Spaghetti Agency – The Founders’ Story

Once upon a time (well, 2012-ish), I (Jo) was slogging away in a local advertising agency, proofreading car ads that didn’t set my soul on fire.  

Meanwhile, Todd was driving a van full of wine, with a Twitter feed that was way more intoxicating than anything in the back of his vehicle. 

Both of us had the same nagging feeling: small businesses just weren’t showing up on social media. They were either inconsistent, invisible, or worse – boring.  

Todd had made a name for himself on Twitter by being funny, raw, and a bit of a local celebrity (in his own head!) for sharing everything from parking rants to witty life takes.  

Meanwhile, I spotted Todd’s Twitter posts and thought, “Nice ideas, shocking grammar.” 

 (A decade of my grammar nagging has turned Todd into a passable wordsmith, by the way.) 

We got chatting, bonded over our frustrations about bad marketing, and realised we could make magic together – me with my editing superpowers and Todd with his knack for storytelling.  

We never planned to start a business, though. It just kind of… happened.

Spaghetti Agency – The Founders’ Story 

The accidental beginning

Todd kicked things off with a blog about the government-backed Portas Pilot project to save high streets. It got loads of attention locally. Businesses started hitting him up for social media advice. I joined the mix, turning Todd’s whirlwind creativity into something a bit more polished. Soon, the kitchen table became HQ, with big dreams and even bigger coffees fuelling our first workshops at the Warwick Arms Hotel.  

Quitting our day jobs wasn’t easy.  

Todd had a dramatic coaching moment (cue inspirational music) when a business coach asked how long we could survive on our savings if we quit our jobs. The answer was: a year.

So, we took the plunge. Todd quit in the wine merchants 2013, I soon followed, and just like that, we started working together. In 2015 we rebranded, and Spaghetti Agency was officially born – yeehaa! 

From kitchen table to cowboys

Fast-forward through some exciting workshops, award wins, and growing a team. When we rebranded it was time to drop the DIY WordPress website and go pro. A local web agency suggested a Wild West theme, and it clicked instantly. Cowboys? Timeless. Fun? Always. Memorable? You bet. 

Why are we called Spaghetti Agency? 

When we asked why the website agency had suggested the Wild West-themed brand, they said, “You shoot from the hip, you tell it like it is, and the internet is basically the Wild West.” Fair enough. Also, Todd had randomly started adding “Howdy” to emails because a web developer he worked with used to do it. It stuck. 

But the name Spaghetti Agency? While brainstorming over wild west movies (and an entire bottle of red wine), Todd went through a list of truly terrible names – The Gunslingers, The Hip Shooters – before muttering, “I need to stop watching Spaghetti Westerns.” And that was it. Spaghetti. The brand was born.  

Oh, and fun fact: Spaghetti Westerns were directed by Sergio Leone, an Italian. And I’m half Italian. Fate, or good marketing? You decide. 😉

By then, we’d moved out of our kitchen to a “real” office. From there, things really started to cook. Clients poured in from all over – London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Scotland – because we’d mastered the art of authentic, no-nonsense social media marketing that actually worked. 

The bumps in the road

Life wasn’t always smooth. In 2017, we had our daughter, Bobbi. Between sleepless nights and working whilst caring for Bobbi, we learnt that life doesn’t stop just because you’re knackered. The business grew anyway.

2020 hit like a sledgehammer. When the world shut down, Spaghetti Agency pivoted. We launched an online pub that became a lifeline for lonely business owners. Todd thought the business was over, but thankfully our expertise in digital marketing became a must-have for clients figuring out how to survive in a new, online-first world. 

Where we are now

Ten years on, Spaghetti Agency is a thriving beast. We’ve gone viral on TikTok (yes, Todd’s sober health journey got people talking), grown the team, and nailed the art of blending networking and workshops into epic events.

We’ve met legends like Gary Vaynerchuk, Steven Bartlett, and Wim Hof. And we’re constantly levelling up – with automation, content systems, and even a Zoho case study under our belt. Oh, and we’ve finally launched a podcast after a million years of planning (or rather, procrastination!). 

From a chaotic energetic van driver and a corporate grammar nerd to Wild West marketing pioneers, we’re proof that big things happen when you’re brave enough to start – and cheeky enough to have a laugh along the way. 

Want to see what it’s like to work with us? Get in touch and let’s have a chat about helping your business get found and noticed online.

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