Springpod in numbers
Founded in 2016, Springpod set out to close the gap between young people and the careers they could have. We quickly learnt that young people weren't lacking information, they were lacking real experience and opportunity. Closing that gap is what we've spent the years since building towards.
1.2m
young people reached
£508m+
in social value generated since 2022
45.6:1
social return on investment
4,000+
schools connected
160+
employer and university partners
Who we work with
Meet the Exec Team
Sam Hyams
CEO, Co-Founder
Sam studied mechanical engineering at university because, by his own admission, he had no clue what he wanted to do himself, and that gap never left him. He watched some young people lean on parents and alumni networks while others had no careers adviser at all, and decided that wasn't good enough. So he built Springpod to close it, and when the pandemic proved that young people weren't short of information; they were short of real experience, he knew exactly what the mission had to be. Ten years on, he's still driven by the same belief: every young person deserves the chance to actually experience a career before they commit to it.
Oliver Fisher
CPO, Co-Founder
Leaving school at 16 because, in his own words, he "wasn't academic," Ollie landed two weeks of work experience at an insurance tech company that turned into two years. From there he moved into a digital marketing apprenticeship at a video marketing agency, and that's where his obsession with startups, growth and product took hold. He met Sam at a BBQ, joined him running UTC Hub, and together they launched Springpod into the mainstream. It's that exact path, work experience student turned apprentice turned co-founder, that keeps him relentlessly focused on solving the one problem that matters most: how you make real opportunity work at scale. It is ironic that the self-proclaimed terrible student is now the one building products for schools.
Andy Dillow
COO
Andy started out in a corporate career as a consultant with Accenture and then in an investment bank in New York, but he ultimately left because he couldn't answer the question: how did I end up in financial services in the first place? He set out to solve that problem: how do you help young people get better support in making these relatively life-changing career decisions? Initially, he worked on in-person experiences with international internships around the world, but felt like technology was essential to make it accessible to all. When he joined Springpod three years ago, they set out first to make Virtual Work Experience a world-leading product and then extending the mix to solve the ultimate challenge of how to get a young person into a job. Now, with Springpod offering that end-to-end solution, it really feels like it's just a question of scale to fully stop any young person asking, "How do I figure out what I want to be?"
Meet our Board
Justin Cooke
Chair
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Justin is an entrepreneur, investor and business leader who has spent much of his career at the intersection of technology, education, media and talent. For him, Springpod's mission is personal: thanks to his parents' sacrifices, he was the first in his family to go to university, and he's seen throughout his career how much of someone's future is shaped by the opportunities they're exposed to, the people they meet and the confidence they gain early on, access that remains deeply uneven, too often determined by where a young person lives, the school they attend or who their parents know. It's a belief that runs through his career: alongside founding, investing in, building and exiting more than 11 businesses, Justin was a driving force behind digital accessibility, including lobbying for its inclusion in the Disability Discrimination Act, served as Vice Chair of UNICEF UK, supporting its mission to give every child the chance of a happy, healthy life, and was Deputy Chairman of FutureLearn, helping democratise access to education regardless of geography or background. As Springpod's Chairman, his focus is on expanding that mission, working with employers, educators and entire industries to make opportunity more equitable and strengthen the connection between education and the world of work, alongside a wider portfolio of education, technology and media businesses he chairs and advises, though it's Springpod he's particularly proud of, sitting at the intersection of two things he's long cared about: widening access and helping people fulfil their potential.
Hannah Williamson
General Partner at Edge
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Hannah is General Partner at Edge, a creative-tech investor she's been with for over a decade, rising through the firm to lead investment in sector-defining media, education and entertainment businesses. She's been a Springpod board member since 2023, alongside board roles at A Million Ads and Newsflare.
Alex Bishop
Associate Director at UFI Ventures
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Alex is Associate Director, Ventures at Ufi VocTech Trust, where he recently launched the Ufi Ventures Challenge Fund to back seed-stage skills-for-work start-ups. He's been a Springpod board observer since 2022, alongside similar roles at TaskHer and Gladys.
Geoff Hyams
Chairman at Patrol Store
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Geoff spent 17 years in the Metropolitan Police, running murder squads, before leaving in 1999 to build a string of businesses serving the police and security sector, including Police Oracle, The NSI Group and UniformDating.com, sold to Cupid plc in 2012. He's now Chairman of Patrol Store, the UK's leading supplier of police and security kit, and has been a Springpod board member since 2016.
Rilwan Meeran
Head of Alternative Investments at Britebound
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Rilwan is Head of Alternative Investments at Britebound, with a career spanning venture capital and private equity across MassMutual, Flat World Partners and Leopard Capital. At MassMutual he founded an impact investing programme to support underrepresented fund managers and entrepreneurs, and he's been a Springpod board member since 2024.
Everything we do is in service of making sure every young person gets a fair shot at figuring out their future. That's the whole reason Springpod exists.
We're always looking for people who care as much about young people's futures as we do. See our current openings and find out what it's like to work at Springpod.
Where to find us
London
Arch 6, Maltings Place, 169 Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 3LJ
Liverpool
Digital House, Baltic Triangle, Liverpool, L2 2QP