Mike Welch, Scotland's latest 'emerging entrepreneur' award winner, does not object to the tag despite a 14-year track record which has seen his business Blackcircles reinvent how motorists buy tyres.

His mentor Sir Tom Farmer was "30 years from starting Kwik-Fit to selling it", Mr Welch notes. "He was probably at it 40 years in total."

But it is businesses like Kwik-Fit, where Mr Welch cut his teeth as its first head of e-commerce, which are now the old guard, under attack from an innovator which boasts Tesco legend Sir Terry Leahy as a non-executive.

Mr Welch says of his fellow-Scouser: "Terry's great value, he knows a bit about retail, he's a handy wingman to have in tow."

Blackcircles, which sells tyres online and pays local independent garages to fit them, is now undercutting the 'fast-fit' chains and restoring long-lost business to the little guys.

Last week it announced the creation of a new division for businesses with the hiring of former Kwik-Fit sales director Martin Towers.

The model enables consumers to buy tyres up to 40per cent cheaper, but the opportunity arises partly from the explosion of different tyre sizes in the market. "When Kwik-Fit started there were 10 or 20 tyre sizes on the market, which meant you could keep tyres on the shelves," the entrepreneur explains. "Over the last five years the number of sizes has just gone crazy and it is impossible for everyone to get fast fit - only 30 per cent of people who go to the high street will be able to get a tyre, 70 per cent will have to go away and come back a week later."

He goes on: "It's about logistics, and that is where Pit Stop comes in."

Pit Stop is Blackcircles' own embryonic chain of fitting stations, which Mr Welch hopes to grow rapidly on sites provided by partners - such as Tesco, initially at Glasgow's Silverburn shopping centre.

The customer orders the tyre online and arranges the fitting to be done while they are shopping. "The car is left, and the tyres are fitted in dead time as opposed to wasting time going to fast-fit, the whole thing is about making the experience that much more convenient."

The young entrepreneur left school at 16 to work as a tyre fitter but quickly decided to set up his first business, selling tyres from his parents' house. He worked night shifts stacking supermarket shelves and found time for an accountancy course at Liverpool University.

Headhunted at 20 by Sir Tom Farmer, Mr Welch stayed with Kwik-Fit until a year or so after its takeover by Ford, long enough to work in Detroit and absorb the US giant's online culture. But at 23 he struck out with a month's salary and help from Scottish Enterprise, which saw the firm born at Peebles. It now employs 40 there and another 15 at a head office in Edinburgh.

The Leahy connection was down to a letter fired off to the then Tesco chief executive soon after the business was formed, asking for some advice. An audience was granted, and it led to the shrewd Sir Terry becoming an investor then 25per cent stakeholder.

Blackcircles has been growing at 30per cent a year since 2008, its sales topped £30m last year and Mr Welch, still only 36, is confident of hitting £100m over five years. "We are up 50 to 60 per cent on this time last year," he said recently. He already has 1500 garages on board, a third of them franchised operations, and momentum is building. That has seen the founder take a step back. "There has been a big change in the set-up, through bringing in people to do the stuff that frankly I have been trying to do - marketing, the supply chain, finance - and what a difference that is making."

As more garages are signed up from among the 22,000 independents around the UK, Blackcircles will raise its profile with Interflora-style branding.

"Our partners are the family businesses, the guys you trust with your car, who were there before Kwik-Fit. They were losing money (fitting tyres) to keep hold of the MoT, but we are now competing on their behalf and they are getting a new customer through the door."

The garage on its own would have to buy the tyres at the same price they are now sold for, fitting included, but the tie-up pays them for fitting and boosts their revenues.

"We will double the size of that network over the next two years, our strategy is a garage on every corner, all sizes, all brands, at the lowest prices," Mr Welch says. "We have a lean cost base, we can keep investing in price points, because we haven't got the costs to bear that come with big infrastructure and a big garage network."

He envisages a 'hub and spokes' network, with local garages surrounding the Pit Stops which will themselves be run by franchisees, putting both models on an equal footing.

The fast-fit chains are reacting by cutting their tyre prices - but only selectively, Mr Welch says. "There will be online prices that will be different to walk-in store prices, to try to combat the pesky Blackcircles who won't go away."

He explains: "In their minds, there are two different customer bases but guess what, they are converging. People will do research online then go into stores, and two different prices doesn't work."

That means the competitive landscape will change, Mr Welch predicts, with "fast-fits playing more of a slow-fit role", looking to add servicing value and keep cars on ramps for longer. For tyres, consumers will move to the just in time delivery model, using the internet to maximise convenience - and choice.

He claims: "What the high street does is polarise the offer by limiting the range, they will sell customers what they want customers to buy, we sell what customers want to buy."

Blackcircles pays close attention to customer feedback and boasts a satisfaction score of 89, from a sample of half its user base. "I think Apple's score is 67 and Tesco's 32," Mr Welch observes. "We are over-delivering on satisfaction, that is why we are delivering growth. You can't have a great service at a more expensive price and kid yourself people are buying the service because you are nice people, you need to continue to invest in price. You need to stay true to that and not kid yourself that expensive advertising, big warehouses and shiny new stores is the way to grow the business in our market - stick to the knitting."

Blackcircles has healthy and no debt - thanks to the caution of chairman Graeme Bisset when bank money was freely available. "It has taken longer.....but thank God we didn't get flattered into taking some of that toxic free money back in 2007-08, when anyone who didn't looked like fools. As they say in the playground, just say no."