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Drinks brands, category platforms,
and the funds behind them.

Nine years inside Distill Ventures. M&A comms for founder exits. Category platforms that moved industries. Advisory across drinks, CPG, and investment.

DV FLAGSHIPNov 2016 – Jul 2025

Distill Ventures

The accelerator founder-led drinks brands wanted to be part of.

Nine years building the brand, marketing, and comms engine at Diageo-backed DV. Brand Manager to Director. Over £320M invested across 35+ founder-led drinks and CPG brands.

£320M+
Portfolio investment supported
35+
Founder brands in portfolio
3,000+
Qualified global applications
15K
LinkedIn growth (zero →)
Brand strategyCategory buildingM&A commsThought leadership
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ACQUISITION COMMS2019 – 2022

Seedlip and Mr. Black

Two category-defining founder exits, landed in the press.

Announcement comms for two of the most-watched exits in the Diageo portfolio. Founder briefings, market-making press kits, and the post-deal narrative.

Press kitFounder briefingAcquisition narrative
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CATEGORY + THOUGHT LEADERSHIP2018 – 2024

Non-Alc + Wellness

Turning a fringe bet into a mainstream category.

The white paper, data-led press, and founder community behind the breakout brands that defined non-alc and drinks-adjacent wellness.

White paperPressCategory narrative
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CATEGORY + THOUGHT LEADERSHIP2022 – 2024

New World Whiskey

A white paper that moved the industry.

Framed, researched, and launched DV's flagship thought leadership. The piece founders quoted in their decks for years afterward.

White paperThought leadership
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DV FLAGSHIP2021 – 2023

DV Global Rebrand

New identity, new voice, new digital ecosystem.

Led the global rebrand of Distill Ventures. Visual, verbal, web, social, and the channels that carried the story to the founder market.

RebrandVisual identity
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DV FLAGSHIP2019 – 2025

DV Founder Community

Summits, salons, and the rooms that kept founders close.

DV's founder-experience platform. Flagship events, summits, and invitation-only salons. The reason founders wanted DV in their corner before they pitched.

EventsCommunity
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MEDIA RELATIONS2016 – 2025

Tier 1 Media

Nine years of coverage. NYT, FT, Forbes, The Economist.

The press relationships that turned DV and its portfolio brands into a through-line in the drinks trade. Cultivated reporters, data-led briefings, and the repeat coverage that compounds.

Media relationsPress strategyData-led briefings
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STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT2016 – 2025

Diageo Executive Engagement

Translating founder-led innovation for a FTSE-100 boardroom.

The internal comms work that kept Diageo's leadership aligned with DV's founder-led thesis through nine years of portfolio bets, acquisitions, and category shifts.

Executive commsStakeholder engagementInternal narrative
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FOUNDER ADVISORY2025 – present

Founder Brand Advisory

Brand for drinks + CPG founders building their own category.

Engagements with independent drinks and CPG brands on positioning, launch, and category platforms. Recent: ZACAL (brand strategy), Global Bartending (comms + launch), YF (90-day plan).

PositioningLaunchCategory work
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FUND ADVISORY2025 – present

Fund Visibility Advisory

Brand as an unfair advantage in deal flow.

Advisory for CPG VCs, family offices, and funds. Fund positioning, thought leadership, PR, and the founder-acquisition system that turns credibility into inbound.

Fund positioningDeal flowThought leadership
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HOSPITALITYMay 2014 – Oct 2016

Drake & Morgan

Group digital + brand across 20+ London bars and restaurants.

Digital and brand across all 20+ venues. Cross-channel performance tracking that changed how the group allocated budget.

Group marketingDigital
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