What was the catalyst for launching Nibble?
I started my creative PR agency Munch as a freelancer, taking on any client with any budget. But as we grew, it became clear we couldn’t deliver our best work for smaller budgets - and we refused to do anything less than exceptional.
Too many agencies hand off small clients to juniors, giving them an average first taste of PR, which can turn them off for life. But with the right partner and budget, PR can be game-changing for small businesses.
I hated sending brands off into the ether, and wanted to find a way to help them. So at 31, with a growing and award-winning agency, and big clients like Coca-Cola and TikTok, I made a bold move - I hit ‘pause’ on Munch to focus on something new.
I put my out of office on for the last time and wrote the business plan for Nibble there and then, and four years later launched Nibble alongside Munch, social media agency Flabbergast, and digital agency Another Blank Page under Stakked, the first collective of its kind powered by AI to reduce inefficiencies and deliver more impactful work.
We’re a new breed of marketing agencies born into the digital world and ready to meet the modern brand's evolving requirement for earned, paid, social and digital marketing that is not only creative, impactful and aligned with their business objectives, but delivered with cost-efficient, dynamic precision.
Brands can work with one agency or ‘stack up’ for full-service marketing. We call it big agency muscle with boutique hustle!
Tell us about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Nibble is the only AI-powered PR platform that pre-vets and interviews every freelancer. This is key because busy business and agency owners don’t have time to sift through CVs and talk to dozens of freelancers to find the right fit. And, if a brand is new to PR, they may not know what ‘great’ looks like. Nibble acts as the word-of-mouth recommendation when brands or agencies don’t know who to ask.
It’s free to sign up, hire top PR talent, and saves time - just minutes to post work, match, and connect with freelancers - while also eliminating costly recruitment fees. The fees freelancers propose are what you pay. Our mission is to help everyone do better PR, from beauty, food, travel and B2B clients, to solopreneurs and PR agencies, and everyone in between by simplifying the process and boosting industry standards.
Freelancers can focus on generating excellent media coverage, instead of chasing work or invoices, as we handle payments and invoicing directly on the platform. Less admin for the win!
Many brands find us online when looking for the right PR solution, or via recommendations from other brands who’ve found excellent freelancers on Nibble.
How has the business evolved since its launch?
We launched Nibble in stealth mode over a year before going public to ensure the platform met user needs and was as easy to use as possible. We didn’t want to rush it.
This month, we launched Nibble for Agencies in response to overwhelming industry demand for a quicker way to source PR freelancers without waiting for CVs or paying recruitment fees. It’s not just about filling gaps, it empowers agencies to deliver more, faster, and with better quality. Agencies can easily scale with trusted specialists or delegate entire campaigns to freelancers, ensuring they don’t miss out on briefs. Their smaller clients grow with them, larger ones get cost-effective solutions, and our freelancers wake up to more new work - it’s a win-win.
We’re also constantly refining our AI-powered algorithm and recently launched 'Top Match' statuses, giving clients a top-three shortlist of freelancers with an excellent track record on Nibble.
Tell us about the working culture at Nibble?
It’s fast-paced, creative and fun! Everyone gets a say in how we do things. I’ve worked with my Nibble team for years.
I walked the walk when building Nibble, working with freelancers across the globe. Now they have all joined Nibble full-time and we’ve not only built a fantastic product that works, we’ve travelled together, and celebrated our accomplishments as a team.
I hope everyone at Nibble and our wider Stakked group is with us for life. That’s a marker of success for me.
How are you funded?
I bootstrapped Nibble before launching the Stakked group, with the goal of creating an ecosystem that supports brands of any size - from start-ups to global players. By bringing back Munch and adding other agencies, Flabbergast and Another Blank Page, we can offer advice that’s tailored for each business, and services for any budget level.
I pitched the comeback to my mentor and first boss, Andrew Bloch, one of the industry's most respected marketing gurus. He joined as a shareholder and Non-Executive Director of the group.
With new agencies launching all the time, we knew we had to truly innovate - and that’s what we’ve done with Stakked and Nibble, transforming how creativity is delivered.
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
We want to make as many perfect matches as possible, to help brands and agencies get the right freelancers into their teams as fast as we can, and help freelancers win more work.
One of our challenges has always been to make the experience as easy and painfree as possible. Brand owners and agency founders are busy, so the less extra work they have to do the better.
Even though we are a digital tool, we’re making real world connections, and face-to-face interactions are key. So we added new features like online statuses and the ability to have instant and scheduled Zooms, all within Nibble, to speed up the process of arranging initial interviews and discussions about the work.
We’ve also launched ‘reply by email’ so that freelancers and business owners can respond to each other’s Nibble messages without leaving their usual workflow, with everything stored in their messaging centre.
As any founder, business leader or freelancer will agree, it’s all about marginal gains! The time we can shave off each and every step of our users’ experience adds up and can be put towards more important things - running the business or generating media coverage.
How does Nibble answer an unmet need?
Finding top-tier PR talent is tough, and securing the right freelancer is even tougher. It’s time-consuming and can be hit-or-miss. Nibble changes that by combining over 50 years of PR expertise working with the best talent in the industry with AI-powered machine learning to deliver better matches every time.
Plus, our freelancers are pre-vetted, ensuring only the most highly recommended people are on the platform. No more sifting through endless CVs or candidates that aren’t the right fit. All freelancers have to be rated by other clients and agencies for the specific work they are matched with and we only match the highest rated freelancers.
We understand that working with someone online can be a big step on both sides, which is why we’ve built trust and security into every step. Our advanced payment system collects fees upon booking and holds them securely, so freelancers can start work confidently without worrying about being paid.
Clients stay in control, with payments tied to performance, ensuring peace of mind for both sides. Nibble reduces friction, saves time, and offers a reliable, efficient solution for better PR.
What’s in store for the future?
So many things! We are really just getting started. We want to become the most trusted platform to find, match and work with freelancers from all industries across the world. SO we’re working on expanding out what we can offer the businesses and agencies that use Nibble. Watch this space!
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
It goes against what many founders say but I really do believe in striving for perfection. It’s in my DNA and just how I’m built.
A business, and a group of businesses, is a series of small actions, decisions and interconnected efforts that lead to something bigger and more impactful. I talk about this with our teams as a puzzle factory. Everyone is crafting a piece of a puzzle - their work - and each of those puzzles is a new piece of a bigger puzzle - their company. The Stakked group is the culmination of all of this work within each of our four companies.
At Nibble specifically, this means every bug, every pixel, every user interaction, through to bigger features and launches. We want every piece of the puzzle to be created with excellence in mind, to create an excellent final product at the end.
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
I work across various time zones, so sleep is important and I wake up when my body tells me. It’s generally pretty early, especially when we have big launches happening, which is often. I’d love to say I don’t look at my phone when I wake up… but I do! I’m excited to see what’s happened overnight.
Then I feed and play with my dog, Yodi, take a whole load of supplements, drink a ton of water, have a protein shake, and look at the view from my house briefly. Before heading to the office I read and organise my reminders from the days before - I have a lot of lists. I like to outsource my memory to these throughout the day, so that ‘morning Lizzie’ can deal with them instead of ruminating at night. Then it’s meetings with the various company leaders and getting into strategy and delivery across the group. I love it.
Outside of work I relax by playing padel - it’s an obsession - and taking my dog to a beach or for a long walk. I generally rest my body and brain on the weekends.
My rules right now are:
- When there’s downtime, take it. Having four growing startups is busy. So when there is the very rare morning or afternoon where nothing is urgent, take advantage of it, because it won’t last long.
- Trust my gut. As a group of boutique companies, every single person matters. If someone isn’t the right fit, that’s ok. Release them quickly and with kindness, to thrive somewhere else.
- Try to take a break once a quarter. This is hard for me because I really love my teams, companies and the work we do, so I’m still working on this one!
Lizzie Earl is the CEO and Founder of Nibble and The Stakked Collective.
