Building From Scratch From PR campaigns to a thriving agency, Will Cookson and David Philips have built Pangolin from the ground up. They share the highs, the challenges, and what it takes to turn a small investment into a business that's making waves.

In this Entrepreneur UK interview, London based communications agency Pangolin's co-founders discuss their entrepreneurial journey, the importance of a strong team, and why mistakes are just part of the ride. From securing their first client to staying motivated during tough times, they offer valuable insights for entrepreneurs ready to make their mark.

What inspired you to start your business?
Will: For me, it came from a combination of a few things; first of all, I always had that itch as I grew up in a household where running your own business wasn't scary, it was just seen as the same as working for someone or having another job, so there wasn't that fear associated with it. Secondly, to change it up, right? It's exciting to do something different and say "No, I'm not going to just do the expected stuff. Wouldn't it be cool to build something from scratch?". Lastly, the potential financial reward and being in charge of my own destiny felt important, and still is today.

David: In our previous roles I don't think we felt massively inspired by what our day-to-day was going to look like as we moved up the chain. So we were just excited by the challenge, and about the mistakes we'd make and what we were going to learn along the way. When you first tell someone that you set up a business when you're 29, people are like, "Wow, that's so brave." It actually wasn't that brave to be honest; we didn't have mortgages, no dependents, so there wasn't a huge amount of risk involved compared to someone a little later on in their lives (or just further ahead at the same age).

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
David: I would say the biggest challenge was the fact that we didn't know how to run a business - we knew how to run a PR campaign from start to finish, but had zero experience when it came to the business side of running an agency. We overcame this by seeking the support of all of the brilliant professionals around us who had great ideas and could help us in some way, shape or form. There were a lot of amazing people at Freuds, where we worked previously, who reached out and helped us, made introductions and bought us lunch to chat through how we might be able to grow the business. Our longest standing client, Pernod Ricard was introduced to us in our first year of business through a past Freuds colleague, who we still do work with today.

How did you secure your initial finding?
David: We invested £3k each into the business, which we had in savings. That went towards email set-up, laptops, branding, and web design. Then we paid ourselves a salary of about £1,200 per month for the first year, to build up some reserves to invest in our first employees, and eventually our first office.

How do you handle failure or setbacks?
Will: I've learnt to get better at dealing with failure, but still wouldn't say I'm great with it. On the whole David and I lean on each other for support. The reality is that you're there for each other, picking each other up when the other one's down, and that's quite normal. It's about trying to keep a rational head on it and remembering that despite the setbacks, we are the ones in control of the situation. The one thing I'd say on the whole is that we're both really scrappy. Although failure and setbacks are stressful, we're actually pretty good at quickly solving problems that rear their heads. We try to foster a team culture where no one is finger pointing while we're in the eye of the storm, let's just solve the problems and worry about it later.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?
David: My advice is to just do it! You're going to make a lot of mistakes on the way, but that is what's great about it because you learn a hell of a lot and I don't think you get that with many other jobs. So if you're up for that challenge and open to making mistakes and learning from them, then just get on and give it your best shot.

Will: I would say you need to spend time defining your proposition, understanding what are you fighting against as a business and why you exist? If you can't answer that eloquently, then you need to spend time ripping it up and rebuilding again. Then I'd focus on the brand - understanding how you want to show up in the world, what is going to make you stand out, and how you're going to talk. Once you're happy with that, realise it's never going to be perfect, just get it live and tweak along the way.

How do you stay motivated during tough times?
Will: We shared an office with a design agency for four years or so - they scaled really quickly and sold to a larger agency group. We go for lunch with them every quarter, and find hearing from people that sold their business and came out the other side can be really motivating - the grass is not always greener. You also need to celebrate the wins. In a fast paced agency you tend to just move on to the next project before thinking about all the stuff that's gone really well. We also regularly have new talented team members joining the business and so we try to take time to celebrate them and realise how lucky we are to have great people at the agency. Taking a step back to slow down and look at the bigger picture can really help with feeling grateful for what you've built.

Share your tips for achieving success.
Will: Hire people you shouldn't be able to hire. Being scared to hire people that are way better than you is a great thing. They are the game-changers for a business. Have a vision of where you're heading and make sure everyone in the business is in for the ride. For the first 4-5 years, our business was very organic and I know we could have been further along in our journey if we had a sharper vision earlier.

David: And make sure you're prepared to invest back into the business. As soon as we started making money as an agency, we didn't drain the account, we used it to invest in and grow the business. You need to be really clued up on the numbers, because you might be doing brilliant work and have a really strong brand, but if you're not close to the numbers it won't matter. Cash is king at the end of the day in any new business.