From Zero to £1M: Scaling Bottled Imagination Into One of the UK’s Fastest-Growing Agencies

What does it really take to launch and scale an agency from scratch — with no clients, no money, and no safety net?

In this episode of Founder Stories, Simon Kallu sits down with Luke Cope, co-founder and Creative Strategy Director of Bottled Imagination, one of the UK’s fastest-growing creative digital PR agencies.

Luke opens up about the reality of starting an agency with two co-founders, how they won their first big clients before they even had a company name, and the strategies that fuelled their rapid growth to 14 staff and £1M+ revenue in just their second year.

• The leap from employment to launching Bottled Imagination with nothing but belief and drive
• How they landed their first clients without even a business name
• Why inbound marketing, awards, and partnerships became their growth engines
• Hard lessons from Luke’s first failed agency — and how they shaped his second attempt
• Balancing creativity with business planning, accountability, and perspective
• The founder mindset needed to scale without losing your sanity

This episode is a raw and practical conversation filled with lessons on resilience, growth, and building hype in a crowded market.

• Do good work → generate hype → build trust
• Accountability is a superpower most founders overlook
• Failures can become your best assets if you apply the lessons
• Retainers beat projects for predictable, sustainable growth

If you’re building an agency — or simply want to learn how to create momentum, build trust, and retain clients — this episode is a must-watch.

Luke Cope is the co-founder and Creative Strategy Director of Bottled Imagination, a creative digital PR agency that has grown to 14 staff and £1M+ revenue in just two years. With previous experience running (and failing with) his first agency, Luke brings hard-won lessons on creativity, business growth, and founder resilience.

Simon Kallu is an entrepreneur, business advisor, and host of Founder Stories. As the founder of GrowFactor, Simon helps business owners scale smarter and design the life they want.

👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes:

https://youtube.com/@founderstoriespodcast

🌐 Learn more about GrowFactor: www.growfactor.com

🎙 Follow Simon Kallu:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• TikTok

🎙 Follow Luke Cope:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.