Sequoia

This is where your brand becomes something bigger than itself.

The full Palmer&Co ecosystem. Gathered around your business.

You’ve validated your model. You’ve raised serious funding. You have a product that works and a team that believes in it.

Now you need a brand that can carry the weight of what you’re building, one that doesn’t just communicate what you do, but becomes essential to the ecosystem you’re growing within.

You have protected your technology with Patents, and your designs are registered but the real long term value you can build is in the brand. This is the Why of your business, not the constantly adapting What of your customer’s needs.

build a keystone brand, become vital to your ecosystem.

At Series A and beyond, the game changes. The buyers are more sophisticated. The hires are more discerning. The investors have seen a thousand pitches and can spot borrowed positioning from across the table.

The brands that make it through aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones with the deepest roots, strategic foundations strong enough to support serious scale, and an ecosystem around them that makes them impossible to ignore.

Most funded startups at this stage have pieces of a brand. A logo. Some messaging. A deck that works in certain rooms. But a brand isn’t a collection of assets. It’s a living, breathing organism, it should be everywhere your business is, flowing through every touchpoint, every conversation, every channel. When it isn’t, there are blockages. And blockages cost growth.

Sequoia builds the complete system. Then make sure nothing gets in the way of it.

Embedded partners

Understanding the conditions before you plant anything
Before we build anything visible, we understand the ecosystem your brand is growing in. This starts with a brand audit, an honest assessment of what exists, what’s working, and where the blockages are. From there we go deeper: anthropological research into your customers’ lives and beliefs, competitive landscape analysis, market opportunity mapping.
Typical deliverables: Brand audit, anthropological research, competitive landscape, audience insight framework, ecosystem map
The foundations that guide everything that follows
A complete brand and business strategy built around your specific market conditions, growth goals, and the conversations you need to win. This is where your Brand DNA takes shape, purpose, positioning, only-ness, vision and mission, the strategic core that makes every subsequent decision clearer.
This is the work that makes the right rooms land differently. That gives your team a story they can tell with genuine conviction. That helps new hires understand what they’re building toward from their first week.
Typical deliverables: Complete brand and business strategy, Brand DNA, positioning framework, vision & mission, messaging architecture
Where strategy becomes something people can experience
Creative identity and the full range of tools that bring your brand to life, visual identity, design system, animation, sonic devices, video, tone of voice, story framework. We don’t stop at a logo and guidelines. Expression covers whatever your brand needs to make itself felt in the world.
Because a brand that lives only in a PDF isn’t a brand. It’s a document.
Typical deliverables: Visual identity system, brand guidelines, animation and motion direction, sonic branding where relevant, video creative, tone of voice guide, story framework, design assets
Spending your marketing budget where it actually grows something
You have budget to spend on marketing. The question is how to spend it in ways that build genuine momentum rather than buying temporary attention.
Activation is where we help you understand your ecosystem well enough to invest in it strategically. Identifying the alliances that amplify your reach through genuine credibility. Building the network effects that carry your brand further than paid media alone. Creating the conditions where your community grows because it wants to, not because you’ve paid for its attention.
The strongest brands don’t just advertise into their ecosystem. They become essential to it. Activation is how that happens in practice.
Typical deliverables: Activation strategy, ecosystem and network map, alliance framework, marketing investment framework, launch plan, content foundations

In a sequoia forest, no tree grows in isolation. The largest, most established trees share resources through underground networks with younger trees still finding their footing. The health of each contributes to the health of the whole.

Ruth and Richard lead the work directly, bringing the combined perspective of building a brand and a business - and living it - from the inside out. Around them, we gather the specialists your brand specifically needs: designers, animators, videographers, copywriters, researchers, marketers, web developers, financial advisors, IP and trademark specialists.

Gathered around your business like friends around a campfire, each one working from the same strategic foundation, each one understanding your brand deeply enough to add genuine value.

Many Sequoia relationships evolve into ongoing retainers, where the Palmer&Co network embeds in your team as an extension rather than an outside agency. Part of your ecosystem, contributing to it continuously.When you work with Palmer&Co at Sapling level, you’re not briefing a consultancy. The questions are different. The challenge is more direct. And the solutions are built around your specific conditions.

What sequoia clients receive

Request a bespoke quote

Direct leadership from Ruth and Richard across every phase
Full ecosystem access, designers, animators, researchers, marketers, developers, copywriters, IP specialists and more
Complete deliverables at every phase, audit, strategy, identity, activation
Integrated thinking, every specialist working from the same strategic foundation
Brand as a living system, no blockages, no disconnected assets, everything flowing
Retainer option, embed the Palmer&Co network in your team as a long-term growth partner
Priority Fireside Chats, direct monthly access to Ruth and Richard
Founding member access, Seed to Sequoia LinkedIn community

See a Sequoia case study

View case study

Who this is for.

Series A or beyond with a marketing budget and the ambition to spend it building something that lasts
Complex, innovative, or category-creating business where making people understand and believe is the real challenge
Need a complete brand system, one that flows through everything, with no blockages between strategy and expression
Want a long-term partner embedded in your team, contributing continuously
Ready to build a keystone brand, one that becomes essential to the ecosystem it operates within

Who this isn’t for.

Pre-Series A and still establishing strategic foundations, Sapling gives you everything you need at a fraction of the investment
Looking for quick turnaround on isolated assets, our work is integrated by design; the value is in the coherence

Investment

Sequoia engagements are scoped individually, every business has different conditions, different challenges, and a different definition of what success at scale looks like.

The investment reflects the depth of the work, the seniority of the people involved, and the scope of what gets built. Sequoia is a growth partnership.

Book a call to discuss scope and investment →

Typically suited to Series A+ businesses with brand-building budgets of £15,000 and above.

Work With Us

Why Ruth & Richard?

Ruth and Richard Palmer built D3O, a material nobody had heard of, in a category that didn’t exist, into a globally recognised technology brand. They didn’t do it with advertising. They did it with belief, story, and a clear understanding of the ecosystem they were building within.

Since then, Palmer&Co has helped founders at every stage of growth find the same clarity, from first-time solopreneurs to funded startups navigating their first serious scale.

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

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."