In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the founder of Teach First, and co-founder and CEO of Tiney, Brett Wigdortz OBE.

Driven by a sense of fairness, and a belief that all children should have access to the best education possible, Brett launched Teach First in 2002, convinced that it would ultimately become one of the biggest graduate recruiters and charities in the UK. His instincts were right.

After 15 hugely successful years, he stepped down as CEO in 2017 and went on to set up Tiney, a digital startup aimed at positioning small nurseries in homes all around the country.

As Brett explains in today’s episode, he saw an early years’ educational system that was completely broken, and made it his mission to fix it.

During our conversation we cover some really interesting areas, including:

Why resilience and self-belief are key when you’re starting a new business.

The importance of getting a full picture of potential hires by talking to as many references as possible.

And how to seek out the right mentors and use their knowledge and guidance in a way that suits you.

Brett talks with great honesty about the lessons he has learned along the way, and how he might have done things differently – which is so inspiring and insightful from such a successful entrepreneur.

If you’re thinking about launching a startup yourself, there are few people better placed to give you a full view of the business landscape – you won’t want to miss this episode.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at [email protected]

If you want to find out more about Brett, take a look at his LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-wigdortz-obe-5ba64b

If you want to find out more about Tiney, head over to – https://www.tiney.co/

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