‘I sank £35k into a new business – and it’s changed my life’

Unlike property’s ‘limited gains’, starting a business has ‘unlimited potential’

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Gemma Stuart’s plan was always to invest her £35,000 savings sensibly in a buy-to-let.
“I was saving up for a deposit to buy a property to let out and supplement my income,” she explains. “As a single woman, I also wanted an asset that could help support my retirement down the line.”
But instead, she decided to sink her life savings into a new venture, gambling it all on a business that changed her life – supplements that help sufferers of IBS.
This has been a big decision. While half of all new businesses in the UK fail within three years, the average buy-to-let property yields a gross income of £15,312 per year.
But rather than stash her money in property, where regulation and slow house price growth constrain profits, she sees her investment as having unlimited potential.
“I am working every day to secure my own financial future rather than relying solely on a property, where the gains are limited.
“Even though doing this is risky, it feels so much less scary than not doing it.”
Before starting a business, Edinburgh-based Gemma Stuart had a successful corporate career. She spent 10 years working as a consultant for some of the world’s biggest banks and insurance brokers.
During that time, she was also desperately searching for a cure for her irritable bowel syndrome.
“I juggled my career while silently battling IBS,” she says. “Navigating the NHS was frustrating and the stress made my symptoms worse.” Doctors consistently dismissed her symptoms and Stuart felt lost and isolated.
So Stuart decided to take matters into her own hands. She took a course in IBS management, and began buying postbiotics from Europe after reading that they had successfully reduced IBS symptoms in clinical trials. She found that these friendly bacteria helped reduce bloating and she had fewer emergency trips to the loo.
In the summer of 2021, the Suez Canal crisis created a kink in the postbiotic supply chain, and Stuart had a lightbulb moment: “I realised that we need to make these products in the UK,” she says. “Brexit was also about to happen, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy to source the products I needed from Europe anymore.
“I’ve suffered with IBS for 20 years and the only thing that has ever given me relief is postbiotics. No one was investing in this space, so I saw an opportunity to create a product for people like me.”
But she didn’t take this decision lightly. “I tried to persuade myself not to start the business,” she admits. “I treated myself like a potential investor and created a pitch deck, setting out my goals and targets for the business.”
Stuart also analysed the performance of her existing consultancy business.
“It was a one-person service business and its growth was limited by the number of hours I could work in a day,” she says. “With a product business, there’s no limit to how big you can get.”
Stuart quit her job, found a manufacturer, and used industry experts to create a lemon-flavoured drinkable supplement containing Lactobacillus LB. Her company started trading in August 2022.
Launching Gut Wealth, the UK’s first liquid postbiotic supplement, has cost Stuart her life savings.
“My lifestyle changed overnight,” she says. “I still don’t take a wage, so I need to spend as little as possible.” She stopped eating out and gave up alcohol. “I used to go to gigs regularly but I’ve reduced my social life significantly.”
To cover personal expenses, she used the marketplace, Vinted, to sell her old clothes, books, accessories, and unwanted gifts, raising £1,000. She made an additional £800 selling two old iPhones and a computer in a second-hand store in Edinburgh.
And instead of going abroad for holidays, she stays in a family friend’s holiday house.
“It feels a bit sad when you say all this out loud, but when you are in start-up mode, you have to do everything you can to keep cash in the business,” she says.
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As well as downsizing her lifestyle, she has become a savvy purchaser of goods and services.
“I exchange my expertise and services with other people, so if they help me by covering a stand or creating content, I’ll do something in return. If I work with a team or a platform, I ask them for referral codes or fees, so I get a kickback or money off next time I use their service.”
Stuart has also invested time into building a fanbase on LinkedIn. In under a year, her follower count has gone from 3,000 to 12,000, and Stuart gets paid £500 a pop to give talks about her start-up journey to other founders.
“I’ve made £9,000 through LinkedIn so far, which is crazy as I don’t even treat it as a sales channel – it’s just somewhere to tell my story.”
Like many first-time founders, Stuart has found the first two years of building her business very challenging.
“It’s not just the money, it’s the late nights, the stress, the setbacks,” she says. “There’s an emotional cost.”
Stuart was poorly advised to rebrand her existing consultancy company, rather than set up a new entity. “That meant I didn’t qualify for any start-up grants or investment vehicles,” explains Stuart.
She has now convinced HMRC to change how it classifies Gut Wealth, so that she can access the Enterprise Investment Scheme, which helps new businesses raise capital.
The NHS estimates that as many as 13 million people in the UK suffer from IBS and the global postbiotics market will be worth $30.5m (£24.8m) by 2034, according to analysis by Future Market Insights.
From a standing start, Gut Wealth is now on course to turn over £200,000 this year and has 150 subscribers. Stuart says that finding the cash to market her start-up is challenging.
“Agencies are happy to take your money but then fail to yield decent results,” she reveals. “I’ve had my fingers burned a few times.”
It’s the messages from customers that keep her going on the dark days.
“I hear from people who have gone on holiday for the first time in years, or organised family gatherings. That’s what motivates me and makes all this worthwhile.”
Doubt sets in occasionally, Stuart admits. “That’s when I tell myself that if this doesn’t work, and I have to go back to my old job, it’s not the same as failing,” she says. “But most of the time, I’m absolutely certain I can make Gut Wealth work.
“When you invest your life savings in a business, you are all in. It makes you even more resilient and relentless.”
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