How a spiked drink led to a startup

Business Daily

BBC

Business

4.4 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today - from a teenage DIY invention, to US national TV, to changing legislation, and now global sales. What started as a way to protect a friend who’d been drugged at a college bar became a product made from an old hair scrunchie and her mum’s stockings.

Shirah Benarde tells us how she set up NightCap, a business that’s grown from a bedroom prototype, to securing investment on the Shark Tank show in the US, to a global safety brand in just a few years.

If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Ahmed Adan

Business Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.

Each episode is a 17-minute, daily deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story.

Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the AI boom, why bond markets are so powerful, China's property bubble, and Gen Z's experience of the current job market.

We also feature in-depth interviews with company founders and some of the world's most prominent CEOs. These include Google's Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the CEO of Starbucks, Brian Niccol.

(Picture: Founder of NightCap, Shirah Benarde. Credit: Shirah Benarde)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.4	Hello and welcome to meet the founders from Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Sam Phenic.
0:14.3	This is where we speak to innovators around the world about the ideas, risks and realities behind starting a business.
0:23.0	Today, from a teenage DIY invention to US national TV to changing legislation and now global sales.
0:32.5	Very, very proud of my 16-year-old self that thought this dream would save lives because it definitely
0:39.6	has. What started as a way to protect a friend who'd been drugged at a college bar became a product
0:46.0	made from an old hair scrunchy and her mum's stockings. Shira Bennett tells how she set up
0:52.3	nightcap, a business that's grown from a bedroom prototype into a global safety brand in just a few years.
1:00.4	That's today's Business Daily from the BBC.
1:06.5	Hi, Sharks, I'm Shira. I'm 17 years old and this is my brother, Michael.
1:10.9	We're from beautiful West Palm Beach, Florida.
1:13.0	And we're here seeking $60,000 for 20% equity in our company.
1:17.5	It's 2020 and a 17-year-old, Shira Bennett, walked onto the shark tank.
1:23.4	The American TV show where entrepreneurs pitch to millionaire investors.
1:29.2	Contestants present their business ideas to four wealthy backers in the hope of securing a financial boost.
1:36.7	It's a tough, high-pressure environment.
1:40.2	I remember walking down the aisle just before the two doors open and, you know, you start your pitch.
1:49.3	Thankfully, I had my brother and my co-founder right next to me.
1:52.4	So we were in it together.
1:54.0	But for me, I was only 17 and doing something as grand as that was a dream come true, especially because I had only started
2:04.2	nightcap less than a year ago. So being able to be there was something that I literally felt like
2:10.7	I kind of dreamed of. And so being actually in the tank was something that felt surreal to me,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.