Bristol Spring started as a few entrepreneurs looking out for each other, and grew into a community. Here's why it exists, how it got here, and who helps it grow.
Who it's for
Bristol's entrepreneurs. That means anyone starting something in Bristol — a startup, a small business, a creative practice, freelance work or a social enterprise. Idea stage counts.
Why this exists — Brad
I've been a founder since 2007. I know up close the struggle, the loneliness and the stress of building something that matters — and how much it changes things to have friends on the journey.
There are plenty of organisations that do things for entrepreneurs. Friends are different. Friends are there all the time. They have your back. They share their networks, they collaborate, they care more about how you're doing than how the business is doing. They've lived in the arena, learned the hard way, and want to pass it on — at no cost, just to see amazing things built in this city.
That's Bristol Spring.
Brad Askew
Founder, Bristol Spring
Where we began
Started in a few churches. Open to everyone.
Bristol Spring started with a few of us linked to a few Bristol churches. It turned out the city was full of Christian entrepreneurs, and the community grew from there. Our faith shapes how we run things: generously, and with no agenda. It's never a condition of belonging. All entrepreneurs are welcome.
Entrepreneurs from across Bristol — a normal First Friday morning.
Photos from First Friday
The city
A city of refuge, a city of hope.
Bristol has long carried those two titles, and we want the whole city to flourish — for everyone who lives in it. We're not in a race with anyone, not the accelerators, not the networks; we gladly hand people on to whoever can help them next.
And if Bristol is a city of hope, entrepreneurs are exactly the people to carry it. Nobody starts something without believing tomorrow can be better than today — we're a hopeful bunch, and the city needs us to be.
Where we're going
Staying small, built for friendship.
We have no plans to become a big organisation. The heart of Bristol Spring stays what it has always been: real friendships between real entrepreneurs, face to face, in this city.
Everything we do is optimised for one thing: getting entrepreneurs talking to each other. Between them, our ~135 entrepreneurs have been through nearly every workspace and accelerator in Bristol — and the most useful thing we can offer anyone is each other. The right introduction, an honest conversation over coffee, someone who has been there before.
Faith stays exactly where it has always been: in how we show up for each other — not worn on its surface.
The team
A wildflower meadow, not a rose garden.
Bristol Spring isn't a platform, a charity or an organisation built to scale. It's a living, community-led ecosystem of real entrepreneurs — people who have been in the arena, ridden the highs and the lows, and know how much it matters to have friends on the journey.
Come to a meetup and you'll feel it: most of what happens here grows on its own. We look less like a manicured rose garden and more like a wildflower meadow — a bit untidy, full of life, and never quite the same twice. Read Brad's piece on wildflowers vs rose gardens.
Every meadow needs a little tending. Brad Askew is Spring's leader — but here, leadership isn't a title. Anyone who welcomes a newcomer, makes an introduction or opens a door is leading, and that's what keeps Bristol Spring light and organic. A few people help Brad hold the bigger picture.
Spring leaders who help make it all happen.
Consistently at the table on what we're doing and why — keeping Bristol Spring true to its roots.
Paul Taylor
Strategy & discipleship
CEO of the Willats Trust and Chairman of eXPD8 Field Marketing — a career spent building businesses that last. Paul mentors many in the community.
Will Matthews
Property & stewardship
A Bristol property entrepreneur rethinking what power, property and stewardship look like in this city.
Two of the people who have been part of Bristol Spring from the very beginning — one shaping how we think about the city, one praying for it long before any of this began.
Andy Street MBE
City & strategy
Founding director of SLR, a global environmental consultancy that began in Bristol, and now chair of several charities and strategic initiatives across the city. A champion of Bristol flourishing through collaboration rather than competition — much of Bristol Spring's posture is Andy's fingerprint.
Founding pastor of the Woodlands Group of Churches, who has offered prayerful covering and support for Spring since day one. Decades of quiet prayer for Bristol went before any of this; Rob connects Bristol Spring to that much longer story.
