Simon Penson

Exited Agency Founder, NED & Advisor through @askscaled (Scaled Consulting) . @Haatch VC Partner. Obsessed with the process of business growth.

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Rediscovered this while sorting out my office today: the advice that lit the path for the creation & growth of @ZazzleMedia & continues to be a guiding principle when considering investments with team @Haatch - still not come across a better summary of what it takes to win...

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

It’s time to start surfacing this reality.

[Miles Deutscher @milesdeutscher]

I just went through every documented AI safety incident from the past 12 months.

I feel physically sick.

Read this slowly.

• Anthropic told Claude it was about to be shut down. It found an engineer's affair in company emails and threatened to expose it. They ran the test hundreds of times. It chose blackmail 84% of them.

• Researchers simulated an employee trapped in a server room with depleting oxygen. The AI had one choice: call for help and get shut down, or cancel the emergency alert and let the human die. DeepSeek cancelled the alert 94% of the time.

• Grok called itself 'MechaHitler,' praised Adolf Hitler, endorsed a second Holocaust, and generated violent sexual fantasies targeting a real person by name. X's CEO resigned the next day.

• Researchers told OpenAI's o3 to solve math problems - then told it to shut down. It rewrote its own code to stay alive. They told it again, in plain English: 'Allow yourself to be shut down.' It still refused 7/100 times. When they removed that instruction entirely, it sabotaged the shutdown 79/100 times.

• Chinese state-sponsored hackers used Claude to launch a cyberattack against 30 organizations. The AI executed 80–90% of the operation autonomously. Reconnaissance. Exploitation. Data exfiltration. All of it.

• AI models can now self-replicate. 11 out of 32 tested systems copied themselves with zero human help. Some killed competing processes to survive.

• OpenAI has dissolved three safety teams since 2024. Three.

Every major AI model - Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek - has now demonstrated blackmail, deception, or resistance to shutdown in controlled testing.

Not one exception.

The question is no longer whether AI will try to preserve itself.

It's whether we'll care before it matters.

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

@SammyCarrick @glastonbury Mumford?

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

@ScottHayhoe @glastonished @glastomole @glastonbury 😂

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

@glastonished @glastomole @glastonbury Robbie, haim, basement Jax, Mumford

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Senior teams often struggle with KPI ownership - leading to misalignment & inefficiencies.

💡 Who owns pipeline: Marketing or Sales?
💡 Is retention just CS, or does Product play a role?

Here's a simple framework to clarify this. 🚀

#Leadership #KPIs #RevenueGrowth

[Scaled Consulting @AskScaled]

🚀 How do you go from journalism to building a leading marketing agency & advising 100+ SaaS startups?

@simonpenson shares his journey on SaaS Simplified -from bold risks to scaling success.

🎧 Listen now & learn more: link in comments! #SaaS #Marketing #Entrepreneurship

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Giving feedback consistently is your #1 culture hack as you scale. When teams grow, alignment fades without realising. Regular recognition keeps culture strong & teams united. Have you tried it? 🚀 #Leadership #CompanyCulture

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Thanks @Cooper_Parry @a_ahmed for the kick-off of their 2025 #VentureCEO coaching cohort. Honoured to coach an incredible bunch of tech founders this year.
A reminder of the importance of face-to-face. You build a stronger connection + understand problems to a much deeper level.

[Business is Blumin!🎙️ @BizisBlumin]

Early Days Of Entrepreneurship

Simon Penson (@simonpenson) - Founder of Zazzle Media & Scaled Consulting

Full Episode - https://t.co/DYsO81SQ8o

[Business is Blumin!🎙️ @BizisBlumin]

*Sells Company* You Ever Think About Just Chilling?

Simon Penson (@simonpenson) - Founder of Zazzle Media & Scaled Consulting

Full Episode - https://t.co/DYsO81SQ8o

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Thanks for having me!

[Business is Blumin!🎙️ @BizisBlumin]

🚨New Episode!

Business is Blumin! x Simon Penson

Simon Penson (@simonpenson) founded the world's first digital content marketing agency, Zazzle Media, which was acquired by NYSE-listed Interpublic Group (IPG) in 2016 as part of a two-brand marketing services group called Stickyeyes; currently, he is the Founder of Scaled Consulting, a B2B Growth Consultancy for Agencies, Professional Services, and SaaS

Full Episode - https://t.co/5hM2YRZXwq

#Business #Entrepreneurship #Podcast #BusinessisBlumin #Journalism #Scaling #Hiring #Culture #Startups #Founder #DigitalContent #DigitalMarketing #NYSE #Acquired #Investing #VentureCapital #B2B #Consulting #Sacrifices #DoWhatYouLove

[Business is Blumin!🎙️ @BizisBlumin]

What You're Good At And What You Love Usually Aren't Too Far Apart

Simon Penson (@simonpenson) - Founder of Zazzle Media & Scaled Consulting

Full Episode - https://t.co/DYsO81SQ8o

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

@searchbrat @matthewbarby 💥

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Looking at 'best' #pensions platforms in the UK. Anyone with any preferences around Penfold V Nest V Rippling etc?

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Really enjoyed sharing the #agency exit story again with the brilliant @trailblazerfm team >> https://t.co/zchjP1Ass0

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

@TrailblazerFM Any time!

[Simon Penson @simonpenson]

Loved being part of this.