WHO SIGNED THIS OFF: MID-SEPTEMBER EDITION

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MID-SEPTEMBER EDITION:

WHO SIGNED THIS OFF?!

To celebrate another two weeks of AI not wiping out humanity (see below for more cheery analysis on that one) we’ve put out a mid-month edition of Who Signed This Off?. We hope you enjoy and survive to the next edition.

Harpswood is hosting a lively breakfast panel discussion on how PR for your Series A can earn you recognition, credibility… and open the pathway to future funding. Panellists include Anatolii Papulov, Co-founder & CEO, NewOrbit, Matthew Blain, Partner, Voyager Ventures and Jess Jones, Senior Reporter, Entrepreneurs Network at The Times. It’s at Fora Folgate Street, 35-41 Folgate St, London E1 6BX at 9am on Thursday October 29. We’d love to see you! Secure your spot here. 

When degree apprenticeships launched in 2015, the-then Business Secretary Vince Cable said they would “give people across the country the chance of a great start to their working lives.” It turned out they gave some young people in a few (often wealthier) postcodes a great start, but others not so much. Harpswood helped the Social Mobility Foundation publicise The Opportunity Divide, a report explaining the changes needed in degree apprenticeships to make them available to everyone in society. Compelling case studies led to coverage on BBC TV and radio news, Daily Mail’s This Is Money, The Independent and The Sun.

Bristol engineering company (and Harpswood client) Rowden Technologies has signed a sponsorship with the Bristol Pitbulls ice hockey team for the 2026/27 NIHL National League season. The deal will see Rowden’s logo featured on the new home and away shirts and helmets. Bristol Pitbulls, founded in 2009 by Richie Hargreaves, provided the city with its first senior ice hockey team since 1993. The team competes every weekend from September through April.

And we said goodbye to our intern Eugene who wrote about the culture, clients and communication in his time with us. If you know someone looking to break into PR, point them in the direction of Eugene’s blog here.

🤖 AI DOOM: GREATEST PR STUNT EVER?

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt.” This terrifying social media post by recent ex Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon achieved the reach that your average marketing stunt could only dream of. Coxon’s creds checked out and the media took him seriously, leading to an appearance on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. AI chiefs, including Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei, all weighed in. So could we really be wiped out by AI or is it all hype? Read our blog to find out how AI has flipped the Big Tobacco playbook on its head…

📺 CHANNEL FLOORED

Changing TV viewer habits and the inexorable rise of YouTube has been blamed for 340 job cuts by the end of year at Channel 4. The redundancies make up more than a quarter of the station’s workforce. Boss Priya Dogra told staff the move will allow more of the publicly-owned channel’s £1billion of income to be spent on screen. Future plans are focused on growing digital revenue.

📻 HERE TODAY…

It’s not unheard of for a fiery broadcast media interview to be analysed. It’s quite unusual for the interviewer – rather than their subject – to become the focus of attention. The 15-minute exchange on Thursday morning between Today programme presenter Emma Barnett and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was notably hostile from the off. It was focused on the trade-off between welfare spending and defence spending – and it was a tense listen with both parties cutting across each other. The next day it was widely reported Barnett was to leave Today. Some commentators were vocal in celebrating her exit, claiming she “wasn’t a fit”, while others lamented the departure of a younger, female voice. 

FOUNDERS UNFILTERED

“WE’VE SPENT 12 MONTHS DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT… NOW IT’S ALL ABOUT THE THRILL OF THE CHASE!”

This month, Charles Anderson, Chairman of Volt Quads, is our Founder Unfiltered. Volt Quads designs and manufactures electric all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) for landowners and farmers. Its first bike, the VQ, has been designed by a British farmer to prioritise what British farmers and landowners need: performance, reliability, and safety.

It offers a bike specifically built to deal with difficult British terrain and saves money on running costs. The VQ costs £3,500 less to own than a comparable petrol vehicle over five years.

What’s the scrappiest thing you’ve done so far to make progress?
Getting out of a completely unproductive contract for a new battery design, despite the time and money we had already invested in it. Sometimes you have to accept the sunk costs, make the difficult decision and move on.

Which purpose-led company, other than your own, do you most admire, and why?
Naturalmat, based in Topsham, Devon, which handcrafts organic, natural mattresses. They have great values and products, a genuine commitment to the environment, and an approach to both supply chain support and customer care that is first class.

What are you most excited about with your business right now?
The thrill of the chase. After spending 12 months developing the product and launching the company, it is incredibly exciting to now be dealing with inbound sales enquiries from people who are genuinely interested in what we have built.

What story about Volt Quads has landed best with the media, and why?
A number of stories have landed well for different reasons. The Farm Machinery Journal struck a good balance between the story behind the business and the product itself, while the Western Daily Press reached exactly the right audience and covered the launch particularly well.

NEWS-O-METER

🤩 NAILED IT

Political publication Politico credited French president Emmanuel Macron for his hustle on behalf of startup Mistral. The great European AI hope secured the largest equity fundraising round ever by a European tech company as it raised €3billion for a valuation of €21billion. Macron is credited with lobbying French businesses to support their native AI lead.

🥶 FAILED IT

The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish schools systems were in the firing line after poor results in the well-respected Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report. John Burn-Murdoch, data journalist for the FT, criticised the “elevation of woolly domains and goals that sound lovely but have no evidence base.” He added: “Honestly gives ‘alternative medicine’ vibes.”

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

💀 EXISTENTIAL ABBREVIATION

“P-Doom” is now a thing. Not a rapper playing the second stage at Reading, it is in fact short for “probability of doom” — the estimated percentage of human wipeout thanks to AI.

HARPSWOOD IRL

MEET OUR LONDON TEAM THIS SEPTEMBER AT:

📆 Founders Connect, Wednesday 16th September (invite only)

📆 Solar & Storage Live @ The NEC, Birmingham, Tuesday 22nd Sept

📆 Climate Tech Time @ The Conduit, Wednesday 23rd Sept

📆 Climate Coffee @ St James Cafe, Thurs 24th Sept

📆 Startup Coffee Corner @ BAE HQ, Liverpool Street, Fri 25th Sept

📆 Impact Unlimited Summit @ Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, Weds 30th Sept

📆 Runway by Sifted @ The Edinboro Castle, Mon 28th Sept

AND MEET US AT OUR OWN EVENT IN OCTOBER:

📆 How PR can support your business growth: Series A and beyond

@ Fora Folgate Street, London E1 6BX, Thurs Oct 29th, 9am