Former engineer disrupts supplying water to businesses

My First Million: Josh Gill, founder of Everflow


Former engineer Josh Gill saw a gap in the water industry and decided to launch his own company — supplying discounted water to businesses.
Starting from his living room in 2017, with £500,000 raised entirely through friends and personal contacts, he entered the market just as it opened and saw rapid growth. In the first year of trading, racked up 2,200 customers and a £2.1mn turnover.
Since then, by using technology to simplify getting quotes and billing customers, Middlesbrough-based Everflow has gone on to supply 73,000 businesses, generating a turnover last year of £79mn, with £120mn-plus expected in 2022.

Did you think you would get to where you are?
Definitely not to where I am today, but at university I was ambitious, hoping to start my own business before I was 30, and I achieved that. I realised I would not end up in engineering, because I could not give it the high level of detail it requires. I prefer to focus on the bigger picture, the widest possible view, seeing all the moving parts.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Natalie Graham