#30: “Insecurity drives improvement” - Phil Neal
3.5X Podcast: | Start-ups | Entrepreneurs | Scale-ups
English - December 24, 2018 16:34 - 28 minutes - 64.8 MBEntrepreneurship Business Technology founder business businessowner ceo enterprise entrepreneur entrepreneurship inspiration interview investment Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
“Insecurity drives improvement” with Phil Neal
In this episode, we had the amazing opportunity to chat with one of (if not THE) most prolific EdTech entrepreneurs in the UK: Phil Neal.
For any listeners who went to school in the UK in the last 30 years, there’s a very good chance you’ve used or been exposed to Phil’s software. Phil is the brains behind the SIMS Management Information System, used in over 80% of (or 20,000!) schools in the UK. It’s reached many 10s of millions of users, and also has an international presence across 50 countries around the globe.
As a teacher in his earlier years, Phil, like many entrepreneurs, had an ‘itch of his own to scratch’ - the outcome, a system that soon caught the attention of multiple school groups and councils, and some years later, the attention of Capita who eventually acquired SIMS.
To scale any business to that size is unbelievable impressive, to do it in a market as challenging as the UK education sector is even more impressive.
In this episode we discuss:
Scaling and huge growth
Finding the right partner for acquisition
Appetite for risk and spotting opportunities
Focusing on the benefits you’re providing
Smart pricing strategies
Picking the right founding team
And as always, plenty more…