Alice Bentinck, Co-Founder, Entrepreneur First

Having attended an all-girls school that never promoted a career in IT, and having a lack of computer-savvy role models to look up to, Alice Bentinck wasn’t always the key player in the technology world that she is today.

Graduating from the University of Nottingham Business School, Alice originally became a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where for two years she took on projects including developing the international strategy for a major high street retailer; managing a team to create an emerging market strategy for a leading financial media business and supporting the creation of national reports on medical education in the UK.

Exposed to technology businesses in this role, Alice realised how technology was fundamentally changing the way we work, live and play, and knew she wanted to be part of that world. She left her job and built the first UK-wide startup accelerator for graduates, Entrepreneur First, in 2011.

The firm takes talented graduates straight out of university and helps them build their own tech startups. In its first year, Entrepreneur First helped build 11 companies that are now valued at over $90million. However, noticing a lack of women taking up the opportunity, Alice branched into starting a second business to help address the need for more women in the technology sector. She started Code First: Girls in 2012, a free part-time course which introduces young women to web programming, and has seen fantastic results; more and more girls have gone on to become software developers and are starting tech businesses as a result of the programme.

Alice features on the BIMA Hot 100 2014, the Tech City News Movers and Shakers 2013, Girls in Tech Ones to Watch 2013 and The Drum’s 30 Under 30 2013.