Mandy Sharp, founder of Tin Man, on the PRmoment podcast

This week, on the PRmoment podcast, I’m interviewing  Mandy Sharp, founder of Tin Man.

 Mandy founded Tin Man in 2013 and it now has a fee income of £1.3m and employs 20 people. 

Previously, Tin Man was part owned by Unity co-founders Nik Done and Gerry Hopkinson, but Mandy has recently bought them out and is now the sole owner of Tin Man. 

Here is a summary of what we discussed:

How it feels for Mandy owning 100% of Tin Man, having bought out Nik Done and Gerry Hopkinson who previously owned a minority stake 

• Why her first job in PR taught her how not to do it 
• Why her time at Band & Brown had a big impact on her career 
• Why there is a pattern of two founders setting up PR firms 
• Why Mandy always knew she’d set up her own business, but was still nervous about it 
• Why Mandy has launched a business each time she has been on maternity leave 
• How it came about that Nik Done and Gerry Hopkinson became minority partners in Tin Man, despite them not backing the business financially 
• Whether Mandy regrets giving equity away in her business 
• Whether Tin Man is smaller because Mandy didn’t take a financial investment in the business in the early years 
• How and why Tin Man has retained a broad spectrum of consumer sector work 
• Why great work for a dull brand can be the most fulfilling 
• Why Mandy believes Tin Man has a different approach to creative communications 
• What it’s like to be a sole founder of a business, rather than doing it as a pair 
• Whether Mandy believes that consumer PR firms in London are gaining market share from other marketing disciplines 
• What are Mandy’s three key pieces of advice for potential PR entrepreneurs out there? 
• Why you have to take risks when you run a business 
• Mandy tells us about her ambitious growth plans for Tin Man to double in size in the next two years and why she’s about to make some senior hires