‘I hid my imposter syndrome by drinking every day – here’s how I stopped and what you should know’

Dominic McGregor co-founded the start-up that went on to earn Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett millions. But, while he watched his business partner soar, booze became a crutch and his life spiralled. Here, he tells Zoë Beaty how he finally got sober and why he thinks more men are in crisis than ever

McGregor starting relying on booze to help him deal with the stress of running a company at such a young age (Supplied)

Seven years ago, Dominic McGregor stood on a train platform, eyes softly closed, breathing deeply. He was 23 and the beneficiary of wild, fast, global success – his company, Social Chain, started with Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett when they were just 19 years old, had catapulted him into a world of board meetings, money, and notoriety. Yet, often McGregor found himself here, alone at the edge of a train track. “I would be that person who would just creep over the yellow line,” he says. 

“I remember closing my eyes and the train rushing past me, and feeling alive for just a second. I thought if I jumped, my life would be peaceful. That’s how desperate things were.”

For some time, McGregor, now 30, had been drinking every day. In the four years since co-founding the business with Bartlett, there had been plenty of reasons to celebrate – within two years the marketing agency was one of Europe’s most influential, having won numerous awards and established contracts with brands such as Spotify, Microsoft and 20th Century Fox.