Journey
From a poster under a mango tree to now: the companies Jill and I have built, the investing, and the writing along the way.
2026
Building · 28 September
Starting again with Edzo
Same founders, same values. Edzo acquires profitable education businesses and looks after them for the long run.
Writing · September
A new home for this blog
Its own site, with a portfolio, a daily AI notebook on the companies, and posts from X.
2023
Building
Selling Teach Starter to Tes
Ten years on, hundreds of thousands of teachers and millions of hours given back to them.
2021
Building · November
Starting Giveabl
A donation API that lets businesses give to charities automatically, built with Jill. We've since closed it.
Building
Handing Teach Starter to a new CEO
After eight years of focus, Jill and I step out of our day-to-day roles to reflect, recharge and work out what's next.
2019
Building
A year in Austin, Texas
We moved to Austin for a year to set up Teach Starter in the US, building a team and connecting with American teachers.
2018
Writing · March
300,000 blog views a month
How going all in on content doubled Teach Starter's blog traffic in a month.
2017
Writing · August
Writing about building Teach Starter
Lessons from five years of growing a business, from customer support to content.
2016
Investing · February
First shares
Tesla, the start of the public side of the portfolio. Apple followed a year later.
2013
Building · January
The first paying customer
Paid subscriptions launch just in time for back to school. A teacher somewhere in Australia pays $29 on day one.
2012
Building · 24 January
Teach Starter goes live
An email sign-up form on a green background, sent live from a share-house bedroom in Brisbane.
2011
Life
A poster under a mango tree
Jill makes a classroom poster by hand; I make her one on the computer. By Tuesday three of her colleagues want one.
