- Like Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham success, an American couple from Georgia are shopping for into British soccer. Bryan and Shannon Miles bought their staffing firm for $110 million to purchase U.Okay. workforce Walsall F.C. and Irish membership Drogheda United F.C., stocking stadiums with their very personal beer model NoFo Brewery.
Many Individuals romanticize the U.Okay.’s soccer or “soccer” tradition, dwelling vicariously via Ted Lasso and the famously Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney-owned Wrexham membership. However for Bryan and his spouse, Shannon Miles, operating soccer golf equipment is their actuality.
The couple began their careers like every other: 9-to-5 workplace jobs in immigration regulation and company America. However by the point they hit their mid-30s in 2010, they couldn’t ignore the entrepreneurial itch—so that they determined to take the leap, founding distant workforce administration firm Belay and beer firm NoFo Brew Co., alongside their ventures in worldwide sports activities and enterprise advisory Miles AG.
And regardless of not having the identical Hollywood salaries as Reynolds and McElhenney to again their golf equipment, they’ve discovered themselves head-to-head in opposition to the record-breaking workforce. However the Miles duo have an edge on the actors—they serve their NoFo beer on faucet within the stadiums.
“The point is, we’re building a brand,” Bryan tells Fortune. “The brand is pulsating—we’re feeling it in the European market. People love wearing our jerseys there, they like identifying with the brand. And they actually like our beer.”
Cashing out on their 401(ok)s to construct a $110 million firm
To get their first of now many ventures off the bottom, Bryan and Shannon Miles took a significant gamble. They cashed out the $160,000 of their 401(ok)s and based staffing software program firm Belay.
“I’m not necessarily a risk-taker by nature—especially with money. But I thought, ‘Well, if it doesn’t work, we’re young enough. We can always go back [to our jobs], but at least we tried,’” Shannon says. “At that point, I’d rather choose risk than regret.”
The anxiety-inducing begin of their enterprise now feels very distant; 14 months after Belay was based, the corporate broke even—kicking off 40 consecutive quarters of market development. The enterprise’s power lies in its digital assistant companies and tech-enabled bookkeeping. After years of success, personal fairness began to take discover, and the couple felt it was time to promote. They transitioned a brand new CEO to take over Belay in 2020 and bought a majority stake of the corporate for $110 million the next yr, protecting 18% for themselves.
“We started feeling. ‘This business is way beyond us. There’s potential beyond us, somebody else with more resources, different networks, different ideas, could come in and store it well,’” Bryan says. “We’re like, ‘This doesn’t define who we are. We’re going to be fine. There’s life after exit, and we’re going to find other things to do.’”
That payday was life-changing coin that led to a brand new journey for the entrepreneurial energy couple: operating soccer groups and pouring pints of their Georgia beer for the membership’s followers.
Dwelling the Ted Lasso dream: promoting beer and main U.Okay. soccer groups
The entrepreneurial couple wished extra vigorous bars of their space of Georgia to carry individuals collectively—and on the time, distilleries have been all the craze. By the tip of 2019, they dived into their subsequent ardour challenge with their first brick-and-mortar brewery, NoFo Brew Co.
“By the time we started our distillery, we were already enjoying wealth. We’re ‘first generation’ in terms of wealth,” Bryan says. They now not needed to do the heavy work as chief government. “We knew at that point we were never going to run the business.”
The couple appointed a CEO to show the brewery, increasing to a few complete NoFo areas throughout the state: Cumming, Cleveland, and Gainesville, Georgia. However Bryan and Shannon Miles discovered one other unlock with their beer enterprise: connecting with sports activities followers, desirous to throw again pints throughout a tense stadium match. On the peak of Ted Lasso operating up Apple TV subscribers, U.Okay. soccer was on the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist.
“We looked at England and also Ireland, and we realized this was a rabid fan base that would follow this team off of a cliff,” Bryan says. “So we’re like, ‘Well, what if NoFo was on our shirt? What if we put beer in the stadium?’ It’s the Trojan horse that got us into this market.”
The Georgia-based duo introduced buyers collectively and purchased U.Okay. workforce Walsall F.C. in 2022—proper across the time Reynolds made headlines with Wrexham. Then got here their buy of Irish membership Drogheda United F.C. in 2023, additionally investing in Denmark workforce Silkeborg IF final December, and beginning African membership Trivela FC Togo extra not too long ago.
Promoting their beers at their golf equipment’ stadiums and emblazoning “NoFo Brew Co” on the gamers jerseys, Bryan and Shannon Miles live a “football” fantasy. It’s a far cry from typing away at their desk jobs simply 15 years in the past—and it’s proof that having an entrepreneurial knack and forecasting traits results in big wins.
“What we were able to do is accelerate and go into markets where just most Americans don’t have an in,” Bryan says.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
