We’re delighted to welcome Jason Nichols to the team as SETsquared Bristol’s new Incubation Manager.

In this role, Jason leads our incubation programmes and founder development work, and acts as a hands-on, day-to-day point of contact for our member companies. He supports founders through every stage of their journey, from onboarding and business guidance through to workshops, mentoring and investor readiness, and connects them with the University of Bristol’s expertise, our network of advisers and Entrepreneurs in Residence, and investors across the region and beyond.

Jason joins us from Business West, where as an Innovation and Growth Specialist he has supported Innovate UK-funded SMEs across the South West, helping some of the region’s most innovative companies turn cutting-edge ideas into commercial growth. Before that, as Entrepreneur Acceleration Manager at NatWest, he coached more than 200 entrepreneurs and delivered over 750 hours of one-to-one coaching, building the kind of structure, accountability and community in which founders thrive. He is also a founder himself, having grown New Kings Coffee into a recognised FMCG brand before negotiating its successful sale. Jason brings more than a decade of experience across entrepreneurship, commercialisation and business support, and a firm belief that progress becomes far more likely when founders are clear on where they’re heading, supported to act, and surrounded by the right people.

Jason joins at an exciting time for the centre. His early priorities include strengthening the support founders receive as their companies grow, rebuilding a vibrant community where members learn from and lean on one another, evolving the programme so it meets founders where they are at each stage, and deepening the connections between our companies and the investors who can help them scale.

“I’m delighted to be joining SETsquared Bristol,” said Jason. “Having built and grown a business myself, I know first-hand how much difference the right support makes at the early and growth stages, and how hard it is to find. Helping companies grow and scale is the work I care most about, so joining an incubator with SETsquared’s reputation, and its calibre of ambitious, innovative companies, is a real privilege. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in and helping our founders go further, faster.”

Members, advisers and partners are warmly invited to say hello. You’ll find Jason at Engine Shed or the new Sloane Robinson Building from next month, and through the usual SETsquared channels.