Our story
From a revision tool to Apprentice Wizard
Three years. One founder, Yusuf Arfan Ismail. A maths paper generator that became a career platform used by students across the UK.
Founder: Yusuf Arfan Ismail
2023
Year it started
12
Major milestones
150+
Students on platform
15,000+
Live roles aggregated
Three chapters
How the product evolved
2023 to 2024
Revision tool
A maths paper generator that grew into a full revision platform with exam builders, timers, and dyslexia support. Real users, real bugs, real lessons.
2025
Chaos, then silence
Applied to degree apprenticeships, discovered the chaos, and started building the fix. The backend went live in July. An AI microservice launched. Scraping at scale began. Then in September I started my degree apprenticeship, and the platform went offline. Seven months. No commits. The old Java backend down. ReviseWizard existed in name only.
2026
The comeback
Seven months after the last commit, rebuilt from scratch in Next.js and Supabase. CV builder, Wizard AI, Document Hub, passkey login, referral programme. 150 students. A new name. The same mission.
Full timeline
Every major milestone
A maths paper generator, built in A levels
During my first year of A levels I got frustrated trying to find maths questions by topic. So I built a tool to pull them together into a single printable paper. I pitched it to the CEO of IN4 Group. He liked it. But looking back, I had made a fundamental mistake. I was not thinking about a real user problem beyond my own desk.
PureMath goes live
The first line of code. A Java Spring Boot backend, React frontend, and a PostgreSQL database. Login, sign up, email verification, JWT authentication. Proper engineering from day one. The product was a revision tool: generate exam papers by topic, download as PDF, track progress.
Exam paper builder, revision timer, dyslexia mode
Built an exam paper builder that let students mix questions from multiple topics. A revision timer launched in November. Dyslexia mode followed in December. At the end of the year the domain moved away from PureMath and the product became ReviseWizard, still a revision tool, the name reflected exactly what it did.
Applying to degree apprenticeships, and finding the chaos
I was applying to degree apprenticeships myself, trying to track deadlines across ten different employer portals. I had Discord bots scraping listings, colour-coded spreadsheets, and email alerts set up everywhere. It was chaos. No single place existed that pulled everything together. So I started building one. Degree apprenticeship support went in as a work in progress. The direction had changed.
Backend hosted, AI microservice launched
With A levels done, development accelerated. The backend was deployed and publicly accessible for the first time. An AI microservice was added, the first version of what would become Wizard AI. The apprenticeship listing page got a major overhaul. ReviseWizard was no longer a revision tool.
Higherin integration, OCR pipeline, standalone scrapers
Integrated with Higherin to pull in real apprenticeship listings at scale. Built a standalone OCR pipeline to extract structured data from listings that were not machine readable. The data layer was starting to look like something serious.
Started my degree apprenticeship
All the applications, all the tracking, all the chaos, it worked. I started my degree apprenticeship. Development paused. The old Java Spring Boot backend, running on a self-managed server, went down. Seven months passed with zero commits. ReviseWizard existed in name only.
The tool is down. The problem is clearer than ever.
No commits. No uptime. The platform was offline. But living inside the degree apprenticeship process every day made the gap in the market impossible to ignore. Every portal, every deadline, every unanswered application email was a reminder. When I came back, I knew exactly what to build.
Next.js and Supabase. The platform that should have existed.
Seven months after the last commit, I rebuilt everything from scratch. Out went the Java monolith. In came Next.js App Router, Supabase for auth and data, Tailwind for the UI. The opportunities page launched with a Leaflet map, sector filters, and a mobile-first layout. This was no longer ReviseWizard the revision tool. It was a career platform.
Wizard AI, CV builder, Stripe billing
Launched the CV builder with a full screen editor, live preview, PDF export, and an ATS scanner. Added Stripe billing for the first paid tier. Wizard AI went live with an interview coach, CV tailoring, ATS portal analysis, and a framework mapping tool. The platform was no longer just a listings aggregator.
Monetisation, referral programme, conversion
The focus shifted from building to earning. Launched a referral programme with Stripe revenue share. Added conversion nudges at the right moments, after AI results, at the limit wall, during onboarding. Tightened free AI limits so serious applicants feel the value before the gate. The first paying subscribers came in. The business became real.
Document Hub, PostHog analytics, AI milestone
Per opportunity Document Hub for cover letters, personal statements, and file attachments. PostHog session analytics wired in end to end, funnel data, rage clicks, error tracking. Notification bell with Supabase Realtime. Work experience hub with virtual simulations and in-person placements. The AI suite reached five live tools with thousands of uses logged.
ReviseWizard becomes Apprentice Wizard
The name that started it all no longer fit what we had built. Revision was never the point. The search was. The applications were. The offers were. Apprentice Wizard is the same platform, the same mission, a better name. The student application OS for UK apprenticeships.
The mission
“The student application OS for UK apprenticeships.”
Acknowledgements
People who helped along the way
Building in public means you learn from everyone around you. Special thanks to Ismail Ryabchuk for ongoing advice on marketing and content strategy, a genuine sounding board throughout the journey.
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