Paul Sullivan, Founder of Leevr announces his co-founder and names Fawn Hudgens former Head of Content for The World Retail Congress & GVP of Content Money2020
Paul Sullivan, Founder of UK competitive intelligence startup Leevr, announces Fawn Hudgens, former GVP of Content at Money2020 as his Co-Founder.
Whilst Paul is known for his no-nonsense approach to business, as seen on series 12 of BBC’s favourite business reality TV show, The Apprentice, back in 2016, Fawn is much more measured.
When we sat with the duo, Paul spoke highly of Fawn, saying that he had chased her for a couple of years to work with him and she had always demurred, focusing on developing her own career in content. He also said Fawn compliments his style and is often more thoughtful in her approach to communication and decision-making, whereas he sometimes shoots straight from the hip. Her experience with the C-suite, as well as her background in strategy, also made her the right fit. He also added, “Content is key to growth in any business, and this is where Fawn excels.”
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Fawn went on to discuss her belief in Leevr as a platform and talked constructively about the problems they intend to solve together. She said, “ What I like about Leevr is that it solves real challenges consultancies and agencies are grappling with today – the use case has been well proven, unlike many SaaS startups who must retrofit or pivot. With Paul’s experience in this space, he understands where the gaps are and how to close them.
The agency business he owns, where I also work, is fundamentally focused on helping SaaS and Technology businesses maximise results through automation, underpinned by competitive intelligence-led customer acquisition strategies, and he sees Leevr as a natural evolution of that. He has built Leevr with a mind to solve customer onboarding, which would help other agency and consultancy businesses improve their results and profitability, so it’s a win-win for them.
AI and NLP are game-changers when adopted for the right purpose and when you can use the latest technologies to not only agencies and consultancies, but also to help smaller and mid-market businesses make smarter decisions, Leevr stacks up.”
When it comes to competitive intelligence, Leevr isn’t the first to market, but they are the first to focus on strategic decision making – and an emphasis on the SME space. Both founders are excited and see a lot of value in their product, early team and advisory board.
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“When you look at the advisory board, you can see people that can contribute to the success of Leevr from the off”, Paul says.
“I have Michael Brunt, former COO of the Economist and GM at The Times, an expert in subscription-based product marketing and development; Naz Quraban, who was integral to the growth of Cognism and was part of the team that exited successfully; Colin Campbell Austin, a recognised leader in Diversity and Inclusivity who has led change at Channel 4, British Airways, The Telegraph and more.
I also brought in a mentor of mine, who runs a larger agency business than BIAS, Sean Sweet, who is growing his business by acquisition and is one of HubSpot’s leading agency partners, and Robert Craven, another expert who specialises in growing agencies to help them sell the business. Finally, Daniel Bobroff, formerly of ASOS, who has built and exited two gaming companies and now focuses on retail technology and has the depth of technical experience to question each step that the team makes as we grow the product.
Now all that is left is for myself and Fawn to hit the fundraising trail and bring on the Angels to keep the development going.”
It seems like the pair are confident in what they’re doing and who they are doing it with and show early signs that they are making the right calls across the board. They are also excited to be working with NVIDIA to help develop their AI capabilities and speed to market.