High Growth Leadership: Liam White, CEO of Dr. Will’s

In this episode, Liam White, CEO and co-founder of Dr. Will’s, joins us to share the unvarnished reality of building a challenger brand in a legacy-dominated category. From early team formation to bootstrapped marketing, retail breakthrough, and the long-game of mission-led growth, Liam offers insight with the clarity of someone who’s lived every line of the plan.

About the Guest

Liam White is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dr. Will’s.

From banking to brand-building, Liam’s story is one of pivots and execution. A former J.P. Morgan investment banker, Liam left the corporate world to co-found Dr. Will’s, a challenger brand redefining the condiment category through healthier, natural alternatives.

Launching the business in 2015 Liam and his two co-founders, who didn’t know each other, had no manufacturing capability, and just “a quarter of a factory,” Liam helped shape Dr. Will’s from scratch into one of the UK’s most exciting FMCG growth stories. Today, the brand is stocked by the likes of Tesco, Waitrose and Selfridges, (and since the time of recording Sainsbury’s) backed by bold product thinking and a relentless approach to scaling.

Liam brings board-level insight and hands-on growth experience in the FMCG industry. His route to market, team-building, and leadership through ambiguity signal a CEO well-aligned to investment-backed scaling and long-term value creation.

Inside the Episode

Why Liam Left Investment Banking to Build a Sauce Brand

Liam White’s move into entrepreneurship wasn’t based on a romanticised vision of start-up life, it was driven by instinct. At 25, after years at J.P. Morgan, he’d already seen the trajectory play out. “I worked extremely hard… 1, 2, 3am most nights. It wasn’t a long-term thing for me,” he explains. That insight led to a calculated bet: join two strangers, “Dr.” Will and co-founder Josh, in building a condiment brand focused on natural ingredients and better nutritional profiles.

What’s striking isn’t just the pivot from investment banking to FMCG, it’s the formation of a team with no prior relationship, no co-founder chemistry (at the time), and no real experience in manufacturing. “None of us knew each other. We weren’t even friends,” Liam says. But what they did have was complementary skills, shared conviction, and a willingness to figure things out as they went. “I can do this for two years,” Liam remembers thinking, “and if I completely screw it up, I’ll be 27. And I can go back into consulting or banking.”

It’s the kind of decision that many founders romanticise in hindsight, but Liam tells it plainly. The early days were chaotic, scrappy, and uncertain “we had about a quarter of a factory” but the team’s clarity of purpose and appetite for risk created just enough momentum to get started.

Breaking into UK Grocery Retail, and Staying There

The road to Tesco began in 2017. Dr. Will’s products wouldn’t land on the retailer’s shelves until three years later, a timeline that reveals how slow and deliberate the UK grocery system can be for challenger brands. “We met Tesco in 2017. We launched three years later,” Liam says, matter-of-factly. “Getting in is tricky, but staying in and growing is the hard part.”

That wait wasn’t wasted. Dr. Will’s used the time to prove themselves in Selfridges, then Waitrose, building credibility and tightening operations before stepping into the spotlight. Liam highlights the real levers for retail growth: product quality, standout packaging, and crucially, performance data. “You’ve got to show rate of sale, not just make the case,” he explains. “When the data’s good, it’s an open door. When it’s not, it’s very tricky.”

Even once listed, the pressure doesn’t ease. It intensifies. “We spend a lot of time checking shelves, taking photos, making sure we’ve got the right number of facings,” he says. For founders eyeing retail, Liam’s experience underscores a fundamental truth: the PO isn’t the finish line. It’s signals the start of the real work.

Building Brand Awareness on a Budget: Sampling, Shelf Appeal and Socials

With no marketing team and limited cash, Dr. Will’s had to grow by being smart, not loud. That meant betting on the assets they did have: striking packaging, a standout product, and a willingness to show up personally. “Our biggest weapon is the product. So we sample the hell out of it,” Liam says.

That sampling happened everywhere, in stores, at gyms, via partners and it was always focused on one outcome. Test and trial. “If someone tastes it, they’re more likely to buy it. It’s as simple as that,” he adds. Meanwhile, every inch of packaging was treated like a silent salesman. “We use bold colours, an exclamation mark, great taste awards, anything that earns attention and trust.”

But perhaps the most underappreciated weapon in Dr. Will’s marketing playbook is transparency. The brand’s raw, behind-the-scenes social content often shot by or featuring Liam himself, has built a loyal following. “People love seeing what it’s actually like,” he says. “Store checks, box messaging, me holding up a bottle… it’s not polished. But it’s real.”

In an era of overproduced brand content, that authenticity cuts through. “Social is broadly free,” Liam shrugs. “I’m not a natural on social media… but consistency wins.”

Hiring for Scale, Start Lean then Level Up

As Dr. Will’s began to grow, Liam faced a challenge that every founder hits eventually: knowing when to stop doing everything yourself and who to bring in when you do. But rather than rush into permanent hires, he and his Co-Founders took a measured approach: start with high-calibre freelancers who could plug skill gaps without inflating the cost base. Then when you can and the opportunity is clear “Don’t bring in someone that’s 1% better than you, bring in someone who’s 100 times better than you,” Liam says. “Even just a day a week.”

This philosophy let the team learn quickly, test what ‘great’ looked like in functions like marketing and operations, and avoid hiring too far ahead of scale. In one example, a part-time hire helped them build a proper financial model, something that would’ve been a blind spot otherwise. “They came in, fixed it, gave us the framework and then we took it from there.”

It also helped Liam stay focused on the founder-only tasks: managing relationships, driving product, and walking shelves. His view on early team-building is clear: don’t fall into the trap of hiring to look like a ‘real’ business. Hire to make progress and upgrade constantly. “You’ll never find someone who’s perfect forever,” he adds. “But you can find people who are perfect for right now.”

Operational Complexities in FMCG

Beneath the playful packaging and natural ingredients, Dr. Will’s is a serious operational machine. Every SKU involves a careful balance of shelf life, manufacturing capability, supplier availability, and margin management. “We’ve had times where our packaging was benchmarked off Heinz,” Liam says, which means you have to have your finger on the pulse and sometimes not listen to the demand the system is telling you to produce.

Inventory forecasting, in particular, became a constant pressure. Misjudge it and you’re either overstocked (tying up cash) or under-delivering (risking retail relationships). “We’ve been in positions where a single packaging delay could impact a major retail launch,” Liam explains. Add in lead times from multiple suppliers and it becomes a supply chain jigsaw that never really finishes.

There’s also the complexity of pricing: how to set an RRP that works for retail partners, for the brand, and for profitability, all without losing ground to cheaper competitors. “You can’t just look at margin in isolation. You have to model the whole system… promos, fees, logistics, and returns,” Liam says.

It’s a reminder that even in fast-growth brands with strong marketing, the unsexy stuff, but usually the most important, cashflow, capacity, and cost management is often what makes or breaks momentum.

Brand Differentiation in a Dominated Category

Dr. Will’s didn’t just enter a competitive market, they entered a market owned by titans. Ketchup means Heinz. Mayo means Hellmann’s. For many shoppers, the category is a default. “People don’t walk down the aisle looking for Dr. Will’s,” Liam says. “They sleep walk down it to buy what they’ve always bought.” It’s a psychological battlefield before it’s a commercial one.

The team knew they couldn’t outspend or out-shelf the giants so they focused on positioning, packaging, and purpose. The strategy? Don’t imitate. Disrupt. “If Heinz ketchup changed… people would lose their mind,” Liam says. That rigidity of the bigger names gave Dr. Will’s space to flex, to offer something that felt modern, better-for-you, and just different enough to stand out.

This came through in messaging around taste and natural ingredients, bright colours, playful branding, and simple value props. But beneath that was a serious design intention: “We wanted it to look like something you’d be proud to have on your kitchen counter,” Liam explains. That blend of visual clarity and emotional relevance is what helped the brand punch above its weight even with a single facing on shelf.

Health Trends and the Recent Surge

From day one, Dr. Will’s anchored itself in nutritional integrity. Less sugar. Better ingredients. Real flavour. At first, that positioning felt ahead of the curve. “It happened slower than we thought,” Liam admits. “But it’s coming fast now.” Dr. Will’s was created on the idea that condiments could taste great and not be full of sugar and additives.

What shifted? A combination of macro health concerns, media attention on ultra-processed foods, COVID-19, and tools like the Yuka app which lets consumers scan barcodes and instantly assess nutritional value. “The change in consumer behaviour is accelerating,” Liam says. “People are thinking harder about what they’re putting into their bodies.”

This is where patience paid off. While other brands pivoted into health claims as the market turned, Dr. Will’s was already built on them. That gave the team authenticity and a head start. “We didn’t just bolt health onto the brand. It’s why the brand exists,” Liam says. That clarity resonates more than ever, especially as retailers look to meet shopper demand with transparent, trusted options.

Purpose as a Long-Term Performance Lever

In an industry dominated by bigger names, limited opportunity to the largest retail grocers and endless competition, what keeps a founder going? For Liam, the answer is simple: belief. “Fundamentally, I love doing this,” he says. “And that’s the thing that drives everything.”

Dr. Will’s was born from a genuine mission, to make food healthier without compromising on taste. That mission has anchored the team through setbacks, production issues, and moments of doubt. But it’s not just internal fuel, it’s external signal. A clear purpose attracts customers, employees, and investors who want to be part of something beyond the product.

Liam is quick to admit the journey isn’t clean or easy. There’s no five-step framework for resilience. But purpose makes the ambiguity bearable. “When you hear someone say they gave your sauce to their kids, or that it’s the only ketchup they’ll buy now… that stuff matters,” he says.

For other founders, it’s a reminder that purpose doesn’t have to be performative. But it does have to be real or it won’t last.