St Paul’s Professional Network – Entrepreneurs

Students, parents and Alumni will hear from a panel of entrepreneurs experts comprised of Old Paulines and alumnae from St Paul’s Girls’ School and have the opportunity to talk with them about potential career ambitions and steps to take to pursue them.

The panel will be hosted by Nick Troen, SPS Head of Entrepreneurship, and they will be exploring what the start-up landscape looks like for entrepreneurs in the year ahead.

Simon Hay OP, 1999 – 2004

Simon cofounded an edtech software business with a fellow Pauline while they were doing their GCSEs to solve their own frustrations with learning online.  He built it as a sideline throughout his time at Oxford, a PhD at Cambridge and a stint on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs before quitting the City to work on it full-time.  He led it through two rounds of venture capital and the acquisition of two other companies to a successful exit to a US-based strategic investor, where he now helps lead the combined European business.  He also sits as a non-executive director on several boards, acts an advisor to a VC fund and mentor to early-stage startups and serves a governor at Francis Holland Schools.

Patrick Griffith OP, 1988 – 1993

Paddy was at SPS 1988-93, and then read English at Edinburgh University. He began his career in digital marketing, founding the creative agency Work Club in 2007 which he sold to Havas and exited in 2016. Subsequently he became an active investor in several tech-enabled businesses, as well as creating new ventures of his own: Huski, a meal delivery service for skiers in the French Alps; SHED, a meal replacement weightloss shake for normal blokes; and Wondr Medical, a SaaS medtech platform that raised £15m in venture funding but sadly ran out of road at the end of 2023. Paddy is launching his new thing this Spring: a commercial consultancy and technology that accelerates revenue creation for Sports Organisations. Paddy ascribes to the maxim, “If you can’t be a shining example, then at least be a horrible warning.”

Giles Tully OP, 1993 – 1998

PinPoint Data Science is the company behind the ‘PinPoint Test’, an AI-driven blood test for cancer which will transform urgent cancer referrals. Since becoming CEO in 2017, Giles has taken a part-time team of scientists with a great idea and grown PinPoint into a dynamic, professional team with a burgeoning reputation. Giles has been able to translate the potential of AI in early cancer detection to inspire investors and secure the backing of NHS England, SBRI Healthcare and Innovate UK. In March 2023, Giles was awarded a fellowship by the prestigious NHS Innovation Accelerator. The PinPoint Lower GI Test been approved by the NHS deployment in 2024 and major global diagnostic corporations are pushing for expansion as fast as possible.

Find out more about St Paul’s Careers and Networking events here.