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How Present Pal began


Meet Chris

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In 2014 Chris was a student with dyslexia at the University of Strathclyde and realised that the results of his business degree would rely largely on his ability to present to his peers. After consulting with the university’s disability service and dyslexia experts, Chris realised that there was no direct or accessible solution for presentation anxiety. With Chris determined to ensure that his public speaking fears didn’t lead to his exclusion, he created Present Pal.

Since launching the Present Pal app in 2018 we are now supporting over 10,000 learners and presenters in Higher Education in the UK and North America. We’ve expanded quickly, in the past year our team has quadrupled from 4 to 17, welcoming a host of talented, passionate individuals to the Estendio Team, bringing with them a range of skills and ideas to equip us in our mission.

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Our Values

Accessibility

It is essential that everything we do has accessibility at its core. Practice what we preach! We’re all about addressing pain points through simple solutions. We recognise that everyone is unique and has a different experience with learning differences and disabilities. We want to create a level, equal playing field for everyone to get the best out of themselves and each other. We are constantly innovating and looking for ways to do this.

Adaptability

We are a fast growing, exciting start up but we are a small team. We all need to pull our weight and add real value. There are no egos in the Estendio team and we all need to get our sleeves rolled up. This may mean being slightly out of our comfort zone or doing jobs or tasks which may not be your specialism but take this in your stride and look at this as another string to add to your bow adding to your personal development.

Ambition

We're an ambitious team who want to support every learner with tools and technology to help them grow and unlock their potential. Long term, we want nearly every PowerPoint and Google Slides user in the world to deliver their presentation with Present Pal. We want every school, every university and every conference to use our new audience accessibility tool and we want to help as many people get the best out of themselves as we can.

But we’re not just here to grow the company, we’re here to become the best versions of ourselves. Personal development is paramount at Estendio.

Attainment

We are constantly striving to be the very best we can be, both as a company and as individuals. We are always looking to learn more and expand our knowledge, growing as individuals and always looking to grow our personal development and be our best selves. But we also do everything we can to help each other wherever possible, sharing experiences, knowledge and helping others grow as we grow as a team.

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 Our Team

Chris Hughes, Founder & CEO

Chris Hughes, Founder & CEO

Cara Hunt, Chief Marketing Officer

Cara Bielecki, Chief Marketing Officer

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Linda Edstrand, Director of Product and Operations

 
Lorna MacDonald, Head of People

Lorna MacDonald, Director of People

Robert Moore, VP of engineering

Robert Moore, VP of Engineering

 
Ben Scott, Marketing Manager

Ben Scott, Marketing Manager

Claire MacDonald, Marketing Specialist

Joseph Dawber, UK Education Manager

Joseph Dawber, UK Education Manager

Sam Turley, Business Development Manager

Sam Turley, Business Development Manager

Alex Bierton, Senior Software Developer

Alex Bierton, Senior Software Developer

Kevin McDermott, Full Stack Developer

Kevin McDermott, Software Developer

Daniel Findlay, Junior Software Developer

Stephen Herd, Software Developer

Steven McCurrach, Senior UX/UI Designer

Steven McCurrach, Senior UX/UI Designer

Jamie Conway,

Lead UX Designer

Iain Landsburgh, Non Executive Director

Iain Landsburgh, Non Executive Director

Owen O’Donnell, Chair of the Board

Owen O’Donnell, Chair of the Board

Ian Cameron, Head of Finance

Ian Cameron, Head of Finance

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 Awards and Investors

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Scottish Edge

Wildcard Edge Winner 2016 (£10,000)

Young Edge Winner 2016 (£10,000)

Edge Round 13 Winner 2018 (£50,000)


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Converge Challenge

Kickstart Award Runner-up 2015 (£1,500)

Converge Challenge Runner-up 2016 (£29,000)


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Scottish Enterprise

SMART Award 2016 (£138,500)


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Microsoft AI for Accessibility

Announced as first European AI4A grantee


Investors

 
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SIB (Scottish Investment Bank) logo
ALT text: Strathclyde Entrepreneurial Network logo