About 200 year 11 students, getting ready to sit their GCSEs, descended on the 1000 Lakeside Northarbour building for the Way Ahead conference on Monday.

They arrived at 10am and were given a tour of the building's high-tech, art-studded foyer, before Ed Gain, 24-year-old founder of do1 web design firm, delivered a talk on the pitfalls and prospects of going into business for yourself.

The casually-clad businessman said he felt 'heinously under-dressed', in front of pupils who had been encouraged to turn out in suits and ties.

But the unconventional entrepreneur, who admits his frequent misbehaviour once saw him suspended from school, told The News: 'The point I was trying to hammer home was getting to university isn't just about looking good on paper. It's not all about what you know, but also about who you know, and uni is a chance to go and network and develop social skills.

'And you should think what you want to do as soon as possible. If you wait till your mid-20s to decide you're already going to be 10 years behind people who have already decided on their direction.'

Students were encouraged to fill in self-evaluation forms, asking how they can perform better in their upcoming exams, before attending a series of presentations by careers delegates ranging from the armed forces to Portsmouth University.

Nicki Craven, the enterprise co-ordinator at the school, said: 'We asked Ed to be our guest speaker because he's running a serious business from Lakeside, he's young, going places, and at age 24 is employing four or five people.

'Students also like to hear from people outside the classroom, from businesspeople. And in this day and age an awful lot of students are interested in IT.

'It's important to give students a boost to do as well as they can in their exams and events like this give them that motivation.'