About Us

We've always inspired young people to pursue audacious careers.

Discover our origin story below:

“[h3] Our founder, Peter, was completing a history degree at UCL and felt frustrated by the careers options available. 

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— 01:
“[h3] He started The Graduate Guide podcast in the basement of a local university pub to dymisty alternative career paths.

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— 02:
“[h3] The plan? Learn from founders & industry leaders who had been there and done it.  

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— 03:
“[h3] Peter managed to get experience at UK startups but noticed others weren’t so lucky 

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— 04:
“[h3] One soon became two: Marlene joined as Co‑founder. 

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— 05:
“[h3] Together, they spent months working out how to solve the graduate job market crisis, 

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— 06:
“[h3] Viral events with Zero Gravity & Google Cloud, along with months of work, helped us to test ideas...

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— 07:

Now, we are upskilling emerging talent to join the UK's top startups and scaleups.

Partnered with:

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Meet the founders who make it all happen:

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Peter Wood, Founder & CEO

Peter launched The Graduate Guide podcast from a pub basement while studying history at UCL - mostly because he had no idea what career he wanted, and figured other students didn’t either. Since then, he’s been the first hire at Water2, led global events at blockchain startup EasyA, and spent far too long wondering why the graduate job market still doesn’t work. Now running The Graduate Guide full time, Peter’s focused on opening up real pathways into the startup world for early talent.

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Marlene Leiss, Co-Founder & COO

Marlene is a passionate entrepreneur with a love for all things operations. She graduated top of her class from LSE and went on to earn a master’s with distinction in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship from UCL. Her startup journey began at university with Nizz, a task management app she co-founded. Before diving into the startup world full-time, she worked as a people consultant and organised leadership retreats for 100+ senior leaders from leading German corporations and startups. 

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Come and find us at our Kings Cross studio:

101 Euston Road
NW1 2RA 

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The Graduate Guide studio setup with a gray sofa on the left, a black camera on a tripod in the center, a white table with a chair, a black chest of drawers, and studio lighting equipment in the room with wood-paneled walls and a gray carpet.
Founders of The Graduate Guide and guest sitting at a table with microphones, in a podcast or interview setting, with a wooden slat wall background and a potted plant.

Want to Hear from the UK’s Top Founders – In Person?

The Graduate Guide is partnering with NatWest Accelerator to bring the UK’s top entrepreneurs to you.

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