Shoots

Understand how to tell your unique story, build your tribe of fellow believers and grow your ecosystem.

This is a cohort based strategic sprint

Start on the right footing to gather real momentum. Why are you unique, What is your story, and why should anyone care.

For seed-stage startups and solopreneurs.

£875

Next cohort: 6th July

BOOKING NOW OPEN - Maximum 6 spots available. Don’t miss out, they go fast!

In nature, what you see above ground is only possible because of what's thriving below it. The same is true for lasting brands.

Young trees growing alone in exposed ground are vulnerable.

Without the shelter of a canopy, the support of a root network, the shared resources of a grove, they struggle to establish the foundations that would carry them through harder seasons.

Early-stage founders face the same conditions.

You’re building something genuinely new. You can explain what it does. But when someone asks why it matters, who it’s really for, or what makes you the only people who could do this, you hesitate. The answer changes depending on who’s asking. Your website says everything and nothing. Your pitch lands differently every time.

Brand clarity grows faster when you’re not growing alone.

Shoots is where the real brand work happens, the foundational kind that tells you exactly who you are, why you exist, and why that matters to the specific people you serve.

Over four weeks, six founders work through Palmer&Co’s complete brand framework together. Your own Canva board. Two take-away workbooks. Weekly homework.

Written feedback from Ruth & Richard every week. And Monday calls where the thinking gets challenged, sharpened and built upon, by the cohort as much as by us.

Brand and marketing focused throughout. Self-guided research that happens 2 weeks before the start date using tools on your Canva board. By the end, you won’t just have a brand strategy. You’ll have the clarity to make every brand decision that follows, faster, with more confidence, and without second-guessing yourself plus a community of like-minded founders.

What you get

  • Your own Canva board: pre-built brand framework, personalised for your brand

  • Brand DNA workbook: fill in to clarify your thinking and take away

  • Brand Personality workbook: fill in to clarify your thinking and take away

  • 4 weekly live calls: 2 hour each, with Ruth and Richard

  • Pre-work ecosystem research assignment - two weeks before we start

  • Weekly written feedback: detailed comments on your board every Sunday

  • Full workshop activities: brand march placard, special event design, manifesto pitch

  • Accountability partner: paired with another founder for manifesto feedback

  • Design brief template: complete and ready for any designer

  • Monthly Fireside Chats: Ruth and Richard, open to all Seedling+ clients

  • Founding member access: Seed to Sequoia LinkedIn community

  • Session recordings: revisit any call at any time

Four weeks. One framework, Built in community.

Circle course structure

  • Two weeks before the cohort begins, you’ll receive your Canva board and your first assignment: map the ecosystem you’re entering. Who are your ideal customers, not as demographics, but as humans? What are they trying to become, and what stands in their way? Who else is operating in your space, and what does the landscape actually look like? Understanding your ecosystem before you build your brand means everything that follows is rooted in reality, not assumption.

  • The power of belief, learn what we can learn from the rapid rise of Christianity, the apostles, stories and miracles. Why belief is so important, especially when you are trying to build something really innovative. Belief is what builds brands that last. Features get copied. Technology gets superseded. Belief creates communities that competitors can’t dismantle.

    Homework: Complete all Brand Foundations activities. Submit Friday for written feedback.

  • Hot seats: 2-3 founders share their Brand Foundations work. The cohort responds. Then we use the Ikigai framework to translate what you believe into the foundational statements that guide everything: Purpose, Vision & Mission, Promise, and Only-ness.

    You’ll draft your purpose statement live and pitch your manifesto to an accountability partner.

    Homework: Complete all five elements and your 1-page strategy. Submit Friday.

  • Hot seats: different founders share their manifesto work. Then we explore how personality communicates your DNA, through visual identity, tone of voice, values and behaviour. And why story matters more than any other tool in a founder’s kit: your customer as the hero, your brand as the guide.

    Workshop: Design your brand’s special event. If your brand threw a gathering that perfectly expressed what it stands for, what would it look like, feel like, sound like?

    Homework: Complete values, visual style, tone of voice and story sections. Submit Friday.

  • Everyone presents their complete brand framework, from foundations through to story and visual direction. Final cohort feedback. Then we turn to what comes next: how to start building your ecosystem. Your brand doesn’t exist in isolation, it exists within a network of customers, partners, suppliers, advocates, and communities.

    You leave with a complete brand strategy, a design brief ready for any creative partner, and a clear sense of the ecosystem you’re going to grow within.

Investment

£875 for the complete four-week program

Includes:

  • Ecosystem research assignment

  • 4 weekly 2 hour live calls

  • Personalised Canva board

  • Two take-away digital workbooks

  • Weekly written feedback by brand & business strategists

  • Full workshop activities

  • Design brief template

  • Monthly Fireside Chats

  • Seed to Sequoia community access.

Secure your spot with a £100 deposit.

Remaining balance due before Week 1.

Only 4-6 founders per cohort, small by design, so everyone gets meaningful attention and genuine connection.

Next Cohort

6th July.

Six spots.

One campfire.

Questions? Book a 15-minute call with Ruth, we’ll tell you honestly if Shoots is the right stage for you right now.

Shoots: Circle Shoots: Circle
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Shoots: Circle
£100.00

Four weeks. Six founders. The brand foundations that hold.

Most early-stage founders know they need clarity on their brand. But it’s hard to find that clarity alone, staring at a blank page, rewriting the same sentence, never quite sure if they've got it right.

Circle changes that.

Over four weeks, six founders build their complete brand framework together, with live facilitation from Ruth and Richard, honest peer feedback, and the kind of challenge that only comes from people doing the same hard work alongside you. You'll understand who you are, what you're here to do, for who and why. And you'll do it in community, because brands - like trees - grow stronger when they're not growing alone.

What you'll walk away with:

  • Your complete Brand DNA: what you believe, what you're great at, what people need, what they'll pay for

  • Purpose, Vision, Mission, Promise and Only-ness

  • Brand personality, tone of voice and visual direction

  • Your hero's journey, your customer as the hero, your brand as the guide

  • A design brief ready for any creative partner

  • Two take-away workbooks, Brand DNA and Brand Personality

What's included:

  • Pre-work ecosystem research assignment (two weeks before we start)

  • 4 weekly 90-minute live calls with Ruth and Richard

  • Your own personalised Canva board

  • Weekly written feedback every Sunday

  • Full workshop activities, brand march placard, special event design, manifesto pitch

  • Monthly Fireside Chats, open to all Shoots + clients

  • Session recordings to revisit any time

  • Founding member access to the Seed to Sequoia LinkedIn community

£875 - secure your spot with a £100 deposit

Remaining balance due two weeks before the cohort starts - we’ll send you an invoice. Only 6 spots per cohort - small by design, so everyone gets meaningful attention and genuine connection.

Next cohort: 6th July

Find out more about Sapling →

Offshoot Projects

Want to go further after Circle?

Once you've completed your brand foundations, our Offshoot Projects help you bring them to life.

The Distillery - £495 A 2-hour 1:1 session with Ruth and Richard to consolidate your thinking after Circle. We review your complete framework, resolve anything that still feels unclear, and deliver a summary deck with changes and recommendations. Available exclusively to Circle graduates within 60 days of completing your cohort.

Other Offshoot Projects - visual identity, web design, brand assets, pitch deck, brand audit and more.

Explore design services

Explore marketing services

Explore workshops

Explore strategy services

The Distillery
£495.00

Want to go further after Circle?

Once you've completed your brand foundations, our Offshoot Projects help you bring them to life.

A 2-hour 1:1 session with Ruth and Richard to consolidate your thinking after Shoots: Circle. We review your complete framework, resolve anything that still feels unclear, and deliver a summary deck with changes and recommendations.

Available exclusively to Shoots: Circle graduates within 60 days of completing your cohort.

Who this is for.

  • You are building something genuinely new and struggling to explain why it matters, not just what it does

  • You are rewriting your homepage every few months because you’re never quite sure what your brand actually stands for

  • You need brand clarity before you scale, hire, or raise, but keep putting it off

  • You understand that doing this work alongside other founders will get you further than doing it alone

Who this isn’t for.

  • You’re looking for a logo or visual identity, we build the strategy that guides design; the visual work comes after

    You can’t commit to four Monday calls, the cohort only works when everyone shows up

  • You need 1:1 focussed attention, take a wonder over to Sapling for that

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

Let’s talk.

Want to find out more or have a question?

Drop us a line here or email sayhello@palmerand.co.