David Phillips is co-founder and CEO of Pangolin, the creative PR and communications agency he set up in 2013 with Will Cookson after the pair met at Freuds.
The independent agency, whose clients include PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard and McCormick, says it was named Independent Consultancy of the Year at the 2025 PRmoment Awards, and the founders told LBB in March 2026 that they launched the business with just £3,000. Pangolin works from St John’s Square in Clerkenwell, London.
Here he tells Business Matters why getting it done is the agency’s superpower, and why he would have hired senior talent sooner.
What do you currently do at Pangolin?
My title will tell you I am CEO of Pangolin, but in all honesty no day is the same, and that is why I love it. I am still heavily involved in client services and spend a good amount of time working with clients, which is my real passion.
Outside of that, I oversee the financials and resourcing in the business, so I work closely with our fractional FD and senior leadership team to ensure targets are set and met and that we are resourcing the team properly. A lot of the work we do is project-based, so this is a constant juggle. I also work with Pangolin’s co-founder, Will, on new business growth and marketing the agency.
Beyond the day-to-day, I am also trying to take a step outside the daily running of the business, ensuring we have a clear vision of where we want it to go next and a strategy for how we will get there.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
We were young when we started Pangolin, just 29, but Will and I both had a vision of how we could set up a successful agency based on the relationships we built with clients. We really wanted to be seen as an extension of our clients’ teams, ready to go the extra mile for them and the brands they worked for to see results.
In the agency landscape back then, we saw it as a bit of a rare breed approach, hence the name Pangolin. Thirteen years on, it is still an ethos that runs through the agency, and that is reflected in the fact that we have worked with the likes of Pernod Ricard and PepsiCo for over a decade now.
Who do you admire?
How long have you got? The solo founders who build an agency from scratch without the support of a co-founder are superhuman. I am not sure Pangolin would have lasted a year without Will Cookson, and I hope he would say the same about me.
Will and I also started the business while we were young and did not have much in the way of responsibility, such as a mortgage or dependants. Those who “risk it all” and leave a senior role to start their own shop have my huge admiration. They clearly back themselves and know they can make something a success.
Finally, I have to mention the people who put their trust in Pangolin in the early days, when the agency was two or three people. We worked on some global campaigns with household brands. Those brands and clients put their trust in us to deliver, and I will be forever grateful for that.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
There is a long list of things I would do differently if I were to start Pangolin again, but in a lot of ways I do not regret any of the mistakes or decisions I have made on the journey so far. One of the beauties of being an entrepreneur is the sheer volume of things you learn along the way, especially from the mistakes you make.
I think I would take more risk and invest in senior talent earlier in the Pangolin journey. Will and I have learnt so much from the team we have built here, and from the various advisers we have had along the way. I think a couple of strategic, senior hires as we were building our team would have accelerated our growth and helped to professionalise the business a little earlier.
What defines your way of doing business?
We get it done. That is our superpower.
We work tirelessly for our clients, and on creative ideas that help build distinctive brands. It is a value we have held closely since the early days of Pangolin, and something that flows through every team member we have at the agency today. As an independent agency, we have the agility and flexibility to adapt to any situation or challenge quickly and effectively. I think that is what sets us apart from our competitors and keeps our clients returning time and time again.
We also believe in clarity: the best ideas are easy to get and hard to forget. We pride ourselves on turning complicated brand challenges into stories people can understand and want to share.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Get support from the people around you, both professionally and personally. I was amazed by the amount of time and energy that people we had reached out to in the early days of the business were willing to give us.
From ex-colleagues to founders of competitor agencies and, of course, family and friends, their advice, guidance and support were truly invaluable and helped us to get Pangolin to where it is today. We have now built a more official Board of Advisors for the business, who will help support the vision of the agency and the next stage of growth.
