At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Career Planning space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Doug Monro
Co-Founder and CEO of Adzuna
Doug was most recently COO of property portal Zoopla. From 2008 he led the growth of the team from 5 to 75 people and the site to number 2 in UK property with 5M visitors a month, organically and through acquisitions. Previously he was MD of Gumtree.com, the UK’s largest classified ads site, where he built the team and business through a fun growth ramp after acquisition by eBay in 2005. Prior to Gumtree, Doug worked for eBay UK, Bain & Company, Unilever and also as an entrepreneur. Doug has a BA in English from Cambridge, an MBA from Kellogg, and hates to admit he is a qualified accountant.
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About Adzuna: Adzuna is a smart search engine for job ads.
Theo Pape
Founder, CEO of DRONEWORK
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About DRONEWORK, Flickreel: DRONEWORK is a drone mission matching platform for professional drone operators.
Euan Blair
Founder & CEO of Multiverse
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About Multiverse: Multiverse is a tech startup that matches talent who have not graduated from college with apprenticeship opportunities.
James Manktelow
Founder and CEO of Mind Tools
James founded Mind Tools in 1996. Today he leads a global team of experts who, together, help more than 21,000,000 people each year learn “the essential skills for an excellent career.” James has written seven books on leadership, team management, and personal productivity: “WorkLife: Manage Your Time”; “WorkLife: Manage Stress”; “Mind Tools”; “Stress Tools”; “Make Time for Success!” (written with Namita Anand); “How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You”; and “Team Tools: Build and Lead an Excellent Team” (written with Felix Brodbeck and Namita Anand).
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About Mind Tools: Online, instantly available management and leadership training.
Peter Kelly
Co-Founder & CEO of Imployable
Peter Kelly is a Former Royal Marines Commando and the CEO and co-founder of Imployable. In 2018 Peter won the regional and national NatWest Great British Entrepreneur of The Year Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit
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About Imployable: Mobile first technology that allows people to identify, map and track their way to a new career
Benjamin Todd
CEO, Co Founder & Executive Director of 80,000 Hours
In under three years with Ben’s leadership, 80,000 Hours has grown from a student society, to an Oxford affiliated charity, featured on TED, the Washington Post, the BBC Today Programme and more. Ben has a 1st from Oxford in Physics and Philosophy, has published in Climate Physics and speaks Chinese. Before 80,000 Hours, he was the first undergraduate to intern as an analyst at a top investment fund. Rather than taking the job, he persuaded the Chairman to donate £60,000 to 80,000 Hours.
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About 80,000 Hours: 80,000 Hours is an evidence-based advice on careers that make a difference.
James Uffindell
Founder & CEO of Bright
James Uffindell is Founder & CEO at Bright.
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About Bright: Bright is an online recruitment network that connects graduates, undergraduates and professionals with suitable job opportunities.
Shib Mathew
CEO of YunoJuno
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About YunoJuno: Online platform connecting freelancers and clients in the creative and technology sectors
Pratik Patel
Founder & CEO of RideKleen
Pratik is an environmental engineer from Drexel University whose passion for cars gave him the idea of combining both industries to come up with a viable and effective eco-friendly solution for car cleaning. As a sports car enthusiast himself, he knew what cars mean to their owners and the importance of a clean ride. In addition, Pratik realized the need for a reputable, national mobile cleaning company that can deliver consistent work for companies with fleets of vehicles. Now with over 8 years of experience in the auto cleaning and customer service industry, he is the Chief Executive Officer of RideKleen.
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About RideKleen: RideKleen is a mobile cleaning and fleet management company.
Milenko Pilic
CEO of HeySuccess
CEO of HeySuccess.
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About HeySuccess, One Young World: The default platform for international student mobility.
Norbert Morawetz
CEO of Potential.ly
Norbert is founder and CEO of lifelong learning platform Potential.ly, which is used at 50+ institutions to develop professional competences, employability and career readiness. Potential.ly is supported by the Young Foundation for its social impact on widening participation, diversity and inclusion. Norbert also designed and launched open educational resource team-match.com, which helped create more cognitive diverse learning teams at 100+ universities and was selected and has been awarded by the highly prestigious wayra.org tech accelerator programme. Norbert is als Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Learning at Henley Business School, where he leads flagship modules in entrepreneurship and digital leadership at UG, PG and MBA levels. He has extensive experience in learning and programme design, and is Programme Director for the BA in Entrepreneurship, and BA Entrepreneurship and Management. He is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), and has been recognized for his innovative work with the UK National Enterprise Educator of the Year Award. Norbert’s research interests are at the intersection of creativity, management and technology – key drivers of entrepreneurship and learning. He has used his expertise in psychometrics to consult with o2 and YSC on situational judgement tests, and is the creator of the pi psychometric Indicator, which has been completed by 60,000+ students in the UK. Prior to joining Henley, Norbert built up and ran the UK’s largest entrepreneurship programme at the University of Hertfordshire, which received the Times Higher Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award. Norbert holds an MA in Business Administration and Economics from the Karl Franzens University Graz (Austria) with distinction, and a PhD in Creative Industries Economics from the University of Hertfordshire. Norbert started his career in radio and film production, winning Filmmaker of the Year from ScreenEast in 2012.
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About Henley Business School, Potential.ly: The smart lifelong learning platform
Helen Tupper
Co-founder & CEO of Amazing If
Helen Tupper is the co-founder of Amazing If, an award-winning career development and training business, that helps organisations to engage their employees and individuals develop the skills to succeed in a Squiggly Career. Alongside Amazing If, Helen is the Director of Hoxby Collective’s Futureproofing Consultancy, helping organisations ensure their purpose, culture and structure are future fit, and a founding member of The New Work Network, an initiative designed to accelerate the adoption of flexible working. Her career in marketing has included roles as Marketing Director for Microsoft, Marketing Director for Virgin Red and Global Head of Customer Experience and Thought Leadership for BP Castrol. Helen shares her thoughts on the future of work and careers in her monthly column for Marketing Week and on her weekly Squiggly Careers podcast.
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About Amazing If, The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA): Amazing If is a consultancy that provides professional training and courses for the better career development of the people.
