Having been frustrated by travel accommodation during their precious time off, two Kraft employees left corporate jobs to set up luxury holiday home business Sheepskin

Helen Howitt Before we started Sheepskin we were both working in Kraft's UK-based global research and development department. I was manager of the innovation group. That's where most of our experience comes from—understanding what the consumer wants and developing a product to meet those needs.

Adam Lloyd I'm a designer by background. Before we left Kraft we met lots of different people, flew all over the world and stayed in lots of hotels, some good and some not so good. We always knew we wanted to do something very different to what we had done before. We've never coveted the career path. It's nice to go and test what you've learnt on the outside.

HH We had been disappointed [travelling] in the past, so we thought this was something where we could make a difference. We had lots of different ideas and this one came out because it was a great combination of the creative, the clear consumer need, and we'd developed properties in previous lives, too. We didn't want to follow the industry norms for the sake of following them. We saw there were things that needed to be improved and changed.

AL This one came out strongest of a shortlist of business ideas. Sheepskin has always been intended to be a lifestyle brand. The cottage business is the first manifestation of that. The collection [of cottages] may be small but that doesn't mean Sheepskin will be small. We can go and set up a collection in Scotland, France, Tuscany... It will always have a sense of talking to a human being who has an intimate knowledge of the property.

HH For niche businesses there isn't a good or bad time to launch. We did a lot of benchmarking against boutique bed and breakfasts and that's the experience we try to give our guests. We are a little bit higher in price than the bog-standard self-catering cottage, but we understand what the customer wants to get from the holiday.

AL The classic dilemma for a small company trying to grow is that it gets too big; it loses that exclusivity and preciousness, which we know our guests are looking for. For as long as we can, Helen and I will be the interface with our guests. We've only got a small window but it's something that will create loyalty and strong word-of-mouth.

HH When we put our business plan together for the bank we said it was going to be a collection of 50 [properties]. Now we've been running for a little bit longer it will be closer to 30. We're trying to keep it exclusive.

AL A cottage has gone through some very rigorous selection criteria before it's allowed in. We turn down many every week. All of the [cottage] owners earn more money with a Sheepskin booking than with any other agency. It doesn't cost them anything to join us; they can walk away at any time.

HH There are three of us in the business—myself, Adam and the two of us together as one. We worked together in the past, so we knew that we had similar traits. I'm the day-to-day business management and interface with the consumer whereas Adam is more about the creative process, and also does the initial interaction with the cottage owners.

AL When we started we spent days and weeks in the hills trying to find the right properties. It's about how you feel when you drive down the track—you have to go there and see if it fits. It was a big challenge to get our launch portfolio together because we were trying to convince people to come on board when we hadn't got a track record.

HH People are now coming to us with some amazing properties. Our next five are lined up and going through various stages of refurbishment. Then it's a case of managing the cashflow to bring them on board as fast
as we can.

AL Helen has more passion, energy and commitment to what she's doing than anybody I've ever met. She's always prepared to dig deeper to make the difference.

HH Adam always delivers on promises. When he says he's going to do something that's what he does. Now I expect people to do that for me.

AL We started off as friends, and now we're in a relationship. We are together 24/7. We quickly learnt that if you don't put some structure into your working week, aligned with normal people, you implode. We try to do a working week and when we can, take the weekend off.