About Bethan Vincent

Most marketing problems in growing businesses are wider strategic problems in disguise. I have spent over a decade working out where marketing activity stops translating into revenue, and helping leadership teams fix it.

I am the founder and Managing Partner of Open Velocity, a strategic marketing consultancy for scaling, technology-led businesses. We work with founders and leadership teams on go-to-market strategy, positioning and the marketing operating models that make growth repeatable. I also take on fractional CMO roles, where I sit inside a business and own the marketing function alongside the leadership team.

Bethan Vincent mid-talk on stage with one hand raised, in front of a large screen showing a video of them outdoors

Before Open Velocity, I was Marketing Director at Netsells, a York-based technology consultancy named Large Dev Agency of the Year at the UK Dev Awards, and Head of Marketing at Bytemark, a cloud hosting and platform business. That career was built where marketing, product and engineering meet, and it still shapes how I work: I care about what ships, what sells and what can be measured.

I have been a founder for most of my working life. I started Vincent's Coffee straight out of the University of York, went on to found Bright Ethics, an ethical certification platform, and invested in and advised Myles through to its acquisition by Santé Group. Building businesses under pressure taught me that clarity beats volume, and that most teams need fewer, better decisions rather than more activity.

AI sits at the centre of much of my current work. I am a healthy sceptic about the hype and a practical adopter of the tools, helping teams understand what AI changes in search, content and buyer behaviour, and what it does not.

My work has been recognised with the IoD Director of the Year award (Young and Start-Up, 2024) and the University of York Alumni Award for Enterprise Champion (2023). I speak internationally on marketing strategy, positioning and AI adoption, with recent appearances at WTSFest, Turing Fest, MozCon and Learn Inbound. You can find out more on my speaking page.

I live in North Yorkshire. Outside client work I write The Brave, my newsletter on technology, marketing and building a better future, and I still build digital products for the joy of it.

If you are a founder or leadership team whose marketing is busy but not delivering, take a look at how I work with clients or get in touch.

Bethan Vincent speaking on stage in front of an Open Velocity slide, gesturing as they talk

Awards

Winner, IoD Director of the Year 2024 (Young and Start-Up), Institute of Directors
Winner, University of York Alumni Award 2023 (Enterprise Champion)
Nominated, Prolific Marketer of the Year 2024, Prolific North Marketing Awards
Winner, Noonies 2020: Indie Hacker Writer of the Year and Diversity Champion

Selected speaking

WTSFest, London, February 2025
Turing Fest, Edinburgh, July 2024
MozCon, Seattle, June 2024
Applied AI, Leeds, August 2023
Learn Inbound, Dublin, March 2023
GitLab Commit, San Francisco, January 2020

"Bethan was one of the highest-rated speakers amongst a pretty stellar lineup at Turing Fest last November. They're also a lovely human, which always helps!"
Brian Corcoran, CEO, Turing Fest

Short bio (third person)

50 words

Bethan Vincent is the founder and Managing Partner of Open Velocity, a strategic marketing consultancy for scaling, technology-led businesses. A serial founder and former Marketing Director, they help leadership teams close the gap between marketing activity and commercial results. Bethan won IoD Director of the Year (Young and Start-Up) in 2024.

150 words

Bethan Vincent is the founder and Managing Partner of Open Velocity, a strategic marketing consultancy for scaling, technology-led businesses. They work with founders and leadership teams on go-to-market strategy, positioning and marketing operating models, and hold fractional CMO roles with growing technology companies.

Bethan previously led marketing client-side for tech companies, building a career at the intersection of marketing, product and engineering. A serial founder, they started Vincent's Coffee and the ethical certification platform Bright Ethics, and invested in and advised Myles through to its acquisition by Santé Group.

Bethan is an international speaker on marketing strategy, positioning and AI adoption, with appearances at MozCon, Turing Fest, WTSFest and Learn Inbound. They won IoD Director of the Year (Young and Start-Up) in 2024 and the University of York Alumni Award for Enterprise Champion in 2023. Bethan is based in North Yorkshire.

In the press

About Bethan Vincent