Matt Pyke started Fly High Media from his university accommodation at the age of 19. However, his route into entrepreneurship began much earlier, shaped by professional basketball, an apprenticeship rejection and a determination to build something of his own.
Today, Matt is an award-winning entrepreneur, author and the founder and Managing Director of Fly High Media, a digital marketing agency working with businesses across the UK and internationally.
In this Q&A, he discusses the setbacks that influenced him, the reality of building an agency from scratch, overcoming his fear of sales and why he believes the next decade of business will be shaped by trust, reputation and artificial intelligence.
For those unfamiliar with your story, who is Matt Pyke?
I would describe myself as an entrepreneur, author and digital marketing strategist.
Most people will know me as the founder and Managing Director of Fly High Media, the digital marketing agency I started while studying at Manchester Metropolitan University. We help businesses grow through services including SEO, PPC, paid social, content, digital PR and wider digital strategy.
However, my work now extends beyond running the agency. I am interested in entrepreneurship, business growth, personal branding and how technology is changing the way people discover and choose businesses.
I am also the author of Found, Trusted, Chosen, which explores how businesses can build visibility and credibility across search engines, social platforms, AI tools and the wider digital landscape.
Before business, basketball was a major part of your life. What influence did that have?
Basketball was probably my first real experience of discipline, competition and performing under pressure.
I played professionally for my hometown team, Cheshire Phoenix, during the 2014–15 season when I was 17. I was fortunate to be around some extremely talented players, including people who had played at some of the leading colleges in the United States, a former NBA player and, at the time, the world’s tallest professional basketball player.
Being around athletes operating at that level taught me how high the standard can be. You quickly learn that talent is only one part of performance. Preparation, consistency and your response to setbacks are often what separate people.
I did not realise it at the time, but many of those lessons transferred directly into business.
Did you always expect to become an entrepreneur?
Not necessarily, although I think I always wanted to create something of my own.
When I was 16, I applied for a digital marketing apprenticeship that paid £89 a week. At the time, it felt like my dream opportunity. I attended a trial day, but at the end of it I was told that my skills were not good enough.
It was the first proper role I had applied for, so the rejection affected my confidence. However, it also gave me something to prove.
Instead of abandoning the idea of working in marketing, I decided to develop the skills I had been told I was missing. That decision eventually led me towards freelancing, university and, ultimately, starting Fly High Media.
Looking back, the rejection was one of the most important moments in my career. Had I been accepted, I might have followed a more conventional route into employment. I suspect I would still have become a business owner eventually, but it may have taken much longer.
“Being told I was not good enough could have ended my interest in marketing. Instead, it gave me a reason to become better.”
How did Fly High Media begin?
I moved from Chester to Manchester when I was 18 to study Marketing Management at Manchester Metropolitan University.
During my first year, I started teaching myself practical digital skills alongside my degree. I was learning about SEO, social media, website design, content and anything else that could help me become more useful to businesses.
Initially, I worked with friends, family members and small organisations that were willing to give me an opportunity. Any money I made was reinvested into software, equipment and further learning.
Fly High Media was formally launched in 2016, when I was 19. The business began from my university accommodation with no external investment, no established client base and no guarantee that it would work.
It was simply a case of learning a skill, finding someone who needed that skill and trying to produce the best possible result for them.
What did university life look like while you were building the company?
It was not the typical university experience.
There were periods when I was studying or working for around 12 hours a day. I would attend lectures, complete my university work and then spend the rest of the day learning new skills or working on the business.
That came with sacrifices. I missed out on a lot of the social side of university and found it difficult to balance everything. At the time, I constantly felt that I needed to make progress because I did not want to graduate without having built something meaningful.
There was no moment when everything suddenly fell into place. The business developed through hundreds of small decisions, mistakes, conversations and improvements.
I still completed my degree, but by the time I graduated, Fly High Media was no longer just an experiment. It was the career I wanted to pursue.
Was it difficult to be taken seriously at 19?
Yes, particularly when speaking to experienced business owners.
I did not have decades of experience or an impressive office. I was a student running a company from my bedroom, so I had to find other ways to establish credibility.
The most effective way was simply to know what I was talking about and do what I said I would do. I prepared thoroughly, communicated clearly and worked hard to produce results.
Being young can be a disadvantage if you expect people to trust you automatically. However, it can also be an advantage because you are often willing to learn quickly, experiment and put in an enormous amount of effort.
Credibility was not something I could claim. I had to build it gradually through the quality of the work, the way I treated clients and the reputation that followed.
When did you realise Fly High Media could become a serious business?
There was no single breakthrough moment.
For the first three years, it was largely just me. I was responsible for winning clients, delivering the work, answering emails, solving problems and managing the finances.
The business began to feel more established when I started building a team. That required a different mindset because I was no longer responsible only for my own performance. Other people were relying on me to provide direction, create opportunities and make sensible decisions.
Hiring also forced me to confront my limitations. The objective could no longer be to do everything myself. I had to surround myself with people who were better than me in specific areas and create an environment in which they could perform.
The company has since grown into a seven-figure agency with specialists across different digital marketing disciplines. However, the transition from freelancer to employer was one of the most significant stages of the journey.
What has been the most difficult moment?
One of the most difficult moments came when my former business partner decided to leave.
It was a major decision that arrived unexpectedly through a text message. There were no hard feelings, but it was still difficult to process because the future of the business suddenly felt uncertain.
At the time, I was also extremely uncomfortable with sales. I was petrified of calling prospects and regularly worried about rejection or saying the wrong thing.
When my business partner left, I had no choice but to take greater responsibility for winning work. I had to lead discovery calls, understand what prospective clients wanted and explain how we could help them.
In some ways, necessity forced me to develop a skill that fear had allowed me to avoid.
How did you overcome that fear of sales?
Through repetition and by changing what I believed sales was supposed to be.
I initially assumed that selling meant being pushy, controlling the conversation and persuading someone to buy. That did not suit my personality and made every call feel uncomfortable.
Over time, I developed a more consultative approach. I started asking business owners where they wanted to be in the next six to 12 months and then worked backwards to understand what would need to happen.
That changed everything. The conversation was no longer about forcing somebody to buy a particular service. It was about understanding their situation and recommending the most appropriate route.
Sometimes that means telling a prospective client that we are not the right fit. On other occasions, it means advising them not to invest in the service they originally enquired about.
Trust is more valuable than winning one piece of work. If you give people honest advice, they remember it.
Did the pandemic change the way you ran the company?
The pandemic was a major test.
We lost clients whose businesses were unable to trade, and there were several months when the outlook was uncertain. Nobody had a reliable answer for how long the disruption would last.
It made me examine costs, our office requirements, the structure of the company and how resilient the business really was.
We had previously committed to an office that, in hindsight, was larger and more expensive than we needed. Downsizing was a practical decision that allowed us to become more flexible and future-proof the company.
The pandemic reinforced the importance of building a business that can adapt. Growth is important, but it has to be sustainable. Revenue without financial discipline, strong systems and a capable team can create the appearance of success without providing much security.
How has your leadership style changed as the company has grown?
In the early years, leadership meant working harder and trying to solve every problem myself. That approach becomes less effective as a business grows.
My role now is to provide clarity, set standards, support the team and make sure our work remains connected to commercial outcomes for clients.
I have learned that people do not need a founder interfering with every detail. They need clear expectations, the right resources and the confidence that they will be supported when something goes wrong.
I have also become more comfortable admitting when I do not have the answer. Leadership is not about pretending to know everything. It is about creating an organisation capable of finding the right answer.
What are you most proud of?
The awards and external recognition have been meaningful. Being named a Young Entrepreneur of the Year was particularly significant because of where the journey started.
There is something satisfying about going from being rejected for an entry-level marketing apprenticeship to building an agency that operates in the same industry.
However, I am most proud of the business becoming bigger than me. Fly High Media now has a team of talented people, long-standing client relationships and the ability to produce work that I could never have delivered alone.
I am also proud that the difficult moments did not define the outcome. There have been mistakes, lost clients, uncertain periods and decisions I would handle differently today. Entrepreneurship is rarely a clean upward line.
The important thing is to learn quickly enough that the same mistake does not keep repeating itself.
Why have you decided to write a book?
The book came from noticing how dramatically the way people find businesses is changing.
For years, companies have treated online visibility as largely an SEO question. They wanted to rank on Google for the keywords their customers were searching for.
Google remains important, but the customer journey is now much broader. People discover businesses through LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, marketplaces, review platforms and AI assistants such as ChatGPT.
They are not only asking where a business ranks. They are looking for evidence that it is credible, relevant and trusted.
Found, Trusted, Chosen is about helping businesses understand that wider journey. Being found creates an opportunity, but trust determines whether somebody seriously considers you, and the strength of your reputation influences whether you are ultimately chosen.
How do you think artificial intelligence will affect businesses?
AI will change both how businesses operate and how customers make decisions.
Internally, it can help companies research more effectively, analyse information, automate repetitive processes and create new products. However, businesses still need human judgement, quality control and a clear understanding of the problem they are trying to solve.
Externally, AI assistants are becoming another layer of discovery. Customers can now ask for recommendations, compare suppliers and explore solutions without following a traditional search journey.
That means businesses need to consider what AI systems know about them, which sources support their claims and whether they have built enough authority to be recommended.
The companies that benefit will not necessarily be those producing the largest amount of content. They will be the ones creating the strongest evidence.
What advice would you give to a student considering starting a business?
Start by becoming useful.
It is easy to spend months thinking about a company name, logo, website or business plan. Those things can matter, but they do not replace having a skill that solves a genuine problem.
Learn something valuable, practise it and find people who need help. Your first clients may come from friends, relatives, local organisations or introductions. Treat those early opportunities seriously because they help you develop evidence, confidence and a reputation.
I would also tell young entrepreneurs not to wait until they feel completely ready. Confidence often follows action rather than arriving before it.
At the same time, ambition should not become impatience. Sustainable businesses are normally built through years of consistent work. Social media can make success appear immediate, but it rarely shows the mistakes, uncertainty and repetition behind it.
What comes next for Matt Pyke?
The priority is to continue developing Fly High Media and building a company known for client service, commercially focused strategy and high-quality execution.
I also want to develop the ideas behind Found, Trusted, Chosen and contribute more to the wider conversation around entrepreneurship, AI search and the future of digital discovery.
I still enjoy experimenting with emerging technology and exploring what is becoming possible through AI and vibe coding. That experimentation is separate from our client delivery, but it helps me understand how the technology may change businesses and create new opportunities.
The scale of the work has changed since I was sitting in my university bedroom, but the underlying motivation has not. I am still curious, still learning and still trying to build something better than what existed yesterday.
About Matt Pyke
Matt Pyke is a British entrepreneur, author and digital marketing strategist. He is the founder and Managing Director of Fly High Media, a digital marketing agency specialising in SEO, PPC, paid social, content, digital PR and commercially focused growth strategies.
Originally from Chester and now based in the North West, Matt started Fly High Media while studying Marketing Management at Manchester Metropolitan University.
He is the author of the forthcoming book Found, Trusted, Chosen, which explores how businesses can build visibility, credibility and trust across search engines, AI platforms and the wider digital discovery journey.
