Future Founders
From Idea to Pitch in Just 5 Days
The Challenge
Many early-stage founders struggle to validate their ideas, identify their audience, and move quickly. The brief: design a fast, high-impact bootcamp that takes people from idea to pitch in just five days.
The Outcome
The Ideas Agency delivered a hands-on accelerator built around three principles: reframe the problem, build a testable solution, and pitch it. We brought in BAFTA winners to teach creativity and professional performers to coach improvisation and storytelling — combining world-class expertise with rapid action.
The Detail
The Future Founder Bootcamp was a five-day innovation accelerator designed and delivered by The Ideas Agency in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs, CyNam, CHLTM:TECH, and the University of Gloucestershire.
In under a week, 22 aspiring founders turned raw ideas into validated, testable, and pitch-ready ventures, gaining clarity, confidence, and creative momentum.
The Ideas Agency brought together its award-winning innovation process and a network of leading facilitators to deliver a hands-on, immersive accelerator built around three principles: Reframe the problem. Build a real, testable solution. Pitch to a panel of investors and experts.
”This wasn’t just another startup programme, the energy, the speed, and the depth of thinking blew me away. Watching participants grow in confidence and pitch real, prototyped ideas by day five was genuinely inspiring.
Hollie WakefieldGeneral Manager - Cynam
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The Brilliant Ideas Agency Team
Nikolas Venios, the founder and driving force behind The Ideas Agency, is a seasoned innovator and entrepreneur. He is dedicated to transforming abstract concepts into tangible success. With over a decade of experience in empowering entrepreneurs, he specialises in ideation and rapid business development, helping bring creative visions to life.
Bringing a background of over 20 years in engineering, product design, venture development and Global Innovation Management.
Mark is an Innovation Facilitator at The Ideas Agency and associate lecturer at Warwick Business School in Strategy and Entrepreneurship.
Tim is a BAFTA award-winning television comedy writer. He is also a world class innovation expert, and has worked for some of the world’s most creative organisations, including global ad agencies and innovation consultancies.
He's helped clients from beer brands to broadcasters, confectioners to condom-makers reimagine the future and re-invent their businesses.
Harvey is an award-winning facilitator, and has been at the forefront of innovation strategy for almost three decades across industries including insurance and tech. Harvey helps organisations like Cisco, Hiscox, and Lloyd’s break free from conventional groupthink and unlock their full innovative potential.
Kathryn is an accomplished strategist with 20 years of experience in insight and planning. Where she excels in uncovering the critical insights needed to unlock new opportunities for some of the world's largest brands.
Her approach is deeply rooted in understanding the unique data and stakeholder perspectives that inform each workshop, whether it's for creative brainstorming, brand planning, or new product ideation across industries like FMCG, luxury goods, and finance.
Jack designs and facilitates for some of the biggest organisations on the planet, across every sector. He also lectures on innovation and creativity for some of the top business schools across Europe.
Jack draws a polymorphous career as a musician, storyteller, playwright, and composer. As a songwriter, Jack has created work for film, television and theatre. As a playwright, his work has been staged The Orange Tree Theatre in London and as a musician Jack has appeared with Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits, Yoko Ono, Tim Robbins and Dave Brubeck, among many others.
22 Brilliant Delegates
What we delivered
Day 1 – Mindset & IKIGAI
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Connecting personal purpose with business
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Understanding the mindset required to build a business
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Uncovering new opportunities
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Aligning ideas with real-world demand
Day 2 – Creativity and Ideas
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Tackling real-world challenges through creativity
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Taking part in guided exercises designed to unlock fresh thinking
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Sparking new ideas
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Building confidence in your creative ability
Day 3 – Gaining Clarity and Insight
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Identifying and challenge the assumptions behind your idea
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Learning how to plan experiments that test your concept in the real world
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Discovering what data you need to validate (or pivot) your solution
Day 4 – Validate
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Gathering data directly from potential users or customers
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Testing assumptions by observing, asking, and listening
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Using real insights to validate your idea
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Evidence-based learning
Day 5 – Storytelling & Pitch
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Refining your idea using the insights and data gathered
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Crafting the story of your solution in a pitch
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Presenting to a panel of experienced mentors for expert feedback
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Wraping up the week with reflection, takeaways, and next steps
5 Days lead by award-winning experts, allowing you to concentrate on building, testing and making your idea real.
What did delegates learn?
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