Where Are They Now: Robin Skidmore, founder of Journey Further

The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme has celebrated more than 300 exceptional individuals since its launch in 2018. In this series, we reconnect with some of our alumni to find out what happened next in their growth journey, the impact of being part of the programme, and their ambitions now.

After selling his digital marketing agency, Robin Skidmore spent some time with his family, trying to figure out his next move. He found that couldn’t resist the lure of business building: “It took me 10 years to hit my EBITDA target in my first business,” he says. “I decided to do it again, but in five.” He launched Journey Further in 2017, and was featured in The LDC Top 50 in 2022 after making that dream a reality. “That’s when I thought, ‘What next?’” he says. Since then, the business has opened a New York office and made a big impact in the US. “I moved over there and built momentum,” says Skidmore. “We now have 180 people in the UK and 20 in the States.”

What’s changed in two years?

In 2022, we were a very UK-focused business, now we are truly global. We have expanded into the US and have evolved our suite of services to offer every kind of digital media solution. We have made a big investment in building useful proprietary technology, and a lot of the wins over the past two years are down to that. I’ve also been on a personal journey, moving to the US to ensure we brought the culture and DNA over from the UK. I’ve only just come back.

How important is the US expansion?

For many digital agencies, 2024 has been a tough year. But we offset the slowdown here with growth in the US, bringing in more resilient clients with greater media budgets. We now attract organisations with an international mandate – that’s a different calibre of brand.

What’s unique about the culture at Journey Further?

When you launch your own business, you start with a blank piece of paper. The other founders and I all had young families, so the business had to work on our terms. We had flexible working from day one, we encouraged people to have side hustles, and we have always treated people like adults. I have built the kind of business I would want to work for.