In 2014, Annabel, 40, and Emily Lui, 47, were down to their last £15,000 after a promising start to their bakery side hustle suddenly fell apart. The British sisters had built Cutter & Squidge in 2012 around their signature Biskies and landed accounts with two of London’s biggest department stores, but just as they hired a small team, rented production space and bought a van to support the business, both retailers pulled back. Harrods decided cupcakes were selling better, while Selfridges pulled the plug on Cutter & Squidge’s pop-up, wiping out almost all of the sisters’ income.
“There were a lot of tears,” Annabel told Fortune, recalling that they sat on the sofa for what turned into a 15-hour conversation about what to do with their remaining savings, knowing there was no more money coming. The sisters had built high-powered white-collar careers in finance and law, but Annabel had already walked away from hers in 2013 while Emily was still working as a lawyer. “Do we just take the £15,000?” Annabel remembered asking. “Or do we give it one shot?”
