Founder Of The Week: Ben Fox

• Ben Fox is the Co-Founder and Global CEO of Fox Agency, a global B2B technology marketing agency he launched in 2011 from his kitchen table.
• Over the past 15 years, he has grown Fox Agency into an international business, with teams across the UK and US and a client base spanning ambitious technology brands worldwide.
• A champion of specialist expertise, Fox repositioned the agency around global B2B technology in 2021, helping drive its expansion and growth.
• He is particularly interested in the future of marketing, AI and technology, and how businesses can combine innovation with human creativity to drive meaningful results.

Tell Me About Yourself and Fox Agency

I’m Ben Fox, co-founder and Global CEO of Fox Agency. I started the business in 2011 from my kitchen table with a laptop, a phone and, if I’m honest, a fairly healthy amount of fear. Fifteen years later, we’re an independent global B2B technology marketing agency with 80+ people across the UK and US, working with some of the world’s most ambitious technology brands.

My role today is increasingly focused on where we go next: growing internationally, evolving our capabilities and making sure we remain relevant as technology fundamentally changes marketing. I’m still fascinated by the same thing; how great ideas, technology, and people come together to create progress.

What Inspired You To Fox Agency, and What Problem Were You Trying To Solve?

I’d spent my career in media, advertising, and agencies, starting in client services and working my way through pretty much every account management role. I loved the industry, but I also developed strong views about how an agency could be better: more entrepreneurial, less bureaucratic, closer to clients and a genuinely great place for talented people to work.

By 2011, the itch to build something myself became impossible to ignore. There wasn’t a grand business plan or a revolutionary product; there was a belief that if you brought together smart, creative, passionate people and treated clients as genuine partners, you could build something special. That basic belief still holds true 15 years later.

What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge So Far, and How Did You Overcome It?

The biggest challenge has probably been learning that what gets a business to one stage won’t necessarily get it to the next. Founders naturally want to be involved in everything – I certainly did – but eventually that becomes a constraint rather than a strength.

As Fox Agency has grown, I’ve had to become much better at trusting people, building leadership around me and accepting that other people would frequently do things better than I could. That shift has allowed me to move from running the day-to-day agency to focusing much more on the future of the business. Scaling is ultimately less about the founder having more answers and more about building a business full of people capable of finding them.

Can You Describe a Pivotal Moment That Significantly Shaped the Direction of Fox Agency?

Winning global consulting firm, BearingPoint, as an account in 2018 was a genuine turning point. Until then, we’d built a regional agency, but working with a major global technology consultancy opened our eyes to a much bigger opportunity: global B2B technology.

That ultimately led to our 2021 decision to reposition Fox Agency entirely around global B2B tech. It was probably the boldest strategic decision we’ve made. We stopped trying to be an agency for everyone and went all-in on an area where we believed we could become genuinely world-class. Since then, we’ve expanded our capabilities, built specialist technology-sector expertise, opened in the US and increasingly work with enterprise brands across multiple international markets. Focus actually created far more opportunity.

How Do You Define Success?

For your business: Success isn’t simply getting bigger. I want Fox Agency to become one of the world’s most respected independent partners for enterprise B2B technology brands – known for brilliant people, ambitious ideas, and work that genuinely moves businesses forward. Financial performance matters because it gives us the freedom to invest; but reputation, client relationships and creating opportunities for our people matter just as much.

As a founder: Increasingly, success means building something that doesn’t depend on me. Seeing people develop careers, leaders emerge, clients stay with us for years and Fox Agency create opportunities I couldn’t have imagined in 2011 is hugely satisfying. I genuinely feel like we’re building something very special, with a great culture, and huge momentum.

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Thinking About Launching Their Own Startup?

Start before everything feels perfect, because it never will. Don’t confuse bravery with recklessness: know what you’re good at, understand who you’re going to create value for, and get comfortable with the fact that you’ll learn most things by getting them wrong first.

I’d also focus far more on people and relationships than most business books suggest. Your reputation compounds. Clients come back. Former colleagues become customers. Employees become leaders. People remember whether you did what you said you’d do.

And finally, don’t become obsessed with looking successful. Cash, profitability and a sustainable business model aren’t particularly fashionable startup topics, but they’re what give you the freedom to keep building when conditions become difficult.

What’s Next for Fox Agency? Any Exciting Developments We Should Watch Out For?

We’ve just celebrated 15 years, which feels slightly surreal, but we’re spending far more time thinking about the next 15 than the last 15. We grew global revenue to £11.2m in 2025 and expanded the team significantly, but the more interesting story is how Fox is evolving: deeper sector expertise, stronger media and performance capability, greater investment in AI and technology, and a much more connected UK and US business.

We’ve also joined Worldwide Partners, giving us expertise and delivery reach through more than 90 independent agencies across 50 countries.

The bigger opportunity is how agencies themselves evolve. AI will transform production and productivity, but I’m convinced human judgement, creativity, relationships and storytelling become more, not less, valuable. Our evolving philosophy is Possibility Everywhere: finding the connections between technology, markets, brands, people and ideas that haven’t happened yet – and turning those possibilities into impact and growth.

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Founder’s 5 with Ben Fox

Want to know more about the man behind Fox Agency? Here’s TechRound’s exclusive Founder’s Five with Ben Fox.

Favourite business tool

I’m old-school; so, for me, nothing beats getting thoughts out of my head and down on paper in a good old-fashioned notepad. I’m a visual-thinker, so I’m forever scribbling, drawing diagrams, or just random sketches that appear meaningless but help clarify my thinking.

One lesson you learned the hard way?

There’s a big difference between being a good leader and being a good manager. It took me far too long to realise I can do the visionary, leadership role but I’m terrible when it comes to people management. Luckily, once I set my ego to one side and accepted the reality, it allowed the freedom to hire or appoint others who are a million times better than me into key roles.

One future trend you’re watching?

Evolving agency models – our world is changing rapidly through AI, ecosystems, and evolving client needs and expectations. The agency of future will combine data, technology, AI and human expertise to deliver meaningful outcomes. Impact becomes the defining currency, and agencies need to adapt their model to remain relevant and successful.

One quote you live by

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”. Whether or not Oscar Wilde actually said it – but regularly spoken by my business partner – this quote comes to me time and again. In business, authenticity and personal relationships count more than ever – being genuine and real is how we cut through the bullsh*t and connect on a human level.

One book/podcast you recommend

I’ve read plenty of business and leadership books over the years, but “How to Win Friends and Influence People” still stands up remarkably well. For all the talk of AI, technology and automation, emotional intelligence and human relationships remain fundamental to business. Or better still, switch off completely and read some great fiction — “Catch-22”, “The Catcher in the Rye” and “A Star Called Henry” are books I’ve returned to several times.

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Know someone who deserves to be recognised as a founder making waves in the startup landscape? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.