Founders Comms

It's been a fun week at Founders Comms HQ with a trip to Munich and a client report launch: 🥨 Co-Founder Rachel Gurney headed to Bits & Pretzels to host a Comms Masterclass with Kry's Director of Investor Relations Julia Elf. They discussed why investing in comms matters - at any stage of your scaling journey - with some real-life examples and case studies 📢 We then dived straight into supporting Founders Forum Group on the launch of their inaugural "Big Tech" Report. Despite rocketing investment (£3bn in H1 2024, a 5x yoy increase) from Big Tech into the startup ecosystem, founders want more practical support, such as access to sandbox environments and networking opportunities. Very timely within context of new competition rules #digitalmarketsact Read the report here https://lnkd.in/e4MgvtYm 📺 As part of the launch, we went with Carolyn Dawson to Bloomberg London's HQ for a live interview with Tom Mackenzie to discuss the report's findings. As ever great to work with comms supremo Emily Miller on this! As you start to look ahead to 2025, we can come and help you get your comms plan in shape with a flexible and fast comms stocktake. Get in touch to find out more.

This past week we’ve loved working with Tech Nation, supporting the launches of two new cohorts within the #FutureFifty and #Upscale programmes. Both programmes empower founders to scale rapidly and successfully, with Future Fifty being the only UK-wide growth programme tailored to later-stage ventures, and Upscale providing support to scaleups on the road towards raising Series B. 📣 At Future Fifty last week Natasha Jones chaired a roundtable on “The Scaleup Policy Landscape: How to Navigate the New Government”, and discussed with founders the new Labour government, and how to develop and make clear policy asks and offers that are required to help solve the problems their companies are looking to address. 📣Yesterday at Upscale Rachel Gurney chaired a panel on “Future Startup Challenges and Opportunities” where she spoke with Funding Circle UK CEO Lisa Jacobs, Beamery Co-Founder Sultan Murad Saidov, and London Office Managing Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Daniel Glazer. All gave timely insights to the founders in the room - around building culture, thinking ahead to your future customers’ needs, and the different growth opportunities offered here and in the US. ⭐ Congrats to both new cohorts who have kickstarted their Tech Nation journey! #technation #futurefifty #upscale #founderscomms Founders Forum Group Carolyn Dawson Ellie Steel Johnny M. Emily Miller

Brilliant day at Tech Nation’s inaugural Future Fifty Forum, at the wonderful Daylesford Organic farm. The new cohort of Future Fifty businesses was announced, sharing the room with the previous cohort and later stage / serial founders, corporates, policymakers and journalists. We particularly loved hearing intimate scaling stories, including lessons learned and what founders would repeat next time. Another great example of the connections that Founders Forum Group (parent company to TN) is able to facilitate. The sun even came out for us! Congrats to the next Future Fifty cohort: Arbor Education | BibliU | Bumper UK | Doctify | evaluagent® | Elliptic | First Light Fusion | Flash Pack | Funding Xchange | FYLD | Gen H | Haiper | Legl | Lindus Health | Nyobolt | Open Cosmos | Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) | Quantum Motion | Relation | Scan.com | Secondmind | Signal AI |Veremark | Vertice | Volt.io Our sister companies: Founders HR | Founders Keepers | Founders Law | Founders Makers | Miroma Founders Network Rachel Gurney | Natasha Jones | Carolyn Dawson | Ellie Steel | Emily Miller | Johnny M. | Sammy Fry

❓Are you an ambitious mid-stage tech company preparing for #SeriesB investment? 👉🏼 Think about applying to Tech Nation's #Upscale programme. It's a 3 month programme where you'll get the support, mentoring and advice you need to scale successfully. Deadline is 9th September. Find out more here https://lnkd.in/g8_4X8V

📢 We’re hiring! 📢 💫 Founders Comms is looking to hire a Director. We think it’s a fantastic and pretty unusual opportunity to help our business grow and be an integral and senior member of the founding team. ❓ Could it be you?! We’re looking for an experienced corporate communications strategist, ideally with leadership experience within a startup or an advisory firm within this market. 🤔 Why us? We think we’re the best of both worlds - a new company that’s looking to grow with an exciting and varied client base, yet already part of the world’s most well-connected tech ecosystems - Founders Forum Group 👇🏼 Find out more below, DM us if you have any questions and spread the word to any talented comms professionals you know. Natasha Jones https://lnkd.in/evxgacdN #founderscomms #foundersforumgroup #comms #commsjobs #hiring

💡 Wondering what the new government means for startups and scaleups? The answer is: a rare opportunity, but you will need to think through your approach. 👇🏼 Check out our article this week on how and why it’s never too early to meaningfully invest in policy and government relations, especially now. New Ministers and MPs are creating plans, looking for experts - and ready to listen. 💫 But to get it right, it’s important to do your research and map the policy areas that matter for your company. Read our piece here - and please get in touch if you’re interested in learning more about how Founders Comms can help. https://lnkd.in/eVDXEf7s Peter Kyle Rt Hon Rachel Reeves Jonathan Reynolds MP #startups #scaleups #founderscomms #startuppolicy #foundersforum

Only one month in at Founders Comms and what a brilliant week with London Tech Week and Founders Forum Group! Highlights include: 💫 Two of our clients taking to London Tech Week’s Centre Stage as part of the health and wellbeing track. Apian Co-Founder Hammad Jeilani drone demo showcased Apian’s vision to transform NHS logistics through cleaner, faster and more efficient healthcare deliveries. Paul Landau, Founder and CEO of Careology, explored how his digital cancer care platform is heralding a new era of personalised medicine. 💫 Our Co-Founder Natasha Jones hosted a panel on the Currency of Comms and Soft Power with corporate affairs superstars Linda Griffin Eleanor Warnock Rebecca Gwilliam Ben Lyons - where we hope we convinced even the most sceptical of founders that understanding your stakeholder mix and shaping your external environment is important right from the get go! 💫 To finish up the week we met the most exceptional collection of tech founders at Founders Forum Global, heard keynotes from corporate innovators, and listened to panel discussions about everything from AI (of course), longevity, carbon markets (great moderating from client Patch Co-Founder Aaron Grunfeld) deeptech, health tech and the state of tech investment globally. Get in touch if you want to know more about Founders Comms and how an early investment in strategic comms will pay off at every stage of your scaling journey. https://lnkd.in/ehsDdyYR And of course a big thanks to Carolyn Dawson Brent Hoberman and the whole Founders Forum Group team for a brilliant week.

Many founders we meet wonder about the ROI for comms & policy. Tomorrow morning at London Tech Week with a panel of corporate affairs experts, we'll be discussing the value of investing early and the long term benefits of building soft power. Join us at the Founders Stage at 10:40 and bring as much cynicism as you like - we love a good debate! The Currency of Comms & Soft Power: How An Early Investment in Communications and Policy Will Always Pay Off Linda Griffin, VP Global Policy, Mozilla Rebecca Gwilliam, Director for Employee Communications, Deliveroo Ben Lyons, Head of Policy & Public Affairs, Darktrace Eleanor Warnock, Writer & Communications Advisor Natasha Jones, Co-Founder, Founders Comms (Moderator) Rachel Gurney | Founders Forum Group | Carolyn Dawson | Brent Hoberman | Joseph Annandsingh | Emily Miller | Ellie Steel | Richard Segal | Lizzie Segal | Tracy Davies | Tom Bohills | Alistair MacCallum | Nicholas Horowitz | ✌️ Faraz Aghaei | Paul Landau | Juliet Bauer | Katie Lyons | Jacob Monroe

You've probably already spotted... it's London Tech Week!  The largest festival of UK tech to date, with 25,000 people expected at Olympia this week, getting up to 45,000 across the entire fringe. This year we’re highlighting the truly impressive growth in the UK's AI and critical technology sectors, demonstrating the UK’s position as a global tech superpower. As part of this, Tech Nation launched its annual report, which found the UK AI sector reached a combined market valuation of $92bn in Q1 2024. The UK has secured its position as number one in Europe for AI investment – now home to 1,800 VC-backed AI startups and 20 AI unicorns. Check out Founders Forum Group & Tech Nation CEO Carolyn Dawson on Bloomberg this morning: https://lnkd.in/eUB9rixj And read the report here: https://lnkd.in/eXPZzKNF Francesca Arese Lucini Emily Miller Marco De Novellis Imogen Granger Ellie Steel Brent Hoberman

What does every founder and startup need to help with successful scaling? Strategic, considered, high-quality communications that support your commercial objectives of course! 📣 That's why today we’re excited to announce the launch of Founders Comms, the newest partner business to Founders Forum Group, providing entrepreneurs earlier and more flexible access to strategic communications. 💡 We believe it’s vital to carefully consider your stakeholder landscape and tailor comms to customers, employees, investors, partners and policymakers, especially as a founder builds credibility for a disruptive product, or expands into a new market. Founders Comms has been set up by co-founders Natasha Jones and Rachel Gurney who deeply understand fast-growth tech companies with experience at Funding Circle UK, Kry, Index Ventures and Portland. Our new advisory is already working with a range of startup and scaleup clients, including Apian, Camion, Careology and Patch, and we’ll also provide counsel to Founders Forum’s Tech Nation. We’re hiring - and are especially interested if you’re a comms or policy professional with direct startup/scaleup experience. 💫 Get in touch if you want to find out more! https://lnkd.in/e6vDvgax #founderscomms #strategiccomms #startups #entrepreneurs