Episode Guest:
Lukas Kaminskis is the CEO of Boom Training and Turing College, two organisations focused on transforming tech education across Europe. He’s a serial entrepreneur passionate about building learner-first experiences that unlock economic mobility.
Benas Sidlauskas is the Chief Business Development Officer at Boom Training and Turing College. A long-time co-founder with Lukas, Benas is driven by creating scalable education models that equip people for the future of work.
Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:20 Meet Lukas and Benas: Co-Founders of Turing College
1:00 From debating rivals to co-founders
2:00 Lukas' first job: rats, grain, and coding bootcamps
3:20 Why Lukas turned down a political path
5:00 Benas’ first hustle: filmmaking at 14
6:15 The presidential film project that changed everything
7:30 Growing up in small towns, dreaming big
8:45 Turning down top universities to start something new
10:00 Investors said no — so they bootstrapped from scratch
11:20 Explaining bootstrapping: lessons and mindset
12:40 Organising events without a legal entity
14:00 Partnering with Harvard — and how Facebook helped
15:20 Getting government backing to bring CS50 to Europe
16:45 Flying to Boston and signing with Harvard
17:30 What Turing College actually does
18:40 Why AI and data skills matter more than ever
20:10 Scaling across 80+ countries
21:20 Impact stories from Uganda and Nigeria
22:40 Acquiring Boom Training and expanding in the UK
24:10 The apprenticeship system — and how they’re transforming it
25:20 Peer-led learning: the secret behind their model
26:30 What makes UK apprenticeships restrictive
28:00 Levy funding: what SMEs are missing out on
29:30 Why upskilling needs to go beyond senior leaders
31:00 What Europe must do to stay competitive in AI
32:00 Lukas on AI’s impact on the labour market
33:30 The financial mindset that helped them grow
34:20 Benas’ biggest money mistake
35:10 Lukas’ #1 advice on investing in yourself
36:00 Money tip: Spend first on “musts”, then “wants”
37:10 What success looks like in 5 years
38:20 Why education must evolve now
39:30 What’s broken in the system — and their fix
40:30 Their message to young people: take control
41:20 Their message to businesses: don’t forget the non-power users
42:20 Benas’ invisible success: resilience through rejection
43:20 Lukas’ invisible success: 10-year co-foundership
44:30 How they complement each other as co-founders
45:30 What gets Lukas out of bed: fixing the future of work
46:20 What motivates Benas: belief in Europe’s innovation potential
47:40 Jack’s reflections and final thoughts
48:40 Outro and thanks
Episode Partners:
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Dec 18 202535 m