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