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Seed

Idea in. Impact out.

The four foundations every founder needs, in the order that actually makes sense.

You have an idea. A real one. The kind that keeps you up at night and follows you into the shower in the morning.

Now what?

It’s easy to rush straight into making. Driven by excitement, impatience and the very human desire to see the thing become real (we’ve all been there). In doing so, you skip the steps that would have made everything easier, faster and less expensive.

The solution.

Four stages that move you from idea to impact without wasting time.

In nature, there’s an order to growth. A seed planted in the wrong soil, at the wrong time, without the right nutrients, or where there’s not enough light, doesn't become a sequoia. It just dies.

Seed gives you four essential areas to focus on, to maximise your survival rate. Each stage builds on the last and makes everything that follows stronger.

Stop making assumptions, get the answers you need in enough fidelity to be confident, then test them.

Clear foundations from honest groundwork.

Stop guessing. Start listening.
Before you build anything, understand the people you're building it for. Not the numbers, the humans. Their lives, their frustrations, the problems they're living with that you might be able to solve. Find out the motivations, emotions and hidden reasons behind people’s choices to reveal insights that can make you stand out.
Research your ecosystem form the start so you understand not just your competitive landscape, but the broader trends that are happening in the world, organisations, partnerships, kindred brands that might be able to hel
Build belief before you spend a penny on design.
Your brand isn't your logo. It's the ideas people have in their heads about you. Define what you want those ideas to be early.
Why do you exist? What do you believe in? Why would anyone notice or care?
Before you go anywhere near Canva, commission a designer, or write a word of copy. This is the foundation everything visible grows from.
You don't need more marketing. You need an ecosystem.
The funnel is dead. For early-stage founders, belief is built through alliances, real stories, and genuine human connections, not advertising. Map your ecosystem. Understand what you have to trade. Start building the relationships that will carry your brand further than any paid campaign ever could.
Tell the story that makes people believe.
When it's time to bring investors, partners or customers on board, your pitch needs to do one thing above everything else: make people believe in the world you're trying to create. Not just understand it. Believe in it. This is how you get the room., and leave it smiling.

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Why this works

Seed wasn’t written in a classroom or a consultancy. It was built from the lived experience of real business, from the mistakes, the pivots, the moments of clarity, and the expensive lessons that only come from actually doing it.

Ruth Palmer spent years as the accidental head of marketing at D3O, the impact protection technology that went on to supply the world’s leading sports, defence and workwear brands. She learned what startup marketing actually looks like from the inside. Not the textbook version. The real one.

Richard Palmer founded D3O from a spark of inspiration on a ski slope and built it into a globally recognised technology brand. EPO Inventor of the Year finalist. O2 Entrepreneur of the Year. Member of the EPO European Inventor Network.

Since then, Palmer&Co has worked with many startups at every stage of growth, from founders with nothing but an idea and a belief, to funded businesses navigating their first serious scale.

There's another reason to get your foundations right early. AI search tools now recommend brands based on clarity, consistency and what others say about you, not just your Google ranking. A brand with clear positioning and a distinctive story doesn't just communicate better with humans. It gets found by the AI tools your future customers are already using to make decisions. Plus, the conversion on AI is around 11% - much higher than the 2% average for SEO - when no-one knows who you are, this makes a big difference.

Find out more about Ruth, Richard and Palmer&Co →

Choose how you want to work

The Workbook - a physical book to help you slow down and make space to think clearly

The complete framework in your hands. Work through it in your own time, at your own pace, with exercises and templates for every foundation. This is for the self-motivated early-stage founder who just needs the structure.

£29

The Course

Ruth and Richard walk you through each foundation with video, real examples and guided exercises. Richer than the workbook, with stories and guidance from the Palmer&Co archives. For founders who want to feel like they have someone in their corner.

£199

including a series of videos and interactive Canva exercises.

Workbooks

Sold out

Seed: Listen first

£29.00

The thinking space for your customer and ecosystem research.

A structured digital workbook that takes you through the research process step by step, from mapping your ideal customer and uncovering what they really need, to understanding your competitors and the ecosystem you're entering.

Work through it alongside the Research course or use it independently as a standalone research tool. Fill it in digitally or print it out and write by hand, whichever helps you think.

Sold out

Seed: Build belief

£25.00

Your brand thinking is a compass. It guides your decisions, how you brief designers, onboard new team members, or figure out why something doesn't feel quite right. The Build belief Workbook is where your thinking lives. Structured around the same Ikigai framework as the course, it takes you through each stage with focused prompts, exercises and space to write, from your core beliefs and competitive strengths through to your brand DNA, personality, voice and visual direction.

Seed: Forget the funnel - build the forest

Sold out

Seed: Forget the funnel - build the forest

£29.00

The thinking space for building your ecosystem and activation plan.

A structured workbook that helps you map your network, identify the alliances worth building, and plan the activities that will actually move the needle at your stage.

Sold out

Seed: Make it land - the pitch

£29.00

The thinking space for building the story that makes people believe.

A structured workbook that guides you through crafting your pitch narrative, from your core belief and customer story through to the demonstration that makes your conviction visible.

Best used alongside the Seed: Make it land - the pitch course.

Courses

A foggy forest with tall trees and a neon green outline of a pine cone in the center. Text reads 'Seed: Listen first' with smaller text underneath, 'From Seed to Sequoia by Palmer & Co'.

Aerial view of a foggy forest at sunrise with trees stretching to the horizon and sunlight rays filtering through the mist. Overlaid text reads 'Seed: Forget the funnel, build the forest. From Seed to Sequoia by Palmer&co' with a stylized pine cone icon.

Seed: Listen first - Coming soon

£199

Seed: Forget the funnel - build the forest Course - Coming soon

£199

Sunlight filtering through trees in a forest with green foliage and ferns, with a white outline of a pine cone and text saying "seed: Make it land"

Seed: The Pitch Course - Coming soon

£199

Aerial view of a dense green forest with a wooden pathway winding through the trees. Overlaid text reads 'Seed: Build belief' and 'From Seed to Sequoia by Palmer & Co' with a stylized outline of a pinecone.

Seed: Build belief - Coming soon

£199

Who this is for.

You’re a solopreneur or early-stage founder with an idea worth backing, and you want to give it the best possible chance of working
You’ve never built a business before and you’d rather learn from someone else’s mistakes than make all of them yourself
You’re tired of generic startup advice that assumes you have a team of ten and a Series A in the bank or trying to learn how to build a brand from YouTube videos
You want a process that respects your time, your intelligence and your budget

Who this isn’t for.

You’re looking for a get-rich-quick formula, building a brand (and a business) takes time.
You want someone to do it for you. (For hands-on strategic support, see Sapling and Sequoia.)
You’re not willing to do the thinking. The process works. But only if you do.

Where Seed fits

Seed workbooks and courses are the first stage of the Seed to Sequoia framework.

When you're ready to go deeper, with live facilitation, a small cohort of founders, Shoots Circle Cohort is your natural next step.

Seed plants the conditions. Shoots grows what's in them.

Explore Shoots

Community

Every Seed client becomes a founding member of the Seed to Sequoia LinkedIn community, while it's still small, still intimate, and still being shaped by the people in it.

Founding member status won't always be available at this level.

Kind words from our ecosystem

Simon Devonshire OBE, Entrepreneur, Investor, Non-Exec Director, Chair

“Richard is an inspiration to anyone with a dream, and the drive to realise it.”
Damian Milkins, CEO & Founder, Earn It

"When we came to Palmer&Co we knew what we were building, but we were struggling to communicate why it mattered.
Ruth and Richard helped us find the story that had been there all along, the one about what's broken in the world of work, and what becomes possible when you fix it. The brand strategy process gave us the clarity to articulate our vision in a way that resonated with everyone we spoke to, investors, potential clients, and the employees we're ultimately trying to help.
The identity, website, animations and pitch deck they created gave us something we're genuinely proud of. For the first time, the outside of the business matched the ambition on the inside. Ruth is simply the best marketer I've ever worked with, and I've worked with a lot."
"Richard's mastery of product and communication drove a wave of publicity that we could never have dreamed possible. Richard's technical ability is only surpassed by his understanding of marketing. I have never seen anyone possess such acumen in both realms before. This is a potent combination. As an entrepreneur, it is lethal (to the competition)!"

Phil Shettig
VP Product + Marketing, Vertical Supply Group (previously GM / Business unit Director Spyder Active Sports)
Tim Brown Director and COO Rheon Labs (previously COO, D3O)

"Ruth was wholey responsible for creating D3O's brand strategy and executing the formation, communication and embodiment of the brand. It is difficult to find the most appropriate level of praise for her work and attitude; "Utter brilliance" is the closest I can get."
Janinie Boyer, Director, Beancount

"By the end of the workshop I had a clear vision about what my business brand statement is, what values and processes underlie it and how I can make it work for me. It was great to have such a creative and supportive space in which to really focus on my own branding as it's all too easy to overlook its strategic importance when you're busy!"
Kevin Nicholas Executive Partner BMNT

In my trade I come across many people who claim to be 'innovators', 'disruptors', 'design thinkers' and the like. A precious few of them are the real thing, and Richard is one of them. He is also great to work with and an all around good guy. I'd work with him again any time!
Michael Kleinwort Founder & CEO Kora Outdoor

“Ruth is a tireless self motivator whose experience, commitment, creativity and positivity helped kora come to life. She supported us through our startup phase, wearing multiple hats throughout - project management, copy-writing, web design, research, spreadsheet crunching, financial analysis, email marketing campaigns... She is painstaking in her approach to each task, and her dedication to ensuring that the task is completed on time and to the required quality is exemplary. Do not overlook her design skills either, as these are fantastic. She created kora’s logo - which is a thing of beauty and brains.”
Cindi Bussenhart Founder & CEO, MERGE4 B-CORP

During my time at Sessions. Rich Palmer was a driving force in D3O's product innovation and leadership. His visionary guidance fostered a culture of excellence, pushing boundaries and inspiring teams to achieve their best.
Amaya Albisu - Vice President Communications, Branding & Marketing, Dormer Pramet

"It was a pleasure to work with Richard and Ruth on this important project for Dormer Pramet. This was a challenging Global project with multiple considerations and stakeholders to manage. Their ability to create a strong brand strategy, and align the visual identity, tone of voice and our brand behaviours left us feeling we were in safe hands.

Richard and Ruth were very keen to equip the team internally with the ability to tell stories and encourage behaviours that would continue to bring the brand to life. The global launch internally and externally at the trade-show was very well received and the supporting videos helping to bring this together were superb.

There was a huge amount of work involved from copywriting to video, website redevelopment and design during this project, which the Palmer&Co team delivered on time and to a high quality. The President, Senior management and our parent company Sandvik were all very happy with the work."