Intro to Mission Studio

Mission Studio is dedicated to creating, launching and scaling startups that address some of the UK’s biggest social challenges. From achieving net zero to tackling obesity to striving for equal outcomes for children born into disadvantage, we’re not just building great businesses, we’re designing impactful solutions for a better future.

Backed by a world-class venture design and building process, dedicated capital, experienced operators providing hands-on support, as well as Nesta’s ecosystem of experts, research and partnerships, we partner with founders to build incredible companies.

Become a Mission Studio Founder

When we have a validated concept that we believe can become a successful and impactful business, we look for a founder to lead the business, build alongside us and lead it into the future.

As a founder with Mission Studio, you’ll receive a living stipend for six months, alongside additional funds to build an MVP and test with real customers. You’ll also have the full support of our team of experienced builders, designers, founders and technologists, and the chance to pitch for £200k in pre-seed funding at the end of the build process.

Mission Studio is led by Kenny Ewan (ex-Founder of Wefarm, the world's largest farming network, reaching 5 million users and raising over $35mn in VC investment). Kenny and the wider team bring decades of startup experience to support you on your journey, doing whatever it takes to help you and your venture succeed.

Introducing Mission Studio’s latest venture concept - Nibblr

The food industry is changing - fast. Key factors driving this change include;

• Regulations are tightening
• GLP-1 drugs are rewriting consumer demand
• Global sourcing volatility is skyrocketing ingredient pricing
• Growing consumer demand for Non ultra-processed, healthier and transparent foods.

Nibblr addresses Nesta’s mission to halve obesity and increase the number of healthy years lived in the UK via revolutionising the way SMEs can reformulate their products. Reformulation is a proven lever for improving population diets but most SMEs rely on a manual process of spreadsheets, PDFs and siloed workflows to reformulate their products, contributing to high costs and long timeframes.

Nibblr addresses this execution gap. Nibblr is a lightweight, intelligent workspace for small and scaling food manufacturers - it replaces the chaos of disconnected tools — spreadsheets, PDF specs, email threads — with a single platform that supports the end-to-end journey from concept to launch.

Teams using Nibblr will be able to:

• Model recipes collaboratively, with real-time cost, nutrition and compliance feedback
• Set goals & track HFSS, allergen and health claim compliance by default
• Manage product portfolios with full visibility into status, risk and margins
• Get AI-powered nudges to optimise formulations and reduce cost
• Replace manual work with connected workflows- across R&D technical and commercials.
• Integrates - integrates with the key tools that are already used.

By embedding food regulations, nutritional targets, and commercial logic into the design and development process, Nibblr enables faster, more confident product decisions - and helps every team create to succeed.

We have validated this concept with a range of potential users and commercial partners.

The Role

At Mission Studio we're focused on working with talented individuals who want to build soaring, impactful ventures. You don't need to have founded a unicorn in a past life to be the perfect person to do this. You may have deep domain knowledge, you may have worked in a startup team before and are ready to take the next step, or you've worked in leadership in a larger organisation and are keen to have the freedom to run at a problem in your own way.

Essential skills we’re looking for in a Founder:

• Driven by a fierce passion to build seamless product experiences for B2B users
• Resilient and adaptable, adept at navigating challenges and pivoting when necessary
• Thrives in fast-paced, uncertain environments, transforming challenges into opportunities
• Scrappy and resourceful – takes initiative and is proactively able to get things done with low resources when needed
• Exceptional at inspiring and leading teams to achieve shared goals in an inclusive environment
• Skilled storyteller, effective at communicating with diverse audiences and stakeholders
• Capable of confidently standing by your convictions whilst also being able to identify when feedback shared is additive to your approach

Non-essential (NB: these are nice-to-have, no expectation to meet all of the below)

• A level of understanding and experience relevant to Nibblr, whether thats:
  
  • An existing network with food manufacturers
  • Experience working in a food startup / SME / large scale enterprise
  • Understanding of the end-to-end product development process for new food products
• Experience in an operational or leadership role within a well-funded startup;
• Awareness and understanding of VC fundraising processes and best practice, potentially having raised capital previously;
• Product management and/or software-experience

Whatever it is, if you care about the problem Nibblr is trying to solve and think you have the grit to bring it to life - we want to hear from you.

The founder package we offer

• A majority equity stake in the new company for you and your co-founders
• A de-risked concept with initial inroads into relevant customer and partner networks
• A living stipend of ~£4k per month for up to 6 months (the equivalent of a 50k annual salary, pre tax) and £25k of additional funds to support the building and launching of the company
• Dedicated, hands-on operational support from a passionate team specialising in design, engineering, product development, growth marketing, talent acquisition, fundraising, legal matters, and strategic partnerships
• A unique opportunity to create a scalable business that makes a meaningful impact
• In just 6 months, we’ll support you to validate, build, and launch an MVP
• After 6 months, and providing key milestones are met, you’ll have the opportunity to pitch for an additional £200K investment and establish the venture as an independent company
• Gain access to Nesta’s mission-relevant internal and external networks
• Be co-located with the studio team for 6 months, with access to desk space and meeting rooms in our offices in Blackfriars
• Access our Founder platform of peer-to-peer support, perks, unfair advantage of mission experts and network of late stage founders, investors and startup operators

We are eager to receive applications from all backgrounds and are committed to building a diverse culture, inline with our EDI commitments. Our recruitment process is fair and unbiased, and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination.

Making an application

There will be a webinar for more information on this role on Monday April 14th at 4pm, sign up here.

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 7pm on Tuesday April 15th.

We will review applications on a rolling basis, but interviews will likely take place week commencing April 21st (after bank holiday Monday).