5 Questions With… Peter Carpenter Wonde APAC Director

This isn’t Peter Carpenter’s first startup rodeo. Prior to Wonde, Peter was the Co-Founder and CEO of Australian edtech ClassCover. He led ClassCover’s growth to 2,000 schools and 50,000 teachers across Australia and NZ. An expert in edtech, Peter is now growing Wonde’s presence in APAC.

Wonde is an edtech data security and data management company servicing schools globally. Wonde has a 50% market share in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, with over 24 million students and 20,000 schools utilising its software.

What was your first full time / paid job?

Besides a car wash business as a 10 year old, I was the Colonel at KFC for 6 months when I was 15.

What is your superpower?

Being able to judge character upfront and detect when someone is bull sh**ting.

What technology seems like magic to you?

Whilst it’s taken for granted now, the telephone still amazes me. I actually still have my Nokia 5110. It’s crazy how basic phones used to be in comparison to today’s smartphones.

What investment (money, professional, personal, whatever!) have you made that’s had the greatest impact on your life?

I gained my swimming coaching qualification for a side job in my teens, and when living in London throughout my 20’s it enabled me to break out of the corporate world and start a sports coaching business.

In the longer term, it helped financially, however more importantly it taught me key lessons in starting a business in a foreign country with minimal networks to leverage and no capital for support…and before startups were such a big thing.

If you could encourage someone to read/listen/watch one thing what would it be?

Business Wars Podcast. Some great examples of innovation and competition.

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