How a 33-Year-Old Apprentice Solved This London Business’s Marketing Challenge
FounderCatalyst
Turning business funding stress into legal success
When Max Heal joined FounderCatalyst as Head of Growth, he faced a common challenge for marketing and sales managers in small businesses - lacking the time to do both strategic planning and hands-on execution.
"Given my role in the business, there was a frustration in having to have a high-level view of our marketing strategy, but then also being the only one actually to execute marketing tasks that need to get done," Max explains.
Around the same time, Gideon Stott was looking to make a career change at age 33. Despite being creative at heart, his work experience was as a social worker, making it difficult to break into marketing.
This unique recruitment approach really gave me the confidence that we had selected someone in Gideon who could ultimately grow to lead a marketing team here at FounderCatalyst.
Max Heal, Head of Growth
A Unique Recruitment Process That Gives You Confidence
When FounderCatalyst decided to work with our Marketing Academy, Max admits he had some initial reservations.
"I was thinking of someone like my sister's age (19)," he recalls about his expectations of an apprentice. "My concerns were that they would take a lot of my time to manage and train."
However, what surprised Max was the thoroughness of the Working Knowledge recruitment process.
"The recruitment process was really rigorous, more so than any business I've worked with before. We had a lot of opportunities to see what the candidates could actually do, what their potential was, and how they could fit in here."
"This unique recruitment approach really gave me the confidence that we had selected someone in Gideon who could ultimately grow to lead a marketing team here at FounderCatalyst."
For Gideon, the Marketing Academy represented a perfect opportunity.
"I wanted to get into marketing, but I thought even though I'm a bit older, I need to start from the beginning to learn the ropes and the lingo," he explains. "Working Knowledge really bridges that gap."
What I'm learning seems eerily well aligned with the progress of our business.
Every time we do a new module - the SEO one, the website one, or the social media one - they're always at the time that the business seems ready to expand into that area of marketing.
Gideon Stott, Marketing Executive
Learning That Makes an Impact
Six months into the programme, both Max and Gideon have seen significant progress. The structured curriculum of the Marketing Academy - covering core marketing principles like the StoryBrand methodology, data analysis, SEO, email marketing, and PPC advertising - has given Gideon the skills he needs to make a continuous positive impact at FounderCatalyst.
Max has been particularly impressed by the outcomes.
"The impact of Gideon has been very clear. We wanted a LinkedIn post a day following a comprehensive calendar that's out months in advance, and we have that. We've got new channels like TikTok that we didn't touch before, with high-quality videos on technical topics getting us in front of different audiences."
"And we are now developing new marketing channels that we simply did not have the capacity to act on before, like online and in-person events and a new brochure. These are quite impactful things that are now happening, and they wouldn't have happened without having Gideon on the team."
The most impactful thing about the Marketing Academy is the quality of the marketing experts who deliver the curriculum.
Max Heal, Head of Growth
Beyond the Classroom
Both Max and Gideon value the marketing expertise they can access through the Marketing Academy.
"I see it clearly in terms of what Gideon's learning and how he then is able to bring it back into the business. Being able to leverage that network of marketing consultants is really powerful for a small business like ours."
Gideon particularly appreciates the monthly coaching sessions he has with dedicated Marketing Coach Sam Robinson.
"We really enjoy our monthly meetings. I kind of dump a million marketing problems onto Sam, and he really does give us top-quality advice."
The first time we had a LinkedIn post idea and gave Gideon a loose brief, he came back with a really nice, on-brand LinkedIn tile that probably none of us in the team could have created. That was a moment where I thought, 'Brilliant, we've got the right person here.'
Max Heal, Head of Growth
Looking Ahead
For Gideon, the experience has exceeded expectations.
"It's gone so much better than I could have hoped. I've impressed myself - I didn't know I was capable of learning all this stuff and then implementing it."
As Gideon continues his apprenticeship journey with FounderCatalyst, supported by our Marketing Academy, both he and Max look forward to building on their early successes and continuing to grow their marketing capabilities together.
