Six channel entrepreneurs who quit to pursue their passions

Doug Woodburn
clock • 12 min read

Is jacking it all in to follow a dream worth it? CRN catches up with six former channel bosses to find out....

'I was pretty excited about the idea of making something'

Name: Darron Anley

Best known in the channel for…Owner/managing director of security VAR Security Partnerships (which sold to Bytes in 2011)

Where is he now? Managing director of Siren Craft Brew

You started Siren Craft Brew two years after selling Security Partnership to Bytes. What was the rationale?

It seemed like a great idea at the time! I've been a massive follower of beer since long before I was legally allowed to be. I was a fan of Brew Dog. They were the first really to start  doing some of the interesting stuff that took beer in a different direction and I just felt it was a fun and interesting thing to follow. And I'd never made anything. Being a reseller you're just buying and selling other people's equipment and maybe adding your messaging to it. I was pretty excited about the idea of making something.

Tell us about Siren Craft Brew

As a team we've grown to 40-odd people. Last year we produced three-and-a half million pints. We've had solid growth. In 2018 we won the Supreme Champion Beer of Britain (pictured above) which was a hell of a thing to win after just five year. We've been rated a top 100 brewer of the world pretty much every year we've been going. It's not been without its struggles, but it's been good.

Is leaving the corporate life behind to pursue a passion all it's cracked up to be?

Some of the skills I had from that past has definitely been helpful. On the whole it's been a really fun thing to do.

Would you ever go back?

No - absolutely not; done that, thank you. I was lucky enough that I owned a business so I appreciate it's not something that everyone in the industry has a chance to do.

Find out what new walk of life a former Softcat director has pursued on the next page...

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