From BBC Studios to Britain's Classrooms: Katie Grayson and Zillah Watson at Phase Space

Katie Grayson and Zillah Watson used to describe their first pitch conversations like walking a dog on Hampstead Heath during lockdown and hoping someone was listening. This summer, the schools sector answered: their virtual reality startup Phase Space is now running across all 15 secondary schools in the London Borough of Sutton, backed by Innovate UK, SFC Capital, and the NHS South West London Mental Health Trust.

Meet Katie, Zillah, and Phase Space

Phase Space is a virtual reality product that calms anxious and overwhelmed teenagers in minutes. That distinction matters more than it sounds: teen anxiety in UK schools has risen sharply post-COVID, with students walking out of classrooms overwhelmed and mainstream interventions arriving too late. Zillah, who ran the BBC's VR studio for years, and Katie, an award-winning immersive producer, came together in 2018 on a Doctor Who VR commission. "We discovered we both had a great patience for working around barriers in big organisations," Zillah says. Once they knew the scale of the teen anxiety problem, they set out to build something with a genuine evidence base — not another wellbeing app.

From Hampstead Heath Idea to Team NHS's Toolkit

Early wellbeing tech had a reputation problem: thin evidence, weak outcomes, or gimmicky delivery. Katie and Zillah knew a failure in a mental health context would spread faster than a win, so they slowed down. They landed an Innovate UK research grant with City St George's, University of London, ran a randomised control trial with students, and bridged the cash-flow gap with an early cheque from [SFC Capital](https://sfccapital.com) — because Innovate UK pays in arrears. That patience paid off — Phase Space is now embedded within the NHS CAMHS School Wellbeing Service in South West London, with schools recommending it to other schools.

Sales didn't come from a single big listing. "You have to explain it to people and show the benefits," Zillah says. They went into classrooms, put headsets in teachers' hands, and let the smiles and testimonials do the selling long before any procurement conversation.

The Pivot from Producer to Founder

Both Katie and Zillah trained and worked as producers — Zillah at the BBC for 20 years, Katie across film, TV, and immersive — drawn to shaping complex projects with different teams. That pull toward ownership eventually led them off payroll and into founding Phase Space during COVID. "Maybe it was time to stop moaning about our bosses and actually take some action ourselves," Zillah says. Their producer background gave them a skill they didn't expect to lean on so hard: designing small experiments, killing weak ideas fast, and testing every assumption before scaling.

They initially believed universities and workplaces would be their beachhead. Both hypotheses failed the commercial test. Schools, with a statutory duty of care, pulled them in instead. "You have to have your beachhead, and you have to go with that," Katie says.

"Why should investors believe in your business if you don't? Ask yourself: would I bet my future on this?"

Advice for First-Time Founders

- Pick a co-founder you've shipped hard work with, not one you've only had coffees with.
- Stack non-dilutive funding first. Grants plus a small angel round to cash-flow them will teach you more than a big seed round.
- Kill weak markets fast. Two failed beachheads beat one blurry pitch to investors.
- Choose your growth model consciously — cockroach (revenue-led, last startup standing) or hypergrowth (VC-backed, disproportionate spend). The middle ground doesn't work.
- Ask specific questions when seeking advice. Vague questions get vague answers; specific ones filter noise.

What's Next for Phase Space

Katie and Zillah are focused on scaling into more UK boroughs, deepening their NHS partnerships, and deciding — over the summer break — whether Phase Space grows out of revenue or takes on further investment. "I think that's what I'd love to see," Zillah says, "is a real, evidence-based option for every anxious teenager who needs one."

Why This Story Matters

Katie and Zillah didn't start with a business plan — they started by noticing rising anxiety in a generation they cared about and refusing to leave it unaddressed. For first-time founders wondering whether they need the "right" background to build something real, Phase Space shows that producer skills, professional respect, and a rigorous testing mindset can be as valuable as a Silicon Valley résumé. For early-stage investors, it's a reminder that impact-led founders who stack grants, evidence, and community trust often build the most durable companies.

If you're a first-time founder ready to build your first thing alongside a peer group of first-time founders, [Canopy Community's Startup Summer open enrolment programme](https://www.canopy.community/blog/PRESS%20RELEASE%20:%20Canopy%20Community%20launches%20the%20Startup%20Summer%20open%20enrolment%20program) is now open — the same programme built on lessons from founders like Katie and Zillah.

Watch the full conversation and catch every future Founder Friday episode on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@canopycommunity617

Canopy Community is a global entrepreneurship platform supporting first-time founders through virtual incubation, investor circles, and Demo Nights across the UK, Portugal, India, and Turkey. We believe entrepreneurship is a route to social mobility — and that there are many origin stories behind the founders building tomorrow's companies. Learn more at canopy.community.

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