When the Funnel Breaks: Building Brands in the AI Era - London Edition
Join a curated room of up to 50 growth-stage founders leading the next generation of consumer brands. This is a great opportunity to pressure-test your growth plans and receive candid, high-level feedback from consumer VCs, an LLM industry expert, a brand strategist, and experienced operators who have navigated this inflection point themselves.
📍 London, United Kingdom
📅 Date: April 23, 2026
⏰ 3:00 – 7:00 PM
Overview
The growth funnel that got you from $0 to $5M in ARR doesn’t behave the same way once you scale beyond it.
- Paid performance becomes more expensive.
- Attribution gets murkier.
- Retail expansion doesn’t automatically translate into velocity.
With AI reshaping how consumers discover, compare, and choose brands, the real question is: what actually makes growth defensible today?
Format
30 minutes Panel Discussion + 30 minutes Q&A
Followed by Founders & Investors Afterdrinks & Bites
Led by four expert speakers across founding, investing, LLM, and branding, this open discussion will touch on:
- How VCs distinguish between performance-driven revenue and brand equity during diligence
- Which marketing indicators give investors confidence in long-term durability
- How to build mental availability (not just optimize for clicks) when performance plateaus
- How the funnel changes when consumer behavior shifts toward AI-assisted discovery
- What role brand plays in being selected, and trusted in an LLM-driven world
Who This Is For
Founders and senior operators of CPG, DTC, and consumer AI brands generating 8-figure revenues and are serious about brand building.
This is an opportunity to connect with similar-stage founders and gain invaluable perspectives on scaling your business.
Agenda
- 3:00 – 3:30 PM | Guests Arrive & Refreshments
- 3:30 – 3:45 PM | Welcome & Guest Keynote
- 3:45 – 4:15 PM | Panel Discussion
- 4:15 – 4:45 PM | Q&A
- 5:00 onwards | Founders & Investors After Drinks & Bites (Location TBD)
Upcoming Sessions:
- Creative in the AI Era
- Retail & Demand Calibration
- Measurement Beyond Last Click
- Brand & Valuation
Sponsors
RTL AdAlliance, a premier advertising powerhouse, connects global brands to over 150 million European TV viewers daily through top-tier video content. MFG Founders benefit from access to RTL AdAlliance's regional and international experts, media inventory, market insights, competitive analysis, and guided workshops for crafting and implementing an effective media plan. As a subsidiary of Bertelsmann-owned RTL Group, RTL AdAlliance is part of the world's leading entertainment company across broadcast, streaming, content, and digital.
Paul Hastings - global law firm known for its high-level counsel to leading investment banks, corporations, and asset managers worldwide. With deep expertise in finance, M&A, private equity, and litigation, Paul Hastings is a trusted advisor to growth-stage and pre-IPO companies navigating complex capital markets. Operating across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the firm brings a collaborative, entrepreneurial approach — making them an ideal partner for brands scaling toward their next major milestone.
