Tuesday 11 May 2027 · 6.00pm · Alleyn’s Hampstead, 65 Rosslyn Hill, London NW3
The final evening of the series asks what it really takes to build something – and whether school is preparing young people to do it.
Thinking On Business puts the founder of the world’s biggest advertising group on the same stage as a founder documenting the daily reality of running two Islington bakeries, alongside the man who has advised Lord Sugar for two decades. Big business, small business and start-ups, side by side.
Together they will ask how much an entrepreneurial spirit matters, what schools get right and wrong about the world of work, and what they wish someone had told them at sixteen.
Why come?
- Hear the unfiltered version of what building a business is actually like – from three very different scales.
- A must for pupils thinking about their futures, and for the parents thinking alongside them.
- Straight answers on whether an entrepreneurial mindset can be taught – and how.
The questions we’ll be asking
Big business, small business and start ups: how important is an entrepreneurial spirit?
Does school prepare young people for the reality of building something from scratch, or working in a business?
Meet the panel
A panel that covers the full spectrum of business – from a global group with £2 billion in billings to a coffee shop in Islington.
Sir Martin Sorrell
Amy Gastman
Andrew Bloch
Charlotte Pearce
Sir Martin Sorrell
Founder & Executive Chairman, S4 Capital; founder of WPP
Sir Martin Sorrell was the numbers man at Saatchi & Saatchi – the "third brother" – before buying a shopping-basket manufacturer in 1985 and spending 33 years building it into WPP, the biggest advertising group in the world.
He became at once a bellwether of global markets and an orchestrator of them: few knew sooner who was spending, or better what that spending foretold about the business climate everywhere else.
He is doing it again at S4 Capital, whose Monks business handles nearly £2 billion in advertising billings across 33 countries.
Amy Gastman
Founder, Crumb and Eat by Amy
Amy Gastman is the founder of the cookie and coffee shop, Crumb, and vegan wholesale bakery, Eat by Amy, both based in Islington.
A former Waitrose Food journalist with a master's in the Anthropology of Food, she turned her passion for food into two growing businesses – and now documents the reality of building them online.
From pricing and profit to the inevitable setbacks, Amy shares the unfiltered side of entrepreneurship with a large and highly engaged audience.
Andrew Bloch
Founder, Andrew Bloch & Associates; co-founder, Frank PR
Andrew Bloch is a British PR and marketing consultant, best known as the co-founder of Frank PR, which he launched in 2000 and exited in 2024.
He has acted as official spokesperson and PR advisor to Lord Sugar for over 20 years, and has managed PR for The Apprentice winners and their businesses since the show launched in 2005.
He now runs the consultancy Andrew Bloch & Associates, leads AAR's PR, social, content and influencer practice, and is Non-Executive Chairman of Stakked.
He's also an advisor to Mergers & Acquisitions firm PCB Partners and a founding mentor at the School of Communication Arts – plus he's widely followed on LinkedIn and X for his commentary on the PR and ad industries.
Charlotte Pearce
Charlotte is an award-winning entrepreneur, global speaker, challenger of the status quo and Founder & CEO of Inkpact.
She has built a multimillion-pound global business from the ground up, making direct mail cool again. Bringing technology, behavioural science and analogue together, Inkpact helps brands including Chanel, NET-A-PORTER, Boden, The White Company, Varley and Space NK grow through human connection. From handwritten notes to gifts, notecards and catalogues, Inkpact are bringing a new age of mail to life at scale.
Charlotte believes that the best marketing makes you feel something and from global keynote stages, intimate dinners to royal households and global news, Charlotte is committed to starting conversations that carry on long after she has left the room.
Book your place
Tickets for Thinking On are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start, with drinks available before and after the discussion. Book now to secure your seat.
