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As part of Fast Forward 2026, participants will gain access to a team of experienced mentors, each bringing a distinct area of expertise to help founders navigate growth with confidence. From leadership and recruitment to brand, innovation, governance and investment, our mentors provide tailored support designed around the challenges and opportunities facing ambitious screen businesses today.
This week, we're introducing Tim McSweeney, Fast Forward mentor for Innovation and Process.
About Tim
Tim McSweeney is a strategic advisor who bridges the gap between technology, business and creativity. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience in equity investment and venture strategy, he helps entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors identify emerging opportunities and translate innovation into tangible business outcomes.
Tim's mentoring focuses on helping founders develop commercial acumen, navigate complexity and build the structures needed to support sustainable growth.
Why is mentoring particularly valuable during a period of business growth?
Founders don't get taught how to build a business. Most of us just fall into it, pulled along by an idea and building everything around it as we go. Every business shares some common elements, such as customers, offerings and branding, but there's no single manual you can follow step by step.
Success is never a solo act. A founder can hold the vision alone, but they can't make it commercially real alone. This is a gap where most ventures actually stall, and it only widens as you grow. Every problem solved tends to spawn two more. That's exactly the moment structured support matters most, not least.
Which aspects of our cohort's growth journey do you feel you add the most value to?
I try to give founders scaffolding for their own decisions, not a model that replaces their judgement. The business responsibility still has to be theirs.
A big part of that is helping them see the boundaries of a problem, not just chase a solution to it. Every business has problems. That never stops. Half the battle is knowing which one actually matters right now, where it starts and where it ends. Get that right and the right solution tends to follow.
What do you enjoy most about mentoring and supporting businesses on this programme?
Honestly, it's the relationships, not the transactions. I've been lucky to have brilliant mentors of my own and there's something rewarding about paying that forward.
I also love working alongside creative, driven people building something new. There's real admiration in watching someone bring an idea to life and getting to help. And as the old joke goes, "I'd run a great company if it weren't for my staff and my customers" which is really just to say, the people are the whole point.
What do you hope businesses take away from working with you?
A business only grows as far as its founder does. That's the honest truth of it.
My work was never to hand someone a better document. It's to help them build real commercial acumen, communicate why what they are doing matters and put a commercial structure in place that lets them keep growing without carrying it all alone. That's what I hope stays with them long after we've stopped working together.
Ready to Fast Forward Your Growth?
Fast Forward is Creative Enterprise's six-month growth programme for ambitious screen businesses looking to strengthen their commercial foundations, unlock new opportunities and build long-term resilience. Through tailored mentoring, expert-led workshops and peer learning, participants gain the tools, insight and confidence needed to scale sustainably.
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Applications for Fast Forward 2026 are now open.
Find out more and apply: https://creativeenterprise.wearecreative.uk/fast-forward