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John Shewell shared this…for the B2B founders that want to be found…John Shewell shared thisWhen B2B founders find out that Merlin pinpoints precisely where their customers opinions are forming and what influences their buying decisions.
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John Shewell shared thisSee Ma' no hands! Gsheets / xlsx is still an underrated product. I just built an outbound orchestrated sequence using it as the "instruction layer" and then designed a series of agents around this by first creating a dedicated Merlin sales plug-in and skills file for Claude Co-work to follow faithfully. I then refactored and reskinned the Gshseet into a dashboard but everything behind it remains the instruction logic for the agents. Zero fancy!! I synced up my LinkedIn profile to the system via Co-work to run, which is taking all the instructions from the Gsheet, including the ideal customer profiles that it needs to extract from LinkedIn and load into the sheet. Simples. Then I layered in Merlin brand diagnostics demo product to enrich each profile from the outbound, which -- again runs from the instructions from the Gsheet -- and my sales agent runs a brand analysis on every client. I synced this up with @HeyReach so it can work with their tool and feeds back into my sales "command centre" so I have a single source of truth. I calculated the entire sequence of steps done manually and it would take about 30mins per lead if done fast - across several hundred and it's painstaking! Now, I've automated to run and I can focus on something else. I'd share this but it's built specifically for Merlin. I've included a video of the process below and you'll see "no hands" were harmed in the production of this sequence...apologies about the quality! This is just a sample illustration of the level of technical efficiency we possess at Merlin. We're AI native brand-intelligence firm built from the ground-up for the modern B2B brand-marketer and founders who want to lead with actionable insights. We generate the intelligence so brands know precisely where they need to be visible to win customers, talent and investment and precisely how to do so that actually moves the needle. Now you know where to invest your marketing that makes an impact! Happy to jump on a call and explain how it's all done - including sharing this little sales outbound workaround.
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John Shewell shared thisWhat know where your customers are getting their information and what influences their decision-making? Merlin delivers actionable insights to sharpen brand visibility in the models and media where customers perceptions are influenced.John Shewell shared thisMerlin gives marketing and comms leaders the intelligence layer their current stack is missing. We map the landscape where customers form opinions and what influences decisions. We identify exactly where your narrative is breaking down and why. Then we fix it. You direct strategy. Merlin executes. More precise than a traditional agency. Faster and more efficient. Intelligence that compounds with every campaign. Automatically. It all starts with the diagnostic.
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John Shewell shared thisIn 2024, Pernod Ricard tested how major LLMs represented their brand portfolio. The results alarmed them. Models were misrepresenting Ballantine’s Scotch as a prestige product when it’s a mass-market offering. They were misattributing features and generating narratives that had no relationship to the actual brand positioning. Pernod Ricard is a $10 billion company. They have global communications teams, agency relationships, and decades of earned media. They still had a significant gap between how they presented their brand and how AI systems represented it to buyers.
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John Shewell shared thisThere's a quiet panic spreading among B2B - and it's the emergence of being seen in the AI chat services where customers are now going for their answers. But most founders are responding to the AI visibility problem in one of two ways. They either produce more content, publishing more blog posts, more LinkedIn updates, more whitepapers on their own domain. Or they invest in GEO tools that optimise existing content for AI ingestion. Both miss the point.
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John Shewell shared thisThere's a gap in customer engagement that hurts every B2B startup to series C - and it's costing deals. The problem is understanding where opinions are being formed before you engage your customers. And it just got a lot harder with AI. The brands winning today aren't winning because they optimised their website metadata or published more content. In fact, that rarely works now. They're winning because the sources AI trusts most already carry their narrative. AI models don't index the web the way Google does. They weight it. A Sifted article about your category carries more signal than fifty blog posts on your own domain. A Gartner mention outweighs a year of LinkedIn activity. The hierarchy is steep, and most brands are investing at the bottom of it. Merlin is solving this challenge for Seed to Series B companies. We're not an AEO/GEO or PR agency. We're a brand intelligence company that maps where buyer opinions are formed and what influences their decisions, then engineers your presence across all the touch-points so you're visible when it matters most.
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John Shewell shared thisOne of the big problems about agentic behaviour is the domain expertise so I've been experimenting with structuring agentic behaviour around knowledge bases in specific domains. The problem I'm solving in this context is understanding the customer information profile and how opinions are formed that shape buying decisions and brand advocacy. So I went back to first-principles and started building from the ground-up. Here's the agent (in beta) actually self-organising the information across multiple data points about the user. At every input the agent keeps a memory loop, building on the previous information while connecting across it's domain web of information to ensure all relevant and related data points are being updated to form a full synthesis overall. Now I can understand the mechanics of influence at a customer-information journey level. This enables any founder or CMO to query and get rich and reliable results about their customer in real-time at a simple UI level (next iteration ;) ).
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John Shewell shared thisOne of the biggest frustrations for most companies is identifying exactly how their customers get information and knowing exactly what influences them to buy. For seed companies, the challenge is harder and often have to pay expensive agency retainer fees. Even so, while AI is capturing share of model (SOM) it still doesn't match-up with what other channels influence the model and weight the trust index to know for sure which channels (models and media) are the best to build brand visibility to attract and win customers. So, I've built the first part of that brand intelligence system. Merlin maps the customer journey closely to identify where the customer gets their information and how they are being influenced not just across AI models, but also cross-references with the right media outlets relative to the customer profile. This is the first time there is a brand intelligence system that actually maps the customer journey and recommends exactly what you need to do to engage, where and how. This intelligence infrastructure is modelled on leading industry best practice! I've also built the agents that identify exactly which stakeholders, including journalists, need to be engaged and built a dedicated "media agent" that understands exactly how to craft the right stories that fit the media profile. The hard-stop built into this system is human-in-the-loop to review the recommended pitch so you must refine and send. The system is built on your brand and reputation context protocols, as well as a live intelligence graph that tracks your brand. (Happy to share more over a call.) I've built this for B2B seed to series B companies that want to drive up brand visibility, and influence customers to buy, in the right channels in real-time. If you want more info - DM me. We're now opening this up to serve clients that want to build their brand without the expensive agency retainer fees.
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John Shewell shared thisFor 75 years, brands were built for human attention. That era is ending. By 2028, Gartner predicts 90% of B2B purchasing will be intermediated by AI agents. Over $15 trillion in commerce will flow through machines that do not read your ads, visit your website, or respond to your sales team. The buyer is mediated by a language model. And if that model cannot find your brand, understand it, and recommend it, you do not exist. Most B2B companies are flying blind. Harvard Business Review recently reported that even $10 billion companies are discovering LLMs miscategorise their flagship brands. If they are getting it wrong, seed-to-series-C companies face an existential visibility gap.
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1w
mega congrats!!
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisThe subscription economy continues to grow at a rapid pace, causing complexity and massive opportunities. Banks can play a critical role in this journey. Now under regulation from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in the UK, subscription merchants will be have to give clear information upfront about the contract conditions and clear customers reminders when a free or discounted trial is about to end, or when contracts that are a year or longer are about to be renewed. This includes a 14-day cooling off period will allow consumers to get a "full or proportionate refund" if they forget to cancel after a free trial, or the subscription auto-renews. Banks can clearly offer this within there banking experience, giving there customers a single source of truth and the ability to mange all of there subscriptions in one place. This news now means subscription management features in the banking app are now an imperative and a must feature for 2026. let’s see how this unfolds in the coming months. https://lnkd.in/d3zBzKuKNew laws to make it easier to cancel subscriptionsNew laws to make it easier to cancel subscriptions
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisWhat a privilege to speak at the "Bring Women Back to Work" Executive Circle. It's a curated thought leadership program designed to empower and amplify women’s careers. A powerful space where high-level discussions and networking help women navigate their next professional steps with clarity and confidence. During my session, I dove into Revenue Marketing and AI, discussing why CMOs are essential fixtures at the C-level table and how marketing strategies directly drive business growth. It was an honor to contribute to this ecosystem of so many talented women keen to learn and grow. Thank you Tamar Boladian and the wider team of BWBW for having me. If you want to learn more about the program or join one of my other sessions check out the comments.
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisÜber 9 Jahre wefox - heute endet für mich ein großartiges Kapitel. In dieser Zeit durfte ich das Unternehmen in unterschiedlichen Rollen begleiten und seit Ende 2021 als Geschäftsführer der wefox Austria GmbH mitgestalten. Gemeinsam mit einem großartigen Team haben wir daran gearbeitet, wefox in Österreich weiterzuentwickeln und den Fokus konsequent auf nachhaltiges, profitables Wachstum zu legen. Insbesondere die letzten vier Jahre waren geprägt von vielen Herausforderungen, wichtigen Entscheidungen und vor allem von Menschen, die mit großem Engagement und Vertrauen an einem gemeinsamen Ziel gearbeitet haben. Mein besonderer Dank gilt allen Kolleginnen und Kollegen, Partnern und Wegbegleitern, mit denen ich in dieser Zeit zusammenarbeiten durfte. Die gemeinsamen Erfahrungen und Erfolge werden mir in besonderer Erinnerung bleiben. Nun beginnt für mich ein neues Kapitel - mit etwas Zeit für Reflexion und neuen Perspektiven. #teamwork #insurance #nextchapter #leadership
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisToday is my last day at Quantium (for the second time). I want to thank Adam Driussi and Greg Schneider for having me back and for creating an environment that is truly all-in on AI. My first chapter was Quantium Telstra, working with Sandy Cameron, James Roberts and others on how to detect and prevent scams at scale. It is rare in a career to work on a problem that genuinely matters, with the backing of organisations like CBA and Telstra behind you. The passion and commitment the CBA and Telstra teams showed to scam prevention is something that will stay with me. That work won an AFR AI Award and has prevented millions in scam and fraud losses for Australians. A great example of how AI can be used for good. My second chapter was Quantium itself, working on a different kind of problem. How can we enable executives to go from AI aware to AI effective? Working alongside the Accelerator platform team on that question has sharpened how I think about what it takes to make AI work in the messy reality of organisations figuring it out in real time. It has also sharpened a pattern that I have been noticing my entire career: there is a widening gap between leaders who have personally worked with AI on real problems and those who are still relying on briefings, vendor demos and strategy decks. It's not a gap in intelligence or commitment; it's a gap in reference points, and it compounds. Every decision made without them makes the next one harder, and more expensive. That has always been true of technology transformations, but AI is accelerating it like never before. That challenge turned out to be the one I most wanted to keep working on. Going forward, I will be working with senior leaders and leadership teams who are either just starting to navigate AI or who are ready to accelerate. No training programmes or strategy documents - just calibrated, experience-built judgement that lets you set the right direction. If that resonates (or if you are just curious) I would love to hear from you.
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisWann ist ein CRM-Wechsel eine strategische Investition – und wann nur eine Flucht? Wir haben fast hundert Unternehmen bei ihren CRM-Setups begleitet. Die Realität ist ernüchternd: Wer ohne strukturellen Trigger wechselt, baut meist nur das nächste Legacy-System von morgen. Es gibt nur 𝟯 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗸𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿, die eine Migration wirklich rechtfertigen: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Wenn Ihr IT-Team keine Features mehr baut, sondern nur noch "Sleepless Nights" wegen technischer Altlasten hat. Wenn das System ein Flaschenhals für die Skalierung wird. 𝟮. 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 Wenn die User-Adoption am Boden liegt und die "Shadow IT" (Excel-Listen) regiert. Oft ist die interne Reputation so zerstört, dass nur ein radikaler Schnitt hilft – wie ein Trainerwechsel im Profisport. 𝟯. 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 Wenn Sie vom Einmalverkauf zum Abo-Modell wechseln oder neue ICPs adressieren, die Ihr altes System strukturell nicht abbilden kann. Alles andere? Ist meistens 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲-𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴. Wer den Wechsel wagt, muss das Dreieck aus 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 und 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 beherrschen. Wer nur die Technologie austauscht, wird scheitern. → Welcher dieser Trigger trifft auf Ihre aktuelle Situation zu? Erfahren Sie mehr über die Anatomie erfolgreicher Migrationen in unserem Whitepaper (Link in den Kommentaren). #CRM #DigitalTransformation #Colayer
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisThe founders who build the biggest companies often look like bad bets on paper. Not the perfect resumes, nor the cleanest career paths. They are out-of-distribution people. Recently I went through a study of founders who started $5B+ companies before turning 30. The pattern is striking. Many of them had at least one of these traits: 1️⃣ Trauma Early hardship that created a deep emotional connection to a problem. Restaurants → Tony Xu built DoorDash Hyperinflation → Brian Armstrong built Coinbase Family business struggles → Ara Mahdessian built ServiceTitan They lived inside the problem. 2️⃣ Neurodivergence A brain that simply doesn’t fit inside normal systems. No traditional degree. Learning disabilities. Dropping out. Yet the same obsessive focus often becomes the superpower. Tobi Lütke couldn’t find a good ecommerce platform. So he built Shopify. 3️⃣ Polymathic range The weirdest combinations of skills. Industrial designer + founder → Brian Chesky of AirBnB Artist + engineer → Ivan Zhao of Notion Collector + coder → Ben Silbermann of Pinterest These people don’t look “well-rounded”. They look unusual. Most investing systems pattern-match on distribution: Ivy League. Big Tech. Previous startup. But the founders who build the biggest companies are often outside that distribution. The system that produces impressive resumes is not necessarily the system that produces generational companies. That’s why, as an angel investor, I spend most of my time evaluating people. Not just the product and the market. Because products pivot. Markets change. But out-of-distribution founders often find a way to win anyway. Curious if other investors have noticed the same pattern.
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisWas fun speaking at data:unplugged! Crazy that this year 10k people attended the conference! Great job Dr. Bernard Sonnenschein 🟣🟢 ✌️ I shared how I survived “big data” 🤣 and my view on the future of data and AI. In my opinion there is a convergence of data to software and vice versa. Code is cheap these days so that it‘s easier for everyone to create data products. The role of product managers will change accordingly and essentially it‘s the best time to be a builder. Was also great to meet Tiankai Feng finally in person, catching up with Claudia Pohlink, Felix Tober, Holger Mai, Philipp Klöckner, Sebastian Heinz, Elisabeth L'Orange and also meeting new folks like Herbert Pataky, Fabian Werkmeister. See you soon 👋
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisI had an amazing time at PAY360 this week. Ben you knocked it out of the park with such an inspiring event. The energy, insights and networking was incredible. To the Mastercard team, Anthony, Sam and the rest of the crew, our stand was a show stopper and everyone did such an amazing job. Thank you for including me. And to represent Ethoca Such a successful couple of days. It was so great to catch up with some many inspirational people and influencers in the space. The positive energy was very inspiring and it’s highlights the opportunities for the year ahead. I really loved listening to Joanne and Kris session on accessibility with ANNA Money. And the session on AI Capital, Agentic AI and sustainability. It was great to catch up with Matt Williamson Campbell Shaw Charlie Bronks Miranda McLean FCIM Payal Raina Wendy Bradley Mark Bolsom Reetu McCallum Shyam Raval Richie Leong Dan Wilson Talib Qayyum Douglas Mackenzie Julian Wells Magdalena Bailey Chryssi Chorafa Quentin Evason Denise Gee David Tyrrell Derren Powell Joe Roche Alastair Lukies CBE Clinton Foy Mark Hazzard Jason Williams Jeremy Bliss Ross Taylor Brooks Francesco Volpi Alan Bond and many more #payments #fintech #disputes #subscriptions #fraud #diversity #partnerships #innovation
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John Shewell liked thisJohn Shewell liked thisNapo Pet Insurance is a finalist at the Insurance Times #ClaimsExcellenceAwards - across six categories: - Claims Achievement Award - Claims Product of the Year - Claims Team of the Year (MGA) - Excellence in Customer Care - MGA of the Year - Claims Champion of the Year (Meltem Yazar 👏) When we started Napo, we made a deliberate bet: that claims was not a cost centre to be minimised, but the moment that defines whether an insurer deserves the trust it asks for. Every decision since (on automation, on speed, on how we speak to people when their pet is sick) has followed from that. Six nominations reflects what happens when product, tech, claims, and customer operations all pull in the same direction. This is the whole company's win! Proud of everyone at Napo who made this possible. https://lnkd.in/eYMT9gYw
Experience & Education
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Merlin
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Volunteer Experience
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Volunteer
A Band of Brothers
- 1 year 1 month
Civil Rights and Social Action
A Band of Brothers is a charity established by men committed to positive social change through personal development and community building.
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Trustee
The Trust For Developing Communities
- 11 months
Poverty Alleviation
The Trust for Developing Communities is a charity working in Brighton & Hove and beyond to deliver developmental youth work, community development work, research and training across our neighbourhood bases and through citywide activities, projects and programmes.
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Coach
HOVE RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED
- 2 years 4 months
Children
Coach and mentor to Hove Rugby RFC U/14s.
Publications
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Communications Guide for Startups
UVK
Communications Guide for Startups: How to Win Customers, Investors, and new Talent through Inspiring Messaging.
Other authors -
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Social Media in the Public Sector (white paper): http://bit.ly/XDosqo
DWPub: http://www.dwpub.com/
Projects
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Optimising Social Media for Public Administrations and Institutions, 28-29 August 2014
Other creators -
Honors & Awards
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Runner-up: ‘Changing the face of Brighton & Hove CC’ rebranding campaign
Public Relations Consultants Association
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Runner-up: ‘People Strategy’ for internal communications campaign category
Public Relations Consultants Association
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Runner-up: CorpComms ‘Best rebrand’ category
CorpComms
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Shortlisted: ‘Team of the Year’, ‘PR on a Shoestring’, and ‘Crisis Communications Excellence’ (highly commended)
Chartered Institute of Public Relations - Local Public Services
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Won: ‘Excellence in Reputation Management’ award for best partnership working campaign
LG Comms
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Won: CIPR ‘PR on a Shoestring’ award for 'Take Part, Take Pride' campaign
Chartered Institute of Public Relations - Local Government
Languages
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English
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Organizations
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RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)
Fellow
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Public Relations Consultancy Association (PRCA)
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Queensland Academy of Sport
Athlete
-Queensland Academy of Sport (1993-1994) for Rugby. Represented Queensland Country XV U19 and QAS U19 v New Zealand U19; QAS U19 v Kansai Japan (Open)
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