Nishant Sharma built Rutland Square Spirit, the gin, rum and whisky business named after the Edinburgh square that houses the Indian consulate, from £20 in his bank account and a heart attack. He talks through a childhood split between a joint family in Assam and a struggling household in Punjab, three jobs worked simultaneously in his first week in Glasgow, a run of failed ventures including a bespoke leather shoe line and a BBC drama deal killed by COVID, and the funeral that reset his direction.

He details the cardiac arrest that hit him at 130kg and under sustained stress in early 2023, the 2024 cash crisis that came down to a five-hour ultimatum to an investor, and the plan now underway: a hydrogen-powered whisky distillery and 200-bed hotel in Midlothian. He also speaks candidly about entrepreneurial loneliness, why he keeps his problems to himself, and his ambition to eventually set up a capital fund for other founders.

• Growing up in a joint family in Assam, and the move to Punjab at 12 that changed the family's financial position
• Being bullied and treated as a misfit at school for what his family couldn't afford
• Side hustles as necessity, not ambition, from his teens
• Moving to Glasgow in 2007 with £500 and working three jobs in his first week
• Flipping imported iPhones back to India for a margin
• A failed international business degree, a switch to filmmaking, and Highland Cow Productions Limited
• The near-miss BBC drama deal killed by COVID, and the collapse that followed
• A failed bespoke leather shoe venture and an exit from a property business with his father-in-law
• His grandmother's death and cremation in India as the turning point
• Why whisky was the dream but gin, then rum, came first
• How Rutland Square got its name, and why Chai Spice is the flavour thread through the range
• Taking the gin to market solo in 2022 and 2023, one bottle and one event at a time
• The heart attack: two Fridays of chest pain, a COVID-vaccine blood clot, and a doctor's warning the next morning
• Recovery: down from 130kg to 120kg, a target of 85kg by next summer, and adding paddle and swimming back in
• Scaling to a 25-person team across Edinburgh and India
• The ten-year warehouse lease mistake, and why consolidation now drives every property decision
• The hydrogen-powered whisky distillery and 200-bed hotel plan for Midlothian, and why the hotel has to come first
• The 2024 cash crisis: £20 in the account, a payroll due, and a five-hour ultimatum to an investor
• Why he doesn't talk to anyone about his problems, and his view of entrepreneurial loneliness
• Mental health, isolation, and why he thinks a podcast conversation like this one functions as therapy
• The plan to eventually take a partial exit and start a capital fund to back other entrepreneurs
• Legacy plans: a coffee table book for the brand, and a family memoir

About The Burnout Files

Hosted by John Glover. Every episode explores the side of entrepreneurship that doesn't make the highlight reel: the setbacks, the sacrifices, and the very human stories behind building something from nothing.

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About Nishant Sharma

Nishant Sharma is the founder and CEO of Rutland Square Spirit, an Edinburgh-based drinks company producing Chai Spice gin and rum, with whiskey in development. The business runs a roughly 25-person team across Edinburgh and India and supplies buyers including Avolta's travel retail network.

Sharma is also developing a hydrogen-powered whiskey distillery and 200-bed hotel project in Midlothian.

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