About Us
It's a Shovel is a strategic communications and founder visibility consultancy based in Bath, UK, working with founder-led advisory and professional services firms. It exists to solve a problem most founders misdiagnose as a pipeline problem: they are not being seen, cited or recommended in the places their buyers now make decisions.
Unlike the technical AEO and GEO services that have emerged to game AI search, It's a Shovel starts with reputation. Its proprietary Founder Visibility Stack™ methodology treats earned authority as the foundation, builds visibility across the six channels that now shape who gets chosen, namely AI assistants, search engines, peer networks, press and earned media, LinkedIn, and events and platforms, and then connects that visibility directly to commercial pipeline. The principle is simple: AI tools and buyers alike recommend the names they already see trusted, online and in the real world, so the aim is not merely to be findable but to be citable.
The approach also carries a longer heritage. Whitcutt first set out her Reputation with Purpose thinking in January 2018, the same week as Larry Fink's landmark 'A Sense of Purpose' letter and before the US Business Roundtable redefined corporate purpose in 2019. That work has since evolved from purpose to authenticity: the conviction that a reputation only holds if it is authentically earned rather than manufactured, which is exactly what makes it credible to the people, and now the machines, that decide who to recommend.
Every engagement is led personally by founder Jessica Whitcutt MCIPR, drawing on around 30 years in reputation management and strategic communications across five continents.
Press releases
Small firms were already struggling. Now AI search is draining their...
UK small businesses have spent two hard years battling rising costs and flat demand. Now a quieter shift is draining the one thing they cannot... read more
09.06.2026 • By It's a Shovel
