What do Dragon’s Den, artisanal pasta, serendipity and £11m of sales all have in common? They are all part of the success story that is Pasta Evangelists.

Co-founded by Finn Lagun, this innovative fresh pasta subscription model has grown from strength to strength and was recently taken-over by the Italian Barilla Group described as “a triumph for British entrepreneurship” by Sky News.

Hosted by Imperial's Marketing Professional Interest Network, Finn spoke to an audience of alumni and students about the secret to the company’s success including the importance of customer acquisition, taking opportunities when they arise and the key to a strong retention strategy. 

Explaining the concept behind the business, Finn discussed how they were “trying to do something which hasn’t been done before with pasta, and bring fresh premium pasta to a wider audience”.

And how did it all come about? Finn explained it all came down to serendipity. Despite his role at a very big corporate organisation, Finn found himself looking for something which gave him more job satisfaction and the ability to make a tangible impact. Three weeks later on a Friday in a juice bar in London, he met his co-founder, and by Monday Pasta Evangelists was born!

We engage with our customers and they are part of the marketing, we leverage our customer base as much as we can.

As with any new startup there are failures, and disappointments, but Finn outlines his three key successes in marketing which has helped to grow the company so quickly:

1. The clue is in the name: Evangelists! One of the things they focus on is getting to know their customer, making them real advocates for the brand, helping to spread the word to family and friends, and being passionate about the products. “We engage with our customers and they are part of the marketing, we leverage our customer base as much as we can.”
2. Seize opportunities. Early on Pasta Evangelists were approached to launch a concession in Harrods. Despite the fact this was something they had never done before, they knew the opportunity was too good to pass up. Similarly they had the chance to appear on the BBC TV programme Dragon’s Den. And in Finn’s own words 'we weren’t ‘ready for it and it was brutal’! But at the same time they knew it was something that would build their confidence and brand exposure.
3. Ensure you have a minimal viable product. Finn advocates not waiting and waiting until something is perfect, but instead, if you have something you can run with, launch it first and work on improving it later. “Get to 90% quickly, rather than waiting a life time to get to 100%.”

Speaker biography

Finn leads the Pasta Evangelists marketing, brand and e-commerce teams, and has overseen expansion in sales at the company from £69,000 in 2017, when the company started trading, to almost £11m in 2021. He previously worked at Amazon and Zipjet, an on-demand laundry venture by Rocket Internet, the Berlin-based startup incubator.

My first job

I knew I wanted to do a business-focused role in a science-led industry. So my dream came true when I was offered a place on the GSK HR Future Leaders Programme. As I started working there, I realised the relevance of some of the modules I studied at the Business School as I experienced the theory coming to life. Subjects like Organisational Behaviour & Human Resource Management were directly applicable, but I also made connections between Business Strategy, Innovation and Marketing and the projects I was working on.

It was so valuable and satisfying to have the theoretical grounding and be able to apply it in the workplace.

Outside the Lab

There’s a lot more to my career story which I’ll share later. It’s all led me to creating my own business, Outside the Lab, which helps science graduates find jobs and develop their careers outside academia. I started Outside the Lab to provide a platform that brings together all of my experience across science-led industries. My foundation in HR, together with knowledge of these industries, made me keen to share my experiences with others who want to get into these companies as an alternative to academia. You can see an example of some of my work in this webinar: How Science Graduates Can Get a High Paying Job Outside the Lab Even if You Have Little to No Work Experience.

I wanted to share my insights into successfully getting these roles as well as how to continuously develop your career through building transferable skills, networking and finding opportunities to learn. I share valuable content around these topics to give an insight into various science-led industries and roles, as well as tips on building the skills to get into them. I also provide more tailored support for individual situations.

I’m very grateful for my time at the Business School which was fun and educational at the same time. Everyone wants to know that their time studying will add value to their future profession, and  I can say with confidence that this has been the case for me as I transitioned from my degree to the workplace.

Full-time MBA – revamped Personal Leadership Journey

Ahead of the official start of term here at Imperial College Business School next week, I am happy to share more about the revamped Personal Leadership Journey (PLJ) module we will be delivering this academic year to our full-time MBA class.

The Personal Leadership Journey (PLJ) is a dynamic module that equips our students with the knowledge and skills required to enter, succeed and progress in today’s competitive and rapidly changing world of work and have a positive impact on society. The module builds on the pre-work done by students over the summer in our Careers Primer and the personalised feedback they will receive after attending a one-day Development Centre early in the programme, and it is delivered through a combination of FTMBA exclusive workshops, optional small group sessions, psychometrics and three assignments.

Dedicated Careers Consultant

At Imperial College Business School each student partners with their dedicated Careers Consultant to tailor their journey and future-proof their career plans, maximising their prospects of achieving their post-MBA career goals around career acceleration, career change or launching a new business.

In line with the reimagined programme recently announced for 2022 the PLJ is fully integrated into the full-time MBA curriculum. The PLJ responds to employer demands for leadership and wider professional skills and the technical knowledge is developed through other core modules and electives.

Andreia Ferreira
Careers Consultant – Co-Lead FTMBA Programme – Lead Healthcare Sector

Putting learning into practice

Throughout the MSc in Climate Change, Management and Finance programme at the Business School, our cohort had the privilege of learning from world-renowned professors and industry experts to explore mitigation strategies for a wide range of sectors - from industry and agriculture to the built environment. My greatest takeaway was to appreciate the level of complexity when exploring solutions in these sectors and to say goodbye to the hope of a silver bullet that would save us all in the nick of time. 

One of our sessions in particular strongly resonated with me and empowered me to act. It was led by The Gratham Institute’s Neil Jennings who introduced the ISM (Individual, Social, and Material) Principles of Change to help us think through the approaches to and challenges of driving behaviour change. This is interesting and timely as the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report this month confirmed we’re running out of time to avert 1.5C of warming, largely because of humans and our behaviour. 

We believe we need to look at net zero carbon as a responsibility but also as an investment that will pay back and make buildings healthier in the process.

While we are in desperate need of systems-level changes and strong policy to meet net zero, we also need to recognise the role that each of us can play both at home and at the various types of offices we find ourselves in after graduating from Imperial College. 

Tackling behavioural change

Since graduating in 2020, I’ve been able to reconfirm that behaviour change is one of the most difficult aspects of tackling emissions in the commercial real estate sector. Despite the drastic impact of COVID and forcing us to work from home, there’s evidence that the UK is ready to get their staff back into the office, even if only for a few days each week. 

Under the leadership of Ampersand Partner’s Managing Director, Greg Borel, myself alongside some other recent Imperial graduates, Nefeli Charitou and Hana Douglas, have been given the opportunity to launch the first UK-wide competition to help commercial buildings reduce energy consumption through gamification and straight forward changes in behavior. 

Introducing the CUBE Competition, which is the first step occupiers, landlords and building managers can take to help them change how we behave to make energy savings in an engaging and fun way that gets all employees involved and united by a goal that will help mitigate the impact of climate change.

There is a huge opportunity to make a significant difference. Our partners have been running CUBE in France for six years, delivering energy and equivalent annual cost savings of between 12% and 55% for the likes of BNP Paribas and Orange - through simple interventions and without significant investment. 

We believe we need to look at net zero carbon as a responsibility but also as an investment that will pay back and make buildings healthier in the process.