Moments That Made Me - Ben Drury, Yoto
Moments That Made Me is where we ask the founders within the Founders Keepers community to go back and find theirs. The hustle before the success, the job that threw them in too deep too soon, the hire that went wrong and changed how they built a team after.
First up: Ben Drury, Co-founder and CEO of Yoto. Ben grew up the eldest of three boys on the Essex-Suffolk border, built a car wash business at an early age, and later found himself at 23 leading acquisitions at BT. That's before Yoto even entered the picture.
What follows is Ben on the moments, the mistakes and the decisions that got him there.
Q: What formative experiences in your childhood influenced your entrepreneurial path? I grew up as the eldest of three boys in a remote rural area on the Essex-Suffolk border. Those early years were both isolated and creatively fertile. I had a passion for technology and music, definitely a ‘geeky child’, and I started entrepreneurial ventures like a car wash business and a school widget operation. Those early experiments sparked my entrepreneurial mindset and a willingness to take initiative.
Q: How did your time at BT shape your approach to business? My experience at BT was hugely formative. At just 23, I led major acquisitions, including the purchase of Dot Music and Games Domain, which we eventually sold to Yahoo. Being hands-on in mergers and acquisitions gave me a crash course in corporate finance and the confidence to start my own company.
Q: How did Yoto come to life? Yoto was born from a collaboration between me and Philip, my former lead engineer from Seven Digital. Our shared experience as parents sparked the idea for a child-friendly audio platform. We tested early prototypes extensively with families, focusing on sustained engagement as a key success indicator.
Q: What mistakes did you make in the early days of Yoto? I made early hiring mistakes, partly due to limited resources and partly because I was overly optimistic about people. As we grew, I realised the importance of a rigorous and intentional hiring process.
Q: How did you approach building your leadership team? I’ve always prioritised cultural fit over experience when hiring senior leadership. For example, our CFO was chosen for his adaptability and intellectual sharpness despite being the least experienced candidate. This approach has fostered a collaborative and agile leadership culture.
Q: What was the rationale behind expanding into the U.S. market? The decision to expand rapidly into the U.S. was driven by competitive urgency. We wanted to beat our closest competitor to the market. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we successfully navigated the expansion by hiring local leadership in Brooklyn.
Q: How do you stay grounded as a founder? Customer feedback is what keeps me grounded. Hearing how Yoto products help children, especially those with disabilities, reinforces our mission and keeps me connected to the impact of our work.
What stands out across Ben's story isn't one big turning point. It's a pattern: the car wash and school ventures that taught him to just start, the BT acquisitions that threw him in before he felt ready, the early hiring mistakes that forced him to slow down and get intentional.
Cultural fit over the perfect CV. Speed over certainty. Customer feedback over comfort.
That's been Ben's formula, and Yoto's growth is the proof.