Mark Haysman - Mighty Craft

Published: Dec. 21, 2021, 7 a.m.

b'This week we catch up again with Mighty Craft CEO and Managing Director, Mark Haysman.\\n\\nWe first spoke to Mark way back in February 2019 shortly after the business, then named Founders First, announced that it had invested in Newcastle\\u2019s Foghorn Brewhouse.\\n\\nIn that conversation Mark introduced the craft beer accelerator\\u2019s vision and outlined its unique model. That conversation spurred a lot on interest from brewers who reached out to us wanting to be put in contact with Mark, which certainly spoke of the promise that the vision for the business held out.\\n\\nThis week, two years after it listed on the ASX, I wanted to revisit those conversations and see how the business was delivering on its early vision. While craft beer was a major focus in our early chats, the business has more recently spoken more about its plans for spirits, it has enunciated a shifting vision for hospitality and most recently the founders-focused craft accelerator has had what is its apparently biggest success with manufactured marketing-driven mainstream beer brand, something seemingly quite different to what it set out to do.\\n\\nIt also continues to lose money.\\n\\nAs with anything new and different, it can be hard to measure success with a model such as that being pioneered by Mighty Craft, especially when - at least to my eyes - aspects of it brewing business conventions around scale and growth. As a public company there\\u2019s a little more transparency into the business as well.\\n\\nSo with all that background I wanted to catch up with Mark to dig a little deeper into the model, how it was progressing and put some of these questions I had about the viability of the model, and whether its evolving. \\n\\nOur partners\\n\\nRadio Brews News is proudly presented by Cryer Malt, who we are thrilled to announce are back supporting us for another year of conversations. With over 25 years in the field, Cryer Malt are dedicated to providing the finest brewing ingredients to help brewers create the foundations of a truly excellent beer. Your premium brewing partner - and our premium podcasting partner - Cryer Malt is proud sponsor of this conversion and the Radio Brews News channel.\\n\\nEvery guest on Beer is a Conversation receives a new piece of exclusive merch - a branded Yeti Rambler mug, thanks to our good friends at Yeti.\\n\\nIf you like what we do at Radio Brews News you can help us out by:\\n\\n\\nSponsoring the show\\n\\n\\nReviewing us on iTunes or your favourite podcasting service\\n\\nEmailing us at producer@brewsnews.com.au to share your thoughts'