABI. And he comes from that drinks world where he’s used to scaling, building and scaling drinks brands as well as bars. So he’s kind of come from that more beer and hard liquor side. He was new to wine actually, completely. And my husband who does our comms and PR because obviously I couldn’t have afforded him in the real world, but you know, classic entrepreneur. And I was like, right, you know, you’re the best publicist I know. We’re building this through organic media. So I got him on board. He never worked with a drinks brand, but I guess we call ourselves a wine brand, lifestyle brand. So I just said, well, do what I ask that you do for all the celebrities, productions, whatever. He works across the UK and US and so, we were all about brand build and we’re still about brand build. So you do have attention and a gray area between chasing that hard, vast volume and wanting obviously to make money, but also wanting to be in the right places and to make sure you’re building that brand. So it is exciting, really exciting, because I don’t believe we’ve even reached the tipping point. We’re just scratching the surface right now. Quite shockingly, I think it’s quite a strange thing to say, I’m arguably considered the thought leader in non-alcoholic wine in the world. I just did a masterclass recently, the first one in Asia and Singapore. I think you never want to be first woman out the door getting shot, as they say, building a brand. When you’re pushing ahead on that innovation piece and you’re still doing that education piece, it’s a very particular, exciting place to be. But you have to take your steps very strategically and carefully. And so I’ve got a lot more work to do. But do people pick up the phone to me now? Yeah, it’s quite different today than it was even probably six months, a year ago. And I think what’s lovely, A.J., is getting back to that brief conversation we had about money, is working with my business partner. It was all about getting profitable as soon as possible. It’s really lovely to have people offering you money when you say, no, thank you. And trust me, I’ve been at the other end of that because in early stage funding before you’ve got to market, we all know is hellish. And so I’ve seen both sides of the coin. So it’s lovely saying to people, thank you so much. I’ll file that in my ever increasing inbox. I don’t actually need your money, but I appreciate it. I don’t take that lightly. Right?
A.J. Lawrence:
That is really good. Well, okay, so you’re starting to be in a little bit of position of strength from the financial aspects of your business. You have some really exciting partnerships to help extend the brand. You have a company that has grown out of its childhood and moving into teenage, early adulthood. How are you going about looking at your success as an entrepreneur separate from the company? What’s going to be a success for you, Amanda?
Amanda Thomson:
Yeah. This procedure is always a bit awkward for me. I don’t know if that’s my personality, my Britishness, I don’t know what it is.
A.J. Lawrence:
It’s hard. I used to always fall into my company like, oh, we’re doing great.
Amanda Thomson:
Yeah, I don’t feel successful in my eyes yet. And I think if you ask most founders like me, probably even different stages, way ahead, way behind, whatever, I have a very particular vision and goal that I’m building to. And until I’m there, I don’t know if I’ll feel successful. And will I even feel successful when I’m there is probably the more punishing question.
A.J. Lawrence:
Yes. Having some limited success of my own and then definitely with these interviews, it’s very rare to find an entrepreneur who is comfortable in smelling the roses, let’s just say, taking that step. Well, it depends on the direction you’re going. I think, look, self reflection is always a very important piece of what we’re doing but realizing our involvement, yes, we’re the one guiding this journey for businesses, but realizing our own personal involvement in that journey and what does it mean for us? Not just, oh, we’re going to make money or we’re going to do X. We’re going to create a great solution to make the world better in X, Y or Z point. I think understanding what we need out of that and being adaptive but honest to it, we can always change with time or situations.
Amanda Thomson:
I love it. It’s addictive. I think that old adage about founders being unemployable is absolutely true. Would I work the hours I work for anyone else? Absolutely not. Do I work an unhealthy amount? Yes. I mean, I think every founder, when founders sit privately, you know, you’re a serial entrepreneur, you have public conversations and you have private ones. I think when you get a bunch of entrepreneurs in the room, there’s always the tension between what’s an appropriate public conversation and what’s really a private conversation. Because it’s a bit like I always say to potential founders, what do you want out of this? Do you want a really small lifestyle business, which is a brilliant idea where you have a balanced lifestyle, or do you want to build a life changing business where your life is never going to be your own on the journey or something in the middle? But I think we’re not always realistic enough about what it takes. I always say I’ll be really glad if I’ve got friends at the end of this because I haven’t got time to see them. Do you know what I mean? Something always gives, doesn’t it? And so I’m incredibly ambitious. I know I can get where I need to get. Will I stop till I’m there? No, that’s the truth of it. And I think the reason I like America so much, sorry, not just your wine, I like your country to do business is because I find it incredibly uplifting. Because going back, I’ve mentioned being British a few times, only because obviously you’re a New Yorker. But I don’t think I’m a typical Brit because I’m quite high energy and I’m quite optimistic. And I think that plays out really well in your market. Whereas I think probably I have to turn my excitement down because you can be a bit awesome and it’s a bit too much. Whereas in America, I’m not even the loudest in the room.
A.J. Lawrence:
There is that definitely. I’ve seen them having lived in expat bubbles. When I lived in southern Spain, it was all pretty much bubbles of people who were mostly from the UK or northern Europe, and it is very funny. And I do think a lot of times from a Brit, but also an American point of view, it’s if you’ve lived in multiple places, I do think if you have someone who’s a bit more outward, maybe just a little more optimism around.
Amanda Thomson:
Yeah. That’s a good point.
A.J. Lawrence:
But all right. This has been fascinating and I’m now like, ooh, when can I go have some Noughty? But first, what’s the best way for some of the listeners to find out more about what you’re doing about Noughty? Where should they go?
Amanda Thomson:
So just our website, noughtyaf.com and that’s Noughty with an O. Noughtyaf.com, the alcohol free agent.
A.J. Lawrence:
Yes. And we will have that in the show notes, the link we will have in the email and our socials when this all comes out. So we’ll make sure you can go get Noughty as easily as you can. We’ll make sure. I’m already trying to play with slogans for you because it’s so much fun. Amanda, thank you. This was a lot of fun. I really, really appreciate it and I can’t wait to hear more about what you’re doing with Noughty. Because I really think this is a cool product and it will be great.
Amanda Thomson:
Super grateful. I must also mention Instagram. And that’s just NoughtyAF with an O.
A.J. Lawrence:
And we’ll have that in things. So yes, go check out the Instagram also. All right everyone, thank you so much for listening. Can’t wait till we come back with another great entrepreneur. But I hope you have a wonderful day, and I’ll talk again with you soon. Bye-bye.
