Start! magazine Issue 4 by King's Entrepreneurship Institute

Interview with Time Out’s founder Tony Elliott Are you ready for the future world of work? Interview with BAFTA CEO Amanda Berry All you need to know to make your idea happen

Entrepreneurship Institute Issue 4 2018–19

#KingsWomeninEntrepreneurship @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

HERE Entrepreneurship Institute Issue 4 2018–19

FEATURES

17 30 39 46

4 5 2

Welcome

Entrepreneurship Institute Who we are, what we do and how we can support you.

Start! Issue four 2018–19

King’s women in entrepreneurship Ten women from King’s who are destined for great things.

Why didn’t I think of that? How to get ideas, how to communicate them and how to take them forward.

The future of work Are you doing enough to prepare yourself for the future? Asks Professor Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE.

What would you do? Two real-life challenges young entrepreneurs have faced and how they dealt with them.

A glimpse into the future Exponential advances in artificial intelligence and the development of mobile stroke unit drones are among future predictions from the King’s community. What are yours?

INTERVIEWS

EXPERIENCES: KING’S ENTREPRENEURS AND INNOVATORS

The founder of Time Out magazine on starting out, his decision to make it free and expanding the brand internationally.

34 41

28 36 44

Tony Elliott CBE: Taking time out with Tony

Inspiring innovators in healthcare King’s students and alumni helping healthcare get better.

Passport to enterprise A profile of two foodie entrepreneurs who have Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Visas.

Amanda Berry OBE: Living the impossible dream The CEO of The British Academy of Film and Television Arts talks about transforming the Academy and how to be entrepreneurial within an organisation.

Margo Marrone: A natural instinct for business Lessons learned from the founder of The Organic Pharmacy through starting and scaling her business.

Richard Walker: Too cool for plastic The Managing Director of Iceland Foods Group talks about his supermarket environmental revolution.

OPINION: SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENT

8 9 26 27

Fast track to the future What life is like in the King’s20 Accelerator.

Why sales should be the first skill you embrace Sell yourself or your idea without selling your soul.

Networking for novices Get out there and build connections!

Your most important asset Taking care of your mental health.

Building strength through adversity Resilience is a muscle that can be strengthened.

Meisters of purity The entrepreneurs who have brought German craft beer to London.

WHERE NEXT?

32 50 54

Out and about Photos of events and activities from King’s entrepreneurial community.

Student societies The amazing opportunities available by getting involved with our student societies.

Inspiration station Places to go, people to follow and books to read to get (even) more inspired. The views, opinions and positions expressed by the authors and interviewees are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of the Entrepreneurship Institute and King’s College London. Produced by the Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s College London. @InnovateKings

Editorial team: Hemali Patel, Gerard Darby, Paulina Valdez and Amy Lothian. Design: Cog cogdesign.com Kingsentrepreneurship

WELCOME

King’s is home to some truly remarkable and innovative students, staff and alumni. Entrepreneurship is a core theme at King’s College London, and entrepreneurship in the service of society is our ethos. The Entrepreneurship Institute embodies our Vision 2029, with real enterprises creating positive differences to our local, national and international communities. The magazine highlights some of this impact, alongside inspiring articles from some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Discuss and share the stories, learn from their experiences and advice, and join us in celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit at King’s. We hope we inspire you to get involved! With best wishes,

PROFESSOR EDWARD BYRNE AC

President and Principal, King’s College London

Start! Issue four 2018–19

Entrepreneurship is vital if we want to positively contribute to global challenges. Our vision is that by 2029 everyone at King’s will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA. We’re working with all faculties to give the King’s community skills to innovate and be entrepreneurial no matter what career you have ahead of you. In 2018–19 there’s lots more to come! We’ve announced an exciting new initiative to support female founders, opened up our support to all King’s alumni and formed new global and local partnerships. We look forward to hearing your ideas and welcoming you to our community.

I strongly encourage all students to get involved with the Entrepreneurship Institute! It’s a unique support system to help transform your ideas into practical solutions and create positive change. The Institute works with students from all faculties and has helped develop exciting new innovations in a wide variety of sectors including arts and culture, media and publishing, AI, med tech, education and social enterprise. It’s accessible and welcoming and its events, activities and drop-in sessions are a fantastic place to meet a diverse community of people. Programmes are co-created with students so do consider joining the Student Advisory Board. It will challenge you, help you grow and learn new skills, and develop your career – whatever your passion.

JULIE DEVONSHIRE OBE

Director, Entrepreneurship Institute

AHAD MAHMOOD

President, King’s College London Students’ Union 2018–19

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE

Entrepreneurs

make it

your

hip:

part of

DNA

Who we are: The Entrepreneurship Institute supports entrepreneurial thinking, skills and experiences among King’s students, staff and alumni. No matter what career you have ahead of you, skills to innovate and to be entrepreneurial will be valuable. We support people to have careers as entrepreneurs and start up innovative new businesses and social enterprises, but also to be innovative in their chosen career. We are an audience-led institute and our programmes are driven by the needs expressed by students, student-led societies and the King’s community. Our vision: is that by 2029 everyone at King’s will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA. 5

Get involved in our activities Our support is delivered through three main programme strands: Engage, Skills and Accelerate. Here’s how we can help you kickstart your career and enhance your future.

Gain experience INTERN WITH US

We offer 12-week paid summer internships with the Institute and our ventures. BECOME AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMBASSADOR

Paid ambassador positions are available to help with our events and activities. ENTER IDEA FACTORY

Be inspired

BE MENTORED

Feed your curiosity and explore your entrepreneurial mindset.

Mentorship is available through the King’s20 accelerator, Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Visa endorsement and as part of our diversity and inclusion work.

COME TO OUR PANEL EVENTS, SHOWCASES AND PITCH FINALS

APPLY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUPPORT FUND FUNDING OF UP TO £2,000

Idea Factory is King’s flagship idea generation competition. Win a place on our Bootcamp, a share of the £6,000 prize pot and support package to help you turn your idea into reality. HOP ON BOARD THE BUS FOR THE LONDON VENTURE CRAWL

Student societies can apply for up to £2,000 grant funding to run initiatives that inspire King’s students to develop transferable skills and have entrepreneurial experiences which enhance their future careers.

With our London partner universities we hire a fleet of Routemaster buses to take you on a unique entrepreneurial journey around London stopping off for talks and tours at innovation hubs including Deliveroo, Accenture’s Innovation Centre and Telefonica Wayra, and ending at an exciting London venue.

Get connected

Gain new skills

Build your enterprise

Meet new people and share ideas and experience.

Learn more about entrepreneurship and gain essential new skills to set yourself apart from your peers.

APPLY FOR THE KING’S20 ACCELERATOR

We hold popular events with leading figures such as Heston Blumenthal, Joe Wicks and Jo Malone MBE. We run tailor-made events with faculties, and students, staff and alumni are invited to attend King’s20 pitch finals.

JOIN A STUDENT SOCIETY

Many societies at King’s have an entrepreneurial focus or run entrepreneurial activities. See the listing of societies on pages 50–53. JOIN OUR STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD

Students can join our Student Advisory Board. Help shape our programmes, meet new people and build your CV.

Feel empowered Build your confidence, leadership and resilience and get support for your activities.

COME TO OUR WORKSHOPS

We run workshops on pitching and presentation skills, business planning, idea generation, creative thinking, finding a founder and more. Bespoke workshops are run for faculties and programmes including the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, King’s Summer Schools, Widening Participation, Welcome Week and for the local community. COMPLETE THE KING’S ENTERPRISE AWARD

The Award contributes to your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR). ENROL ON ONLINE KEATS COURSE 0ZLS1102

Guides, start-up kits, downloads and videos, in partnership with Enterprise Nation. 6

Start! Issue four 2018–19

A unique 12-month programme to help turn your idea into reality. You can get £43,000 worth of support including mentoring, office space, residential trips and investment and scholarship opportunities to help you build your venture. GET SUPPORT FOR THE TIER 1 (GRADUATE ENTREPRENEUR) VISA OR TIER 1 (EXCEPTIONAL TALENT) VISA

The Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Visa is an immigration category to allow graduates with world-class innovative ideas or entrepreneurial skills to extend their stay in the UK after graduation. The Entrepreneurship Institute can sponsor up to 20 visas per year, including those renewing from the year before. The Institute can also advise about Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) Visa application, which supports both exceptional promise and exceptional talent.

GERARD

JULIE

JOSH

HEMALI

ED AMY

JEREMY

THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE TEAM JULIE DEVONSHIRE OBE DIRECTOR

I am responsible for developing entrepreneurial skills among students, staff and alumni. No matter what career you have ahead of you, skills to innovate and to be entrepreneurial will be valuable. That is why our vision is that by 2029 everyone at King’s will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA. Twitter: @Juliedevonshire HEMALI PATEL ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

I manage the Engage programme which introduces and supports entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking across the university. We bring you inspirational, informative and exciting initiatives including ones led by student societies (see page 50). I also chair our Student Advisory Board which ensures we remain audience-led. Twitter: @Hemali007 JEREMY SHORTER SKILLS MANAGER

I run the Skills programme which enables you to learn and develop skills that can enhance your future and improve your

experience at King’s. We do this through experiential learning, initiatives such as the London Venture Crawl, the Idea Factory competition, workshops and the King’s Enterprise Award. Twitter: @JeremyShorter_ ED HALLIDAY ACCELERATOR MANAGER

I lead the King’s20 Accelerator (see page 28) which supports entrepreneurs to develop as leaders and helps ventures to build and scale. My role is to design the programme, act as a mentor, and help create a network of experts and investors to support the ventures. Twitter: @edhalliday GERARD DARBY OUTREACH MANAGER

I work on Start! magazine putting together features with inspiring King’s students, staff and alumni and interviews with high-profile entrepreneurs. I also lead our speaker series, inviting high-profile innovators to enthuse students and show how the skills of entrepreneurship can be applied in various industries. Twitter: @GerardDarby

AMY LOTHIAN COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

I am responsible for developing and implementing our communications strategy. We want to reach out to more people, build our communities both inside and outside King’s, and showcase how King’s people are creating exciting, positive change. I also identify insight to help us develop our activities and report on the impact we’ve created. Twitter: @ScienceEvent JOSH BLACKBURN PROGRAMME SUPPORT ASSISTANT

I undertake tasks associated with administering the Entrepreneurship Institute’s strategy and assist with the organisation and delivery of the Institute’s programmes and events.

www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute Facebook: Kingsentrepreneurship Twitter: @InnovateKings Instagram: Kingsentrepreneurship LinkedIn: Kingsentrepreneurship Email: innovation@kcl.ac.uk @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

WHY SALES SHOULD BE THE FIRST SKILL YOU EMBRACE How do you open doors for yourself personally and professionally? Learn sales skills says Hemali Patel, Engagement Manager in the Entrepreneurship Institute. DEFINITION

Sell [with object]: Give or hand over (something) in exchange for money. Sales or selling often makes us think of activities and people associated with the exchange of goods and services (coffee cups and gym memberships), market places (Amazon), advertising (sponsored Instagram posts) or even someone from The Wolf of Wall Street (cue image of a greedy and deceptive person). The end goal is to make money, right? The definition above aptly describes what we perceive the process of selling to be: convincing someone to give you cash, bank details, bitcoins (other cryptocurrencies available) etc. Our past experiences of hard sales – where you sometimes feel backed into a corner – have led us to think negatively of this vital skill. However, there are soft sales skills which are more discreet, considerate and empathetic. DEFINITION

Sell: Persuade someone of the merits of. Be the reason for (something) being bought. OR Cause (someone) to become enthusiastic about. Money is not always the motivation. Take these everyday scenarios: 1. Job and promotion interviews. 2. Proposing a new project, direction or activity to peers, colleagues or managers. 3. Convincing your mates to go to the cinema instead of bowling (or even getting them out of the house in the first place!). 4. Getting people to like you: your first, second, third dates… meeting the parents – you see where I am going with this? 8

Start! Issue four 2018–19

Selling is ingrained in everything we do. Think of sales as the application of psychology and data, in various capacities and measures, to market yourself, your projects or your business. THE BENEFITS TO YOU

• Feel more confident and comfortable stepping into unfamiliar situations. • Become more resilient to setbacks and rejection. • Learn how to forward plan and pre-empt questions and responses. • Develop empathy and an awareness of other people’s positions, making you more considerate. • Practise how to communicate clearly and only share information that is relevant. Cut out the jargon and fluff! • Learn to use persuasive language – which is great when networking. • Become more mindful of other people’s behaviours (read up on Neuro-linguistic Programming, NLP). • It’s easier to spot other salespeople – you’ll never get trapped again! Selling is an art form. You must learn and practise it. At first, you may not be very good or successful, but eventually it will come naturally, and you won’t even know you’re doing it.

Sales skills for starters • Put yourself in the other person’s position. • Understand the value of your offer to them. • Make others feel comfortable around you. Building trust is super important! • Be mindful that their decision is not solely based on you or your proposition. • Don’t take rejection personally. Reflect and learn from it.

TAKE ACTION!

Participate in our selling workshop, part of our Seven Skills programme being offered this year. www.kcl.ac.uk/ entrepreneurship-institute Check out the Sales Society for year-round events and training to nurture your selling skills. Facebook: KCLSales www.kclsales.com

RECOMMENDED READING

Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed www.matthewsyed.co.uk/ books

NETWORKING FOR NOVICES Getting out there and networking to meet the right people is crucial if you want help getting an idea off the ground, advice on careers, or to get your foot in the door for an internship. But entering a room full of strangers can be intimidating. We asked King’s students what makes them most anxious about networking. Gilly Wiscarson, a business advisor and Leadership Expert in Residence 2018 on the King’s20 Accelerator, responds with her advice.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

The Guardian’s Small Business Network has tips on how to get the most out of networking events: www.theguardian.com/ small-business-network

TAKE ACTION!

Go along to a networking event and network! Come to one of the events run by the Entrepreneurship Institute – most have networking receptions afterwards. Register your interest: bit.ly/EntEngage Facebook: KingsEntrepreneurship

HOW SHOULD I BEST APPROACH PEOPLE I DON’T KNOW AT AN EVENT?

The whole purpose of these events is to meet people you don’t know yet. So everyone will be relieved if someone takes the lead. Pick out a person who looks friendly and walk confidently up to them with your arm outstretched ready for the handshake. Say: ‘Can I introduce myself? My name is xxxx and I’m here because xxxx.’ Give a good firm handshake with strong eye contact and listen carefully when they tell you their name – and use it in the next few sentences. HOW DO I MOVE ON AFTER TALKING TO SOMEONE SO I CAN MEET OTHER PEOPLE WITHOUT APPEARING TO BE RUDE?

Say: ‘It’s been lovely to chat with you but we are supposed to circulate at these events. Let’s go and introduce ourselves to that group over there.’ Take their arm and lead the way. HOW DO I BEST KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PEOPLE I MEET?

Keep their business card and contact them the next day. Say: ‘It was a great pleasure to meet you at the event yesterday and we seem to have many

common interests. Shall we try to make a date for coffee? Can I suggest 11am on Monday 15 June, or 2pm on Wednesday 2 July? I’d be very happy to come to your office.’ HOW DO I AVOID APPEARING INEXPERIENCED AND INFERIOR TO PEOPLE AT NETWORKING EVENTS?

This is something that’s quite personal. Generally speaking, we forget that we know much more about our subject and our business than 99 per cent of the population – that makes us expert and we need to recognise our own strengths.

Here are Gilly’s other top tips for effective networking • Plan in advance. If you can, find out who is going to the event and how they might be able to help you – or you help them! • You don’t need a business to have a business card. Having a business card with your main contact details and something that will help a person remember you is useful. • People judge your competence and likability in about four seconds – so look smart and appropriate for the occasion. • Switch off your mobile phone – you need to bring your full attention to the event. • Aim to collect up to three contacts – you need to keep it manageable so you can follow up. • If you are talking about an idea for a business or social venture, be clear about the BENEFITS (not just features) of the venture and make sure you can describe them in one minute. • In the conversation, your listening skills are paramount – people like to talk about themselves so practise standing still, keeping quiet, and showing interest in the other person. • Keep the door open – even if the meeting doesn’t happen this time, keep the person on your contacts list and send them warm wishes occasionally.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

Research has shown that the UK economy is missing out on more than 1.2 million new enterprises due to the untapped potential of women.1 Here we celebrate the achievements of 10 entrepreneurial women who are students and alumni of King’s. They are all innovators in their fields of expertise and have all stepped forward with new ideas and new approaches. They are truly inspiring, and we hope that you’ll be inspired by them too.

Julie Devonshire OBE Director, Entrepreneurship Institute

DR BHAVAGAYA BAKSHI

PIPPASHA KHAN

From the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Medicine (2005–11)

From the Dental Institute. Dentistry (2014–19)

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Pippa is the co-president of Smile Society, a society working to raise awareness of good dental health in the community.

Bhavagaya is a GP and co-founder of C the Signs, a digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify patients at risk of cancer. Currently, half of all cancers are diagnosed in the late stages, and because of this about 80 per cent of those patients will die from their cancer. C the Signs technology can enable patients to be diagnosed early, resulting in 80 per cent of patients surviving their cancer.

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

LESSON LEARNED

‘Persevere and you’ll receive.’

LESSON LEARNED

KING’S WOMEN IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

‘Believe in yourself and don’t be scared.’

10 Start! Issue four 2018–19

Women’s Business Council (July 2015). Maximising women’s contribution to future economic growth.

SABRINA SHAHAWI

ALICIA BEYLAN NAVARRETE

OLGA KRAVCHENKO

From King’s Business School. MSc Public Policy & Management (2017–18)

From the Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences. BSc Computer Science & Robotics (2014–18)

From the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. MA Arts & Cultural Management (2016–17)

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Olga is the co-founder of Musemio, a virtual reality edtech platform which aims to spark children’s interest in arts and culture by doing what they enjoy the most, playing. She is also the co-founder of Memento which allows people to create and share their best memories in virtual reality using just their smartphones.

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Sabrina started a non-profit organisation in Colombia with her family called Cristy’s Pride Tutoring. It provides free tutoring services to children in maths, reading and writing to avoid them dropping out of school and to help them progress into their next grades. LESSON LEARNED

‘Failure is ok. Although failure is hard to accept, it’s part of the process and other doors will open and other opportunities will present themselves.’

Alicia is the founder of Free From Baking, a subscription box for baking, providing tailored recipes that are gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free. LESSON LEARNED

‘People will disagree with your idea and competition will be fierce, but even if you get intimidated, you should keep going and follow your heart.’

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

LESSON LEARNED

‘You cannot build something great on your own, you need a team. The team is what will get you through tough moments.’

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

BASMA BAFADAL

ZEINAB RUHOMAULY

ONYINYEWCHUKWU UDOKPORO

From the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. MSc Neuroscience (2016–17)

From the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Medicine MBBS (2014–20)

From the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. BA Religion, Politics & Society (2016–19)

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Basma is in the early stages of two entrepreneurial ventures. The first is a social enterprise that eliminates paper receipts and instead stores them on an online database. The second is a personalised skincare product which works by assessing a person’s skin and creating a formula especially for them.

Zeinab is in the process of developing Centrality Health. This is a mobilebased platform to improve communication between patients and doctors during visits to Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments in hospitals.

Onyinye started her venture at 13 years old when she tutored a few children after school. Today, she runs her own tutoring business and, so far, has tutored over 100 students.

LESSON LEARNED

‘Determination is the only thing that failure cannot cope with.’

LESSON LEARNED

‘Open up to others and get their help, it’s really important.’

‘CONFIDENCE AND MOTIVATION HAS TO COME FROM WITHIN. IF IT COMES FROM OTHER PEOPLE, IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET YOU SO FAR’ AEYSHA AHMED

12 Start! Issue four 2018–19

‘There is a hierarchical structure in the National Health Service in the UK which can make it quite hard to implement change. However, I’ve learned to have confidence in myself and that my opinions as a medical student have great value.’

LESSON LEARNED

KATY SUTHERLAND

AEYSHA AHMED

From the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care. PGDip Adult Nursing (2016–18)

From the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy. BSc Global Health & Social Medicine (2014–18)

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Katy’s project is a website and app for student nurses. It gives them information and resources to help them care for someone who is dying. LESSON LEARNED

‘A small seed of an idea can grow, if you just give it some time and don’t try to rush it.’

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Aeysha has designed a Halal nail polish for Muslim women which lasts longer than other Halal nail polishes. It allows water to permeate through the surface of the nail so that there is valid completion of a pre-prayer washing ritual. The nail polish allows Muslim women to access a beauty product which they haven’t really been able to use before.

TAKE ACTION!

Take part in the Enterprise Award which recognises student enterprise activities outside of formal studies. Check out the opportunities to develop your entrepreneurial skills including Future Founders, a series of workshops designed with female founders in mind. www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute Get a fix of inspiration and motivation every semester. Sign up to hear from amazing entrepreneurs and innovators: bit.ly/EntEngage

LESSON LEARNED

‘Confidence and motivation has to come from within. If it comes from other people, it’s only going to get you so far.’

Photography: Piers Vernon-Kell

14 Start! Issue four 2018â&#x20AC;&#x201C;19

Time Out London was started by Tony Elliott CBE in 1968 as a guide to the emerging music and cultural scene in London. Today, it has grown into a global media and entertainment company with an audience of around 217 million worldwide. In London, it has been the go-to guide for everything for the last 50 years. Tony came to speak at King’s in June 2018 and Ana Hernandez, a King’s Masters student, caught up with him beforehand.

lliott has always been keen on publishing and media generally. During his time at Keele University (1965–68), he took over a dense and quite serious student publication, Unit, and made it much more contemporary, increased its circulation and improved its advertising revenues. This short grounding in magazine publishing proved very successful when setting up Time Out. STARTING TIME OUT

While he was living at his parents’ South Kensington home after leaving his boarding school, Stowe, in 1964, a year early to study for his A-Levels in London, Elliott started hanging out with an eclectic hip crowd that was ‘culturally progressive’. Through them he was introduced to international cinema, places like the Tate Gallery, the new groundbreaking British music scene, experimental theatre, and so on.

‘THEY’D ALWAYS GO: OH WHY HASN’T ANYONE DONE THIS BEFORE? IT’S GREAT! AND THEY’D BUY A COPY’

He was excited by this emerging arts scene, which was sometimes hard to find out about, and felt a desire to promote it: ‘It was, in a sense, an entrepreneurial kind of activity, as it also had a purpose; I thought people ought to know about this.’ This initially got fed into Unit at Keele then was the driver for Time Out. And that’s why Elliott sat in his mother’s kitchen in the summer of 1968 with £70 of 21st birthday money from his aunt, and created Time Out, a publication listing concerts, plays, films, exhibitions and many things not found in the mainstream media. Six months after launching the first issue in August 1968 Elliott was phoning Keele to tell them he wouldn’t be returning to finish his studies. He went to King’s Road in Chelsea on Saturdays, a popular destination for young people at the time, to sell copies personally to people there. The response was extremely positive from the start: ‘They’d always go: ‘Oh why hasn’t anyone done this before? It’s great!’ And they’d buy a copy.’ Distributing the magazine himself was something Elliott felt key to Time Out’s early success, as it also became a form of data-gathering and instant market research allowing him to shape his publication in response to feedback. Time Out quickly signed up with the alternative distributors Moore-Harness, who were meticulous about making sure that it was on sale where it needed to be in London. This move proved crucial: ‘You can’t sell anything unless it’s available, and then it only sells if it is any good.’ Elliott’s aim for Time Out was for it to be more than a guide and instead to be regarded as a highly curated publication offering an ‘informed inside view’ of what was happening at any moment – everything from gigs at the Roundhouse to anti-Apartheid marches. It swiftly became a comprehensive counterculture weekly guide that touched on many non-mainstream issues, such as where pregnant women could safely get abortions. @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

TIME OUT TODAY

THE BUSINESS

Elliott attributes his success to what he terms ‘pragmatic confidence’, where he trusts that everything will fall into place in the end. ‘I never hesitated to put my assets as collateral for funding with our bank,’ reflects Elliott, adding that he knew it would be worth it in the long run. The entire premise of the Time Out brand is to reflect the culture it covers and evolve with it: ‘That’s innately what people who are entrepreneurs are able to do: to adjust to things,’ he says. Yet Elliott asserts adjusting should never mean losing your edge, and Time Out prides itself on sticking to up-and-coming new and alternative people and events. Although aware of the selling power of having someone like Beyoncé on the cover, Elliott strongly believes in remaining loyal to his audience and philosophy, rather than overt commercialisation for the sake of sales.

Elliott never started with a business plan. If he had done, he considers that it would probably have been stressful because the focus would have been to reach financial or circulation targets instead of delivering a quality product. For the first three years or so, Time Out ‘muddled through’ financially. When Elliott realised the magazine had built up a deficit of £39,000, he brought in a business manager and became much more focused about the business, reducing the deficit from £39,000 to £9,000 in one year by streamlining processes, becoming more cost efficient and increasing revenues.

FIVE FEATURES OF A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR ACCORDING TO TONY ELLIOTT 1. You need an idea first. You can learn how to

run a business and how a market works, but you can’t learn an idea. 2. Once you have set up, hire the right people.

I attribute a big part of our success to the quality of the people working for Time Out. 3. Be adjustable. In other words, responsive to

your audience and to what is happening in your surroundings. This is where a lot of ventures fall behind, but what has made Time Out a major figure for half a century. 4. Never sacrifice quality. There will be many

sacrifices to be made when setting up a venture, but quality is priority. 5. Be patient. Time Out is 50 years old, and

I consider the first 20 years ‘the start-up stage’ before everything got stable and took off.

16 Start! Issue four 2018–19

GOING FREE

The Time Out London magazine as a weekly, free publication is a fairly recent development. Going free in 2012 was, Elliott reflects, ‘The best business decision we ever took.’ Circulation had fallen to between 50,00060,000 paid-for copies in 2012, roughly half of what it was at its peak. Financial struggles driven by declining revenues together with the need for significant investment in online activities, guidebooks and other ventures eventually forced the company to sell 50 per cent of its shares to Oakley Capital. Elliott released the first issue of the free Time Out in September 2012, and circulation reached over 300,000 copies (with over 600,000 readers) during the first months. Circulation has remained at this level which is more than six times higher than before the magazine went free. Suddenly, Time Out had thousands of new readers, especially young people. Today, the Time Out brand spans a variety of mediums in addition to the magazine, including apps, a website and, most recently, a Time Out Market in Lisbon. The market functions as a sort of living Time Out magazine, where the best chefs, baristas and restaurateurs gather in an old marketplace in the heart of Lisbon to deliver the highest quality foods and products, and live events. As the magazine did in London in 1968, the market does today in Lisbon: shed light onto the new, up-and-coming talents, giving them the exposure needed to break out. The brand has partnerships worldwide and licenses the name for use in other Time Out ventures, but never dilutes its core philosophy and mission: ‘It all started because I genuinely thought people ought to know about new people and things,’ says Elliott, explaining that he had a purpose before he had an enterprise.

ABOVE Time Out London: Winston Churchill (1974). Cover by Pearce Marchbank, photographed by Roger Perry. BELOW Time Out 2139: #ilovelondon (2011). Both courtesy of Time Out.

RECOMMENDED READING

Time Out 50: 50 Years, 50 Covers published by Unicorn Publishing Group Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek There is a TED Talk on the same theme as the book: bit.ly/TedTalkSS

TAKE ACTION!

Be the first to find out about other great speakers coming to King’s, sign up here: bit.ly/EntEngage

WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?

The books, films, buildings, fashion, technology, businesses and services that we frequently come across didn’t just appear out of thin air. They all started out as an idea in someone’s head. You can find inspiration for ideas in many places but are they any good? This is your crash course on how to get ideas, how to develop them, and how to communicate them to others to win their support. @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

WHERE DO GOOD IDEAS COME FROM?

FIND YOUR INNER DETECTIVE

You have a problem to solve that will potentially affect thousands or millions of people – you need to find out as much as you can about this group of people so that you can best serve their needs. Think of yourself as an investigative journalist who will not sleep until you know enough to write an in-depth article about it. Do research, speak to people and keep an account of everything you find out. The best ideas are thoroughly researched and well thought through.

Take part in Idea Factory, the Entrepreneurship Institute’s flagship idea generation competition. It’s a hotbed of innovation and can support you if you’re struggling to come up with new ideas. It includes ideation workshops to help you generate ideas and opportunities to network with others.

SHARE YOUR IDEA

Jeremy Shorter runs the Entrepreneurship Institute’s Skills programme. He shares tips from his experience with ideation. I have an idea and it’s going to change the world, trust me! These are some really exciting words that I love to hear. However, sometimes a person’s passion and enthusiasm for their idea can take over a more objective view of the reality of the idea. To keep an objective view, it’s important not to forget that world-changing ideas are more likely to succeed if they have strong foundations and solve real problems. Ideas can come in all shapes and sizes – an idea that you may think has little potential could grow and develop with some hard work and careful nurturing. It’s also important to remember that if we pace ourselves and really think about what it takes to make an idea different, strong AND interesting, we might just end up creating something mind blowing. Here are three things that I like to keep in mind when generating ideas: PROBLEM POWER

A great idea solves a problem. For an idea to be useful it must help people, and the more people the better. If you think of a problem that only affects you and three of your closest friends, but not anyone else, you will find it incredibly hard to build a user base. Ask yourself: Who suffers from this problem? What are their pain points? How are they currently dealing with it? Can I think of a different or better solution? Don’t be afraid to think big from the outset and develop a long-term goal or vision. Just remember that there will be a number of steps to get there. 18 Start! Issue four 2018–19

You’ve done your research and the possible solutions are starting to form, but what next? Use and extend your network to gain valuable insights that will ultimately strengthen your idea. Speak to people who are experts in the field and start to map out how you might approach building your solution.

HOW TO PUT YOUR IDEA ACROSS To get an idea off the ground, you’ll need to be able to talk to others about it in a way that is concise, clear and compelling. Julie Devonshire OBE, Director of the Entrepreneurship Institute, gives you her top tips. I love hearing about new ideas. They can be inspiring, exciting, funny and ground-breaking. They make you feel optimistic. I hear hundreds of new ideas each year from innovators and entrepreneurs inside King’s and outside. These come from all areas of knowledge and expertise; they are ideas for research, for start-ups, for the application of new technology, for creative concepts or simply to solve problems. If there is scope for improvement or for development, there’s opportunity for new ideas.

TAKE ACTION!

Also sign up to the Skills programme and come along to our events to get inspiration. www.kcl.ac.uk/ EntrepreneurshipInstitute

However, often ideas fail not because the idea itself is bad but it has been badly communicated. Someone will not be able to support an idea and help get it off the ground if they don’t understand it. No matter what type of idea you are discussing, and no matter what the context, these are my top tips, distilled from the real endeavours of others:

their meat yield. Complicated, yes, but this is how he introduced his new business idea to the audience: ‘I have built a gym for fish.’ Those listening were utterly intrigued and off he went from there, reeling us all in.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

From the British Council: bit.ly/BC-Ideas From Future Learn: bit.ly/FL-Communication

1. Be welcoming, positive and professional. Think about

your demeanour, what you are wearing and how you might come across. 2. Know who you are talking to. Knowing who they

are and what they want from you will help you to decide what to present to them and what to leave out. You’ll be more likely to compel them if you understand who they are.

HOW TO GET GOING ON YOUR IDEA

3. Present the problem first. Before you dive into your

idea, set out the problem that you are trying to solve, preferably with a real example of someone or something that suffers as a result of this problem. Doing this creates empathy, it brings to life the area that you are talking about, it helps people to buy into and identify with your topic. 4. Set out your solution but ‘sell’ the benefits rather than the features. Talk much more about the

endgame than the tactics used to get you there. Save the details for their questions or for your next discussion. 5. With confidence, set out why you and your team are uniquely qualified to deliver this idea. Talk about your

combined qualifications, experiences and skills that make you the best team to deliver. 6. You don’t need to tell them everything in your first pitch. Tell them only what they need to know

to understand and to be compelled, and be comfortable leaving lots of the details for another time. Your job is not to explain it all – your job is solely to get them to want more. Don’t over-stuff the cushion. 7. Finally, practise pitching your idea beforehand repeatedly. Imagine that you are explaining your idea

to your 10-year-old self or to your great aunt and uncle. If they get it, others will too. Oh, and have a great opening line. My favourite pitch opening line ever was from a super-smart, entrepreneurial marine biologist who had a very complicated, new business idea that used lighting systems to make farmed fish shoal and so increase

You’ve got an idea but not sure how to get started? Theo Ohene has some suggestions for you. Theo is a ‘growth hacker’ supporting ventures to scale up and get to the next stage in their development. He mentors entrepreneurs in the King's20 Accelerator. Here are his suggestions to get your idea going. When working on a new idea, your goal should be to find out: Do people want/need my future product, service or community? You need to know your idea is worth pursuing. So, in the early stages, your goal should simply be to speak to as many people in your target audience as possible. You don’t need business cards or a fancy website – just the willingness to listen and ask the right questions. Here are some steps to get started: CREATE SOME EDUCATED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT YOUR IDEA

Every product, service or community has started with the assumption that ‘the world needs this idea to exist’. However, you should be seeking to make assumptions about your idea as accurate as possible as early as you can. Among the assumptions you need to make are: • Who wants your idea to exist (this is your target audience)? @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

• How much are they willing to pay to use your product or service? • What problems does your target audience face? • How big are these problems? • Why would they use your product or service? Let’s say you are making a revolutionary hair brush for dogs. Here are some assumptions you could make: • Most dog hair brushes are too rough on the dog’s hair. • Dog owners of smaller dogs who spend regularly on high-end grooming products will be my target audience. • Dog owners will pay £25 for my hair brush. • Dog owners will use my product because it helps them to maintain their dog’s hair better.

TRY IT YOURSELF

Write down the 5–10 main assumptions you have about your idea.

REDEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Your next step is to narrow down who your target audience is and why they want or need your idea to exist. The best way to do this is to come up with 2–3 personas (mini-profiles) about the people who you think will benefit most from your idea. Give them a name and think from the perspective of your personas. Assume some characteristics about your persona and provide details about: • Their background. • Where they hang out online/what they read. • What their general motivations related to your idea are. • What their problems/frustrations are.

20 Start! Issue four 2018–19

Example persona Profile • Mary, 45. • Has a Yorkshire Terrier. • Spends £80 monthly on hair products for her dog. • Visits dog blogs and is a regular contributor to dog-related Facebook and Pinterest Groups. Problems • Struggles to find suitable and quality products (including hairbrushes) for her dog. • Must get a new hair brush every few months. Motivations • Wants her dog to look well-groomed. • Doesn’t want to hurt her dog when brushing hair.

TRY IT YOURSELF

Create 2–3 personas (profiles) for your idea.

SPEAK TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND ASK THEM QUESTIONS TO FIND OUT ABOUT THEIR PROBLEMS

Your next step is to talk to people about your idea. Don’t just speak to close friends and family – they’re more likely to give you biased answers as they want your idea to succeed. Find 5–10 people who match your assumed personas and reach out to them. This is where you’ll have to be creative. They may already be in your network or you may have to use Twitter, Facebook groups or LinkedIn. Reaching out to your target audience is something you will need to do a lot in future – so don’t skip this.

A simple message like this can be effective: Hey there, I’m working on a new project about hair brushes for dogs and I wanted to connect with dog owners like you. I’d love to ask you some questions about your experience of dog grooming – do you have 15 mins to chat? Cheers, Theo Your goal here is to learn about your target audience’s problems to see if there is a need for your idea. So, don’t sell or talk about your idea, just listen. Really listen and take lots of notes. You are using these conversations to figure out if you should spend your time working on this idea and confirming you’ve picked the right audience to target. Some of the questions you could ask are: • Have you ever bought a hair brush for your dog before? • How much do you usually spend on grooming products for your dog? • How do you usually deal with grooming your dog’s hair? • What are the biggest issues you face around grooming your dog’s hair? • Tell me about the last time you groomed your dog’s hair? • How much time do you spend on grooming your dog’s hair?

ASK FOR A COMMITMENT

As an entrepreneur, you have to make bold moves. So, if during a conversation with your target audience you conclude that the pain around the problem is big enough, ask them to commit to your future idea. Tell them you’re working on this idea and, if they’re interested, they can be the first to be a part of it when it’s ready. Ask them to make a commitment of some kind – sign up for a waiting list or refer you to others. If you’re really feeling confident, ask them if they want to make a deposit for when the product is ready. You can get some of your first customers doing this. By doing this you are really finding out if there is a need for your idea. After all, people are willing to commit before it’s even ready! Try it yourself: Ask at least three of your target audience for a further commitment. What are you asking from them?

Come along to one of the Entrepreneurship Institute’s monthly drop-in sessions and test your idea out with the team. You can sign up to them here: www.kcldropin. eventbrite.co.uk

CONCLUSION

Good ideas are hard to come by, but time isn’t something you can ever get back, so it’s important that you pursue only the ideas that will have an impact in the world. By taking these steps, you should be confident about moving your idea forward. Most importantly, you will have found out if people really want your idea to exist.

TAKE ACTION!

Develop your ideas through our workshops and Idea Factory competition: www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute

RECOMMENDED READING

Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

@TheoOhene www.skyamo.com

TRY IT YOURSELF

Speak to 5–10 people in your target audience.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

LIVING THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

AMANDA BERRY The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a world-leading Arts charity, famous for its award ceremonies that honour the best British and international contributions to film, games and television. The awards are the British equivalent of the Oscars. BAFTA also operates a year-round programme of events, workshops, scholarships and mentoring schemes in the UK, the US and Asia. 22 Start!

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA, spoke at the King's20 Demo Day 2018 which celebrated the achievements of the ventures in our accelerator. Léa Rozencwajg, a Masters student in Arts & Cultural Management at King’s, met with Amanda beforehand to talk about the innovations she has introduced at BAFTA and what it takes to excel in the film, games and television industries.

t’s a very hot day in London, but Amanda is cool as can be. She’s in her office when I walk in, working away, but giving off an aura of positivity. This positivity, I am about to find out, is behind everything that she does and believes in, and has helped her navigate significant changes at BAFTA. EARLY LIFE

Amanda grew up in a small town in North Yorkshire. She was a very sickly child, which meant that she missed a lot of school and so spent a lot of time watching television. Amanda mentions that going to the cinema was the ‘impossible dream’. She adored going, but the Zetland cinema, the only one in her home town, was old and full of dust. This meant that Amanda had an asthma attack every time she went. Despite this, her passion for film remained alight and the cinema became a magical place for her. This passion never dissipated and it ultimately led to Amanda joining BAFTA in 1998 as Director of Development and Events, becoming Chief Executive two years later. TRANSFORMING BAFTA

When Amanda joined BAFTA, it was in a difficult financial position and only had a small staff team. ‘They worked extremely hard but didn’t dare to dream because finances were so tight. Yet there was this incredible brand which we all believed in,’ reflects Amanda. She went on to transform BAFTA by bringing in a Chief Operating Officer to help manage the business, getting greater support for the organisation from industry, and changing how it operates. A pivotal change was moving the

Film Awards in the global awards calendar. ‘If there was one change that altered people’s perception of who we were as an organisation, it was moving the Film Awards before the Oscars. The Awards being between the Golden Globes in January and the Oscars in March meant that we would be relevant to both the industry and the public.’ Amanda admits that it was a massive risk at first. This was because films opened much later in the UK compared to the US and she had to work hard to ensure BAFTA members were able to see the films and vote. Members were recognising films that the public had not yet heard of, so the move initially led to a drop in the television audience. Nevertheless, Amanda asserts: ‘Long term, it was absolutely worth it because as soon as we moved the Awards then internationally we became relevant, but we had to be brave!’ Although she realises this may not apply to all industries, Amanda feels that being a woman has helped her be entrepreneurial within the organisation: ‘I feel as a woman, I’m able to say: “I have a gut instinct we can make work”, and I’m not sure a man can say the same thing. I am a dreamer, and often I don’t have the business plan to get me to where I want to get to but I’ve just got this idea that we can make it work. I’ve been allowed to be me, and I think that allows me to do the best job at BAFTA and enables me to not be afraid to take the risks necessary to keep innovating.’ It clearly has paid off: when Amanda joined BAFTA, it had 15 staff members; today there are over 100. HOW TO BE ENTREPRENEURIAL IN ORGANISATIONS

Amanda offers several tips. These include staying tuned to changes inside and outside the sector you are in and continuously asking how the organisation is relevant. Amanda believes it also means playing to your individual strengths and not ignoring these and bringing in people with the skills and aptitude to fill in the gaps that you are missing. She also cautions that while it is important to learn from mistakes and failures, not to dwell on them: ‘I am one of those annoying people for whom the glass is always overflowing with positivity.’ GETTING INVOLVED

With new technologies and streaming platforms such as Netflix and Prime Video, Amanda feels that there are new and exciting opportunities for involvement. ‘The industry needs to be open to all and if it is not made up of people from all sorts of backgrounds, then we won’t be telling the world’s stories, and it is absolutely crucial that we do! ‘The awareness of careers is becoming greater,’ @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

‘BELIEVE AND ACHIEVE, DOUBT AND LIVE WITHOUT’

24 Start! Issue four 2018–19

adds Amanda, ‘it is important to keep pushing that. Whatever your skills, there is a job for you in film, games or television: a carpenter can make sets. An accountant can be a production accountant! It’s not all about what happens in front of the camera, there is so much more to it! ‘My way in was through an internship, that is why I am especially keen on the six months’ paid internships offered by BAFTA across all departments. But more than finding a way in, it is about finding out what you want to do.’ Amanda recommends doing the careers quiz on the BAFTA Guru website to help guide you (guru. bafta.org/careers-quiz). ‘The great thing about the media industry is that it needs all sorts of personalities, backgrounds and influences. If I could come from a small town with very few qualifications and manage to find my way through, it must be possible for others too!’ Although Amanda understands it can be hard to get into the media industry, she emphasises her trust in taking steps backwards and occasionally sideways to get the necessary experience and eventually the dream job. HOW TO EXCEL IN THE INDUSTRY

I asked Amanda what she felt were the biggest differences between when she entered the industry, and today. She describes how you used to have to choose between working in film, games or television and how you can now work across them: ‘Today, what has changed dramatically is that the boundaries between the three have merged and the choice is not compulsory. A wonderful example is Peter Jackson, the film director, who works across film, games and television.’ Amanda offers her insights on how to make it in the industry: ‘Making it in the industry is about being brave (you can do it!)! It’s about going to events, reading content online, and finding likeminded people because it’s important to find people who share your dreams and whose

skills complement yours. A big must is to do your research and immerse yourself in what it is you want to do!’ Amanda also underlines that all her previous jobs, no matter how unrelated, have contributed to what she does today, so she advises to: ‘Expose yourself to opportunities and take the opportunities you are being offered!’

‘EXPOSE YOURSELF TO OPPORTUNITIES AND TAKE THE OPPORTUNITIES YOU ARE BEING OFFERED!’ THE BAFTA OF THE FUTURE

Will there be more award ceremonies? Amanda laughs and asserts: ‘We won’t be adding endless new award ceremonies; what we will do is work hard to make sure that the ones we have stay relevant to the ever-evolving industry.’ Amanda wants BAFTA to become increasingly global and plans for it to continue to develop new talent opportunities. She also hopes to build on BAFTA’s creative and cultural exchange activities, which the organisation has already started in China. Amanda also wants to continue to innovate within the organisation, as she has continued to do throughout her time there. For her, it always comes back to: ‘Believe and achieve, doubt and live without.’

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Register with us to find out about other entrepreneurs and innovators speaking at King’s: bit.ly/EntEngage BAFTA Guru is a hub for inspirational career advice in film, games and television: guru.bafta.org

Amanda Berry. Léa Rozencwajg visiting BAFTA. left

right

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSET Dr Rachel Thomas is a medical doctor and former Masters student in Neuroscience & Psychology of Mental Health at King’s. She is also an entrepreneur and co-founder of Resilio, a mental health optimisation platform (www. resilio.io). Rachel explains why it is important to maintain good mental health and how best to do this.

he life of an entrepreneur is fast-paced – and particularly in the early stages of a start-up when teams can be small, you might feel like one person playing many characters in a play. Juggling roles ranging from CEO to marketeer, product developer to accountant, you might feel a pressure to do everything and to do it as quickly as possible. This can lead to your mental health taking a backseat to other targets perceived to be more important. But these steps below can help improve your mental health.

2. USE MARGINAL GAINS

These early signs of stress are often ignored, or seen as ‘part of the territory’ of success. This is partly because many people think that there is not much that can be done about stress – short of changing jobs. Stress can be improved with small lifestyle changes. Eating regularly, including movement in your day and ensuring that you have regular sleep can have a big impact on your mental health over time. Prolonged stress can trigger mental health issues or burnout, so learning to manage it is key. 3. ACT ON FEEDBACK

While you wouldn’t ignore a customer or investor giving you feedback, you shouldn’t ignore your body doing the same thing. Chronic stress can decrease your immune system’s responses. A lingering cough or feeling generally unwell for a long time is feedback – listen to it and see a healthcare professional.

1. RECOGNISE TRENDS

4. INVEST IN YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSET

If you notice signs of a recession in a market, you might change your strategy. Consider doing the same if you notice changes in yourself. If you feel down, experience changes in your sleep pattern or weight, or things stop being enjoyable, talk to someone about it. Trackers such as Fitbit can help you keep an objective eye on your activity levels. Many start-up teams work long hours closely together. Remember that you might be best placed to see changes in a co-worker who needs help, so keep an eye out for each other.

Ultimately, you’ll be more productive if you prioritise your mental health. Try scheduling small amounts of ‘down time’. It is needed for memory consolidation, formulating novel connections and problem-solving – all things that are key in entrepreneurship. Looking after your mental health can improve your confidence and wellbeing. This can help inspire others to feel confident in you and your vision too. Ultimately it helps get the maximum return on your most important asset: you!

26 Start! Issue four 2018–19

Dr Rachel Thomas, medical doctor and entrepreneur. above

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Good Thinking is supported by the NHS and Public Health England, and is a useful tool to find resources to help you manage stress, sleep issues and anxiety. www.good-thinking.uk Student Minds empowers students to look after their own mental health and support others. www.studentminds.org.uk

BUILDING STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY Ed Halliday, manager of the King’s20 Accelerator, describes how his experience of helping to build a start-up was very different to what he imagined, and how he used the experience to build his personal resilience.

very day, I work with inspiring young entrepreneurs at King’s who want to change the world. In doing so, they are also exposing themselves to risk, to failure, and to having to deal with the consequences. As an entrepreneur, you might run out of money, and have to let people go – or even close your venture. Your product might not work, or no one might pay for it. Your investors might screw you over. The list of potential setbacks is long. I probably wasn’t aware of this reality when, in 2014, I took the big leap of quitting my job, my then relationship and my home and joining the co-founding team of a young education start-up called CoSchool, based in Bogota, Colombia. In my head I was all set for success: I felt it was the right time in my life, that I had the right skills and experience, and the determination to make it happen. And things began to look good for the company – we won several big clients and a national competition, and our team was growing. But for me personally, the story was different; I was struggling – a lot. It turned out that I wasn’t quite as ready for this big leap as I had thought. I didn’t know anyone in Colombia, my Spanish was not good, and I began to feel very alone. It was a critical time for

the company, yet I found myself overwhelmed, vulnerable and out of my depth; I was supposed to be a leader, and I felt like I was failing those around me. I was terrified of heading home saying I’d failed. So, I worked harder and harder – up to 90 hours a week between CoSchool, subsidising my small salary by teaching English, and studying Spanish at a university. Within a few weeks, I was suffering so much from stress and exhaustion that one night I came home alone from work and collapsed – completely blacked out – and woke up six hours later with severe concussion. I knew that something had to change. Thankfully, I was in the right place to learn about resilience. CoSchool’s mission is to develop leadership mindsets to help people transform the world around them. Thanks to their expert teachers, I learned to practise ‘growth mindset’ – the belief that challenges are opportunities to learn and that goals are achieved through hard work, taking risks and perseverance. I learned to jump over the hills of fear I came across, knowing it’d be easier the next time. We also regularly opened up space for the team to reflect on personal challenges and ask for help. I began to share with them the challenges I was facing and created an invaluable network of support as a result. Increasingly, I recognised that building resilience is a process that comes with every step up in life – starting university, taking a more senior job, launching your first company. I learned two key things:

‘I LEARNED TO JUMP OVER THE HILLS OF FEAR I CAME ACROSS, KNOWING IT’D BE EASIER THE NEXT TIME’

Firstly – that resilience is a muscle that can be strengthened. Our abilities can be developed and improved.

With the right support, each setback can better prepare you for the next one, helping you to build up a set of tools to strengthen your resilience. Secondly – that the help of others increases your resilience. Resilience doesn’t mean struggling on in

silence! Asking for help in times of need lets others step in to support and share their advice when you need it most. The challenges I faced as an entrepreneur didn’t get easier. But dealing with these setbacks did get easier – because my experience had taught me tricks that worked for me and showed me the vital importance of drawing strength from those around you. @edhalliday

@InnovateKings

TAKE ACTION!

Practise resilience! Try something you’re not comfortable with and be proud of yourself for trying – even if it doesn’t go how you’d like. For example, get involved in one of King’s student societies – see page 50.

RECOMMENDED READING

Mindset by Carol Dweck Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

Kingsentrepreneurship

FAST TRACK TO THE FUTURE

Olga Kravchenko Memento

Olga Kravchenko studied an MA in Arts & Cultural Management at King’s.

Accelerators are programmes specially created for a cohort of early-stage ventures to speed up their growth. Our accelerator, King’s20 (introduced on page 6), is a year-long programme for students, staff and alumni from King’s. Each year 20 (early stage) ventures are chosen to receive an estimated £43,000 of support which includes office space at Bush House, coaching from experts, workshops, and the opportunity to pitch for scholarship prizes worth a total of £130,000. By 2021, King’s20 aims to be one of the first university accelerators to achieve and maintain gender parity. We asked three entrepreneurs in the King’s20 Accelerator to share their experiences.

WHAT’S YOUR VENTURE?

Memento allows anyone to create virtual reality reconstructions of life-changing events, such as a wedding, using just their smartphone. Our technology transforms social media from boring 2D into an exciting new 4D format. It has the potential to become the Instagram of immersive technology. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAIN BENEFITS YOU’VE GAINED FROM BEING IN KING’S20?

The office space and the comprehensive mentorship are really beneficial for small start-ups like ours. Developing your business is challenging but the mentors give us clarity as it is not uncommon for people in our position to get caught up in the flow of ideas we continuously generate. A great benefit has also been working alongside a bunch of other entrepreneurs so we can bounce ideas off each other, share our successes and failures, and support each other on our journeys. WHAT MAKES THE KING’S20 ACCELERATOR SO SPECIAL?

It offers a great range of opportunities for the entire year, including networking, so that we can get leadership training, find out about funding competitions and meet investors. King’s20 supports us without trying to change who we are. HOW HAS YOUR VENTURE EVOLVED? WHAT KEY LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED?

We have developed a virtual reality demo of our product that is available as a separate mobile app. We launched it in July 2018. The key lesson we have learned is that every entrepreneur should fall in love with a problem and not with a perfect solution he/she developed in their own head. The solution might change, but as long as you know that the problem is real, you have a very high chance of making it a success. www.memento.media @mementoVR

28 Start! Issue four 2018–19

Luca Mozzo Deepfinity

Josh Blackburn Regal Gentleman

Luca Mozzo graduated with a BSc in Computer Science with Intelligent Systems. He was also Vice President of KCL Robotics Society.

Josh Blackburn is a member of staff at King’s College London.

WHAT’S YOUR VENTURE?

Regal Gentleman does three things: it creates men’s grooming products; it provides grooming education conveyed in a simple, relatable and understandable way, and it offers inspiration, that encourages the modern man to celebrate his individuality.

WHAT’S YOUR VENTURE?

Deepfinity is a start-up that aims to automate day-to-day repetitive business tasks through targeted machine learning. Our first product, Parcel Tracker, is a system for managing parcels in concierge buildings. Our technology reads the name on a parcel and then automatically contacts the tenant to let them know it can be collected from reception. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAIN BENEFITS YOU’VE GAINED FROM BEING IN KING’S20?

The programme has provided me with several self-development and business development opportunities. I have received invaluable advice from the mentors, not to mention the funding opportunities, resources and office space in central London! WHAT MAKES THE KING’S20 ACCELERATOR SO SPECIAL?

The community of staff, mentors and entrepreneurs that use the office every day makes this experience unique. Collective support and respect make King’s20 the right environment to grow a successful business. I’ve never seen so many people keen to help others overcome obstacles and succeed. HOW HAS YOUR VENTURE EVOLVED? WHAT KEY LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED?

When the programme started we had nothing, just an idea. We now have launched our product, won an award, and are contacting major potential customers. We had no idea how to sell our product. We learned from scratch through workshops and just going out there and trying. Gaining experience and pushing the limits of your comfort zone are key to success. www.deepfinity.io @luca_mozzo

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAIN BENEFITS YOU’VE GAINED FROM BEING IN KING’S20?

For me, it has to be the access to the Experts in Residence. There is a saying: ‘You can’t see the picture when you’re in the frame.’ Sometimes when you’re involved with your business every day it’s very easy to miss certain gaps for improvement. The experts have really helped us get to the next level.

‘I’VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE KEEN TO HELP OTHERS OVERCOME OBSTACLES AND SUCCEED’ LUCA MOZZO

WHAT MAKES THE KING’S20 ACCELERATOR SO SPECIAL?

The opportunity of funding is very special. To win funds for your business without needing to give away equity is something very rare to find in accelerators. This year we were fortunate to receive an Allesch-Taylor Scholarship for Entrepreneurship which has put us in the position to be able to launch our first range of products. We will always be extremely grateful for the head start this has given us. HOW HAS YOUR VENTURE EVOLVED? WHAT KEY LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED?

We have made the transition from selling other brand’s products to providing our own Regal Gentleman products and already have some leading barbers using them. One of the key lessons we’ve learnt is to never sacrifice your standards especially when creating a physical product, such as our hair styling product, which has taken us over a year to create. For a tech product, you can create an MVP (minimal viable product) which allows you to get it out there quickly but a physical product is a much longer process. www.regalgentleman.com @RegalGentleman Youtube: RegalGentleman @InnovateKings

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

More information and a profile of all the ventures in last year’s King’s20 Accelerator can be seen here: kcl.ac.uk/accelerator

TAKE ACTION!

The King’s20 Accelerator opens for applications in April 2019. To register your interest, go to: kcl.ac.uk/accelerator

Kingsentrepreneurship

THE FUTURE

As King’s Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship, Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE is an invaluable advisor to our King’s20 entrepreneurs. Based on his experience as a financier, serial entrepreneur, company chairman, philanthropist and broadcaster, he gives us his insight into the future of work.

OF WORK 30 Start! Issue four 2018–19

THE LABOUR FORCE IS SHRINKING. JOBS ARE CHANGING

We live in a world in which Moore’s law – the notion that the overall processing power for computers will double every two years – doesn’t even begin to cover the rate of change and innovation as it used to. Technology is going on unchecked and doing amazing yet potentially very dangerous things. Globally around 85 per cent of the world’s job losses have derived from productivity growth. This means that machines are replacing humans in many tasks; unintentionally they are decreasing the value of human technical skills in many markets. The unintended consequences of this could be socially catastrophic. Shifts in geo-political powers across the world, and the proliferation of global ‘black swan’ events – those that come as a surprise, have major effects, and are often inappropriately rationalised after the fact – are dramatically changing the global economy and context in which business cycles occur and the labour force is defined. All this has led to a growing polarisation of the labour force between high- and low-skill jobs, high levels of unemployment and underemployment especially among young people. In addition, incomes have been increasingly stagnating for a large proportion of households, and income inequality continues to grow both at a global and national scale. MASTER SOFT SKILLS

As a result, the biggest challenge for today’s generation is to use the inexhaustible amounts of knowledge and information available to better prepare themselves to enter and navigate the uncertainty around the changing labour markets. Based on my experience in multiple industries and as an entrepreneur, I believe the ability to successfully manage these uncertainties lies in the mastering of soft skills. Soft skills are personal attributes that enable a person to interact effectively with other people. Crucial to being able to master soft skills are three things: • Having the ability to see yourself as others see you; • Developing an entrepreneurial mindset; and • Keeping up with current affairs. Your overarching vision in this quest to build your human and professional capital should be aimed at recognising competition is getting tougher and any edge is better than no edge at all. SEE YOURSELF AS OTHERS SEE YOU

Having the ability to see yourself as others see you

can more easily be explained as being objective about your skills and aptitudes, but above all it is being able to understand how your attitude and actions are perceived by your peers. If you don’t understand how others perceive your behaviour, what others expect from you, or how they interpret what you say and do, how can you exert the influence you want? How can you be an effective manager or business person if you can’t influence others? It seems obvious but it usually causes pause for thought when highlighted to just about everyone! In terms of self-awareness, likeability is also very important. Within a context in which all information we can possibly want or need is so readily available, employers are no longer looking for a person with all the right ‘clinical’ skillsets or knowledge. Employers are actually willing to hire someone they like or they think is likeable and then train and help develop their more technical skills than hire someone with all the right skills and capabilities who is not easily relatable. Making yourself likeable is perhaps more important than you may think when seeking employment or for that matter investment as a new entrepreneur.

‘MACHINES ARE REPLACING HUMANS IN MANY TASKS... DECREASING THE VALUE OF HUMAN TECHNICAL SKILLS’

DEVELOP AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

Entrepreneurs seek out opportunities, they understand that innovation is key and they know the importance of value creation. People with entrepreneurial mindsets are able to find new or better solutions for whatever task they have at hand. This means that ultimately entrepreneurs are gamechangers and have the power to create future jobs and define new structures in the labour market.

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH CURRENT AFFAIRS

As someone who is an entrepreneur, investor and employer, a great piece of advice that I can give is to keep up to date with current affairs. I would personally recommend reading the Financial Times every morning (start with the bits that interest you!) but there are lots of other outlets for news such as Compass News (compassnews.co.uk), which was founded by LSE students. People don’t expect you to know all the answers, but they do expect you to understand the right questions to ask. In order to understand the questions, you need to have at least a vague notion of what is going on in the world, at different levels, industries and sectors. This knowledge will open conversations and doors that might be beyond your imagined reach by simply showing others you actually have a more than cursory interest in a chosen field. @InnovateKings

TAKE ACTION!

Develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Check out people and organisations to follow and useful websites to visit on page 54. Let us help you prepare for the future: 1. Sign up for the Enterprise Award 2. Come to (at least) one of our workshops 3. Compete in Idea Factory. Details at: www.kcl.ac.uk/ entrepreneurshipinstitute

Kingsentrepreneurship

OUT AND ABOUT These are some of the varied events and activities that King’s entrepreneurial community got involved in over the last year.

This year our team, some presidents of societies we support and 20 King’s entrepreneurs were among the people from King’s community who were invited to the annual Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

32 Start! Issue four 2018–19

1 2

As a culmination of their year-long work, King’s20 entrepreneurs had the opportunity to pitch their ventures to over 100 UK investors in Bush House. The entrepreneurs, mentors and guests then enjoyed a summer party on Bush House Terrace.

Women in Tech. In November 2017, four presidents of societies, some of our team and a King’s20 venture attended Web Summit 2017. We were fortunate to

hear a keynote from Professor Stephen Hawking CBE, who spoke of the challenges and opportunities facing us. The biggest being the advent and impact of AI on society.

In collaboration with eight other universities, we took 200 students to 30 innovation hubs across London via the iconic Routemaster bus on the London Venture Crawl 2018, and stopping off at places including Deliveroo, Accenture, Google Campus London and Plexal!

We also support and get involved with the local community, with our Skills Manager, Jeremy Shorter, featuring our work in Westminster Council Business Guide: Starting a Business.

In September 2017 the Enactus KCL team represented the United Kingdom at the Enactus World Cup, hosted in London. The competition featured over 36 international teams, who presented the incredible social and commercial projects they have developed and scaled in a year.

In June 2018 we signed a three-year agreement with Santander Universities to support our work in diversity and inclusion, aimed at making entrepreneurship more accessible

@InnovateKings

to everyone. Initiatives include achieving and sustaining gender parity within Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s20, improving accessibility to entrepreneurship through hardship grants and offering part-time summer internships.

Kingsentrepreneurship

A NATURAL INSTINCT FORÂ BUSINESS

34 Start!

Margo Marrone is a former pharmacy student from King’s who graduated in 1987. She started The Organic Pharmacy in 2002 and today it has stores and distribution all over the world. Margo talks to Zeinab Ruhomauly, King’s Bachelors alumna in Medicine & Surgery, about setting up the business and her tips to aspiring entrepreneurs.

ZEINAB: What prompted you to set up The Organic Pharmacy? MARGO: The Organic Pharmacy is a combination of all my ethics, beliefs and passion. I studied pharmacy at King’s and specialised in pharmacognosy, the study of medicinal plants. After obtaining my degree, I worked for several years in hospitals and in industry and then in retail pharmacy, but I went back to what made me passionate – nature and wellbeing. At the same time, I really wanted to raise awareness about issues such as pesticides in our food and chemicals in skincare products. ZEINAB: What was the biggest lesson you learned from starting the business? MARGO: When you start a business, it takes all your focus and energy. There are also a lot of unknowns, and you must be ready to face them and give it everything you have, even if it means working seven days a week and 15-hour days. ZEINAB: The Organic Pharmacy has a worldwide presence. What obstacles did you have to navigate when it came to international distribution and scaling up? MARGO: International scaling is a minefield and often takes a lot of investment and dedication to proceed. You need the right margins, the right contracts and the right distributor. Some of the early mistakes I made were signing with a new distribution company which had no existing set-up or structure in place. While that can be ok, it takes longer and has higher risks attached.

ZEINAB: What personal attributes do you feel have helped you succeed the most as an entrepreneur? Which have you had to develop? MARGO: My biggest attribute is not taking no for an answer. Usually when someone tells you no, it means they can’t do it, rather than it can’t be done, so perseverance is key. The one I had to develop was confidence in myself – that didn’t come naturally. ZEINAB: What is the best piece of advice you’ve received which you find yourself revisiting? MARGO: I once listened to Dame Anita Roddick DBE, founder of The Body Shop, make a speech about how the value of a business is measured. She said something that I always believed – that businesses should be valued on their social contribution in making the world a better place. However, this is often something that can be swallowed up by numbers and profit. Of course, we all want to have a profitable and successful business, but let’s not forget what its contribution to society is. ZEINAB: What three pieces of advice would you give to an aspiring young entrepreneur? MARGO: One, always put yourself in the customer’s shoes and think: is your product / service something you would buy and use? Once you are 100 per cent happy with the answer, then release it. Two, make sure you have enough money to back your venture, or at least have an idea of how you plan on generating income, revenue and funding. Three, finally make sure you have a good accountant who speaks plain English, especially if you are unfamiliar with financial terms.

‘USUALLY WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU NO, IT MEANS THEY CAN’T DO IT, RATHER THAN IT CAN’T BE DONE, SO PERSEVERANCE IS KEY’

@MargoMarrone www.theorganicpharmacy.com

TAKE ACTION!

If you have an idea for a venture or project, check out the support we can provide: www.kcl. ac.uk/EntrepreneurshipInstitute

RECOMMENDED READING

The Organic Pharmacy: The Complete Guide to Natural Health and Beauty by Margo Marrone

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is much more than people starting businesses. It is also about improving services, addressing market gaps, and even achieving earlier diagnosis and treating diseases in a new way. Here we profile people in the King's community who are developing exciting innovations in healthcare.

INSPIRING INNOVATORS IN HEALTHCARE T1resources.uk

Vivum Health

36 Start!

Dr Katy Sutherland Student Nurse Resources

Dr Katy Sutherland, postgraduate taught student for Adult Nursing at King’s College London, is the mind behind Student Nurse Resources – a venture that aims to provide information, support and useful resources to student nurses. It includes a website and there will also be an app to complement academic studies and clinical practice. Katy witnessed the fear and frustration student nurses experienced when interacting and caring for dying patients. She decided to bring the overwhelming amount of information available about care for dying patients together in one succinct location. In doing so she aims to build the confidence and knowledge levels of student nurses, and positively impact on the standards of care which terminal patients experience. Katy launched a website on 15 May 2018 in time for national ‘Dying Matters’ awareness week, and will be making an app available soon. She hopes to be able to provide the app to NHS Trusts and universities to reach as many student nurses as possible. YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES

Time! Balancing postgraduate studies and organising Student Nurse Resources. Networking and knowing who to talk to to get help can also be difficult.

Dr Miles Payling C the Signs

Dr Miles Payling, from the King’s20 Accelerator 2017 cohort, along with his co-founder Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi have come up with C the Signs, a tool that helps identify patients at risk of cancer at the earliest stages of the disease. C the Signs is the first digital tool for clinicians that uses artificial intelligence mapped with the latest evidence to identify patients at risk of cancer at its earliest stages. The tool takes combinations of risk factors, signs, symptoms and investigation results to identify what type of cancer a patient is at risk of, as well as what tests, investigations or referrals a patient may need; all in under 30 seconds. The founders have been piloting the tool in three NHS Health Authorities since September 2017, covering a population of over one million patients. The team have received several awards including the AbilityNet Tech4Good People’s Award. YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES

Not perceiving ourselves as ‘conventional’ business people, but rather as doctors who are starting a business. We didn’t have the skillset to turn the idea we had into a fully-fledged, financially viable business. The King’s20 Accelerator programme gave us the mentorship that we needed to fill this skills gap. LESSONS FROM YOUR JOURNEY

LESSONS FROM YOUR JOURNEY

A small seed of an idea can grow into something people find valuable. Resilience and self-belief in what you are doing are key.

Don’t ever be afraid of failure; it can be your greatest asset. Businesses rarely talk about failure but this gives you something a book can never teach you – experience. YOUR READING RECOMMENDATION

Follow @StNurseResource on Twitter and stay tuned for the launch of the app!

I think a reading list is no match for experience and mentorship. By plunging yourself in at the deep end, you’ll quickly identify your knowledge gaps and then you can target these specifically by reading articles on the internet.

Read more about Katy and Student Nurse Resources on page 13.

Follow @CtheSignsTool, and visit www.cthesigns.co.uk

YOUR READING RECOMMENDATION

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

Read more about C the Signs and Miles’s co-founder on page 10. @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

Dr Maximilian Kerz Vivum Health

Dr Sophie Harris T1resources.uk

Dr Maximilian Kerz, Doctor of Philosophy in Biostatistics & Health Informatics from King’s, is trying to make patient information globally accessible through his venture Vivum Health. Vivum Health provides a straightforward way to collect and share health data with your clinicians in real time. The app allows users to log symptoms and diagnostic measures while also linking with discharge letters and other documents. In real-time, every piece of information is translated into a clinically valuable format which can then be accessed by clinicians. Currently, there is no easy way to share medical data effectively. Instead, patients suffering from multiple health conditions need to manage their recovery themselves. Clinicians are often forced to work with incomplete medical information and so make life-altering decisions for their patients based on an incomplete picture. This causes a tremendous burden on healthcare, accounting for every £7 per £10 spent on health-related expenditure.

Dr Sophie Harris, Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from King’s, has developed T1resources. uk, a website which supports Type 1 diabetes patients to get better access to information about their personal care. T1resources.uk is a co-curated platform bringing together quality-assured online resources that have been tested for safety and usability by healthcare professionals for use by patients with Type 1 diabetes. Concerned by the overwhelming amount of information online, Sophie and her team set out to create a process through which these resources could be tested and tried out in order to provide users with reliable information. The site launched in September 2016, and already has 15,000 unique users. It provides access to over 300 available resources and this is growing. YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES

Time! Making good use of volunteer time without abusing their willingness to support you for free. Also ensuring deadlines are met.

YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES

Healthcare is an entrenched and highly complex market. You are constantly dealing with various stakeholders, who have different interests and incentives at heart. Trying to build a company within this sector is a real challenge. Perseverance and a deep belief in your vision will keep you going.

LESSONS FROM YOUR JOURNEY

Lay the foundations of your business right. If you don’t, this will come back and haunt you when you are at pivotal decision-making points. Consider the different roles of people in your team and think carefully about funding and sustainability.

LESSONS FROM YOUR JOURNEY

When you are working in a business to business (B2B) market with complex hierarchical structures and regulation, you won’t get very far without insider knowledge and champions who are able to push your ideas internally. YOUR READING RECOMMENDATION

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Follow @vivumhelath on Instagram and Twitter. Visit their website www.vivumhealth.com to learn more about their work.

38 Start! Issue four 2018–19

YOUR READING RECOMMENDATION

The Behavior Change Wheel by Lou Atkins, Robert West and Susan Michie.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

If you want to build entrepreneurial skills, participate in the King’s Enterprise Award, take part in our workshops, or compete in the Idea Factory, visit: www.kcl.ac.uk/ EntrepreneurshipInstitute If you want to learn more about innovation in medicine visit the following websites: Health Make Space NHS Improvements NHS Horizons DigitalHealth.London Health Foundry Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Two alumni from King’s talk about a challenging decision they’ve faced as they developed their ventures. Think about what you would do in each of these situations, then see what they actually did with a turn of the page!

Mark Corbett CEO and founder, Edvent and King's Philosophy alumnus. Edvent transforms the student body of colleges and universities into highly employable young leaders, ready to shape the workforce of tomorrow. THE DILEMMA I FACED

Romina Calatayud Founder of Girls United and King's Politics alumna. Girls United FA is a social enterprise which uses football to provide leadership training to girls in low-income areas around the world, initially in Mexico. Its aim is to give them more opportunities to succeed in education and employment. THE DILEMMA I FACED

In July 2017, after many phone calls, we managed to enrol our under-16s team from Bacalar in Mexico into a major state tournament. It was the first time the municipality of Bacalar was represented in girls’ football. We complied with all the rules of the tournament. However, the team we faced did not adhere to the uniform rules. After a tough match, which we did not win, my team approached me questioning why the other team was not made to comply with the rules on uniform, while we had. I then had the dilemma of whether to make a formal complaint or just accept the defeat and move on.

ON THE ONE HAND…

ON THE OTHER HAND…

My players had every right to demand that the rules were followed. Pursuing the complaint seemed like an opportunity to demonstrate that they had a right to stand up for what is fair.

The opponents had played a good match and had been the better team on the pitch. It seemed unfair to the players who, probably through no fault of their own, had not had the proper support to wear the appropriate kit. Even if our complaint was upheld, we would then face a much stronger team whom we were very unlikely to beat.

We were in the early stages of getting our business venture off the ground, and needed our MVP (Minimum Viable Product) built pronto! We brought in a friend offering cash plus equity, but ultimately he couldn’t turn our vision into hard code. This meant we had used up a lot of our financial runway but had little to show for it and we still needed to show to potential clients how our technology would develop their students’ soft skills. We desperately needed funding to build our prototype, so it made sense to raise capital. We were seeking £40,000 of investment for 4 per cent of our business (this meant we valued our business at £1 million). We were approached by a group of individual investors. They offered £50,000 in return for 8 per cent of the business valuing the business at £625,000.

ON THE ONE HAND…

ON THE OTHER HAND...

As well as taking a greater percentage in the business and valuing the business for less than we did, there were also a lot of strings and stipulations attached to the investment. We felt the investors thought we were desperate for their money, so we could be starting a relationship where we were in a weak position.

The investment would enable us to get the platform built to a high standard and quickly. We knew universities would want what we were creating, but needed to demonstrate how our platform would work. The investors had extensive experience in enterprise and so would bring valuable business knowledge as well as their credibility. People often take your venture a lot more seriously when you say that you have raised money. You also don’t know how much someone might be willing to invest in total – it could start with £50,000 but there could be more money on the table at a later stage. 39

Romin a Cala tayud

t bet r o C rk a M

MY DECISION

Against the advice of several trusted friends and advisors, I turned down the offer. We believed our business was worth a lot more because we had traction and sales, even without a platform. The investors responded by saying they were prepared to negotiate. However, we said that we were not prepared to negotiate as we were busy winning clients, which we did, and turned the tables on our relationship. Now I’m going back to them at a considerably higher valuation.

MY DECISION

I made a formal complaint. Ultimately, I felt it was more important to set a good example and to assure the girls that they have a right to fight for justice. While this case may seem trivial – not having matching uniforms – if ignored, the girls could go on to dismiss more serious equality issues and instances where laws are broken. THE RESULT

THE RESULT

We went on to win some new business and also managed to secure £10,000 grant funding by being part of the King’s20 Accelerator. This provided us with the money to build a prototype. Young entrepreneurs starting out often think that it’s important to get investment and they enjoy being able to take a good salary early on. However, it’s important to remember that in doing so you are giving away some of your business. It’s also good to be lean and mean in your early stages. We now intend to sit down with the same investors and show them the technology we’ve built, the clients we have secured and the number of users we have. We will ask them if they want to invest a much greater amount.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Girls United: girlsunitedfa.org Edvent: edvent.life Read about other entrepreneurs from King’s: www.kcl.ac.uk/ entrepreneurship-institute

40 Start! Issue four 2018–19

Romina Calatayud (far right) with a Girls United team right

The other team were dismissed and, as expected, we didn’t win our next match. Nevertheless, it fostered in our team a sense of determination and they were motivated to train harder and pursue more goals. While initially it broke my heart to see the other team walk away from the match they had earned, they were then able to approach their local government officials to get proper uniforms.

TOO COOL FOR PLASTIC an interview with

RICHARD WALKER

PAULINA VALDEZ

Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland Foods Group, is young, keen and wants to rid supermarkets of plastic. He came to speak to King’s students and alumni about how he plans to revolutionise the food retail industry starting by cutting plastics from his own-brand products by 2023. Paulina Valdez, Entrepreneurship Institute team member and King’s alumna in Emerging Economies & International Development, spoke to him before his talk.

‘M

y parents ran a Fish ‘n Chip stand,’ recalls Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland Foods Group, when I ask him to tell us about how the business started. ‘They continued to do so until five Iceland stores were in operation, then they realised that this was a long-term project and they could no longer juggle both things,’ recounts Richard, with a tone of both admiration and humility for the effort and determination of his parents – qualities that have clearly been instilled in him as well. This same humility was probably what jumpstarted his entrepreneurial career and what led him to seek a professional career outside the family business before he eventually joined Iceland Foods Group. Upon graduation, he spent three years in Poland, making his name as a property developer when the country had just joined the European Union. He chose the location not only because of the economic opportunity it presented, but also because he was sure no one would know him as Sir Malcom Walker’s son there. This bold move was challenging for Richard for a range of reasons: he didn’t speak any Polish, he was unfamiliar with the country, and the company

42 Start! Issue four 2018–19

he had partnered with got into financial difficulties, forcing him to restructure and refinance his own company. From this somewhat bumpy start to an entrepreneurial career, Richard returned to the UK, wiser, and with greater resilience. Back in England, he set up a similar property fund that continues to operate today with over £200 million in assets under management. However, ‘the call of Iceland was too great’ so he eventually joined the family business. He recalls the moment he joined; Iceland was under stress as a result of a combination of turmoil in the UK’s food retail industry, pressures from an industry shift to online presence, and a changing consumer environment. These pressures, however, were a great incentive for him to seek innovative ways for Iceland to regain a competitive advantage in the sector. ‘The essence of being an entrepreneur is that nothing is fixed or sacred. You obviously have to listen and be prepared to change and be adaptable to change. This has been the secret to Iceland’s success over the past 50 years,’ explains Richard, offering further insight into how the company’s model has pivoted and changed to adapt to both technological innovations and market demands.

The epitome of this search for innovation and constant change has been Iceland’s recent announcement and pledge to go plastic-free with its own brand products by 2023. This initiative is already shifting public perception of the brand and has resulted in an increase in sales that is expected to continue rising. When talking about the inspiration for this bold initiative, Richard emphasises how personal interests are often influential in shaping an entrepreneur. In this case it was his passion for surfing and seeing how much plastic waste was going into our oceans that prompted him to consider how he could alleviate this major threat to our environment. Richard is not just content with Iceland taking this plastic-free stand but also wants to pressure other key players in the food and beverage industry

Foundation’s current focus is on ways to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s. Iceland has been able to persuade several other retailers to donate the five pence charge for carrier bags towards a dementia research centre. It hopes to use similar tactics to persuade retailers and manufacturers to address the plastics problem holistically.

‘THE ESSENCE OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR IS THAT NOTHING IS FIXED OR SACRED’ to adopt sustainable initiatives and reduce their plastic production and waste. Leading by example is the main strategy Iceland has chosen as an influencer and innovator in the market. ‘We must first show them it’s possible, that the alternatives are out there now and that they are commercially scalable,’ argues Richard when reflecting about this ambitious goal. However, Richard flags up the potential harm of retailers just jumping onto the plastic-free bandwagon, highlighting how harmful it could be if this transition is not done with careful analysis and consideration, with the result that a less sustainable solution is chosen. He specifically calls out bioplastics, and biodegradable plastics, which although considered by most to be less harmful materials, can be equally detrimental to the environment as they break down into microplastics that can enter the food chain. His bets for a true revolution for the plastics industry are on industrial composting and technological innovations in waste management services. The forward-thinking mentality within Iceland and its management even extends to the company’s Foundation which, over the past 10 years, has given over £23 million to good causes. The

As a community leader, Richard’s repurposing of Iceland and its 25,000 staff members, 900 shops and five million customers per week as agents of change and positive impact is something truly admirable. Iceland is a positive and pioneering example demonstrating how people in powerful positions can harness their influence for the good of society. This is why, following his pledge for Iceland to go plastic-free, his announcement of a ban on palm oil in own-brand products comes as no surprise. This idea was born when Richard witnessed first-hand the effects of deforestation in Kalimantan, Borneo. He realised immediately he did not want to be complicit in the destruction of rainforests that in turn lead to the decimation of biodiversity. This initiative will see a change in over 450 of Iceland’s products and alternatives will be sought from rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, lard and butter. We are excited to see everything Iceland will be doing as an industry innovator! @IcelandRichard about.iceland.co.uk/the-walker-blog

@InnovateKings

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Sustainabilty at Iceland: bit.ly/ Iceland-Sustainability

TAKE ACTION!

What is King’s doing to reduce our impact on the environment? Visit these pages and see how you can help: bit.ly/KCL-BeSustainable

Kingsentrepreneurship

PASSPORT TO ENTERPRISE

Ben Mervis and Robert Koenig are former King’s students who have been granted Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Visas with their food-focused ventures. Tier 1 visas allow graduates to extend their stay in the UK by starting a business. Read about their entrepreneurial journeys.

Ben Mervis Founder of Fare Magazine

WHAT IS FARE MAGAZINE?

Fare is a travel magazine for foodies that explores the heart of a city’s culture through 200 pages of artwork, essays, interviews and localised fiction that taps into the culture of a given place.

WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION? WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY?

There have been loads! I didn’t know anything about journalism or publishing before embarking on this. It is my first endeavour as an editor and a publisher… so that has clearly been a big learning curve. I managed everything on the fly really. I’m still making it up as I go along – doing what I think is best and then learning from when I make mistakes. Challenges occur everywhere, naturally, from content generation, to printing, to distribution, sales, and social media. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

That everyone is making things up as they go, just like you. It’s a nice confidence booster when you realise that. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR VISA APPLICATION PROCESS?

I’m from Philadelphia initially but came to Glasgow, Scotland, on my study abroad year and fell in love with the place. I’ve now lived in the UK for six or seven out of the last nine years. As an international 44 Start! Issue four 2018–19

entrepreneur, obtaining a visa is an inevitable obstacle to face. However, do not be discouraged by it. I personally found the process straightforward compared to other visa applications!

Just sitting in my lounge, drinking cup after cup of tea! WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Visit www.faremag.com Instagram: @faremag Twitter: @FareMagazine

Robert Koenig Founder of Spoonzy

WHAT IS SPOONZY?

Spoonzy is a web and mobile app that allows users to quickly build meal plans, get the ingredients delivered from Tesco, and cook with easy stepby-step picture recipes. Our mission is to radically simplify meal planning and grocery shopping. The process revolves around a no-waste planning strategy which ensures you use everything you buy. Our meals are healthy and tasty. They are designed by our co-founder, an award-winning cookbook author. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY?

One of my biggest challenges was finding a co-founder. It is hard to find someone that complements you and is equally as passionate about your idea. It was also difficult to devise a focused, well-articulated strategy and develop our software.

King’s and SOAS as an undergrad, and then moved to Edinburgh to work for a global investment company. The UK has been very welcoming, and the application process for the Tier 1 visa is quite fair, so I would tell international entrepreneurs not to be scared by it. The process challenged me to articulate a persuasive vision for my company, while respecting the inherent uncertainty and flexibility within a start-up strategy. WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION?

My squash club is my favourite place in the UK. But in terms of inspiration for my business, I copy other start-ups whenever I can. Good artists imitate, great artists steal. In particular, we have been inspired by the food photography of Gousto, and the customer community of Monzo bank. I also really like the focus of chains like In-N-Out Burger and Pret. Like them, I want to be really good at one thing. WHAT BOOKS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND OUR READERS?

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNED?

I’ve learned that I can’t change the world alone. My project requires specialist expertise in several areas. Without recruiting other people to my mission, the project would not have progressed as far as it has. I will also need to recruit more people in order to progress further. When I started, I thought entrepreneurship was the ultimate exercise in independence. It’s the exact opposite. Entrepreneurship is the ultimate exercise in getting other people to work with you, and buy your stuff.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Grinding It Out by Ray Kroc and Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters. WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Visit spoonzy.co.uk

TAKE ACTION!

We endorsed several Tier 1 visas last year. More information and application dates are here: bit.ly/KCL-T1visa

WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR VISA APPLICATION PROCESS?

I’m originally from Vermont, USA. I studied at

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE One of the most important skills of the future will be futurology â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the ability to predict forthcoming developments of trends, plan and take advantage of them.

46 Start! Issue four 2018â&#x20AC;&#x201C;19

We asked a King’s lecturer, Peter McBurney, Professor of Computer Science, and two students, Farah Siddiqui, studying Pharmacy, and Ella Rayment, a medical student, their predictions about the future.

Robotics and algorithms can do repetitive tasks automatically for us, with better accuracy, speed and standardisation. Machine learning will create and accelerate new possibilities for R&D – it can sieve through millions of potential solutions to a problem faster than humans. We may be able to defeat major modern crises like antibiotic resistance through identifying potential drug candidates faster. Compact devices will deliver services closer into the community where impact is the greatest. Already, electrocardiograms (ECGs) – a test to check your heart’s rhythm and electrical activity – are being performed on mobile phones! WHAT SKILLS AND APTITUDES ARE STUDENTS GOING TO NEED BEARING IN MIND THESE DEVELOPMENTS?

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE SOME OF THE DEVELOPMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY WE CAN EXPECT IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS? PETER: Two key developments are likely to be the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the rise of distributed ledgers (also known as blockchains). Most of us have already used AI without realising it – for example, Microsoft’s Windows Operating System has had embedded AI since Windows95, released 23 years ago, and the London Underground has been using various forms of selfdriving trains since the late 1960s. Distributed ledgers are a new technology first used for the crypto currency Bitcoin. The technology has advantages for storing and processing of any data shared between multiple people or organisations and is likely to revolutionise business. ELLA: I believe AI and robotics will continue to advance exponentially over the next decade, and this will impact and radically change so many ways in which we live our lives. I believe these advances will revolutionise a multitude of sectors, including those of medicine and healthcare. These advances have the potential to make services accessible to many more people. For instance, the development of mobile stroke unit drones would drastically improve the chances of survival following stroke. Healthcare could be better, faster and therefore more widely available to those who need it most. FARAH: I think, amidst the fourth industrial revolution, the most promising developments are: task automation, machine learning, and portable scientific devices.

PETER: The key attributes needed to survive and prosper in this world are going to be flexibility and a willingness to learn new skills. If we look back to 1980, there was no World Wide Web, no smartphones, and air travel was expensive. Students today will be working for the next 40 or so years, and none of us knows what technologies will be commonplace in 2060, nor how these will change our social and working lives. ELLA: I think students of today must be ready to learn new skills, for example, coding, even if their discipline is not necessarily computer science. They must be willing to adapt and be versatile, as more disciplines become interlinked, as the world evolves and becomes ever more connected. Most of all, I think students must remain focused on using developments and advances to better society and positively impact our planet. FARAH: There is much you can offer that technology cannot – your diverse experiences, perspectives and ideas. Technology influences job design, but your expertise will influence technology design and advancements. New technology is only as useful as the user makes it. The key to staying abreast of developments and having something to offer, is being adaptable and willing to learn. Do independent learning and research. Take opportunities out of your comfort zone. Be curious, explore all the functionalities of new technologies, challenge yourself. There are many opportunities in and out of university to develop your skills – join student societies and committees, participate in hackathons, intern at start-ups, attend networking events to seek new opportunities etc. @InnovateKings

‘THE KEY ATTRIBUTES NEEDED TO SURVIVE AND PROSPER IN THIS WORLD ARE GOING TO BE FLEXIBILITY AND A WILLINGNESS TO LEARN NEW SKILLS’ PETER MCBURNEY

TAKE ACTION!

Channel your inner futurologist. How will emerging technology be developed and applied in your area of study? How can we evolve with this revolution? What skills or attributes will we need? Share your predictions with us on Facebook: Kingsentrepreneurship or Twitter: @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

Michele Tieghi (above) is a King’s Business & Management alumnus. He reflects on the challenges he and his co-founders had to overcome when starting their business – a brewery that enables Londoners to enjoy the taste of pure German craft beer.

hroughout my degree, I developed a strong interest in how businesses are run and became fascinated by the many entrepreneurs who reject the nine-to-five rat race to start their own ventures. Being my own boss and doing something I’m passionate about was the biggest motivation for starting German Kraft Beer (GK). My co-founders Anton Borkmann and Felix Bollen and I met in high school, and we’ve been best friends since. They are two Germans who love a good honest beer, and are also the brains behind GK. Felix worked in Steinbach Brau (now our partner brewery) in Erlangen, Germany, and was adamant that you couldn’t find fresh beer like theirs in London – he was right. Exporting fresh German brews to the UK was out of the question; fresh beer doesn’t travel well and it wasn’t sustainable. So, we thought, ‘F**k it, let’s make our own fresh German brews in the heart of the capital, and we opened our own London brewery!’ A big challenge was it not being possible to recreate such pure and balanced beers in London due to the difference in the quality of water between London and Germany. This was a problem, as beer is made of 95 per cent water! We figured the only way to overcome this was to recreate the water quality found in Germany. Fortunately, Felix’s father was running a charity

48 Start! Issue four 2018–19

which provides fresh, clean drinking water to countries in the developing world. This is achieved by utilising a unique distillation machine, which runs on waste heat. So, we applied that tech to our brewing process, and to our amazement it worked! Thanks to this water tech, we get mineralised water for our beers from waste heat, thereby making us environmentally-friendly. It also means that GK isn’t restricted to one specific location meaning we can recreate our fresh tasty brews anywhere, no matter what the conditions are. We currently operate from Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle where the public can enjoy a beer the way German tradition wants us to: fresh and local, and with a wonderful selection of German foods. Soon we’ll be producing mineralised water in reusable glass bottles, helping fight the war against plastic. We have rapidly expanded to 15 employees, which comes with a different set of challenges. We are constantly striving to operate efficiently by optimising our operations and planning ahead to keep up with demand. We don’t want to run out of beer! A major takeaway from this journey is learning how to build a company structure within a start-up, where each person’s responsibilities are defined and clear, and delegating tasks to stick to the structure. As an entrepreneur, we always want to do everything, but as co-founders we need to learn to focus on the most crucial tasks we are best for. The rest can be delegated to others, to avoid wasting time or burning out. Based on my experience, I would say if you have an idea, go for it! Build a business plan and execute it. Don’t just look at it and think how it would have been if you opened your own company. Get out and do it. Prost! @GermanKraftBeer www.germankraftbeer.com

‘F**K IT, LET’S MAKE OUR OWN FRESH GERMAN BREWS IN THE HEART OF THE CAPITAL’

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

You can taste German Kraft Beer yourself at Mercato Metropolitano, 42 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6DR

TAKE ACTION!

Develop your idea for a business or social enterprise. Check out our workshops and Idea Factory competition: www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute

INNOVATION IS HEALTHY KCL Innovation Forum / KCL Dental Society / KCL Smile Society / KCL Sports and Exercise Medicine / KCL Surgical Society

ANOTHER RICHARD BRANSON THE TECH REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN NO FUNNY BUSINESS PLEASE! Enactus KCL / King’s Entrepreneurs Society

King’s AppConnect / Cyber Security Society / KCL Robotics / KCL Tech Society / KCL Women in STEM

Economic & Finance Society / King’s College London Real Estate and Property Investment Society (KREPS) / King’s College London Business Club (KCLBC) / KCL Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Society (MAPS)

STUDENT SOCIETIES THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN UNIVERSITY SCRATCH THE SURFACE OR DIG DEEP – THE CHOICE IS YOURS King’s RAG / KCL School of Life / Strand Magazine

50 Start! Issue four 2018–19

Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Society / KCL Jurisprudence Society

INNOVATION IS HEALTHY KCL Innovation Forum Innovation Forum is a not-for-profit organisation that connects academics, start-ups and policymakers in order to translate scientific research. We do this by running Deep Science events, an annual start-up accelerator and a big annual conference. King’s College London is one of several Innovation Forum branches around the world. inno-forum.org & www.kcl.inno-forum.org Facebook: KCLInnovationForum Email: kcl@inno-forum.org Twitter: @KCL_IF

KCL Dental Society KCL Dental Society has celebrated a tradition of excellence for the past 124 years. In 2018 King’s was ranked as the number-one dental institute in Europe and second in the world (QS World University Rankings). We have significant influence and reach, holding a range of academic, social and welfare events for our community of 1,000+ students and faculty members. www.kcldentalsociety.com Facebook: kcl.dentalsociety Instagram: @kcldentalsociety

KCL Sports and Exercise Medicine We aim to make the field of sports and exercise medicine more accessible for health science students at King’s. Our main event is an annual conference bringing together athletes and healthcare professionals for an evening of inspiring talks. www.kings-semsoc.co.uk Facebook: Kingssemsoc Twitter: @KingsSEMSoc

KCL Surgical Society We promote the art and science of surgery to students and staff nationwide. Throughout the year we host events ranging from lectures, suturing workshops, tours of surgical establishments, careers fairs, networking receptions, medic revision classes, an annual National Undergraduate Surgical Conference to social events. Students and staff from all medical specialties are welcome. Facebook: SurgicalSociety Email: kclsurgicalsociety@gmail.com

KCL Smile Society KCL Smile Society visits South London primary schools and special care groups to deliver oral health workshops. The purpose of these workshops is to educate children about teeth, discuss good oral hygiene, diminish fear of the dentist, and provide a comfortable environment for the children to ask questions. People volunteering with us get an invaluable experience while at the same time giving back to the community. www.kclsmilesoc.wixsite.com/home Facebook: KclSmileSociety Email: smilesoc@kcl.ac.uk

ANOTHER RICHARD BRANSON Enactus KCL We encourage our members to develop and utilise their entrepreneurial skills to build social businesses that find solutions to local and international issues. We host hackathons, skills workshops, and business advisor meetings to inspire entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2017, we represented the UK at the Enactus World Cup and won multiple awards for two projects: LightMountain and Branched. www.enatuskcl.org Facebook: EnactusKCL

King’s Entrepreneurs Society We create a supportive and nurturing environment for potential entrepreneurs at King’s, by equipping students with critical entrepreneurial skills and connecting them to the larger start-up network. Our society also offers a consultancy service to start-ups, providing support in setting goals and achieving them. www.kingsentrepreneurs.com Facebook: KingsEntrepreneursSoc Twitter: @kcentrepreneurs @InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

THE TECH REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN KCL Women in STEM We are a network of students and academics who support diversity in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) at King’s. We have two flagship initiatives: the STEMsisters, a support network for women in academia; and ‘The Science Fix’, a podcast series discussing how to overcome challenges faced by women in STEM. We also run popular women-led ‘Learn X’ workshops. Facebook: KCLWomeninSTEM Email: contact@kclwomeninstem.co.uk Twitter: @KCLWiSTEM King’s AppConnect We bring together students pursuing non-technology courses with students studying computer science/engineering. We help them share ideas and network with each other to find potential business partners. Last year we helped coordinate King’s first business hackathon, hosted a

Q&A workshop with Entrepreneur First, and ran an idea exploration workshop. www.kingsappconnect.com Facebook: KingsAppConnect Cyber Security Society We’re interested in the application of practices designed to protect networks, computers and technology from unauthorised access, focusing on everything from penetration testing to cryptography, along with the laws and policies that govern them. We hold talks with special guests on topics such as exploitation, social engineering and cyber conflict. Facebook: KCLCyberSec Email: kclcybersec@gmail.com KCL Robotics Our society engages with people who are interested in robotics by providing them with social events, building workshops, hackathons, and industry talks. Every

year, we have increased the number of events and opportunities for students, in order to highlight the growing importance of robotics in the world. www.kclrobotics.com Facebook: robotics.kings Twitter: @KCL_Robotics KCL Tech Society Our society is for people who are passionate about technology, entrepreneurship and building interesting products. We bring together students with different skill sets from various disciplines to create an innovative and supportive community of like-minded people. We offer office tours, coding workshops, hackathons, socials and meet-ups with different companies. www.kcl.tech Facebook: KCLTech Email: contact@kcltech.com Twitter: @kcltech

NO FUNNY BUSINESS PLEASE! Economic & Finance Society Our society hosts regular talks with academics, economists, ex-investment bankers and hedge fund managers from around the world. Attendees get a first-hand insight into global financial markets, risk, growth prospects and banking – indispensable knowledge when establishing a new business. Last year’s inaugural event was a session with Dr Pippa Malmgren on global growth prospects and geopolitical risk. www.kcleconomics.com Facebook: KCLEFS Email: kingsefs@gmail.com King’s College London Real Estate and Property Investment Society (KREPS) KREPS supports and represents those interested in real estate and property, 52 Start! Issue four 2018–19

providing a platform for both King’s and non-King’s students to experience and hear from industry professionals. We host an annual property start-up conference, showcasing the latest industry innovations and encouraging students to participate in entrepreneurial activity. www.kreps.club Facebook: Kingsreps Email: info@kreps.club King’s College London Business Club (KCLBC) We are the largest business and finance society on campus, providing exceptional opportunities to network with professionals in all industries and adding real value to members’ career prospects. We run a variety of events including panel sessions, intimate talks and company visits. We have worked with companies such as

Uber, Unilever, Kraft Heinz, Deliveroo and TransferWise. www.kclbc.com Facebook: KCLBusinessClub Email: hello@kclbc.com Twitter: @KCLBC KCL Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Society (MAPS) We bring together individuals who have a passion for the marketing and advertising sector. Members get hands-on experience by providing marketing services to other societies for various events. Last year, we hosted a branding and design workshop and a digital marketing hackathon – the first of its kind! Facebook: MAPSkcl Email: mapskcl@gmail.com

THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN UNIVERSITY King’s RAG Now, in its 106th year, King’s RAG (Raising and Giving) is the largest student-run fundraising organisation at King’s. Our aim is to offer something for everyone, whether that be (always sold-out) events, hilarious and ambitious shows and productions, or meticulously planned overseas challenges! We also encourage lovely RAGgers (that’s you) to hit the streets, armed with buckets, to raise as much as possible for chosen charities. Facebook: KingsRag1 Email: rag@kcl.ac.uk Instagram: @kings_rag

KCL School of Life Our aim is to develop emotional intelligence through culture. We run workshops and panel events relating different academic disciplines to wellbeing and emotional intelligence. Some examples from last year: ‘Businesses for the Greater Good’, ‘Brain workout: mental health and exercise’, and ‘Wing Chun Philosophy and Practice’. Our partners include King’s Wellbeing, Youtube, The School of Life and student societies. Facebook: KCLschooloflife Email: kclschooloflife@outlook.com

Strand Magazine Run by students, Strand Magazine covers cultural activities in and around King’s. We go to press and private viewings of events, including ones by the National Theatre, Tate Modern and theatre societies. We push members’ journalistic qualities by providing them with the opportunity to cover exclusive events and have their reviews published and read by the wider community. www.thestrandmagazine.com Facebook: thestrandmagazine Email: contact.strandmagazine@gmail.com

SCRATCH THE SURFACE OR DIG DEEP – THE CHOICE IS YOURS Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Society We run academic events that combine philosophy, politics and economics, and social events that allow students to mix with professionals in an informal context. Our ‘Entrepreneurship for Society’ is a social entrepreneurship competition that enables students to develop their ideas through exclusive business workshops, networking events and prize money. www.kclppe.com Facebook: Kclppe Email: office@kclppe.com Twitter: @kclppesociety

KCL Jurisprudence Society We’re a law society for non-law students, helping them decide whether or not a legal career is right for them. Members can also hear from big industry players like Simon Harper, The Financial Times Legal Innovator 2015, and from the international law firm Bird & Bird, about the most disruptive technological innovations in law. Facebook: KCLJurisprudenceSociety Email: kcljurisprudence@gmail.com

STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD

As an audience-led institute, we co-create our activities with our community; we focus on diversity, inclusivity and being a collective. One of the ways in which we do this is through our Student Advisory Board. We present the Board with our strategic and tactical plans to obtain their insights and opinions on how we can maximise the potential of our opportunities. Students who are passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation are invited to join our Student Advisory Board. Please visit www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute for more information and guidance on joining.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

INSPIRATION STATION Inspiration and motivation for personal development, new venture ideas, help and support can come from many places and people. Amy Lothian, Communications Manager in the Entrepreneurship Institute, reached out to our community to find out where you look for inspiration. Who we’re meeting Entrepreneurs Meetup group Meet local entrepreneurs in your area, discuss strategies and share success stories. bit.ly/EntMeetup Enterprise Nation Resources, community and connections to help you reach your business goals. Sign up to their free email course to kickstart your business in seven days. www.enterprisenation.com Blooming Founders Blooming Founders creates a support infrastructure to make the start-up world a better place for female founders. They run events, and support you to build your network and develop personally. Their community is open to people of all genders. www.bloomingfounders.com Startup Grind Startup Grind is a global start-up community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. www.startupgrind.com 54 Start! Issue four 2018–19

What we’re reading

Who we’re following

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg In this international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winner, Charles takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.

Seth Godin Seth launched one of the most popular blogs in the world – and wrote 18 bestselling books. He covers everything from effective marketing and leadership to the spread of ideas. www.sethgodin.com

Smarter, Faster, Better: the Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg Demonstrates the eight simple principles that govern productivity, and how the most dynamic and effective people – from CEOs to film-makers to software entrepreneurs – deploy them. And he shows how you can too. www.charlesduhigg.com/books Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook by Bill Aulet Delve deeper into the framework to get your business up and running from our friends at MIT. www.disciplinedentrepreneurship.com Dear Female Founder 66 letters of advice from women entrepreneurs who made $1 billion in revenue. www.bloomingfounders.com/book Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore Focus on the specifics of marketing high-tech products during the early start-up period. www.geoffreyamoore.com Talking to Humans by Giff Constable Giff wrote this book to help people learn how to talk to their real or potential customers. You would think this would be an easy task, but our instincts tend to be all wrong. www.talkingtohumans.com

Ben Francis’ YouTube channel Awarded the UK’s fastest growing company by the Times’ Fast Track 100, Gymshark owner Ben Francis documents his incredible journey from founder aged 19 to achieving annual sales of £41 million and 1.7 million Instagram followers. bit.ly/YouTubeBenFrancis Jessica Livingston, Y Combinator Co-founder and partner of the Y Combinator accelerator and Female Founders Conference, Jessica Livingston blogs about what makes start-ups succeed. bit.ly/JessicaLivingston Tall Man Business blog Insight into the common behaviours of successful entrepreneurs from entrepreneur and investor Simon Devonshire OBE. www.tallmanbusiness.com Twitter @Women_Wearables @Creative_Entrs @TechNation @HINSouthLondon @futurism

What we’re subscribed to Centre for Entrepreneurs The UK’s leading entrepreneurship thinktank who research the economic and social value created by entrepreneurs. A great place to keep up to date with blogs and current trends, and they also have an incubator and network. www.centreforentrepreneurs.org Startups magazine A beautifully designed free magazine. Check out their events featuring inspirational speakers. www.thestartupsmag.com Startups.co.uk Independent, online resources for anyone starting and growing a business. www.startups.co.uk TechCrunch Breaking technology news, analysis and opinion. www.techcrunch.com

Where we go for support British Library – Business and IP Centre The BL team are on hand with free workshops, masterclasses, one-to-ones, market research and company databases to help you grow your business. www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre CEW Communications – The Communications workshop Free comms advice from the experts about how to write press releases, pitch to journalists and make easy PR wins. bit.ly/CEWComms

Startacus Resources to help you connect, grow and scale. www.startacus.net Bright Network Career, internship and skills advice. www.brightnetwork.co.uk

What we’re listening to The Entrepreneur Agony Aunt podcast Everyone’s favourite agony aunt and King’s alumna Vicky Brock tells it like it is on her weekly podcast. www.vickybrock.com/podcast The Twenty Minute VC Harry Stebbings, King’s law alumnus and founder and host of The Twenty Minute VC, interviews today’s most successful and inspiring venture capitalists. www.thetwentyminutevc.com Gimlet Media podcasts Listen to shows including ‘StartUp’ and ‘The Pitch’ – where entrepreneurs pitch to real investors for real money. www.gimletmedia.com Masters of Scale A podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn. Hoffman explains how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with industry leaders. The first American media program to commit to a 50:50 gender balance for guests and the 2018 People’s Voice Webby for Best Business Podcast. www.mastersofscale.com

Where we’re hanging out Ozone Coffee 11 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4AQ Kiwi-owned Ozone is a major hit with start-ups in and around Old Street’s Silicon Roundabout. www.ozonecoffee.co.uk Citizen M A new kind of hybrid hotel perfect for freelancers and people who want to combine life and work. www.citizenm.com Campus London – Google’s space for entrepreneurs With free wi-fi and lots of fellow founders, the Campus Cafe is a great place to get things done, take a break or collaborate with like-minded people. www.campus.co/london KCLSU King’s new Student Union in Bush House boasts four floors of socialising space with café, media suite and wellbeing areas. www.kclsu.org RSA Based just off the Strand, the RSA holds free talks and debates to spark your ideas. www.thersa.org

TAKE ACTION!

Come and talk about your ideas at one of our monthly drop-in sessions: www.kcldropin.eventbrite.co.uk

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship

We’re really passionate about supporting everyone to get the most out of their time at King’s. Get equipped to adapt to an ever-changing world of work. Start your journey with us! www.kcl.ac.uk/Entrepreneurship-Institute

Kingsentrepreneurship @InnovateKings Kingsentrepreneurship Kingsentrepreneurship EnterpriseConnect1 www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute innovation@kcl.ac.uk © King's College London Approved by Brand July 2018 Designed by Cog cogdesign.com