EE520: Thomas Carty - From 300 Boxes to Nationwide Retail | How He Built Thirst

In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with professional heavyweight boxer and Thirst co-founder Thomas Carty to unpack how he built one of Ireland’s fastest-growing hydration brands while pursuing a career in professional boxing.

The idea began with Thomas’s own search for a convenient electrolyte product to support his training. When the brand he relied on stopped shipping to Ireland, he decided to create his own. Within just ten weeks, Thomas and his business partner had developed and self-funded their first 300 boxes—but producing the product was only the beginning.

After pharmacies, health shops and supplement stores refused to stock them, Thomas loaded the boxes into his car and began selling them one at a time to coffee shops and saunas across Dublin. Today, Thirst works with more than 20 distributors and is stocked across Ireland in hundreds of cafés, vending machines, gyms, forecourts and major retail groups.

Thomas shares the reality behind that growth: the uncomfortable early sales, the importance of moving quickly, how founder-led content helped build trust and why the right business partner allowed him to balance building Thirst with training up to 11 times a week.

If you have an idea you’ve been waiting to launch, this episode is a practical masterclass in product development, distribution, founder-led marketing and getting started before everything is perfect.

🎧 Show Notes:

In this episode, we cover:

🥊 How Thomas’s Olympic ambitions led him into professional boxing

💡 The sauna conversation that sparked the idea for Thirst

🤝 Finding a business partner with complementary skills

⚡ Developing and self-funding the first product in just ten weeks

📦 Starting with 300 boxes across three flavours