Latest news with #PaulArcher
Entrepreneur
17-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
From Pandemic Pivot to Product-Market Fit
When Paul Archer launched Duel at the start of the pandemic, no one knew what brand advocacy even was. Now, he's helping some of the world's biggest companies build communities - not just customers. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. When Paul Archer co-founded Duel in March 2020, the world was in chaos - and so was the marketing industry. "Trying to sell a product to a market that didn't yet exist? Even tougher," he says. At the time, few understood what "brand advocacy" meant, let alone why it might matter more than traditional sales tactics. But Archer saw something others didn't: a shift in how people connect with brands. "I've always believed that if companies focused on building brand advocacy - the act of supporting or recommending a brand - instead of just driving sales, the world would be a better place. The pandemic pivot Launching a tech platform to promote an unfamiliar concept would be difficult under any circumstances. Doing so as COVID-19 hit was brutal. "But the pandemic accelerated a shift in how brands approached growth - expensive ads and influencers weren't enough anymore, people craved authentic connections," Archer says. "And so all of a sudden we weren't just selling software; we were selling a mindset shift." That shift became Duel's opportunity. "During the pandemic, we saw that everyone, regardless of follower count, became an influencer to someone," Archer explains. "This opened up a massive opportunity." After testing the idea, they realised they were uniquely positioned to "create powerful communities of creators and ambassadors and empower brands to drive their own organic growth through them." That realisation led to a key pivot - one that helped Duel become the only platform capable of supporting brand advocacy at global scale. "The journey wasn't always smooth, but by staying focused on the problem, embracing first principles... and listening to feedback, we found our product-market fit." Harder in the UK For Archer, one of the starkest lessons came from comparing start-up environments. "That securing funding is hard. Much harder than it is in the US," he says. "Everything you read from the US doesn't necessarily translate in the UK and it can be a huge distraction." He believes early-stage UK founders are better off staying lean. "If I were to do it again, I would focus much more on aggressively finding product-market fit with the smallest possible team in the early days, and spend much less time fundraising." Fall in love with the problem Looking back, Archer is clear on what he'd tell any founder just starting out: obsess over the problem, not the product. "If I could go back and tell myself one thing, it would be this: Don't just focus on your product, focus on the problem you're solving," he says. "Your success depends on whether you're solving a problem people actually care about. And you only deeply understand this by spending as much time with your customer as you possibly can." His final takeaway? Stay flexible - and stay true to what matters. "Be ready to pivot. Things change. Markets change. Your idea will evolve. And that's okay. Embrace the changes and stay flexible. "Most importantly, never lose sight of your mission. If you truly care about what you're doing, that passion will shine through and pull people toward you."
Entrepreneur
21-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
A Greener Code
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. For Duel founder Paul Archer, sustainability isn't a line in a pitch deck – it's the foundation of everything his company stands for. Based in London, Duel is a B Corp-certified SaaS platform specialising in brand advocacy. In a world where corporate greenwashing is often just another tab on the website, Paul Archer is adamant that sustainability should be more than surface-level spin. "Sustainability at Duel isn't just something we talk about – it's embedded in how we do business," says Archer, whose company helps brands build and scale advocacy marketing through loyal customers and brand communities. "We're a B Corp, which means we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of social and environmental performance." Founded with the belief that companies can - and should - do more than simply scale quickly and sell out, Duel has taken a stance that feels increasingly radical in the startup world: choosing partners based not just on potential revenue, but shared values. "It's not just about being a successful SaaS company, but being one that adds value to the world in a meaningful, responsible way," says Archer. "We are also very selective about the brands we work with and will happily turn down business if they don't follow the same mantra of people and planet over profit." That mantra isn't always the easiest to maintain in the turbulent world of startups, where cash flow can be tight and expectations high. But for Archer, balancing sustainability with commercial viability is a long game - and a smart one. "Running a startup is tough – there's no sugar-coating it. You're balancing growth, cash flow, and trying to make every penny count. But here's the thing: sustainability doesn't just make us feel good, it actually helps us grow." In fact, being purpose-driven has become one of Duel's most valuable differentiators. "Our customers are looking for companies that do good and do well," he says. "They want long-term growth with a positive impact, and that's exactly what we're creating." As scrutiny of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance grows, especially among younger consumers and employees, it's natural to ask whether the investor world is catching up. Archer's take is candid: "We made the decision early on to build Duel with a purpose – not just to make money, but to show that companies built to drive advocacy can change the world." That stance has helped filter out the wrong investors - and attract the right ones. "We're committed to growing the business responsibly and sustainably and that kind of mindset is exactly what our investors are looking for and are drawn to as well," he explains. "But my impression is that the majority of investors, when they talk about ESG, are just paying lip service, and really, the only thing they care about is money. But this made it much easier for us to find the kind of investors that we truly want to work with because sustainability is as important to them as it is to us." With growing pressure on the tech world to demonstrate substance over spin, Duel's mission is a timely reminder that sustainability doesn't have to come at the cost of success - and might just be its future-proofing factor.
