Finn Lagun

We make the UK's freshest, artisan pasta. As of 2023, Pasta Evangelists is the UK's biggest pasta brand by revenues. Founded in 2016, Pasta Evangelists began as a recipe kit business, delivering boxes of freshly-made pasta to homes all over the country. We were backed by some of the biggest names in British food, including Great British Bake Off star Prue Leith CBE, Times critic Giles Coren and Telegraph critic William Sitwell. In August 2018, we appeared on the BBC's Dragons' Den, watched by 3 million people across the UK. We subsequently raised a £1.7M Series A round led by an institutional investor. In November 2018, we launched our first Pasta Evangelists retail concession in Harrods, the world's most famous department store. In December 2019, we expanded our concessions business in partnership with Marks & Spencer, launching our second retail concession in its Hedge End renewal store. In February 2020, we closed a £3.5M Series B round to continue developing our "omnichannel" approach across e-commerce, Ocado, M&S, Harrods and Deliveroo. In January 2021, Barilla, the world's biggest pasta company, acquired a majority stake in Pasta Evangelists. Pasta Evangelists continues to operate as a standalone entity with further expansion on the horizon. Pasta Evangelists opened a premium fresh pasta bar in Harrods. As of July 2023, Pasta Evangelists had pivoted its model towards takeaway, transcending the original DTC recipe kits proposition. An estate of almost 50 kitchens now cook & deliver hot, fresh pasta to customers in as little as 15 minutes. Cities served include London, Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Glasgow and beyond. In summer 2024, Pasta Evangelists opened its first restaurants in Richmond upon Thames, Greenwich and Chiswick. 2025 saw openings in Manchester Airport, Guildford, Oxford Street, Chelsea and Queensway, with many more openings to come in 2026.

I joined Amazon.com as a Brand Specialist, acting as an in-house online marketing consultant for two FMCG vendors. As a Brand Specialist, I planned campaigns to increase each vendor's visibility on the Amazon platform. I was praised for delivering a 2017 Q4 marketing plan for Amazon Pantry and supporting senior stakeholders in the writing of a Quarterly Business Review during my first week at the company. I chose to leave Amazon.com to take a hands-on role at an early stage startup.

I was responsible for UK marketing at Zipjet, Rocket Internet's laundry startup. I managed offline & online campaigns, spanning out-of-home, direct sales, print, SEM (SEO & AdWords), events and partnerships. I also provided an in house PR function for Zipjet, as well as copywriting and translation of German CRM initiatives for the UK market. Separate to acquisition campaigns, I led Zipjet's global rebrand from idea through to implementation, interviewing some 40 customers to gather insights. In conjunction with other data, I used these insights to deliver a new brand vision for Zipjet. Brand consultants Edenspiekermann fed back on my vision as 'overwhelming' and 'necessary [to implement]'. I also conceived and led Zipjet's 'Laundry Liberation Day' stunt, driving a military tank through London to herald the coming of a new, laundry-free era. As part of the stunt, I utilised cross-channel media in tandem for maximum impact. These included a Metro newspaper wrap, digital taxi tops and PR activity. I cast 30+ dancers to perform outside the Royal Exchange and in Parliament Square as part of the stunt.

Graduate role analysing performance of stores across various geographies & categories. Left to pursue a hands-on startup position.

Basic offline & online campaigns spanning social, print, etc.

- Top result in Class of 2015. - Jim Bulpitt Prize for the best overall performance in the 2015 class in Politics or Politics with International Studies. - Susan Hurley Prize for the best overall performance in the module 'Issues in Political Theory' (89).

I partook in the European Union's Erasmus exchange programme, spending an intercalated year studying at the University of Vienna's Faculty of Social Sciences. Whilst living in Austria, I gained an international outlook and strengthened foreign language skills.