It Started with a Spark

From spare room to global reach. No funding. No shortcuts. Just belief, resilience.

It didn’t begin with a five-year plan or a flashy pitch deck. Just a spark. One idea, a second-hand computer, and a spare room in Yorkshire.

I was 25. No funding. No office. No safety net. Just a gut feeling that the internet could change education. That schools deserved more than static pages and endless paperwork. That teachers and students deserved better tools—and a better experience.

So in 2003, I started Webanywhere.

The early days were far from glamorous. I juggled freelance jobs to make rent. I knocked on school doors, showed my prototype, and hoped someone would listen. I did the coding. I answered support calls. I chased invoices and squashed bugs. Everything took longer than expected. Every small win felt like a mountain climbed.

Then a headteacher took a chance. One school site turned into ten, then fifty. And just like that, it wasn’t just me anymore. We were a team. We had momentum. A culture began to take shape. A mission was born.

Over the next two decades, we grew—across sectors, across borders. We expanded into the US and Poland. We launched products like:

Each product had one thing in common: purpose. We weren’t building tech for the sake of it. We were building to make learning more human.

But growth doesn’t come without challenges. We’ve weathered recessions, pandemics, and the occasional knife in the back—like when a competitor poached staff. Deals fell through. Doubt crept in.

Still, I didn’t give up.

Because for me, Webanywhere has never just been a company. It’s a promise. A promise to my team that their work means something. A promise to our customers that we’ll always try to do the right thing. And a promise to my kids that persistence matters more than talent.

Now, two decades on, we’ve supported thousands of schools and businesses, and reached millions of learners. But it’s not the numbers I think about—it’s the people:

The SEN teacher who helped a nonverbal student find their voice using oracy tools.

The L&D manager using voice notes to train shift workers in their own time.

The headteacher in a rural village who finally feels heard online.

And me? I’m still here in Yorkshire. Still dreaming. Still building. Still believing the best ideas don’t start with big budgets—they start with belief.

That’s why we believe in second chances. I struggled with reading as a kid. I had to work harder to keep up. That experience shaped me. It’s why we build platforms that are simple, inclusive, and powerful.

We believe in resilience. We’ve had our share of knocks. But we get back up—because the work matters.

We believe in people. My family. My team. Our customers. Relationships are everything.

And we believe in lifelong learning. Whether you’re seven or seventy, there’s always something new to learn. That’s what drives us forward.

Webanywhere was built with grit, hope, and belief.

And we’re just getting started.