From Growth to Gold: Scaling & Selling Your Agency

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A must attend event for ambitious agencies looking to kick-start their growth

Join us for From Growth to Gold for keynotes, roundtables, and panels packed with insights, strategies, and networking. Book your spot now!

Running an agency isn’t just about delivering great client work. It’s about building a sustainable, valuable business. Whether you’re focused on scaling, securing funding, or planning for an eventual exit, the journey is full of challenges. That’s why we created From Growth to Gold – a day designed to give agency leaders real insight, practical advice, and meaningful connection.

The 2026 Leeds edition builds on the best of this year’s event, with even more room for shared ideas and honest conversations through a series of focused roundtable sessions open to all attendees.

So, what can you expect on the day? (For the full agenda, scroll down)

Morning Kickstart
We’ll open with a keynote from someone who’s walked the agency path – sharing real-world lessons from growing and leading a business in today’s market. It’s not about theory or trend-chasing, just honest stories and valuable insights.

Plus, you’ll hear from other agency experts via a fireside chat and panel.

A bit more info about the panel sessions:

Growth is vanity, profit is sanity: re-engineering agency operations

Across the industry, many agencies are feeling the squeeze of decreasing profits despite steady revenue streams. So, how do you stop the bleed? This panel brings together operations, performance, and commercial finance experts to discuss how to build a resilient, highly profitable agency model.

The magnet effect: building an agency that attracts better clients

Shifting your agency from “survival chasing” to winning premium, high-value clients requires more than just a great sales pitch—it requires a powerful brand engine. So, how do you stop competing on price and start winning on value? This panel brings together agency growth, brand marketing, and business development experts to share the exact strategies needed to build a standout brand reputation and consistently land better-fit clients.

Deep Dive Roundtables
This isn’t a sit-back-and-listen kind of event. You’ll take part in small, focused roundtable discussions led by seasoned operators who’ve faced the same challenges you have. While the final topics are still being shaped, you can expect practical, honest conversations on issues like leveraging technology for growth, tackling talent challenges, exploring international expansion, and preparing for M&A or exit.

These sessions are designed to go deeper – giving you space to ask questions, share experiences, and come away with useful ideas you can actually apply.

Looking Ahead
We’ll close the day with a final discussion bringing together our speakers and facilitators to reflect on the key themes, highlight common threads, and offer a grounded perspective on where the agency world is heading. This isn’t about vague predictions – it’s about practical foresight.

Who is this event for?

This event is designed for agency owners and senior leaders who are

  • Looking to scale their business in a sustainable way
  • Exploring funding or investment opportunities
  • Considering a future exit strategy
  • Focused on increasing their agency’s long-term value
  • Eager to learn from those with real-world experience

Because of the nature of the conversations, we purposely limit the event to a smaller audience.

Due to the nature of this event, tickets are limited.

Agenda

10:00
Welcome & Setting the scene for the day

Hosted by Richard Gregory, Co-founder, AgencyNXD

10:10
Fireside session

Tim Grice, CEO at Connective3

10:40
Growth is vanity, profit is sanity: re-engineering agency operations

Nick Handley, Performance Director at Connective3
Ryan McNamara, Global Operations Director at Rise at Seven
Debbie Longbottom, Consultant

11:10
Panel - The magnet effect: building an agency that attracts better clients

Stephen Kenwright, NED at Digitaloft & eComOne
Stuart Taylor, CRO & Sales Coach
Katy Powell, PR Director / Co-founder at Bottled Imagination

11:40
Refreshments & networking break
12:00
Roundtable discussions - choose one of five topics

Agency M&A: Planning your exit
Driving profit & protecting margins
Accelerating agency growth
Elevating account management
Developing talent & tech adoption

13:00
Lunch & networking break
13:45
Roundtable discussions - choose one of five topics

Agency M&A: Planning your exit
Driving profit & protecting margins
Accelerating agency growth
Elevating account management
Developing talent & tech adoption

14:45
Looking to the future & Closing remarks

Event host Richard Gregory will be joined by the roundtable moderators for an overview of the discussion and closing remarks.

15:00
Event end

Speakers

Headshot RG (1)
Richard Gregory
Co-founder
AgencyNXD
Richard is co-founder of AgencyNXD as well as an advisor and NXD to multiple tech firms and agencies, including Clicktech, Fluid Commerce and Ruler Analytics. Heralding from “Silicon Ramsbottom” he is an ardent supporter of the digital and tech industry in the North of England Previously, Richard was the managing director of digital agency Latitude, director of Tech North and co-founder of SAScon.
Tim Grice
Tim Grice
Group CEO
Connective3 Group
Tim Grice is the founder and Group CEO of connective3, the Leeds-based performance marketing group he founded in 2019. Under his leadership, connective3 has grown from start-up to more than 140 people, working with global brands and establishing itself as one of the UK’s leading independent agencies. In 2026, Tim led the business through a major growth investment from Foresight Group. As Group CEO, he is now focused on connective3’s next phase of growth, including M&A, international expansion and the continued development of its technology and AI capabilities.
Nick Handley
Nick Handley
Performance Director
Connective3
Nick is Director of Performance at Connective 3 and co-host of the Prompted Podcast. Nick has 10+ years experience in the digital marketing space working in senior positions at at Rise at Seven, Impression and m/SIX. He is currently heading up the measurement strategy for Connective3, helping Brands find undiscovered growth and value through measurement and strategy.
Ryan McNamara
Ryan McNamara
Global Operations Director
Rise at Seven
Ryan McNamara is Global Operations Director at Rise at Seven, a 70+ person digital marketing agency that specialises in organic media planning, creation, distribution & optimisation across the UK, US and Europe. He leads the agency's operational infrastructure, from forecasting and delivery systems to AI-driven internal tooling.
DEBBIE 01 (1)
Debbie Longbottom
Fractional CFO and Non-Executive Director
For those who don’t know who she is, Deborah Longbottom is a Fractional CFO and Non-Executive Director for the creative industries, working with agency founders to solve strategic and operational challenges through world-class systems and practices. She is also a member of Agency NXD, supporting SMEs in improving business performance. In her 30-year agency career, she has orchestrated international expansion across continents, led several mergers and acquisitions and shaped accelerator programmes bringing together creative and tech start-ups. All while championing the people within the businesses (and at the same time subjecting them to the musical delights of Take That). Deborah’s passion for nurturing talent led her to become a member of the Design Business Association’s mentoring scheme, and she has consistently led teams to Best Companies, Investors in People and B Corp accreditation. She was also the key driver behind Elmwood achieving ISO140001 certification and carbon neutrality. As a highly regarded mentor and advisor, Deborah has won awards for both her financial and business acumen. In its inaugural year, Deborah was recognised in ‘40 Over Forty’ honouring the talent and experience of over 40s in the marketing industry, and as UK winner of CEO Today’s Businesswomen of the Year Awards, she was honoured as a ‘woman who is the driving force behind their business, whilst also driving the equality agenda within their organisation and beyond’. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) and winner of Finance Monthly’s CFO Awards.
Stephen Kenwright Cropped
Stephen Kenwright
NED
Digitaloft & eComOne
Stephen is a non-executive director and consultant for marketing agencies. He founded SEARCH-FIRST creative agency Rise at Seven in 2019 and served as Chief Commercial Officer, growing annual revenues to more than £7m; hiring 110 staff; opening offices in Sheffield, Manchester, London and New York; and winning more than 70 industry awards - about one every two weeks - before exiting after three years. Stephen held board positions at £15m turnover/200-strong content production agency Ride Shotgun; digital marketing agency Branded3, which he helped to merge into £22m/250-strong data business Edit after its acquisition; and served on the Edit board as Sales and Marketing Director. He was also Head of Digital at £4.7bn turnover automotive retailer Pendragon PLC. He’s delivered talks on more than 100 stages in 10 countries and founded SearchLeeds, a digital marketing conference that attracted more than 2,000 delegates to the first direct arena in its most recent edition.
Stuart Taylor
Stuart Taylor
CRO & Sales Coach
Stu was once accused by Arsène Wenger of kidnapping Cesc Fàbregas. He wasn't guilty but it's a fitting introduction to a 20-year sales career spanning professional sport, banking, and SaaS, from telesales to CRO. Today, he's a sales coach, angel investor and founder of Staylor Consulting, helping companies stop discounting into bad-fit deals and start winning on value. Stu is the co-author of Problem Prospecting?! and shares practical, no-nonsense sales advice with more than 30,000 LinkedIn followers.
KP Headshot
Katy Powell
PR Director / Co-founder
Bottled Imagination
Katy co-founded award-winning creative PR agency Bottled Imagination in 2022 and scaled it to £1.5m in revenue by year three. By building a brand as strong as the campaigns the agency creates, she's attracted premium clients including MoneySuperMarket, Daye and On

Book tickets today

Tickets are limited and purchased via Eventbrite

Sponsored By

KPMG
Synergist
Vestd Logo Horizontal Dark
Vestd
Start: October 8, 2026 9:00 am
End: October 8, 2026 3:00 pm

Hosted at

KPMG Leeds, 1 Sovereign St, Leeds, LS1 4DA

1 Sovereign Square, Sovereign St, Leeds LS1 4DA, UK

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