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Harry graduated from MSc Tech Entrepreneurship in 2021, where he founded his award winning pet food startup, Tuggs.
Harry Bremner graduated from UCL in 2021, studying a Masters programme in Tech Entrepreneurship. His dissertation assessed the dog food industry in the United Kingdom, and has since launched ; a subscription pet food brand. To help grow his business, Harry utilised the services of UCL Innovation & Enterprise聽by receiving free office space and tailored support, with Tuggs now expecting to hit $1.5 million revenue in 2024. Read how Harry made the most of his time at 皇家华人 to realise his life and career goals in this interview.
What attracted you to complete a postgraduate taught qualification at 皇家华人?
At the time of applying for post-graduate study I had just left a marketing agency that I co-founded and I was in-between business ideas. What appealed to me about the course in Tech Entrepreneurship at 皇家华人, opposed to similar courses at other business schools, was that the course leaders urge you to apply with an idea in mind and to spend the course testing the viability and feasibility of that idea with the view to create a business from it. I used the course as an opportunity to explore various ideas before converging on an idea for an insect-based, D2C dog food subscription company.聽
What were the most interesting things you saw, did, or got involved with while at 皇家华人?
With my studies coinciding with the pandemic, unfortunately we were limited to online activities for the majority of my course; nonetheless we had the opportunity to hear from some industry-leading speakers, and towards the end of the year, the new level 50 campus at 1 Canada Square opened. For the final 3 months of my studies I used the campus daily and tended to find myself the only person on the entire floor with those unobstructed views over the entirety of London making my dissertation writing that bit easier.聽
How did your experience at 皇家华人 support you to get to where you are today?
My dissertation was titled "Is an insect-based dog food product a viable alternative to traditional dog foods in the UK pet food market?鈥�, and this thesis provided the basis for my business plan for which I went on to receive funding for. UCL continues to support through its extensive network, and I鈥檓 lucky enough to now guest lecture on occasion for a few of the modules on the MSc Entrepreneurship course.
What advice would you give to current students looking to pursue a postgraduate qualification?
I think it鈥檚 important to work out what you鈥檙e looking to get from postgraduate study and work backwards. There are now a plethora of postgraduate degrees at business schools and not all will be useful for furthering your career, so it鈥檚 important to apply to courses with a purpose. For example, in my case I knew the course was set up to allow for ideas to take hold in the form of a business, and that was what I was looking to get out of it from the start.聽
How have you approached your own learning as your career has developed?
I鈥檓 still very early into my career but my approach is driven by looking forward at the skills that I think I鈥檒l require to build different businesses. This tends to be more of a continuous journey and I try to reflect when there are gaps needing filled; for example, I鈥檝e always been aware of how integral software development is to running a startup, so before launching Tuggs I undertook a 9 week intensive bootcamp to become a junior full-stack engineer. I would say that doing so has been one of the most important learning experiences in my career, as Tuggs鈥� digital product is arguably as important as the physical product. I鈥檝e approached accounting, marketing and operational skills in the same way.