MAARTEN HOFFMANN: Tell us about your childhood, family background and early career.

MATT TURNER MBE: I had a really simple yet fun childhood. My brother James and I were always super competitive. We lived in a semi-detached house, shared a bedroom and had a work ethic drilled into us from an early age. My dad had his own small catering business that I would often work in at weekends, and I don’t think we ever had a family holiday as money was always tight.

At the age of 11, my school teacher had a massive influence in encouraging my creativity. Her name is Barbara Southgate (or Mrs Southgate to me), and yes, she is the mother of England manager Sir Gareth Southgate! Saying that, we always practised penalties in PE!

From the ages of 14 to 16, I did work experience at the Football Association’s design agency in Bayswater during my school holidays. Little did I know back then that I would own 50% of a League One professional football team!

I didn’t go to college or university; I left school at 16 with 11 GCSEs and went straight into full-time work. I wrote to about 100 local design and print companies and said I was leaving school. I said I’d work the first month for free, then I wanted £6,000 a year, and a company in Redhill gave me my first opportunity.

I trained as a terrible graphic designer. Great at the ideas and vision, but absolutely atrocious at putting them on paper. I learnt so much, and because the business was small, I got to see every aspect. After two years, I was fired because I told the owner I thought it could be done better!

My final job was with a family-run agency in London. I started as an awful graphic designer, and by the time I was 20, I was running the business, had doubled the turnover and brought in new service offerings, but you have to remember this was 2004/05, and the internet was starting to blow up, especially in the creative marketing space. My final managers’ meeting was on Friday, March 31st 2006, where I requested that we start a digital department; otherwise, the traditional design-for-print side of things was going to slow down. I was told it was just a fad, and when I dug my heels in, I was fired! 

On Saturday, April 1st 2006, Creative Pod was born!

MH: How did you start in business? 

MT: I saw the writing on the wall with my final employer, and in October 2005 I registered Creative Pod. I knew I needed to see if I was right and if my way and thoughts worked. I had lost my full-time job, had just bought my first flat, had £6,000 saved and no computer, portfolio or clients. I started small and slow, going to networking events, messaging people on what was a very primitive LinkedIn, and slowly winning work, outsourcing the printing and keeping a small margin.

The irony is that my first-ever job was a £1,200 order for some brochures. I still have the cheque the client sent me as it bounced! That was a very wide awakening to the real world and how business actually works. 

Creative Pod was my first ever proper business, and we started trading in April 2006. I’d tried different side hustles that delivered pocket money, but this was the first time I was going at things properly.

MH: Give some context to the launch of Creative Pod. Why, what were your original plans, and how much has that plan changed over the years?

MT: I was on my arse; I had zero income and a mortgage to pay with limited experience in the bigger scheme of things. The initial plan was to design collateral for people, put a mark-up on the print and literally win enough jobs to pay the bills. Then, when digital marketing, social media and websites exploded, I jumped on the bandwagon and started to push those services.

After about two years, I had grown the business to about £400,000 a year – but then in 2008, the credit crunch hit. Innocence can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, and I had no idea what a recession was or even meant.

This was until, overnight, two of my biggest clients, who made up 80% of the business, relocated and brought everything in-house. I was in trouble again.

So I went on holiday to Dubai and ended up winning a £100,000 project whilst on holiday! That saved me and enabled me to weather the storm that was taking place. I stayed in the Middle East for about two years and then won Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010

This culminated in my co-founding Young Start up Talent - a not-for-profit social enterprise that helped 16-25-year-olds start their business, with a £50,000 prize fund. It was meant to be a one-hit wonder and ended up running for 11 years, creating over 700 start-ups and over 3,000 jobs.

I’m also a Patron for two local Sussex-based charities, Chestnut Tree House and St Peter and St James Hospice and an Ambassador for others such as the Johnson BeHarry Foundation, The Actors House and The Russell Martin Foundation, just to name a few.

MH: How meaningful was the awarding of the MBE?

MT: The MBE was a massive shock. I thought the letter was Jury Service at first! 30-odd years ago, my brother and I used to host our own investitures in the back garden, pretending to Knight and Honour one another. Little did we know when we were playing in the garden that this was actually going to reality infant one the King!

Receiving the MBE on November 12th 2025, nearly 20 years to the day that I registered Creative Pod, was the most surreal day of my life. It’s like having a wedding where you’re the bride and the groom! 

I’m incredibly proud of the honour and wear it with pride. It’s special to receive that level of recognition, especially when my career still has a long way to go!

MH: What are your plans for the future?

MT: Achieving great things is the easy bit. The challenge is maintaining, appreciating and evolving what you have achieved or created. That’s my main focus along with continuing the good I do for so many charities and not-for-profit organisations.

MH: Tell us about Matt Turner MBE when he’s away from Creative Pod…

MT: I’ve had three employers in my lifetime and been fired by every single one. My only regret is that I’ve never had a leaving party!

In 2013, I had the opportunity to acquire 50% of my boyhood team Crawley Town FC. I used to go and watch them when they were non-league, and to be the co-owner 20 years later was a massive pinch-yourself moment.

Football taught me so much. Everything I applied to football administration from the way I run the business failed monumentally, yet everything I applied the other way around worked incredibly well. When you’re working with limited resources, experience and knowledge, you have to think smart.

Several times a season, the manager would send round lists of possible players they wanted to buy, so one of the things I used to do was go home, buy all the players on FIFA, put them into my Crawley team, and see how they performed. It was crude, but it worked for sure!

A role I’m incredibly proud of is my position with the Department for Business and Trade as an Export Champion. A role that enables me to fly the flag for British business whilst also helping clients and companies expand into new markets overseas.

Matt Turner MBE is Founder and CEO of Creative Pod

www.creativepod.uk.com