Young entrepreneurs: Guy Riese, UpLearn

Name: Guy Riese
Company: UpLearn
Age: 22
Website: uplearn.co.uk

At 22-years of age Guy Riese is already a seasoned entrepreneur, having been in business for the best part of a decade.

He launched his first start-up, an internet hosting firm, aged just 13 and grew the business to serve over 5,000 customers, selling it seven years later. He went on to join the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, where he built up a beneficial network of peers, executives and investors.

Riese’s second business would have a different focus, with the business idea originating from an illness.

During his A-levels, Riese contracted glandular fever and, fearing he’d fall behind in his studies, decided to take learning into his own hands. After researching different learning techniques online, the young entrepreneur began to read up on cognitive science and started to apply techniques like retrieval practice and spaced repetition to his studying.

Returning to school to take a chemistry test, Riese shocked his teacher by obtaining top marks in his class – and his start-up UpLearn was born soon after.

Combining artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive science, UpLearn allows parents and students to access online tuition for a range of school subjects.

The platform claims to enable students to achieve results “better than any school in the country” and has already helped over 12,720 students, with 95% achieving A or A* results.

Priced at £200 per student per year, the online platform also offers free membership to disadvantaged students via The Access Project and IntoUniversity, guaranteeing each user an A grade or their money back.

Riese’s start-up also has noticeable support behind it. Having previously bagged a £10,000 Young Innovator’s award grant, UpLearn was also awarded silver for education and consumer products in MassChallenge 2016 – a testament to how far the business has come in such a short space of time.

If you think you’re too young to start a business, let Riese’s story be a lesson to you!