The inaugural Tim Marsh Memorial Award has been announced by Bristol-based creative business Istoria Group. The award was set up in memory of former team member Tim Marsh, who sadly passed away after a short illness in 2022.

About Tim Marsh:

Tim Marsh was formerly a Co-Founder of and the Head of Technical at Solverboard – an Istoria Group Incubator Hub business. Istoria Group’s Incubator Hub supports fledgling businesses based on great ideas in their earliest stages, helping them develop and explore their potential until they become independent.

Management innovation platform Solverboard was a great success for all concerned, going on to be purchased in 2022 by AIM-listed global software and services company Sopheon, where the innovation product was re-branded as Acclaim Ideas. Tim led the programming team on the platform’s entire development, drawing on expertise from his impressive background in large-scale technical projects for the Royal Mail, the Post Office and the RNLI.

‘Tim was an exceptionally talented person’ Istoria Group CEO Sam Rowe commented. ‘He was highly regarded by his peers in the tech world and also hugely appreciated on a personal level by all who came across him because of his kindness and constant readiness to offer support and mentorship. Tim was a born educator and never happier than when sharing his expertise and helping bring people of all ages and backgrounds forward to realise their potential.’

About the Award:

The award is intended to further Tim’s legacy of ‘using tech for good’. When creating the logo for the new award, the design team at Istoria Group referenced Tim’s love of birdwatching, incorporating a bird icon into the identity.

The award will encompass an intense six-month programme of mentorship, aimed at helping an incipient tech business become market-ready. The mentorship is offered at Director level by Istoria Group’s in-house experts and will cover every aspect of developing a tech business, along with marketing expertise and a web and brand refresh by sister agencies Tiny Spark and Phoenix Wharf respectively. Half a dozen ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions with Tim’s Co-founders at Acclaim Ideas – Phil Atherton and Charlie Widdows – are included, ensuring the recipient gets the very best real-world business advice.

The First Recipient:

The first recipient of the Award for 2023 is Bristol tech company Founder Angela Loveridge, whose initiative, Better Together, supports parents in keeping their children safe online by signposting them towards practical tools, techniques and resources, as well as by facilitating safe spaces for those awkward safety conversations and coaching parents so they are empowered to respond, not react, in a way that will keep channels of communication open with their kids and encourage constructive conversations.

Angela’s innovation is to recognise that people have very different parenting styles, meaning that safety guidelines need to be approached without judgement and adapted to and aligned with the unique needs of the child or children in any household.

‘We first met Angela as a finalist in our women-led Micro Business Incubator Hub Competition’, Sam Rowe explained, ‘and were all very impressed by her as a person and also by her vision for her business. We knew at once Angela was someone we wanted to support, to help ‘Better Together’ reach its full potential. When we launched the Tim Marsh Memorial Award, Angela immediately came to mind as the perfect fit.’

Angela Loveridge commented ‘I am absolutely delighted and truly honoured to be the first recipient of the Tim Marsh Memorial Award. Although I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Tim myself, I can already sense that he was clearly a remarkable individual, both in terms of his talent and his commitment to using technology for good. The award is a wonderful initiative and the incredible benefits that come with it are very exciting. I look forward to working with the team so that Better Together can empower more parents to keep their children safe online.’

About Istoria Group

Istoria Group is a collective of creative agencies with distinct but complementary skill sets. We're proud to be a certified B Corp and women-owned.