Philip Wilkinson
Founder of Diem Scents
Philip Wilkinson
Founder of Diem Scents
United Kingdom
Overview
Work Experience
Co-Founder
2022 - Current
Luxury fragrances without the price tag. Be part of a whole new way to experience scent, with free samples, personalised discovery and gifting made easy.
Founder & Advisor
2018
As founder, I formulated and solidified the idea from scratch, validated the concept, got the core team together, raised initial funds, developed the branding and marketing strategy alongside RaggedEdge, and raised an £8.3m funding round, pre-launch, to execute a very bold vision in the digital health space. Skin+Me is a mission driven start-up, building a pioneering online dermatology service, taking customers through a simple online medical consultation and provide a prescription strength treatment cream, personalised to the individual. It arrives in their letterbox each month and evolves as their skin evolves. No two journeys are the same.
Co-Founder & Director
2004
Along with two friends from Cambridge University, we built the UK's first price comparison site for comparing broadband deals and prices, known as www.broadbandgenie.co.uk - which is now the only big comparison site that remains truly independent, generating thousands of leads annually to the likes of Virgin Broadband, Talk Talk, and BT. We extended this with the launch of a new type of comparison shopping site, known as Crowdstorm (www.crowdstorm.co.uk) that blended prices and deals with reviews and trend insights across hundreds of consumer categories. I was part of the team that developed and launched the Nespresso Compatible capsule business BigCupLittleCup which has now been absorbed into the coffee business Cafepod. Today, the business has also built a Google Shopping award-winning digital agency, known as Genie Goals (www.geniegoals.co.uk) that manages the performance marketing for brands such as Dwell, AO, Amara, and Raging Bull. For me personally, I focussed on Product Marketing - helping to design and develop the sites, negotiate the initial commercial deals, recruiting talent, and building out the digital marketing strategy and implementation. Today I spend time on the company board and advise the MD and team on strategy.
Venture Partner
2015 - 2016
I supported the team in their vision of finding, building, and growing 100 amazing businesses every year from 200 exceptionally talented, technical individuals. My role was in mentoring the teams through a series of stages in their growth, including idea validation; customer development; building the product; business model; sales & marketing, and preparing for fundraising. I committed to two cohorts, EF5 and EF6, and ended up investing in the main fund.
Co-Founder & VP Product Marketing
2012 - 2014
Along with my co-founder Simon I'Anson, we built a speciality coffee subscription business where our members got one new, and different, speciality coffee with a tasting booklet, directly through their door. It was sold to CafeDirect where it is now known as Handpicked by CafeDirect (https://handpicked.cafedirect.co.uk) We built the entire supply chain, sourcing only the very best coffee and roasting it freshly every time, alongside creating the brand, acquiring subscribers, and building out subscription technology ourselves as no off-the-shelf products existed.
Co-Founder & VP Product Marketing
2009 - 2011
Along with my co-founder Glen Drury, we built a high-end group buying website that offered a time-limited deal every day on restaurants, spa's, and experiences. It was sold to Timeout in 2011. We were the first to get Gordon Ramsay to run a deal on his Maze restaurant - selling out in 3 hours. I was responsible for overseeing the site, technology, and digital marketing.
Commercial Manager - Internet
2002 - 2004
Starting in the New Products team of Telewest Broadband (before it was sold to Virgin), I was part of the team that investigated new technologies and their commercial applications for the TV, Telephony, and Internet arms of the business. After this, I moved to the Commercial Internet team where I worked on the strategy for internet content, applications, and rolled out the UK's very first wireless broadband product along with my chosen partner Netgear. I created business models and product specifications for the launch of five key products during my time there.
Co-Founder & UK Country Manager
1998 - 2001
I created the UK's first price comparison site called Shopgenie, back in 1998, comparing prices for books, films, games, and music, having left my job at 21 and began coding the website and technology behind it. I raised seed funding and grew the team to 20 people before being approached by a company called Kelkoo in France who wanted to merge Shopgenie with another price comparison site in Spain and also one in Scandinavia, to make Kelkoo Europe. From here I ran the UK as country manager, making the UK the biggest market for the business in terms of site users and revenue, before moving into the International Product Manager role.