Happy Birthday to Us: Shift7 Turns One

Twelve months ago we did the thing every founder pretends they're not terrified of doing…we started a business. And with that came the questions that keep you up at 3am staring into the dark. Will this work? Will anyone actually hire us? Will we still like each other by Christmas? Will it work for us, personally, not just on paper?

One year, one very functioning business, and one hard-fought space in PR and Sales later and we're still here, still standing, and honestly still a bit surprised (and delighted) by how far we've come.

So, grab a drink and slice of birthday cake, settle in, and let us take you through year one!

Two Problems, One Shift7

We built Shift7 to solve two problems at once and to prove they were never really two problems to begin with.

PR and Sales, working together instead of in their own separate lanes. A year in, that idea isn't just a nice line in our pitch deck anymore. It's actually happening, on real accounts, with real results and it happened quicker than we thought it would.

The Accounts That Made Us Blush (In a Good Way)

We've built a genuinely brilliant portfolio of retained PR accounts with brilliant clients across financial services, cyber security, retail and payroll, plus HR software, data, and of course, AI (because apparently no 2025/2026 business story is complete without it).

It hasn't just been a success on the PR front, on the sales consultancy side, our retained work across recruitment, HR and hedge funds has seen the team roll up their sleeves and get stuck in: motivating and upskilling SDRs, tightening pipelines, and improving conversion. Quietly brilliant, very satisfying work.

And then there's Cezanne, our favourite kind of account: PR and sales coaching, combined. It's Shift7's whole philosophy in action, the proof that the two really do make each other stronger.

Beating the Big Boys

We've always enjoyed a post-pitch pint and in February we got our first official taste of one as Shift7, taking on our first ever competitive RFP with Hitachi Vantara. A proper pitch battle, going head-to-head with several of the UK's biggest agencies for one big brand name.

Spoiler: we won.

Being trusted to deliver Hitachi Vantara's UK comms, and beating agencies many times our size to do it, is the kind of milestone most agencies dream about for years, let alone land in year one. We're still a little pinch-ourselves about that one.

Dusting off the Tux

All of that graft got noticed across the industry as well. We were nominated for not one but two Best New Agency awards at the Agency Awards and the Content Awards.

The Agency Awards are still to come on October 1st (fingers, toes, everything crossed), but back in June we walked away from the Content Awards with the silver trophy for runner-up. At nine months old. We'll let that one speak for itself.

Pink, Black, and Ready for Extra Time

Away from the day job, we sponsored Camberley Town Raptors - not just slapping our name on the front of the shirt, but designing the kit itself, which we're told was a club first.

Watching the boys run out in what's now our iconic black and pink colours was one of the proudest moments of the year. They also made it all the way to the semi-final of the season's end-of-year tournament, only bowing out on penalties. So close. So proud. So very English.

The Merch Drawer Is Filling Up

Hats. Yeti cups. T-shirts. The Shift7 merch collection has quietly grown into something rather decent (not that Afsheen agrees) – so much so we could launch the Shift7 shop. Maybe watch this space…

Growing the Family

The team's grown too. Our latest addition, Katie, has brought bags of energy, sharp PR know-how, and skills that have levelled us up as a senior consultant. We're thrilled to have her on board.

We've also done something a little different: bringing freelance reporters into the fold. Phil Muncaster, Dan Raywood and Kate O'Flaherty have all picked up their pens to write for our blog & Stories, sharing brilliant industry news from journalists who write for some of the biggest publications in the world.

It's a genuinely unique set-up - a chance to showcase great journalism and for us to give something back to the journalist community that shapes our industry every day.

The Work That Gives Back

Some things aren't about milestones, trophies or pound signs - they're just about doing good.

We're proud supporters of the Street Soccer Foundation and its Big Goal event and in June we attended the Big Goal tournament final at St George's Park, the home of English football, as the charity's official communications partner.

It's a cause close to our hearts: the fight to end youth homelessness and a project that lets us combine our love of football with our passion for technology.

Giving our time and expertise to this cause, no strings and no invoice attached, in year one is one of the things we're proudest of from the whole 12 months.

Onwards to Year Two

So, what's next?

A few exciting irons in the fire with potential new clients. More brilliant people joining the Shift7 family. And a promise to keep doing things our own way - sweating the details, nit-picking where it counts, and never letting our standards slip, in the results we get or the way we get them.

Here's to year one. Here's to everyone who backed us, hired us, played for us, wrote for us and believed in the idea that PR and Sales are better together.

We truly value each and every one of you. Thank you!

Year two, we're coming for you.

Happy birthday, Shift7.