January 26, 2017, by The Ingenuity Lab

Forbes 30 Under 30: Porterlight Bicycles

“Success is being in charge of your lifestyle and creating something you’re proud of, surrounded by people you love” – Troye Sivan

Each year, the Forbes 30 Under 30 list presents the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers. Alumni of the highly-coveted list range from iconic basketball player LeBron James, to the Chief Economist at Bank of America, Michelle Meyer. We are now super proud to announce that one of our very own Ingenuity Lab members has joined them!

University of Nottingham Alumnus Lawrence Brand’s business has grown significantly over the past 12 months. His company Porterlight Bicycles, which is a high-tech cargo bike manufacturing company in London, has become the global cargo bike provider for Deliveroo, and has had publicity from a range of outlets, including The Guardian, London Evening Standard and an exhibition in the Design Museum.

We caught up with our superstar entrepreneur to find out more about how his hard work to build Porterlight Bicycles is paying off…

“Being featured in the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 lists feels like a great validation of the work I’ve been doing for the last three years developing and manufacturing UK cargo bikes. Coming just after we’ve finished our first proper year of trading in 2016, it’s a great endorsement for how far Porterlight’s come in that time. We have established the brand as a global provider of these bikes, and hopefully this recognition is a good sign of things to come in 2017!

One of the Deliveroo cargo bikes, designed by Porterlight Bicycles

This year we’re focused on getting Porterlight ready to rapidly scale up its production capability. Having moved to a larger facility at the end of last year, we’re developing our production process in order to meet growing demand, and at the same time increase the efficiency with which we can make our custom cargo bikes. With an increased capacity for bike building, we also aim to bring some exciting new models to the market later in the year.”

Back in April 2016, Lawrence walked away from Ingenuity16 with the £5,000 Potter Clarkson Award; £5,000 from BDO; and £6,000 in Enterprise Grants to continue developing his business Porterlight Bicycles. The skills he developed during the competition, as well as during Ingenuity15 the year before, have proved to be incredibly useful in how he approaches business development and the obstacles that can arise.

Lawrence accepting the BDO Prize at Ingenuity16

“Attending the Ingenuity competitions in 2015 and 2016 was a big help in clarifying a lot of my ideas, and boiling down the essence of the company in order to pitch it to the judges. Getting to discuss the business with the mentors available at the boot-camp was good, and meeting so many of my peers with their own enterprises and ideas was a great motivation to get on with starting the business itself.

I’d highly recommend anyone with a start-up, or just that first seed of an idea, to apply to Ingenuity17. Being part of a process that’s going to force you to think about your concept in a structured, business-focused way is a great help in clarifying what’s going to be important to you, highlighting what your next steps need to be, and hopefully winning some money in the process!”

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Lawrence on this fantastic achievement, and look forward to following his Porterlight Bicycle journey further during 2017.

If you would like to develop your own skills as an entrepreneur, why not apply to Ingenuity17? Applications are open until midnight on Friday 27th January, and is an ideal opportunity to access the support and inspiration to turn an innovative idea into a brilliant business.

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