Entrepreneur, digital marketing strategist and author Matt Pyke discusses building a business from the ground up, overcoming his fear of sales, playing professional basketball at 17 and why companies must now compete to become found, trusted and chosen.
Many entrepreneurs begin with a detailed business plan, significant investment or years of experience in their chosen industry. Matt Pyke began with an interest in digital marketing, a willingness to learn and an idea developed while studying at university in Manchester.
Originally from Chester and now based on the Wirral, Pyke is the founder and Managing Director of Fly High Media, a digital marketing agency specialising in SEO, PPC and commercially focused growth strategies.
He is also the author of the forthcoming book Found, Trusted, Chosen, which examines how businesses can build visibility, credibility and trust across traditional search engines, AI platforms and the wider digital landscape.
Before entering the business world, Pyke played professional basketball for his hometown team, Cheshire Phoenix. The transition from competitive sport to entrepreneurship may appear unconventional, but he believes the two experiences require many of the same qualities, including discipline, resilience, preparation and the ability to work effectively as part of a team.
We spoke to him about his journey from running a business from his bedroom to leading an established agency, the personal challenges behind that growth and how artificial intelligence is changing the way companies are discovered.
How would you introduce yourself to somebody unfamiliar with your work?
I would describe myself as an entrepreneur, author and the founder of Fly High Media.
My main focus over the past decade has been building Fly High Media and helping businesses generate measurable growth through SEO, PPC and wider digital strategy.
I have always been commercially minded. Traffic, rankings and impressions can be useful indicators, but they are not the final objective. Marketing ultimately needs to create enquiries, customers and revenue.
Alongside the agency, I have become increasingly interested in entrepreneurship, personal branding, AI search and how businesses can adapt to the changing discovery journey. That has led to writing Found, Trusted, Chosen and sharing more of what I have learned through articles, talks and social media.
Where did your entrepreneurial journey begin?
I grew up in Chester and moved to Manchester when I was 18 to attend university. Fly High Media began while I was studying.
In the early days, I was running the business from my bedroom and learning SEO through trial and error. I did not have a large network, outside investment or a perfect roadmap. I was simply obsessed with learning and becoming better at what I did.
There were plenty of mistakes. I had to learn how to price work, manage clients, generate leads and deliver results at the same time.
Looking back, that period gave me a strong foundation because I understood every part of the business before I began building a team around it.
What did you find most difficult during those early years?
Sales and confidence were two of the biggest challenges.
I was petrified of calling prospects and sometimes even nervous about calling existing clients. The fear of rejection can feel enormous when you are starting a business because every opportunity appears significant.
Experience gradually changed that. I realised rejection is part of the process and that a sales conversation should not feel like an attempt to convince somebody to buy something they do not need.
My approach now is to ask where a business wants to be in the next six to twelve months. From there, we can reverse engineer the strategy required to help it reach that position.
That makes the conversation much more useful and commercially focused. Confidence did not arrive overnight. It grew through repetition, preparation and seeing that I could solve meaningful problems for businesses.
Did your background in basketball influence the way you approached business?
Absolutely. I played professionally for my hometown team, Cheshire Phoenix, during the 2014–15 season when I was just 17 years old.
It was an incredible environment for a young player. I trained and played alongside experienced international talent, including a former NBA player and the world’s tallest professional basketball player at the time.
Several of my teammates had also played college basketball at leading American programmes such as Duke, Louisville and NC State. Being exposed to that level of professionalism at such a young age taught me a great deal about preparation, resilience and personal responsibility.
You can prepare properly, perform well and still lose. Business is similar. You can deliver a strong proposal and still not win the client. You can make a carefully considered decision and still get the outcome wrong.
Sport teaches you not to treat every setback as a personal disaster. You review what happened, identify what can be improved and prepare for the next opportunity.
It also taught me that no individual succeeds alone. As Fly High Media grew, I had to accept that the company would only develop if I surrounded myself with talented people and trusted them to do their jobs.
Moving from being the person doing everything to leading a team was one of the biggest transitions in my career.
How has your role changed as Fly High Media has grown?
At the beginning, I was involved in almost every task. I was selling the work, completing the work, sending invoices and responding to clients.
As the agency grew, my role needed to change. I had to spend less time being the technician and more time thinking about strategy, leadership, commercial performance and where the company was heading.
That transition can be difficult for founders because the skills that help you start a company are not always the same skills required to scale it. You have to build systems, delegate properly and allow other people to take ownership.
I am still close to our clients and our work, but my focus is increasingly on making sure we are solving the right problems and connecting marketing activity to genuine business growth.
What do businesses commonly misunderstand about digital marketing?
Many businesses mistake activity for progress.
A long audit, an enormous content calendar or a complicated dashboard may look impressive, but none of those things automatically creates growth.
The important question is whether the work helps a potential customer discover the business, trust it and take the next step.
The strongest strategies are often easier to explain than people expect. Can customers and search engines find the most important pages? Does the website clearly communicate what the business does? Is there evidence supporting its claims? Does each piece of content have a commercial or strategic purpose?
Marketing should reduce friction between a business and the people who need what it offers. Complexity for the sake of appearing sophisticated rarely helps.
How is artificial intelligence changing search?
Search is no longer limited to typing a keyword into Google and selecting one of ten blue links.
People might begin with a recommendation from ChatGPT, watch a YouTube video, search for opinions on Reddit, view a company’s social profiles and then return to Google before making a decision.
Discovery is happening across many different platforms.
I describe this broader approach as Search Everywhere Optimisation. Businesses need to understand all the places where customers gather information and make sure their brand can be discovered and understood within those environments.
That does not mean traditional SEO is no longer important. A clearly structured website, strong content, credible references and consistent information remain essential. AI systems still need reliable evidence from which to form an answer.
The technology is changing, but the fundamental requirement is similar: make it easy for people and machines to understand who you are, what you do and why you should be trusted.
What inspired you to write Found, Trusted, Chosen?
The title represents the three stages a business must pass through before somebody becomes a customer.
First, it must be found. That could happen through Google, an AI answer, social media, a recommendation or another discovery platform.
Next, it must be trusted. People look for reviews, expertise, consistency, evidence and reassurance that the company can deliver what it promises.
Finally, it must be chosen. Visibility alone is not enough. A business must communicate why it is the right option and make the next step clear.
I wanted to produce something that connects established SEO principles with the emerging world of AI search. The book is intended to help business owners and marketers understand the bigger picture rather than chase every new tactic or platform update.
You have received several Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. What does that recognition mean to you?
Awards are encouraging because they provide a moment to reflect on progress.
When you are running a business, you tend to focus on the next problem, target or opportunity. Recognition such as being named Young Entrepreneur of the Year reminds you that the work has created something meaningful.
However, I do not view an entrepreneurial award as an individual achievement. Fly High Media has grown because of the people who have worked within the company, the clients who have trusted us and the people who supported me during the difficult periods.
The award may have one person’s name on it, but the journey behind it involves many people.
What advice would you give somebody starting a business today?
Become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
You will probably need to make calls you would rather avoid, hear no repeatedly and make decisions without having perfect information. Confidence generally follows action rather than arriving before it.
I would also encourage people to learn from those who have already invested thousands of hours solving similar problems.
Books, mentors, interviews and conversations can help you avoid unnecessary mistakes, although you still have to apply those lessons yourself.
Most importantly, focus on solving a genuine problem. A business becomes easier to explain, market and grow when it creates a clear and valuable outcome for its customers.
What comes next for you?
My priorities are continuing to grow Fly High Media, developing the ideas within Found, Trusted, Chosen and helping businesses respond to the changes taking place across search and AI.
I also enjoy exploring new technology, including what is becoming possible through AI tools and vibe coding. That experimentation is separate from our client delivery, but it helps me understand how technology could change the way businesses operate and create new products.
I still feel as though I am learning and building. The scale may have changed since I was working from my university bedroom, but the curiosity and ambition behind it have not.
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, an SEO and PPC agency working with businesses across the UK and internationally.
Originally from Chester, Pyke played professional basketball for his hometown team, Cheshire Phoenix, during the 2014–15 season before moving to Manchester at 18 and establishing Fly High Media while attending university.
He has received multiple Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards recognising his contribution to business and digital marketing.
Pyke is the author of Found, Trusted, Chosen, a book examining how organisations can build visibility, authority and trust across search engines, AI platforms and the wider digital discovery journey.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
