We are innocent

Between 2.30pm and 4.30pm on Wednesday 13th May we are hosting a live webchat with the guys from innocent drinks - where they will answer questions about the company and their brand new book, A Book about innocent, live on Waterstones.com.

Hello. It's been ten years since we, as a group of three friends, sold our first smoothies from a stall at a music festival in west London. Over that period, the business has grown to have a turnover of more than £100 million and our drinks are now sold in over 8000 outlets across 13 different countries in Europe. We can honestly say it has been the hardest thing we have ever done - we faced rejection from the whole investment community and the entire food and drink industry. It has taken its toll emotionally, physically and personally. There have been periods of hot sweaty panic, despondency and sheer exhaustion.

But no matter how tough it's been, no matter how many times we've been told "no" and "it won't work", not for one second has any of us regretted that moment in August 1998 when we resigned from our jobs to set up innocent full time. Since that moment it has been, and continues to be, the most exhilarating, life-enhancing ride, and we're extremely grateful to all the people - drinkers, retailers, suppliers and team members - who help make innocent possible.

About the book::

This is a book about innocent, the smoothie company that we started in 1999. We began writing it about two years ago, as we thought it was about time we started documenting the history of our business. So we racked our brains and tried to remember all of the important stuff and sat down to write it. As can happen with these things, it took us a bit longer than we thought, but we finally finished it off just after Christmas. It tells the tale of the first ten years, and is a book for anyone who wants to start their own business, bring fresh thinking to their current one or has been told their idea won't work. innocent is a business that almost didn't happen (we were turned down by every bank and investor in the land), and we hope by telling our story we can encourage other people to have a go at doing their own thing.

Even if you're not that interested in the business stuff, this book does a neat job of summing up our first decade - all of the things we got right and all of the things we screwed up. We think we've learned enough for it to be worth sharing, and we hope you agree. Most importantly, there are lots of good pictures for you to look at, as well as the smart business stuff. Hope you enjoy it.

Dan Germain - Creative Director, innocent

Fact file

Name: innocent

Date of birth: 1999

Education: Is no substitute for experience

Born: Shepherd's Bush

Current home: Shepherd's Bush