How Nigel Hayes-Davis Funds His Hot Sauce Business

EuroLeague forward Nigel Hayes-Davis is using his basketball paycheck to fund Nigel’s Maple, a maple-and-jalapeño hot sauce company he launched late this summer. He paid for the business himself, investing before its first sale and relying on family and an experienced food-industry partner to handle work he cannot do while training. His approach offers a model for people building a business alongside a demanding job: keep the reliable income, use it to pay for the expertise and operational help the venture needs, and protect the hours committed to the main job. When a paycheck becomes a business’s first investor The old startup script often told people to quit their jobs before figuring out the business. More founders are choosing to stay employed and put their income toward a venture instead. The paycheck becomes an early source of funding, while paid support helps keep the business moving when the founder is at work. There is meaningful interest in side businesses. In an Intuit QuickBooks survey of side hustlers fielded in December 2025, 54% of millennial respondents said they had earned side income in the past year. Among millennial side hustlers, 46% hoped to turn that work into a full-time business. Bankrate’s 2025 Side Hustle Survey found that 31% of millennials were running a side hustle, while 35% of all side hustlers relied on that income for regular living expenses. Time is a constraint. QuickBooks reported that the average millennial side hustle takes about 20 hours a month, or roughly five hours a week. That may keep a project going, but building beyond the hobby stage often means adding people rather than expecting the founder to do everything alone. How Hayes-Davis is building Nigel’s Maple At 31, Hayes-Davis has a demanding schedule as a professional basketball player. He signed with Greek club Panathinaikos in February in a deal reported at $10 million. A EuroLeague season leaves limited free time, but he launched Nigel’s Maple late this summer and paid for the venture himself. He said the company had spent high five figures before its first sale. “You definitely have to spend money before you make money,” he said. Hayes-Davis calls basketball “the job that funds the hot sauce company.” He is not counting on the sauce to support him yet. “I am funding this all myself right now because it’s something that I believe in,” he said. He nets about $4.50 per bottle and reinvests that money in marketing. “It’s not profit driven,” he said. “It’s more exposure driven.” A steady salary gives a founder room to focus on product quality and patience rather than immediate profit. Hayes-Davis’s model depends on treating his basketball income as business funding while the company builds exposure. Build a team before launch Hayes-Davis put a support team in place before launching. His sister is director of business affairs. His mother, whom he calls his “shadow CEO,” manages shipping and daily operations while he trains. “She makes sure all the i’s are dotted, T’s are crossed,” he said. A colleague at his agency who helps with his side projects introduced him to a food-industry veteran with 20 years of experience at major brands. Hayes-Davis said the partner brought “all of the brains, information, knowledge and experience that I don’t have in the food industry space.” The partner guided the formulation and drew on vendor relationships to cut four weeks from the syrup lead time. Most founders will not have access to a packaged-food veteran with two decades of experience, but the staffing lesson applies broadly. A founder with a day job may benefit from two kinds of help: an industry specialist who can head off costly mistakes, and someone who can handle daily operations during work hours. Family members or part-time contractors may fill the operational role, with costs covered by the founder’s paycheck. Protect work hours and business hours The team helps Hayes-Davis protect his basketball schedule. He said people question whether running a business distracts him from basketball. His response is to plan his time. During the offseason, he trains three times a day and fits calls about bottle colors and vendors between sessions. “We all have the same 24 hours,” he said. “So it’s a matter of what you choose to do with your hours.” For salaried founders, protecting the day job also means checking employment terms before launching. Review the employment agreement for moonlighting and intellectual property clauses, and keep business work off company devices and company time. When the venture goes public, tell your manager before someone else does. A capable team means the business does not require your attention at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, when your employer may need you. Use steady income to build for the long term People with a business idea and a job they cannot afford to leave may not have to choose between them. Treat the paycheck as an early investor, spend on people before promotion, and build a team before the workload becomes unmanageable. Quitting first prioritizes speed; using employment income to support the venture makes staying power the bet.