From Garage Startup to £30m Audio Brand

Majority Audio began with two friends selling electronics from a garage before growing into one of the UK's fastest-growing home audio brands. Co-founder Eddie Latham reflects on a decade of growth, ambition, and why having the right insurance support allows him to focus on building the business.

29.09.26

By Alan Boswell Group

Eddie Latham is something of an enigma in business. Profit matters, but it is not the driver. Eddie's real focus is the build itself.

“In those early days people used to say to me ‘Are you making any money?’ and I would say to them, ‘I don’t actually care because I’m learning a huge amount about how to operate a business’.

“I had been really frustrated at university; I had to pay for the privilege of learning. And now I have started this business, and I’m learning incredibly quickly, and I’m not losing any money. People always think that from day one you should expect to make money. Life just doesn’t work like that.

“The best thing I’ve ever invested my time or energy in is building this business.”

Eddie’s business is Majority Audio, a fast-growing, UK-based home audio brand focused on delivering high-quality, accessible sound products, which he runs with his business partner PJ (Scott).

The best thing I’ve ever invested my time or energy in is building this business.

PJ and Eddie were both in their 20s when they met at the same company.

“PJ and I had taken completely different routes to effectively end up in an identical job,” recalls Eddie. “He’d been focused on selling and buying for big companies, whereas my background was selling on eBay as a hobby. He knew where to buy the product, and I knew where to sell it. It quickly became apparent that between us, essentially, we had a business right there.

“We started off just alongside our day jobs buying some clearance, end-of-life electronics and selling it through Amazon and eBay. I was going to my garage at five in the morning and packing up parcels. That was the infancy of the business. That first December we turned over £100,000.”

Within a year the pair took voluntary redundancy and went ‘all in’ with their fledgling business. Without the safety net of a regular salary, the pair were forced to think differently.

“Buying clearance product is difficult...you have to buy a lot of products. There can be a deal one day, and it's gone the next. We decided to try buying some refurbished products because it’s a regular supply, although it can be labour-intensive. We were quite happy with that though as we had loads of time and it was high margin.”

It was this move into refurbishments that really set the seed of what would become Majority.

“We'd sit there and test the products; we'd remanufacture them, and we'd sell them on eBay. But by going through that process, we learned how these products work. The main thing we learned is that most electronic products... there’s not really a lot to them.

“We managed to reverse engineer the products and discover where most of the ones that we were refurbishing were being made.”

ABG Account Executive, Luke Haines with Eddie and PJ

That was the catalyst for Eddie and PJ to take a trip to Hong Kong for an electronics trade show, where they invested in their own-brand product for the first time.

“We plucked up the courage to send a load of money thinking that there's a high chance we're never going to get anything back. You know...this is three years into the business. We sent £200k to some random bank account in China, crossed our fingers that the product would turn up and, lo and behold, you open a container, and there it is.”

That first product was a bedside alarm clock that charged an iPhone. At the time, this type of product was being discontinued by other suppliers, but, as Eddie recalls, demand remained strong.

“As traditional retailers discontinued something because demand was dropping, the demand online was going up dramatically, because there was less supply in retail. When people can't find them in retail, they buy online. So, although that was a declining market, and our first product was in something that everyone else would perceive to be old hat, in some respects, demand online was huge, and the competition was very thin.”

But why ‘Majority Audio’?

“I wanted to design a brand that is for the majority. You get a lot of specialists, particularly in audio, but it's not particularly inclusive. We want to be the most accessible brand.

“The whole ethos behind Majority is that it's a powerful name, and it is far reaching in terms of our inclusivity, both in the way that we manufacture, the way that we treat the team internally, but also our aspirations are that we want to make this into a household name; to be known for home audio products that deliver across the range of prices.”

I wanted to design a brand that is for the majority. You get a lot of specialists, particularly in audio, but it's not particularly inclusive. We want to be the most accessible brand.

Majority is now ten years old and has expanded from selling only via Amazon to include high street retailers such as Currys and Argos; a move that has helped the company grow significantly. They now ship over 750,000 units per year, with turnover exceeding £30m. With this growth comes increased exposure and the need for robust protection, including insurance.

“If there's huge exposure there, then you'd be stupid not to insure it because I really want to continue to play this game. I don't want to put anyone who works for us in a position where they could be at risk, because they're all contributing to the company. So, I feel like there's a moral obligation to protect those people.

“We’re also trying to entice retailers [to stock our products], and they all have huge stipulations in terms of product liability. I don't know about the insurance; I don't know what the solution is. I just know that I need some sort of insurance. I need someone sitting across the table that can help me make the problem go away so I can continue to play this game. Having a broker that understands the business and has the breadth of experience to understand what sort of policy is needed is crucial.

“My desire is to keep growing the business, and Boswell’s can help protect us against things that we’re oblivious to.”

My desire is to keep growing the business, and Boswell’s can help protect us against things that we’re oblivious to.

With the insurance matters all sorted, Eddie is free to focus on what makes him tick: growing the business and the small matter of a world-beating childhood ambition.

“I’ve always dreamed about having a world record.

“I was cycling past my school, and it reminded me that when I was younger the only book I would ever read was the Guinness World Records. And I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if Majority could get a world record?’, I ran away with the idea; it was my childhood dream.”

Eddie’s dream was realised when, in conjunction with Cambridge United Football Club (CUFC), who Majority also sponsor, they gave away 1,500 Majority Move WR bluetooth speakers to attendees of a CUFC women’s league match at the Cledara Abbey Stadium and obliterated the world record for the most Bluetooth speakers playing simultaneously.

L-R: PJ Scott, Eddie Latham, GWR adjudicator at their Guinness World Record. Photo: Marcus Clarke Photography

“You can have the best product range in the world, but if you don't tell people, what's the point? That was a PR exercise, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve always dreamed about having a world record and being involved in one. In the world of business, everyone talks about return on investment and, you know, I love a spreadsheet, but I think we need to always remember that a twinkle in their eye is the most important marketing feedback and return on investment you'll ever get. I had one of the best days of my life.”

For Eddie, the project has always been bigger than the prize. The value lies not just in the outcome, but in the process of building something meaningful and the impact it has along the way.

“I want to be proud of what we’ve created and the process that we’ve been through. And I think that's a prize money can't buy. When you're dying, you won't remember the tiles on your bathroom floor or the car that you've bought. But you would certainly remember taking a business from a garage to £30m a year. That is an incredible story. And even now, talking about it makes me feel quite emotional.”

From Garage Startup to £30m Audio Brand

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