Andy Lord has made his return to the EdTech scene – and this time it could be bigger than before.
The entrepreneur, best known for founding Rethink Group and later Code Nation, has opened offices in Manchester and Cardiff with a brand-new venture looking to rethink education once again.
OpenRain.io is his fourth training business, but it鈥檚 not just a repeat performance. The firm is a response to everything he鈥檚 learned over decades in tech, training, and human capital – and this time, he鈥檚 armed with the power of AI.
鈥淵es, you could say it鈥檚 full circle,鈥� he told 老九品茶Cloud. 鈥淏ut with a whole world of learning behind me.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just another training school. It鈥檚 built with AI at its core, not just for delivery, but also for content creation, feedback loops, and tailored learning experiences.鈥�
Making AI useful
Despite AI鈥檚 long-standing place in the tech world, it has only recently become a mainstream talking point and a 鈥榖uzzword鈥�.
Bury-born Lord is fascinated by its acceleration and keen to work with it rather than against it.
He said: 鈥淢ost people don鈥檛 realise just how fast this tech is advancing. What happened with AI in the last six months is equivalent to the iPhone鈥檚 decade-long evolution and the next six months will be the same again.
鈥淧eople think 鈥楢I will take our jobs鈥�. Most are fearful, or just choose to ignore it, but we鈥檙e using AI to make training more human.
鈥淲e鈥檙e busting myths, making AI accessible, and showing people how to use it as a tool rather than something to fear.鈥�
The TikTok generation
Lord is wholly aware that learning has changed since the start of his career in the industry and certainly since the pandemic in 2020.
鈥淒uring Covid, people sat at home with a phone in their hand and a laptop on Zoom,鈥� explained Lord, who previously founded specialist training provider Hydrogen Safe.
鈥淭hey weren鈥檛 just watching lectures – they were scrolling and multitasking. That rewired people鈥檚 attention spans.
鈥淢y daughter, who is 25 now, learned to cook and mix cocktails via TikTok.
鈥淢y first reaction was 鈥榯hat鈥檚 not real learning鈥�, but I鈥檝e realised it鈥檚 brilliant. Bite-sized, visual, repeatable.鈥�
OpenRain鈥檚 courses reflect that insight as content is delivered in micro-modules which can be five, 10 or 20 minutes long and are designed to be consumed in short bursts.
鈥淧eople can鈥檛 take three days off for training anymore,鈥� said the 56-year-old.
鈥淪o we make it easy to learn in between meetings, over lunch, or after work.鈥�
This micro-learning model is underpinned by adaptive AI technology, which tailors the content based on a learner鈥檚 pace, preferences and gaps in understanding.
The strategy is powerful enough to personalise learning in ways Lord hasn鈥檛 been able to before in his career.
AI as the TA
Crucially for Lord, OpenRain doesn鈥檛 outsource teaching to machines. Instead, human experts craft the material and it is then enhanced by AI.
The AI element of it helps to refine quizzes, identify points that could cause users confusion and translate it into more readable and consumable formats.
He said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e using AI to improve how teachers teach. If someone stumbles on a concept, we鈥檒l reword it 10 different ways using AI.
鈥淚f neurodiverse learners are struggling with the format, we can adapt.
鈥淭his kind of level of tailoring used to be out of the question for us even six or nine months ago. Now, with how we鈥檝e progressed, we have the world鈥檚 geniuses at our fingertips.鈥�
Lord鈥檚 example of applying this approach to IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality) training, tied to the incoming Awaab鈥檚 Law, is particularly striking.
The course – on a topic most people have never heard of – has become a flagship for OpenRain.
The serial entrepreneur recounted: 鈥淲e took elements and used AI to help translate them into something a regular human can understand. It鈥檚 not about dumbing down, it鈥檚 about making it stick.鈥�
The global vision
OpenRain recently won a huge contract under the Swansea Bay City Deal鈥檚 Skills and Talent Programme, but Lord insists that it is just the beginning.
鈥淭hat contract validates that the industry needs what we鈥檙e building,鈥� he affirmed.
鈥淏ut the real power is that our content can be translated and deployed globally with the click of a button. IEQ, hydrogen, AI literacy – these are universal subjects.鈥�
鈥淎ll the time in this day and age, you have entrepreneurs saying that their business is going to be a unicorn and then two years later it鈥檚 gone bankrupt.
鈥淭hat won鈥檛 be us unless our model changes dramatically, but I have no doubt we鈥檒l be a 拢100m turnover business. Our model is lean and our reach is global.鈥�
With around 12 core team members and a network of fractional experts, the company seeks efficiency by keeping costs down and agility high.
Lord added: 鈥淲hy hire 20 instructors when I can use brilliant fractional talent and digital avatars? That鈥檚 modern business and that鈥檚 how we scale.鈥�
Making learning accessible
For the business mogul, this isn鈥檛 just a commercial project – it鈥檚 deeply personal.
He left school before taking exams, frustrated by a system that didn鈥檛 cater to how he learned.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 stupid, I was bored,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 fit into that model and I鈥檝e been trying to fix that ever since.鈥�
His goal is to democratise training by making it accessible in every sense, including cost, format and relevance.
The company鈥檚 courses are also designed to work around people鈥檚 lives rather than against them.
Lord said: 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 a carer in a care home, a technician learning about hydrogen, or someone curious about AI, they shouldn鈥檛 need a degree or a spare week to level up.鈥�
Human first
Despite the tech-driven foundation, Lord is adamant that human expertise remains central.
He explained: 鈥淎ll our content is created by teachers, researchers, and subject-matter experts. AI enhances it, but people remain at the core.
鈥淭here are so many people with brilliant brains who鈥檝e been let down by the system. If we can use our human touch to help unlock their potential through smarter training, we can change lives and transform industries.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not just about upskilling individuals, we want to modernise whole sectors.鈥�
Open to the future
Lord sees the global potential of his own firm. In five years鈥� time he sees OpenRain as an international platform, scaling content that meets real industrial demand, in formats people love and at prices they can afford. He鈥檚 also not shy to talk about exit plans with a buyer who shares his vision.
鈥淚鈥檝e been CEO of 拢100m revenue companies before, but I鈥檝e never had a venture that aligned so clearly with my values and where the world is going,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e building something that feels urgent and important and that鈥檚 more exciting than any sort of numbers or valuation.鈥�