A Chat with Oliver Beach, UK General Manager at Start-Up Business School: Jolt

Jolt is the business school for the tech sector. We train exceptional talent and launch and grow exceptional careers.

We understand that an organisation’s greatest asset is its people, and startups and scaleups need talent to thrive. That’s why we have reinvented the business school model, preparing students for their futures with the practical skills, mindset and network to succeed.

We bring together industry experts for tailored programmes, delivered live and interactively. Our students learn from leaders at Microsoft, Google, Uber and Netflix among others, and go on to land roles at startups, scaleups and industry leaders, including Bulb, Allplants and Bloomberg.
 
 

 

How did you get involved with Jolt?

 
Having been in the UK’s EdTech scene for over a decade, I saw real promise in what Jolt could deliver for students with its innovative model, bringing together experts to build the next generation of leaders and innovators.

I initially looked to become a Jolter, helping teach Jolt’s students, but instead decided to join the business as I saw its growth and huge potential to transform the careers of thousands. I also closely follow the work of Balderton Capital and Octopus Ventures, the incredible backers of Jolt, and so was keen to be part of that brilliant portfolio of tech businesses.
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
Before the pandemic, we delivered flexible alternatives to the MBA where students learnt at their own pace. Whereas, since the pandemic, there is a sense of urgency on both the talent and business sides. We have now pivoted our business model to reflect this pace, creating a number of bespoke boot camps aimed at building and placing talent in the tech sector.

This included partnering with the Government to create our own tech sector-focussed version of Kickstart, the Government scheme creating work placements for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. Jolt’s Kickstart scheme has since created over 500 jobs with over 200 tech companies. We also launched our Switch bootcamp, helping early professionals switch to a career in tech. Since starting Switch, we have trained 150 students with 90 percent of them going onto land full-time roles, including with some of the UK’s biggest tech companies.
 

What can we hope to see from Jolt in the future?

 
We will continue to support companies in finding exceptional talent that we will then train for specific commercial roles. As the business school for the tech sector, for the candidates looking to enter and for the companies looking to hire, we will keep focussing on developing products that launch and grow careers.

We recently launched Bluebird, a free training bootcamp designed to launch careers in tech sales. Early career talent receive live world-class training, delivered by industry experts, before being placed in a SaaS sales role at a top tech company. We are proud to offer this training for free, placing the best talent into the tech sector regardless of background. One of the biggest problems in tech is talent shortage and so we are also really excited to play a part in bringing exceptional commercial talent into a sector keen for hungry talent.