The Woodpicker: How to create a business from scratch in just ten hours

Though it takes just minutes to register a company as a legal entity, getting a business up-and-running in reality is a different matter. Achieving this in one day is no mean feat, but it’s far from impossible.

With some entrepreneurs making the most of 2016’s extra day to raise money for charity, and others proposing marriage to make the most of tax breaks, there was certainly no shortage of ideas for how to spend 29 February. But two Edinburgh-based entrepreneurs shunned these options and set themselves the gargantuan task of setting up a business from scratch over the course of the working day and were remarkably successful.

Veteran entrepreneurs Charles Henderson and Tim Barlow began the leap year day with just a business idea a price comparison platform for wood pellets, an eco-friendly fuel alternative to gas and oil.

By lunchtime the duo and their helpers from Barlow’s marketing company Attacat had generated a name for the company, settling on The Woodpicker. They shared a logo with their Twitter followers shortly afterwards:

And the logo for The Woodpicker is here.. We’d LOVE to hear your thoughts! #LeapDay #attamadness pic.twitter.com/ZOj43guydp

? Team Attacat (@attacats) February 29, 2016

The entrepreneurs spent the afternoon of 29 February developing a basic website and setting up a Google AdWords account. By the end of the day they had found their new company its first two customers.