What SHELFLIFE does

Shelflife is a London-based growth consultancy that partners with early-stage founders of consumer brands — primarily in food and beverage, but also beauty and lifestyle — to take ventures from idea through to investment and market launch. The firm operates an embedded partnership model rather than traditional outside advisory, positioning its partners as internal growth leaders within client teams. Its offering is structured around three interconnected pillars: Growth Strategy (defining direction, 12–18 month KPIs, and route-to-scale plans), Investment Raising (building financial projections, investor narratives, and connecting founders with capital), and Growth Execution (hands-on project management and implementation support).

The underlying 'technology' is human expertise and the partner network rather than software. Shelflife is led by partners Tom and Kristoffer, who also co-founded the London branding agency Regular Practice (recognised by It's Nice That as 'Ones to Watch'), giving Shelflife embedded access to senior creative and branding talent; a third partner, Ed, contributes strategy, podcast, and consumer brand experience. The firm has documented transformations across eight named clients including Spice Dept (two funding rounds facilitated), YoYo (successful funding round, growing retail), Mochiya (idea-to-launch in six months), Jin Jin, Homi Kitchen, The Honey Project, Narka (Seoul-based hair care), and Juiced.

The business model is professional services revenue from project-based and likely retainer engagements with early-stage founders; pricing is not publicly disclosed and is described as quote-based and tailored to engagement scope. Go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, relying on founder networks, portfolio referrals, Instagram (@shelflife.ventures), LinkedIn case studies, and direct email inbound. With 8 employees, no institutional funding disclosed, and revenue figures private, Shelflife operates as a boutique advisory firm whose principal scaling constraints are partner capacity and the depth of its referral network.

Name

SHELFLIFE

Website

https://shelflifeventures.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

London-based growth consultancy that embeds with early-stage consumer brand founders to deliver growth strategy, investment raising, and execution support, leveraging a partner network that includes a recognised branding agency.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Growth Consulting for Early-Stage Consumer Brands

akta.pro primary industry

Brand Architecture & Portfolio Strategy (BPAFAEAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Planogramming, Space Planning & Shelf Analytics Services (CRAOAOAF)

Keywords

• Growth consulting
• Startup advisory
• Investment preparation
• Consumer brand strategy
• Embedded growth partner

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Strategic Advisory and Consulting Services: Shelflife generates revenue through providing growth strategy, investment preparation, and execution support services to early-stage founders and consumer brands. Their engagement model involves working directly with founders to develop growth plans, financial projections, investor narratives, and deliver hands-on implementation support.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SHELFLIFE is a growth-driven consulting partner that sells three interconnected services to early-stage founders: Growth Strategy (defining long-term direction, setting 12–18 month KPIs, and mapping a route to scale), Investment Raising (turning growth plans into investor cases, building financial projections, shaping narrative, and connecting founders with investors), and Growth Execution (hands-on project management and embedded implementation support). The firm focuses on consumer brand founders in food & beverage, beauty, and lifestyle categories and works as an embedded partner rather than a traditional advisor.

Product overview

Shelflife is a growth-driven consulting partner that offers three interconnected service offerings: Growth Strategy Services (defining direction and KPIs), Investment Raising Services (building investment cases and connecting with investors), and Growth Execution Services (hands-on implementation support). The company works with early-stage founders, helping them turn ideas into investment-ready brands. Their portfolio includes branded consulting services for founders at various stages, complemented by case studies of successful client projects across food, beverage, beauty, and lifestyle categories including Spice Dept, Juiced, The Honey Project, Narka, YoYo, Jin Jin, Homi Kitchen, and Mochiya.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Growth Strategy Services Strategic consulting engagement that defines a founder's long-term direction, sets 12–18 month KPIs, and builds a practical strategy by engaging the right experts and mapping a clear route to scale. Designed for early-stage founders and start-ups needing strategic clarity.
• Investment Raising Services Fundraising preparation engagement that turns a founder's growth plan into a compelling investment case, builds financial projections, shapes the narrative, and connects the founder with the right investors. Targeted at early-stage consumer-brand founders preparing to raise capital.
• Growth Execution Services Hands-on implementation engagement that delivers strategy through project management, embedded team support, and focused execution to drive commercial results quickly for early-stage founders and start-ups.

Quantifiable outcome

• Two successful funding rounds facilitated for Spice Dept.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Regular PracticecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegular Practice is a London-based branding agency founded by Tom and Kristoffer, who serve as partners within the Shelflife ecosystem. The agency brings creative design, branding, and visual identity capabilities to Shelflife's growth advisory services. They've worked with established clients including Warner Music, Adidas, Fred Perry, and Octopus, as well as startups and founders across DTC, F&B and other sectors. Tom and Kristoffer help bring brand concepts to life through strategic design partnership.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Anomaly: A global creative and brand strategy agency that has expanded into founder and emerging-brand advisory work. Comparable to Shelflife as a broader incumbent offering brand strategy and creative capabilities to ambitious founders, but operating at much larger scale and with wider service portfolio.
• Ace & Company: An investment and advisory platform focused on early-stage consumer brands. Comparable to Shelflife in combining capital-connection services with strategic advisory for emerging CPG and consumer founders, though operating at broader scale with its own investment vehicles.
• Movers+Shakers: A creative-led brand strategy and marketing agency with deep CPG and startup expertise. Comparable to Shelflife in serving emerging consumer brands with brand-building and growth strategy, though operating as a broader incumbent across multiple categories.
• The Community: A creative and strategic agency advising ambitious consumer-facing brands on positioning, brand-building, and growth. Comparable to Shelflife in combining creative firepower with growth strategy for ambitious founder-led brands, though serving larger and more established clients.

Emerging players

• Antler: A global early-stage founder programme and venture firm that provides pre-seed capital, mentorship, and operational support to entrepreneurs. Comparable to Shelflife in targeting early-stage founders across stages and offering embedded strategic and execution support, though equity-tied rather than fee-based.

Direct peers

• FounderMade: A consumer brand growth platform and community serving emerging CPG founders with networking, capital introductions, and brand-building resources. Directly comparable to Shelflife in serving early-stage consumer brand founders across strategy and investor-connection services.
• Day One Agency: A boutique consultancy providing growth strategy and execution support to early-stage startups and founders. Comparable to Shelflife in targeting founders with embedded, hands-on advisory across strategy and execution, though with less CPG/F&B vertical specialisation.
• The Venture Collective: A consumer brand-focused growth advisory that helps emerging CPG companies with strategy, fundraising, and go-to-market execution. Closest direct peer to Shelflife in scope, customer profile, and embedded engagement model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/shelflife.ventures
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shelflifeventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SHELFLIFE