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Turing College: Benas Šidlauskas, Tomas Moška, Lukas Kaminskis
Indeed, the online coding school recommendation site "Course Report" rates Turing College's data science program as one of the world's best for three years in a row. At the same time, Sifted ranked the startup first among Europe's fastest-growing educational technology startups and 17th in the overall rankings. We sat down with the platform’s founders Tomas Moška, Lukas Kaminskis, and Benas Šidlauskas – who shared insights on how they made it all happen.
The Turing College team are in broad agreement when it comes to what needs done to turn Lithuania into a breeding ground for unicorns: "If Lithuania wants to become the best country for unicorns globally, it needs to start with talent. Unicorns require the best people in their field – and talent grows in those places where education and opportunity intersect. That’s why it’s essential that Lithuania prioritizes upskilling and reskilling programs that prepare the workforce for a globalized, AI-driven economy, encompassing both technical and entrepreneurial skills. We need investment to be going into quality technological education, and experienced businesses to be sharing knowledge and working with fledgling companies. And, of course, there needs to be easier access to venture capital. If Lithuania invests in its people, it will not only create more unicorns but also nurture a generation of leaders ready to change the world."
Before starting the conversation and diving into all the stories and achievements today – what do you think is important to understand about how Turing College came about and how such businesses are developed?
Tomas: I'd say it was incredibly fortunate that the three of us started working together 10 years ago. We complement each other in our knowledge and skills. But I reckon the most important shared quality we have is perseverance. We had the drive and patience to keep going, even when we were earning just €100 a month. Looking at it honestly, most startup founders are a bit crazy – a rational person wouldn't work for 10 years, go into debt, all for the possibility of maybe creating something someday. Especially if you look at how many people fail. And it's not just about finances; often, it's about wanting to change something in the world.
Lukas: I'd go back to where this really began – we were all deeply frustrated by the education system we experienced firsthand. We couldn’t live with ourselves if we didn’t come up with a better alternative. Turing College encompasses everything that we ourselves wanted but never received. For a future startup founder, it's crucial to choose a problem that hurts so much that you simply cannot ignore it.
Benas: One of the most beautiful things for me about building this business is how many mental cycles we've gone through, the stages we've lived through, the different emotions we've experienced. And being able to look at how many colleagues who started on this journey are still with us. I'm not one to use the cliché that we're like family, but as a team, we're truly a force to be reckoned with. We've faced challenges and near bankruptcies, but the three of us have never, for example, yelled at each other. It’s that respectful chilled space that we’ve created and passed on to the team is one of the most beautiful things about Turing College for me.
How did you all meet? There are people out there that have great ideas, others have skills. Could you share how do you meet reliable partners and effectively work together in real life?
Lukas: In our case, Startup Lithuania played a significant matchmaking role. I was in school, participating in events for startup founders when they suggested I meet Tomas, who was developing a similar idea in the Netherlands. Benas and I had been friends since we were little. We met in European Parliament simulations designed to engage students in politics. In our case, it was more coincidence and luck, but I'd recommend that you look to partner with people who you can vibe with.
Tomas: And definitely – take the time to find the right kind of people. Even if just for your own mental health in the long term. It's important to have someone to consult with, to guide and motivate each other. It’s way harder to grow effectively on your own.
Could you tell us more about Turing College? What is it like today?
Tomas: Turing College is a startup dedicated to creating a new standard for tech education. The problem we're solving is how to provide quality education that is accessible to all. For example, if they discovered oil in one of the world’s many poorer countries right now, millions of its residents would become wealthy and they’d be able to pay for the right to receive quality education. Practically speaking, they would take someone else's place, because you can't suddenly create more schools or universities, you can't quickly train more people capable of teaching – the percentage of educated people in the world remains similar. We're decentralizing the process so that quality education becomes accessible to more people.
Lukas: We connect 1,500 active students of over 40 different nationalities – from the US to Taiwan. Our three largest markets are Lithuania, Germany, and England. Since we organize training remotely in English, our students can acquire coding knowledge wherever they are and start tomorrow or even today. We're now focusing heavily on AI – from zero to a new career, including upskilling. And everything revolves around technology that provides the opportunity to organize training much more intelligently and efficiently. We're creating both the technological solution and the content.
Some believe that teachers or lecturers cannot be replaced, but this perspective probably needs to shift a bit considering our digital world. It's important to ask what specific functions teachers perform today. What we see is that everything related to knowledge transfer can be replaced. However, you cannot replace the human connection, the authority that a lecturer has, and how that information from them carries a different weight. We want to create a solution that would allow, for example, knowledge transfer to be solved with AI, while teachers become curators. We're rethinking the classroom-teacher model created in 18th-19th century Prussia and creating an educational model adapted to the AI era. Today, we're already in it, and no one is prepared for it.
Benas: By developing exactly this kind of educational model, we have the ability to react quickly to changes. We've had situations where Google announces AI news and our tutors immediately update their content with learners receiving the latest knowledge from the market. Contrast that to the bad old days when my Maths teacher would say, 'Remember, you won’t be able to carry a calculator in your pocket' – like, really? Today, the Turing College team consists of over 40 people – not all in Lithuania, and over 140 professional contractors who want to contribute by preparing quality talents for the future.
What were some of the tipping points in your journey?
Lukas: One of them was when we learned to iterate. Today, we're a team that can iterate and adapt very quickly. Startups are always fighting for survival – you have a limited budget and always too little time. Many of our competitors got stuck in certain business models, some of them failed. As a founder, you need to develop a very good internal compass – know what to focus on when it’s needed, what to devote most of your time to, when to stop. Part of it is empirical intuition, another part is data, and finally, your internal compass.
Tomas: I'd add speed, determination, and a lot of work. Many people look for secrets or shortcuts, but the most reliable path is simply to work a lot, hard, and long. Step by step, you begin to understand things, gain experience, and are less likely to touch a hot pan because you know you might get burned. On the other hand, I still went to sleep at 5 AM today because I got carried away – we definitely haven't lost that passion to move forward, and as we move forward, everything simply falls into place.
Benas: From the time we raised our first million, became the first Lithuanian startup in Y Combinator, or earned that first million, I don't remember a single moment when we celebrated so much that we would let everything go even for a short time. We always had a very clear vision of what should be next and worked towards it as a team.
Was becoming entrepreneurs always a plan for you? In your opinion, what would encourage more talented people to consider working in tech or building their own startups?
Tomas: Being a startup CEO is also a profession. You probably have certain qualities innately, others you develop, and others you consciously allow to grow. Lukas and I are Lithuanian Junior Achievement alumni, an initiative I still have my hands in – it's important to let people try, take risks, and to awaken that curiosity to create.
Lukas: In society, we often exalt the image of young founders, but startups aren't created just by young people. I'd say it's simply more convenient because a young person doesn't yet have as many financial needs or commitments – they can devote time to learning and risk. I'd advise every young person to live that first stage of adult life, your 20s, with smaller financial needs and try to create something of your own. There are plenty of studies out there, that even if you fail, by learning from that you’ll have created more opportunities for yourself in the long run. And this is certainly not the only path, it can simply be a certain career stage – the important thing is to allow yourself to try. That’s what we did – we saw a problem and allowed ourselves to try to solve it.
Benas: I think having more success stories, curiosity, and focus would also help a lot. It seems to me that a lot of failures are down to people lacking perseverance. Any young person who starts something needs to be prepared for the fact that there might be 10 years of work in front of you until you really learn, until people listen to you, until your solutions start working and people come to ask for your advice. And that requires you to focus on one topic through certain cycles, to acquire meaningful knowledge. If we were to start something not related to education, would we succeed? I don’t know.
What do you think is the most important thing when building a startup or a tech company? Where should you turn your focus in pursuit of success, growth and efficiency?
Lukas: People. 100%.
Benas: And the pursuit of knowledge. My personal example – if I just miss checking what new tools have emerged, what new techniques to use, after half a year I already feel like I’m stalling, and the team stalls too. I think we won't find a single founder who is extremely successful and doesn't take that extra step needed to be continually learning new things.
Tomas: I would still say it’s all down to a lot of work and clear focus – at first, you can't hire top talent, you don't know what you should do, you just sit and try everything in order. It's very important to understand what stage of business development you're in and to evolve together with the company.
What guiding principles do you adhere to in life and work?
Lukas: I like the idea that building a startup is like an Olympic Games of sorts – you have to think like an athlete, optimize your life around the goal, try hard, and understand that only a few succeed. In my eyes, there is no balance at the beginning of a business. And don't compare the beginning of your journey to the middle of someone else’s.
What would you have wanted to know when you just started?
Benas: That it would be so much fun.
Lukas: "That you need to dream responsibly, because that goal you're striving for comes with baggage. For example, you become a different person, or you have to change your lifestyle. You need to clearly understand if that price for fulfilling your dream is worth it for you. This isn't only related to building a startup, it applies to all businesses, decisions need to be made consciously.
Tomas: Perhaps the greatest value is the understanding you develop of how things work. For instance, if you're talking to an investor, you need to speak their language – understand what questions are important to them, how their business works, how they make money. When you're 18, it seems like earning €1 million is out of this world; to an investor, if it's only that much, it might even be worth them wasting their time. When you get a lot of no's, feedback, you put everything in your head and grow – that's the real value. That's why it's important for more experienced business creators to communicate with less experienced ones, because by listening to them you can actually find shorter paths. For example, we used to often meet with successful startups creators like Eimantas Sabaliauskas, and Rytis Laurinavičius – there’s so much value in gaining understanding from those who really know, and have been there and done that.
Could you share your findings in the sphere of AI? I know you spend a lot of time on it. Which 3 tings would you name as the most crucial for understanding AI?
Lukas: One of the main points for me is how AI today affects a person’s working hours. That’s why it’s more impactful than the tools that came before. You can come to the office, you can come to the dentist's office and think about how to optimize routine work to make a person’s time more effective. This is where the biggest opportunities are, this is where we see investors investing the most.
Tomas: I would advise trying various AI tools with a very open heart. While everyone is still eating with spoons – which is largely still the case because AI take-up is still limited – you need to be using a fork. The better you get with that fork, the further you’ll be in front when everyone else starts using it. Give yourself that competitive advantage now while it’s still there.
I always ask founders this one thing. What do you think is needed for Lithuania to have more startups, tech companies and unicorns?
Benas: I think the 'Vinted' example is very good, where all employees received options that they were able to realize last autumn when the company had its secondary market stock sale. We already see examples of many people who worked at Vinted, gained knowledge and capital there, and have now started creating their own businesses. We are probably the 3rd generation of entrepreneurs. In the past, the motto might have been 'Everything – for me', now we’re seeing more examples of 'More – for others'. It’s this kind of thinking that grows the ecosystem, helps new talents develop, and new businesses to be founded.
Tomas: I have two good examples. I'd say that the Lithuanian Junior Achievement program covers about 80% of what's needed when it comes to educating young people about entrepreneurship. Here, for example, third-graders already can present their ideas on stage in front of more than 1,000 people. I myself started getting interested in business in 11th grade, but what if I had started earlier? Second, communities like Unicorns Lithuania also play a crucial role. They set the right tone when it comes to sharing business creation knowledge. Being in the community, you can access startup creators or key people from tech companies that have grown from start-ups, and they are happy to share solutions with you – that's unique. So, I would just wish to accelerate what works and maintain the country’s growth speed as the ecosystem grows.
