Start! magazine Issue 6 - Disruptors Edition by Entrepreneurship Institute

What’s inside 9

p.4 Start! welcome notes

p.9 The Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Director Julie Devonshire OBE on why we chose ‘disruptors’ as our theme and welcomes from the Principal, Head of Careers and President of KCLSU

Develop these skills and be ready for a career full of innovation, excitement and purpose

p.6 This year at the Entrepreneurship Institute A snapshot of what’s on this year. Get involved, be inspired, and build your skills or venture with us p.8 Imagine an entrepreneurial version of you Rachel Stockey on how entrepreneurial skills can open up a world of discovery and opportunity

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p.10 Disruption calls Cryptocurrency, 3D-printed organs and hydroponic food labs; a whistle-stop tour of technological breakthroughs for the modern world p.12 Recipe boxes: the ‘new normal’ for at-home dining? Timo Boldt, Founder and CEO of Gousto, talks to Start! about raising £33m in a crisis and health, convenience and sustainability

p.14 Decoding the D word Trend Forecaster and Entrepreneur Shabana Ebrahem examines the changing culture of disruption p.16 Aysha: My year since Idea Factory The winner of the 2019 Idea Factory talks to Start! about juggling studies with launching a business p.18 Think like an entrepreneur We believe that everyone can be entrepreneurial, but what does the brain science say?

p.21 Innovation at King’s We shine a spotlight on some of the innovation work led by Researchers at King’s in response to COVID-19 p.22 King’s disruptors Seven trailblazers from the King’s community talk to us about their motivations, achievements and plans for the future p.29 How do you know if you have a good idea for a business? Don’t let those lightbulb moments fade to nothing! Think lean, skip the formal business plan, and begin by asking yourself these questions

p.30 Stepping up to the sustainability challenge We take a look at how Gucci, Adidas and IKEA are stepping up to the sustainability challenge and pivoting for the planet p.32 Black Milq: running a vegan venture

p.36 The femtech boom A look at the rapid rise of start-ups disrupting women’s healthcare with tech p.38 Inspiration station

We chat to Natalie Slack, part of the King’s20 Accelerator, about her experience of launching a vegan icecream brand p.34 Be resilient: how to build your bouncebackability

A round-up of our community’s recommended reads and podcast picks to keep you inspired p.40 About the Entrepreneurship Institute community

We believe that everyone can Seven steps to help you build your develop an entrepreneurial version of resilience from Behavioural Change Life themselves, and we’re here to show Coach and King’s student Angela Cox you how!

@InnovateKings

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Welcome notes

Welcome to the sixth issue of Start! magazine. At King’s, we believe that entrepreneurship is for everyone, and that it can support all types of careers and futures. Entrepreneurship is not about Dragons’ Den or The Apprentice. Nor is it just about founding your own start-up. It’s about being entrepreneurial, and as the following pages demonstrate, anyone can be entrepreneurial. Our vision here at the Entrepreneurship Institute, is to help everyone at King’s develop the entrepreneurial mindset and skills needed to make the world a better place. We’re here to assist you in gaining the entrepreneurial and career-enhancing skills that will support your future. The theme of this magazine is ‘disruptors’. If we want to change the world, we need to disrupt – to challenge the status quo, to question existing methods and approaches, to think of new ways to solve problems, and to fearlessly do things differently. Within whatever subjects you are studying, you will find problems to solve; and you can apply entrepreneurial skills to solve them.

Julie Devonshire OBE Director, Entrepreneurship Institute

This magazine has been created to inspire and guide you in developing useful, innovative and important entrepreneurial skills. Whether your ambitions are to become a doctor, lawyer, educator, corporate employee, leader, innovator, disruptor, change-maker, or have a job that doesn’t even exist yet, you can create an entrepreneurial version of yourself which will give you an advantage to thrive. This year, add ‘entrepreneurial’ to your CV. I hope you enjoy reading this magazine, and do join our community to find out more about the support, events, workshops and resources we have available – all for free! See you soon.

Julie Devonshire OBE Director, Entrepreneurship Institute @juliedevonshire 4

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King’s College London is a hub for innovation, where our students, staff and alumni come together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. Entrepreneurship is a core to how we work, and entrepreneurship in the service of society is our ethos. In 2018, we were recognised for this, winning the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurial University, and it’s a legacy that I see continue. Start! highlights some truly remarkable and innovative students, staff and alumni and their inspiring career journeys, alongside top tips and advice from thought leaders and disruptors. I hope you enjoy reading these stories and learning from their experiences, and are inspired to get involved! Professor Edward Byrne AC President and Principal, King’s College London @KingsCollegeLon

An entrepreneurial mindset is something that an employer is keen to see in new graduate employees, even in highly structured global businesses. Employers increasingly seek recruits who want to make a difference from day one. So communication skills, like the ability to compel and disrupt, will often be needed – because it’s difficult to deliver change without being able to influence and communicate why it is required. Throughout the pages of this magazine, you will find content to inspire and support you to become more entrepreneurial. I hope you’ll be inspired to get involved, regardless of your field of study or career goals. Kate Daubney Head of King’s Careers & Employability @careerampersand

Entrepreneurship is a way of living. In a global and impact-oriented institution such as King’s College London, everything you do and learn is to serve a greater purpose in life. From building global networks to running societies and leading campaigns alongside coping with an academically rigorous journey, your experience at King’s will shape an entrepreneurial version of you. From skills workshops to idea feedback sessions, competitions and funding, to a community of like-minded enthusiasts, the Entrepreneurship Institute is where you ought to begin if you are in search of the entrepreneur within yourself. Shaswat Jain President, KCLSU @kclsu

@InnovateKings

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This year at the Entrepreneurship Institute King’s20 Accelerator This year we welcome our 100th venture onto the programme! Successful ventures can access a support package valued at £60,000 including desk space, expert mentoring and access to investors. Applications for the 2021/22 cohort open in spring.

Welcome week

Entrepreneurial Activity Fund

Find our workshops on the King’s app and meet our team at the Welcome to King’s lectures and Welcome Hubs.

We provide event support and guidance along with funding of up to £2,000 for societies wanting to run entrepreneurial events.

Internships

Women Entrepreneurs Programme Retreat

Venture Crawl

Internships with the King’s20 Accelerator ventures and the Entrepreneurship Institute run over the summer. Discover what it’s like to work in a start-up environment & learn new skills to add to your CV.

Two days of workshops, expert advice and community building for women entrepreneurs. Our active Facebook community is also open to new members and provides year-round support.

A unique 12-hour entrepreneurial journey around London on an iconic Routemaster bus. Each year, 40 students from King’s join over 350 students from 18 London universities to tour the city’s startup ecosystem.

Digital learning Ambassadors Each year we recruit Entrepreneurship Institute Ambassadors to champion our work on campus and online (and get paid for doing it!)

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Start! magazine is just the start of our content. Access our evergrowing hub of learning resources on KEATs (search: King’s Entrepreneurship Institute) and follow us on social media for the latest content and competitions.

Idea feedback Book a session with a member of our team and get pointers on an early-stage idea or guidance on what to do next.

Enterprise Award Learn skills, meet new people and gain recognition on your Higher Education Achievement Report.

King’s Demo Day

Advisory Board

Our biggest pitch-off event of the year, where our King’s20 ventures pitch for support from our network of 450+ investors

Our Advisory Board of students, staff and alumni meets regularly to help shape the Entrepreneurship Institute of the future.

Idea Factory King’s College London’s flagship idea generation competition! Workshops and our semifinal bootcamp help to upskill shortlisted entrepreneurs with pitching, ideation and validation before the grand final at the House of Lords, where £2,000 prize money is awarded to the winners! Turn to page 16 to hear from last year’s award winner Aysha Ingar.

Start-Up Visas We can support up to 20 individuals a year that have an innovative, viable and scalable business they want to start in the UK. We have two annual application windows: Oct-Nov and another in April-May.

Workshops Develop the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset at one of our many interactive workshops running throughout the year. As with everything we do, these are open to staff, students and alumni.

Inspiring innovators Get inspired by attending or streaming our speaker events and enterprise visits with high-profile guest speakers.

Pitch nights Watch and learn how to compel as entrepreneurs present their business ideas at our pitch nights.

@InnovateKings

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Imagine an entrepreneurial version of you By Rachel Stockey

‘Developing your entrepreneurial mindset will place you at the cutting edge of any field you wish to pursue.’

Everyone can be entrepreneurial At the Entrepreneurship Institute, we believe everyone can develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Entrepreneurs are often described as mythical beings, as if they are born with a special power that makes them stand out from the rest – and the terminology of ‘unicorns’ and ‘centaurs’ that surrounds start-ups reinforces this further. However, we know this isn’t true. When we break down the behaviours, approaches and attitudes of a successful entrepreneur, we unlock a treasure trove of tangible skills which anyone can practise, develop and hone. That is where the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset come in. Breaking it down We have unpicked the mind and journey of an entrepreneur down to its fundamental parts so that we can help the King’s community of staff, students and alumni to learn and apply these skills for themselves. The best part is these skills can be applied to any sector, any career, any future. We are growing a vast community of entrepreneurial thinkers who are more disruptive (in a good way), more resilient and compelling, and more adept at getting the job done. Each one can take their entrepreneurial thinking with them into medical careers, legal professions, or companies helping to solve the world’s biggest challenges to make it a better place. With this human power and potential, we can start to consider some mighty questions, such as: • What might our healthcare system look like if it was made up of more entrepreneurial doctors and nurses?

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• What might our planet look like if entrepreneurial scientists were tasked with combating global warming? • What might society look like if we could harness the power for good of an entrepreneurial mindset and the potential of technology? We want each member of our community to imagine: what could an entrepreneurial version of you be capable of? Future-proof your skills We need people who think more like entrepreneurs because we are in unprecedented times of change and uncertainty – there are so many big problems crying out to be solved. To meet this challenge, we need individuals who are equipped with the right mindset; one focused on finding innovative solutions, testing and learning, building strong and diverse teams, and compelling others to join their cause – whether that’s in a new company or within existing ones. Entrepreneurial skills open up a world of discovery and opportunity, and enable you to stand out where others simply fit in. Developing your entrepreneurial mindset will place you at the cutting edge of any field you wish to pursue, to be a changemaker and a leader. At the Entrepreneurship Institute, we believe everyone can develop an entrepreneurial mindset – and we’re here to show you how. Start now by trying some of the practical tips on the following pages, and join us at one of our upcoming programmes or events.

Be resilient Develop a rapid, thick-skinned and grounded ‘bouncebackability’ Redefining failure helps to build resilience. Every time something doesn’t go as we planned, we have an opportunity to learn and grow. Think about the last time you had a knock-back – how have you adapted as a result?

The Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Get it done Prioritise execution above all else – you know that the best way to make progress is to take real action, so that’s what you do How about watching our webinar on How to Overcome Mental Blockers and Supercharge Your Productivity for more? You can find it on our KEATS hub.

If you want a career full of innovation, excitement and purpose, then we invite you to begin developing these skills with us.

Five steps to start 1. How would you rate yourself on each of the seven skills right now? 2. Can you think of examples where you or others have actively used these skills? What was the result? 3. Consider which of the seven skills you’d like to concentrate on developing. 4. Access our activities, programmes and resources, which are all designed to help you develop an entrepreneurial mindset. 5. Explore our Inspiration Station picks on page 38.

Compel To have a powerful and irresistible effect that provokes behaviour change, exudes credibility and demands loyalty How compelling are you? Why not come along to one of our pitch nights to see how our entrepreneurs persuade an audience of their ideas, and pick up some pointers on how to become a compelling public speaker. Disrupt Be willing to question the way things are done and bold in proposing revolutionary, better ways of thinking and doing Disruption starts with identifying problems. Being conscious of the world around you and asking ‘how could I make this better?’ will make you a more disruptive person.

Build teams Find, develop and grow effective teams that celebrate diversity in all its forms Working with people who are different from ourselves can be challenging, but it’s also a great opportunity for growth. Next time you’re doing group work, why not opt to join a group you’ve never worked with before?

Think lean Show dedication to rapid, continual learning and adapting through testing How comfortable would you be sharing a piece of work that you hadn’t quite finished yet? Getting used to gaining input on work before it’s ‘perfect’ will help you make valuable changes that will ultimately deliver better results.

Validate Prove that an idea is viable and gain traction; the eradication of bias and assumption We all believe our ideas are great – but until we can prove this, it’s more of an assumption. Why not read The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick to learn how to turn your assumption into a validated idea worth pursuing. @InnovateKings

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Disrup tioncalls:

Technological breakthroughs for the modern world

Disruptive innovation and technological breakthroughs can help accelerate us towards a sustainable planet, a fairer society, and healthier, happier lives. Building on our theme of ‘disruptors’, we’ve picked out six areas that are currently full of disruption, but continue to need attention.

Financial inclusion The Global Bank reports that 1.7 billion adults are unbanked, yet two-thirds of them own a mobile phone that could help them access financial services (2018). Meanwhile, US consultancy McKinsey estimates that serving the financial needs of the global unbanked could trigger more than $4tn in new deposits, over $2tn worth of formal lending, and drive almost $4tn of new GDP growth in emerging markets. Inclusive fintech is already booming in the developed world, with app-based banking, automated savings bots, ‘buy now pay later’, and deposit-free renting tools all readily available. Monzo, TransferWise and Klarna are all proof of the sector’s potential, with their unicornqualifying $1bn+ valuations. The coronavirus pandemic has given digital currencies a short-term popularity boost, which could prove to be a nudge towards sustained wider adoption. Senegal, Tunisia and The Bahamas have already created their own digital currencies, along with China’s much anticipated digital yuan. Facebook’s Libra is also coming, which claims to have the interests of the financially excluded at its heart.

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Healthcare The rapid outbreak of COVID-19 Clean water services saw the scientific community urgently According to international research and mobilise in response. Google’s DeepMind data company PitchBook, investment in unit quickly launched deep-learning US companies tackling declining water techniques to try to model the protein quality has risen 25% to $50.7m over the structures of the virus. Meanwhile, past five years. the White House asked researchers to NASA engineers have developed develop machine-learning techniques systems to recycle air and water onboard to analyse coronavirus-related studies to the International Space Station, better understand the deadly disease. efficiently turning wastewater (urine The potential of virtual reality (VR) included) into drinking water. continues to unfold as virtual tours Closer to home, Arizona-based start- assist surgeons in planning upcoming up Zero Mass Water, backed by Bill operations. VR can also be used to Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, educate patients. has created solar panels for home and 3D printing in medicine and dentistry commercial use that draw drinkable is moving on. Bioprinters such as Sanwater out of thin air. Diego’s Organovo are producing bioficial tissues to sell to drug manufacturers for them to test their new products more efficiently. And in London, Andiamo has prioritised healthcare solutions for disabled children. The tech company can deliver a medically effective orthosis within two weeks by using big data, 3D printing, and an advanced clinical service. The wider scientific community continues to push towards harnessing bioprinting technology for printing live, human body parts to mitigate the shortage of donor organs.

Safer internet Safety on the internet is big business, with parents around the world increasingly using safe launchers, content filters and parental control software to minimise the risks to their children. The BBC has created a smartphone app for this very reason. Own It uses artificial intelligence to evaluate a child’s mood, so it can offer advice if they’re about to share sensitive data or send an upsetting message, and encourage them to talk to a trusted adult. At Delft University of Technology, they’re looking at the bigger picture, and a team has built an unhackable network entirely by means of quantum technology.

Circular economy There is both a pressing need and huge opportunity for us to find ways of generating power without further extraction. Dutch start-up Photanol is producing chemicals and fuels from free and abundant CO2 and sunlight. Based on the genetic modification of cyanobacteria, which are natural photosynthesisers, the company is producing a broad range of biochemicals. Finding new life for by-products and waste is also becoming increasingly urgent, and there’s good practice emerging from a range of industries. UK-based Toast Ale diverts surplus bread from landfill and turns it into craft beer, while Dutch company Black Bear produces recovered carbon black (rCB), oil and gas from waste tyres.

Sustainable megacities The UN predicts that by 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, and it’s estimated that almost 70% of this booming population will live in urban areas (2018). US publication National Geographic predicts a drastic reduction in personal car use as cities become more densely populated and more pedestrian space is cleared. Companies like German aircraft manufacturer Volocopter could redefine the way people travel in urban areas by providing cheaper, safer and cleaner alternatives to conventional aerial vehicles in megacities. Hydroponic food labs – where plants are grown without soil or natural sunlight, often vertically or underground – are also set to flourish. Salads and greens are grown all year round under high-efficiency LED lights, directly beneath homes and offices, solving a small part of our food supply challenge.

Scan me

@InnovateKings

If you have an idea to disrupt one of these areas, turn to page 29 for our tips on how to validate your idea, and get in touch with our team to discover how we can help.

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Recipe boxes:

the ‘new normal’ for at-home dining?

Recipe box

By Leonie Jarrett As we adjust to life with coronavirus, our behaviours and habits are changing quickly. Start! spoke to Gousto’s CEO and Founder Timo Boldt (pictured, right), to find out how the recipe-box industry is capitalising on this new way of life. Recipe boxes are one of the few business models to have experienced a sharp rise in consumer demand during lockdown, with the Financial Times reporting that ‘consumers have been looking for something to do as well as something to eat’ (May 2020). Even before the pandemic pushed much of the developed world to do their grocery shopping online, the UK’s recipe-box market was expected to exceed £1.5bn by 2022 (Hexa, 2019). It now looks like this forced adoption will accelerate structural change in the sector by many years. In the middle of the crisis, Gousto – the UK’s leading subscription recipe-box company – announced that it had raised an additional £33m in a funding round, and plans to rapidly recruit 400 new staff. This investment takes the total funds raised by Gousto in the last eight years (from Perwyn Private Equity, Canaccord Genuity, Unilever Ventures, BGF Ventures, MMC Ventures and Joe Wicks of The Body Coach fame - pictured, left) to over £130m. Here, Timo Boldt shares his thoughts on the changing market environment his company is operating in, and why he thinks consumers are flocking to recipe boxes.

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Less waste As Gousto delivers the precise ingredients needed to make each recipe, there is 0% food waste at household level. We operate at nearly the same level of food waste at our fulfilment site by using artificial intelligence to predict order quantities, so we never order in more than we need. Not only is this an important value for Gousto, but we know it’s hugely important to our customers.

The rise of e-commerce We’ve seen a huge rise in e-commerce over many years as people become busier and more time-poor. This was an existing trend pre-coronavirus, continuing to grow at pace, and COVID-19 has just accelerated the growth we knew was coming. New data from British market research company Kantar shows online grocery sales now account for 10.2% of overall grocery sales, versus 7.4% last month (April 2020). There will be a variety of demographics turning to online shopping for the first time due to the pandemic – particularly as people opt for online food deliveries in place of supermarket visits.

A convenient experience We know our customers love trying new foods and experiences. The convenience of knowing you have a weekly box delivered with all the fresh ingredients needed for your dinnertime relieves the pressure of weekly meal planning. Our easy-to-follow recipe cards, developed by expert chefs, make it easy for households to create impressive and delicious meals from scratch. The ‘new normal’ for consumers With many more people turning to the industry during the crisis, we suspect that customers that have a good experience will stay afterwards. Particularly as our industry continues to play into megatrends of health, convenience and sustainability, which are becoming even more relevant. Social responsibility The crisis has driven the food industry to work together like never before to ensure the safe and fair distribution of food. Alongside other grocery retailers, Gousto has been engaging with Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) on a response effort for the vulnerable. We hope that our industry continues to work together to support the most vulnerable – collaborating to share insights and learnings means the industry will be stronger and better placed to support them should there be difficulty accessing produce.

oxes:

the ‘new normal’ for at-home dining?

Recipe boxes:

@InnovateKings

the ‘new for at-h

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Decoding the D word ‘Disruption’ is the buzzword of our times – but how has it evolved, and what does it mean for brands and entrepreneurs as they look ahead? Trend Forecaster and We Do Urban Founder Shabana Ebrahem examines the changing culture of disruption.

By Shabana Ebrahem

‘Today, disruption has evolved from its origins. It is baked into the culture of entrepreneurialism and is commonly used to reference innovative ideas, trends and new concepts. ’

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Evolving disruption Disruption, or ‘disruptive innovation’, is a dominant term in business today. But what does it really mean, and how does it apply to today’s context? Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen put disruption on the map in the mid-nineties to mark innovations that would drive value from the bottom of the market (i.e. low cost, highly accessible, scalable ideas) and interrupt established processes – which up to that point were largely defined by big corporates. But the line between transformative thinking and disruption has blurred over time, with Christensen once stating: “I just didn’t realise how that would create such a wide misapplication of the word ‘disruption’ into things that I never meant it to be applied to.” For example, Uber and Tesla may be considered game changers by many, but purists argue that these are not disruptors in the ‘true’ sense as they didn’t enter at the lower end of the market (in Uber’s case, innovating from an existing platform where the infrastructure was already in place). Amazon, Airbnb and Netflix, however, pioneered disruption into the online retail, accommodation and video-streaming markets, more closely matching Christensen’s definition. Today, disruption has evolved from its origins. It is baked into the culture of entrepreneurialism and is commonly used to reference innovative ideas, trends and new concepts. Fast-scaling start-ups with social influence and strong traction are likely to be referenced as disruptors even if they don’t match the classic definition. So, what is the scope for this new age of disruption?

Subtle shifts are indicators of change As a commercial Trend Forecaster and Cultural Strategist, I work extensively with brands across the global health, beauty, retail and consumer lifestyle landscape; interpreting cultural shifts, identifying trends and navigating ideas that shape the present and future. As market watchers know, the signs of change typically surface long before they hit mainstream consciousness, but may not be entirely obvious or neatly defined. They are hidden within the dynamic layers of culture; a myriad of ‘codes’ surfacing across our daily on- and offline lives. From product packaging and billboards, to street art, popular culture and tech. During a trend session I ran for clients in London (pre-pandemic), we spotted a street art mural in Camden by TikTok (pictured) promoting the 2020 Brit Awards. TikTok is a digital-first brand, but skilfully used the physical environment to channel the brand message in keeping with local tastes and influences. As concepts, trends and innovations emerge in the marketplace, they won’t always shout ‘new’ or ‘disruptive’ at first. But when viewed as part of a wider ecosystem, these ideas can collectively indicate a direction, opportunity, or even highlight the needs of missed audiences. For example, brands such as Epara, Maude and Five Dot Botanics are meeting the demand for ethics, inclusion and breaking taboos in wellness and beauty. Meanwhile, the meal-kit sector is booming – from brands like Gousto and plantpowered Purple Carrot, to Halal Fresh tailored for Muslim audiences.

The new age of disruption: towards a more inclusive culture Some of the most exciting disruption right now is coming from underrepresented founders who play a vital role in bringing essential products and services to overlooked and missed audiences. Yet it’s well reported that they too easily slip through the net when it comes to major funding streams. The knock-on effect of this is a missed opportunity of serving diverse audiences.

The black and minority-owned space is brimming with brands bringing disruptive ideas to market. Nubian Skin redefines skin-tone bias in the underwear sector (a recent partnership with London’s TFL network enabled a city-wide outdoor campaign which raised the brand’s visibility). Play Tone’s street-style fitness (pictured) is bringing roller skating, hula hooping and playful vibes to studios (and living rooms) across the UK. Both Kohl Kreatives and Grace Beauty have spotlighted disability needs in beauty, while Travaxy launched last year to provide an accessible travel booking platform for people with disabilities. Businesses built on strong cultural foundations are making essential contributions in providing products and services to ‘inclusive’ audiences and disrupting where it’s most needed. If we want to foster a healthier culture and continued disruption, investment circles must fully embrace cultural inclusion into the process. There are many businesses that won’t fall into Christensen’s narrow ‘disruptor’ profile that are still innovating in a unique or less well-served space, or simply creating change and shaping a worthwhile future for themselves and the communities they serve. Maybe yours is one of them. I encourage you to consider how disruption might look through a gentler lens: approach the market with purpose over speed, while scanning environments to spot opportunities, and examine the timing of your activities. Small, subtle shifts are what often lead to those big disruptive ideas.

@InnovateKings

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During her third year of studying Medicine, Aysha Ingar applied to and won our Idea Factory competition and £2,000 prize money to boot! Now she’s juggling her studies with being on our King’s20 Accelerator as the Founder of start-up app Muslimah. Here, she reflects on her experience.

I had the idea for Muslimah in the summer of 2018. The Muslimah app provides Islamic services for Muslim women and allows the user to integrate the many aspects of faith with day to day life. It came out of my own experience as a Muslim woman, but I had no idea how to start or turn it into a business. I started speaking to a few people about the idea and a friend who’d been to the Idea Factory launch messaged me afterwards, saying: “I think you should sign up for this.” So I booked a drop-in session with Rachel Stockey (Head of Entrepreneurial Skills) to find out more and told her about Muslimah and the six features I wanted to launch. She asked me if I had to cut it down to two,

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which two would they be? This made me realise I could launch much sooner than I thought; in that 30-minute meeting I went from thinking my idea would take a few years to launch, to thinking I can do it within the year. On the day before the final Idea Factory pitch, I remember feeling like I still couldn’t effectively communicate my problem. We’d been sent templates and articles about what would make a good pitch and I managed to attend two workshops, but it felt overwhelming. Rachel reassured me though, saying that if I said it was a problem that I faced, people would just trust me, and she was right. When it was my turn to pitch, I remember feeling tired, but also very ready. I remember thinking: I want to tell everyone about Muslimah and what this app is about. Since then, I’ve definitely worked at a much faster pace and I’ve learned so much. I met the Queen when she visited King’s and I’ve been very fortunate to join the King’s20 Accelerator. It has been extremely important in helping me find my feet and the boost from the whole process has been amazing. At times I struggled with imposter syndrome, thinking that if I made a wrong move it would be a reflection on me, but this has also been eased through opening up and speaking to people.

Now I’ve got a team of eight dedicated volunteers developing the app features and collating information about prayer spaces. We have launched with two features: the ‘prayer space locator’ and ‘Islamic period tracker’, and Muslimah is available to download for Android and iOS devices.

Find out more about Aysha’s business, Muslimah at: muslimahapp.com Check out our Idea Factory competition, which we launch in December each year, at: kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship

@InnovateKings

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Think like an entrepreneur Emily Clements, Research Assistant & PhD Candidate at King’s, explores whether you can cultivate a growth mindset by understanding neuroplasticity in the brain.

By Emily Clements

‘I believe that entrepreneurial thinking can be developed, the same as any other skill. But this requires perseverance, the right environment and mindset and a lot of practise.’

I am a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at King’s College London, working with Dr Vincent Giampietro and Professor Steven Williams in the Department of Neuroimaging, in collaboration with Julie Devonshire at the Entrepreneurship Institute. My current research focuses on the Neuroscience of Entrepreneurship. People often debate whether entrepreneurs are born or made. Evidence suggests they’re mainly shaped by their environment, rather than genetics – but more research is needed. I believe that entrepreneurial thinking can be developed, the same as any other skill, although this requires perseverance, the right environment and mindset, and a lot of practise. With my PhD and work on this collaborative project, I aim to show how expertise in entrepreneurial thinking corresponds to neural differences within the brain. Entrepreneurship and the growth mindset What we already know is that entrepreneurs are experts in thinking innovatively and being effective decision makers, particularly in volatile environments. They aren’t afraid to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, and often have to persevere and drive forward when they cannot predict the outcome of their actions. These are factors which resonate with theories of a ‘growth mindset’. The growth mindset is a concept created by American psychologist Carol Dweck (1988). It’s based on the idea that people have underlying beliefs about learning and intelligence: either the fixed mindset, or the growth mindset.

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Fixed mindset: Those with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is static. This makes them more likely to internalise failure, exert less effort when faced with difficulty, experience self-imposed limitations, and avoid challenging work to preserve their selfimage. Growth mindset: Those with a growth mindset believe we can change and develop our intelligence and abilities. This makes them more likely to take on challenging experiences and seek growth opportunities. Such people feel most successful when learning and further developing their intelligence. As Shakespeare once said: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Hence the wisest people are aware of what they do not know, and constantly seek to better themselves. As always in science, not all theories are met with approval. The main controversies with this concept have been the weak link between teaching a growth mindset to students and improving academic performance (To What Extent and Under Which Circumstances Are Growth Mind-Sets Important to Academic Achievement? Two Meta-Analyses, 2018). It may well be that cultivating a growth mindset is much more difficult than we think. I suggest that learning the basic concepts of neuroscience and neuroplasticity may help us understand the way our own behaviour and effort could shape changes in the brain and subsequent learning.

What does the brain science say?

Your brain is complicated. It is estimated that on average, you have 86 billion neurons in your brain (Equal Numbers of Neuronal and Nonneuronal Cells Make the Human Brain an Isometrically Scaled-Up Primate Brain, 2009). Even within one network – a collection of neurons that interact with each other, say with 10,000 neurons – you might have hundreds of millions of connections between them. A good thing about all these connections is that their changes can help refine pathways that allow you to learn new skills. During learning, these connections (known as synapses) can be refined, strengthened and weakened. In some cases, synapses can disappear completely (what we call ‘pruning’), or new ones can be created. This is known as

structural brain plasticity. It is well known that structural changes occur when you are developing from infancy to adulthood, but there is recent evidence showing that this plasticity also occurs in the adult brain. For example, researchers at UCL studied a group of adults learning the complex layout of London’s streets over four years while training to become taxi drivers (Acquiring “the Knowledge” of London’s Layout Drives Structural Brain Changes, 2011). Compared to those who failed their final test, the ones that passed showed an increase in grey matter volume in the posterior hippocampi (an area of the brain important for spatial memory and navigation). While dispositions may make it easier for some to learn certain skills better

than others, studies in neuroplasticity begin to tell us that learning does result in structural changes in the adult brain. Furthermore, research has shown that those who believe their brain can change show increased motivation, achievement and even brain activity (Effects of Teaching the Concept of Neuroplasticity to Induce a Growth Mindset on Motivation, Achievement, and Brain Activity: A Meta-Analysis, 2018). So while the jury is out on whether entrepreneurs are born or made, the evidence does suggest that simply learning the concept of neuroplasticity could help you cultivate a growth mindset and boost your performance. Good news for ambitious students and budding entrepreneurs alike.

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Train your brain: Steps you can take to cultivate a growth mindset and learn new skills 3. Accept that there may be challenges for you personally This is okay, as long as you identify them. 4. Be consistent & realistic Do bodybuilders go in and start with the heaviest weight? No – they build up their strength. Remember that becoming an expert takes both patience and persistence. The only way to refine these pathways in your brain is to practise, practise, practise.

2. Decide on the skills you want to develop Acknowledge your starting point and be honest with yourself. How much is this going to take, and are you motivated and prepared to do it? Effort is the key ingredient to learning any new skill.

5. Mistakes help you learn Show resilience and be willing to learn from your failures. Make time to reflect on what happened (maybe write it down), and think about what you’ve taken from that experience. Negative feedback also helps the refinement of the correct pathways in your brain.

1. Begin by thinking of your brain like a muscle It can be trained.

Learn more on this subject: Check out Carol Dweck’s TED Talk The Power of Believing that You Can Improve to understand more about a growth mindset.

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Watch Dr. Lara Boyd’s TEDx Talk After Watching This, Your Brain Will Not Be the Same, which looks at what limits and stimulates neuroplasticity. “Learning is about doing the work that your brain requires,” she states.

Read The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge for incredible insight into the power that positive thinking can have on structural plasticity within the brain.

INNOVATION AT KING’S We shine a spotlight on some of the innovative work led by King’s Researchers in response to COVID -19.

Personalised PPE: Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences Researchers have turned their expertise in 3D imaging, skin-material interfaces and additive manufacture towards problems regarding the adequate fit and long-term wear of key workers’ high-filtration face masks. Supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Birmingham, they’ve rapidly developed a process using smartphone-based imaging and automated customisation to create a new concept for protective face masks. Offering enhanced fit, comfort and effectiveness, prototypes are now undergoing rigorous testing.

OxVent ventilator programme: Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences and Basic & Medical Biosciences The OxVent group is comprised of scientists, clinicians and medical technology manufacturers from King’s College London, the University of Oxford and UK manufacturing company Smith+Nephew. It mobilised quickly in response to the early anticipated need for ventilators to support the NHS in treating patients with COVID-19. The OxVent ventilator was developed to be produced at speed and scale, at a significantly lower cost than alternatives. Conceived as an open source, notfor-profit project, the team remains committed to this vision and is reviewing options to make it available in other countries where needs are still pressing. COVID-19 Symptom Tracker: Life Sciences & Medicine and Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences Our researchers have been working day and night to better understand COVID-19 – from how it spreads, to new symptoms. Researchers from King’s have joined forces to help analyse the data acquired through the COVID-19 Symptom Study app, produced by Boston and London-based health science company Zoe. The app uses advanced statistical tools and machine learning capability to provide predictions on severity, required treatment, healthcare burden and future resources requirement, as well as collateral effects.

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King’s

We dedicated the cover of this magazine to six awesome disruptors from King’s. Find out how this diverse bunch are rocking the worlds of investment, wireless communications, media, medtech, social enterprise, healthy living and international development.

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As Julie Devonshire, Director of the Entrepreneurship Institute, said in her welcome (page 4): “If we want to change the world, we need to disrupt – to challenge the status quo, to question existing methods and approaches, to think of new ways to solve problems, and to fearlessly do things differently.”

Coming from a variety of academic fields, these seven individuals have demonstrated their ability to do just that – and each of them is a real-life example that anyone can be entrepreneurial! Be inspired by their stories and learn from their experiences; then try to imagine what an entrepreneurial version of you might achieve.

Sarah Chen: The billion-dollar disruptor Named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Sarah is a recognised speaker, commentator and adviser on venture capital, innovation and women. She founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women with four other women with the aim of channelling $1bn towards women-led and gender-diverse projects, before successfully raising the capital in just nine months. Sarah studied Law LLB at King’s Dickson Poon School of Law. Sarah tells Start! that while she aspired to become a partner at an international law firm, a meeting during an internship changed her course – one with an entrepreneur. Captivated by the business talk and impressed by the entrepreneur’s vision, Sarah realised she was more excited by the commercial side of things.

How has your career evolved from your initial aspirations? What started as a goal to begin to address the gender venture investment gap – which we thought would take us at least a decade – was achieved in under nine months. If I were to look at the ‘form’ of my career aspiration initially, it of course looks very different in that I am not a big partner in an international law firm. But I do in fact work with amazing partners at international firms that truly are great advisers in the work I do. My bigger vision was always to create impact at scale in the commercial world and to have a platform to help other ambitious, high-calibre women rise – and I am doing just that.

What are the most powerful lessons you’ve learned along the way? • I’ve learned to follow my gut instinct – about people I trust, deals I get into, etc. • Taking the leap is something I’ve always believed in. I always ask myself: what’s the worst that can happen? Can I start again? • I’ve discovered that people don’t really care about what you’ve done, but how you’ve made them feel. How do you plan to continue to disrupt? In the next five years, I’m hopeful that I can report back on moving the dial on the global gender venture investment gap – i.e. bringing the percentage invested into women-founded companies up to really fuel the innovation.

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Bhavagaya Bakshi: The medtech disruptor Dr Bakshi is Chief Executive and Co-Founder of C the Signs – an award-winning tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify patients at risk of cancer at the earliest and most curable stage of the disease. She has been a General Practitioner within the NHS, led on health policy at the British Medical Association and was Deputy IT Lead of the General Practitioners Committee. She studied Medicine at the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine and was awarded the Young Alumni Springboard Award from King’s College London in 2018. What led to you starting your own medtech business? My enthusiasm for medicine was compounded by the way we measure success in healthcare – not by profit margins or balance sheets, but by outcomes that would benefit all. That passion and enthusiasm led me to become a General Practitioner, and now CEO of C the Signs. C the Signs was born with a clear purpose: to reimagine a future where everyone lives, by creating a technology that can digitally screen patients to identify those at risk of cancer to ensure the greatest chances of survival. What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced? The most challenging moments are knowing that there is still a long way to go in order to realise that future in which everyone lives following their diagnosis. But it is a challenge that we are relishing for the sake of patients and their families.

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Early on I learnt that there is no set path to success: only the one you carve for yourself. Taking risks has been core to this – to innovate, iterate and learn constantly. How are you adapting to lockdown measures in order to continue your work? We have mobilised a COVID-19 Cancer Hub, working with charities to support cancer patients. We have also deployed C the Signs remotely across the NHS, to improve identification and streamline the diagnosis for patients at risk of cancer.

Devika Wood: The social-purpose disruptor Winner of the King’s 2019 Alumni Entrepreneur Award, Devika is the CoFounder of tech-enabled care provider Vida. After capturing investor attention to the tune of £2.7m, she moved on to launch her second venture, Iamarla.com – a social enterprise supporting women who have experienced abuse, trauma or discrimination. She also works as Head of Acceleration and Partnerships at Telefónica’s tech accelerator Wayra. Devika studied Human Biology at King’s College London. What are your top tips to a student who isn’t sure what they want to do? What you do at 21 and what you do at 29 will be so different! I have been a carer for my grandmother, worked in research, in hospitals and in tech. These collective experiences opened up my eyes to how technology could change healthcare, and I developed my own digital health solution for elderly people. Take time to explore what motivates you; be open-minded. Passion and love for what you do is key. And remember, authenticity builds relationships, and relationships build opportunities.

Reflecting back to when you were a student, are you where you thought you’d be today? Being an entrepreneur is an unknown role, not a set-in-stone career. I had a ‘sink or swim’ feeling, but I also discovered skills I never thought I had! At university, I wouldn’t have recognised where I am or what I’m doing now. Today, people call me a success; that is still strange for me.

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Alex Lai: The thirst-quenching disruptor After securing a First-Class Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Department of Engineering, Alex

went on to work at Fujitsu and BNP Paribas after graduating. However, eager to be his own boss and work across all aspects of a business, he quit his City job to launch a health-drink company, Raylex. Now his range of aloe and CBD-infused beverages can be found on the shelves of Sainsbury’s and Wasabi, and turns over £10m a year. Tell us how you went from studying Engineering to being an entrepreneur? I was lucky enough to get an internship at BNP Paribas and ended up there for about four years doing trading and sales. I really enjoyed it and it got me learning quite a lot about how markets work and how to sell. But my parents have always run a family restaurant business – they immigrated from Hong Kong years ago and have run their own business ever since – and that made me want to do something on my own. We started with a couple of different ideas; we saw coconut water and smoothies really taking off back in 2014. Aloe was quite a normal drink to me because you could buy it in Chinese supermarkets, but

so he built a career as a Hedge Fund Manager in the City. Then, frustrated by the ineffectiveness of current methods to tackle poverty in the developing world – together with Violet Busingye (a former Rwandan refugee) – he launched the charity Grow Movement.

Chris Coghlan: The micro-entrepreneur disruptor Chris studied War Studies at the School of Security Studies. Inspired by his grandfather, who fought the Nazis, he wanted to be a soldier. However, an injury put his military plans on hold – 26 Start! Issue six 2020-21

Can you tell us how you’ve navigated your career path? During my first summer at King’s, I travelled to Mozambique where I met a boy named Tiago, who’d lost his mother in the civil war. I recognised his anger, having lost my own mother as a child – which gave me a passion to use the pain from things you cannot change, to change the things you can. So I founded Grow Movement: a charity with a mission to alleviate poverty by engaging remote volunteer consultants to transfer business skills to Africa’s entrepreneurs. After 10 years trying, I overcame my injury, learnt to run again and rejoined the Army Reserve. At the same time, the idea for Grow Movement came to me – so I quit my job as a Hedge Fund Manager and launched the charity. I’m incredibly proud that over the last decade, Grow Movement

you could never buy it in a normal chiller next to coconut water, and that got me thinking. So we had a core idea that we believed in, then we pivoted and pivoted and, eventually, it snowballed into this business! Are graduate entrepreneurs a growing trend? Nowadays, rather than finding a job, you can create your own, which I find incredible. But you need to be willing to put in the work, and you also need an idea.

has improved the lives of more than 50,000 people. And I’m incredibly proud that I’ve served as a British Diplomat and Soldier, just like my grandfather, against ISIS. What’s been the highlight of your eclectic career? I’ve really benefited in my career from a strong sense of purpose and being opportunistic and resilient. London, Stanford, and Chicago Booth Business Schools spent three years doing a randomised control trial on 900 of our micro-entrepreneurs in Uganda, and found that our method increases our entrepreneurs’ sales by a quarter, which featured in The Economist. It is my career highlight because it showed it had all been worth it; that I had changed the things I could. What’s your next challenge? Now that we’ve proven remote volunteer consulting as an effective method of international poverty relief, I’m exploring how to use it to have impact at scale.

Mischa Dohler: The wireless communications disruptor

Part of the first team to build a fully functional 5G system in the UK, Mischa is a Professor in Wireless Communications at King’s, driving cross-disciplinary research and innovation in technology, sciences and arts. A serial entrepreneur, he has launched five companies. He is also a composer and pianist with five albums on Spotify/iTunes, and is fluent in six languages. He studied Physics at Moscow State University. Your CV is very impressive – have you got a guiding principle or mantra? Yes: my dad taught me that everything you learn will be somehow useful to you at some point in life. So if I can learn something, I give it a shot, because there will be a moment when it can be applied – maybe it’s not useful to me right now, but there will be a time. My career has also been steered by my desire to give soul to technology. What has given you the greatest sense of accomplishment? When I was working at France Telecom in 2005, I co-founded the Internet of Things industry standards group, which essentially became the industry standards group globally. Seeing that grow has been phenomenal. More recently, I launched my fifth piano album in Los Angeles, where I played in front of 4,000 people, and then combined it with a Keynote on 5G and the Internet of Skills. That was a real highlight! What are you working on next? The Internet of Skills (IoS): the new generation of the internet. Beyond transmitting things like audio or video, it can transmit touch and feel and muscle movements. With the COVID-19 crisis, this has become a really hot topic, because imagine if we had this now fully up and running? We could literally execute skills remotely!

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Tobi Oredein: The multimedia disruptor Fuelled by her passion for journalism, Tobi interned at many women’s lifestyle magazines after studying American Studies at King’s. Her experiences have led to her thriving as a progressive leader, influential TEDX speaker, Forbes 30 Under 30 businesswoman (2018), and becoming CEO, Editor and Co-Founder of Black Ballad – a black lifestyle media company for Black British women by Black British women, founded with her husband Bola Awoniyi. What makes an American Studies graduate want to start her own business? During my internships, I got fed up with lifestyle magazines claiming to be ‘the best magazine for women in Britain’. They meant white women. As a Black British, Black African woman, if I wanted to read about black female experiences, I had to read Black American magazines, 28 Start! Issue six 2020-21

because there were no publications catering for me. Journalism can be a very insidious industry and difficult to break into. After many rejections, I realised that if no one was going to take a chance on me, I had to take a chance on myself and create my own future. That is how Black Ballad was born – out of frustration and an underserved audience. How did you fund Black Ballad? As a black female founder, I knew our chances of getting investment were <0.2% (British Business Bank, 2017), so we learnt to be very prudent. Bola was instrumental in designing a revenue-generating membership model early on, but we only spent when it was critical and learnt how to do everything else ourselves. Eventually we crowdfunded, which really pushed us – it’s more difficult than people think!

Now we are raising an investment round and people looking at our financials criticise us for not spending enough! We must unlearn the habit of being too thrifty. What are your top financial tips for start-ups? 1. Save as much as possible before launching a business. 2. Spend conservatively so you can afford high quality, business-critical purchases. 3. Avoid unnecessary expenditure by negotiating mutually beneficial partnerships. 4. When fundraising, ‘Date your investor’ The process of getting investment is like dating. You ‘date’ your investor and get to know them because they might join your business family. Go on dates to make sure the right person gets to invest in your company.

f i w o n uk o y o a d e d i d How o go a e v a you h siness? u b a r o f

ss l busine e forma rself these h t p i k s u an, g yo Think le begin by askin d n a plan s... lving? question I am so e more m le b o th pr blems – t is the 1. Wha esses solve pro r problem, the t you Busin w abou l be! you kno ur solution wil o better y ? stomer rget cu they? Where a t y m is e re 2. Who ecific. Who ar they do, whe o d w t o a Be sp n h k live, w re you do they hop? The mo will be to s it do they em, the easier nd to market h s t d t nee a abou d their n a t s r e und . to them eed to ions I n if my t p m u s e as know t are th mer to 3. Wha with my custo ea test in the id viable? idea is ur business is ing several o While y u will be assum ue in order o y , e l. to be tr stag at need to be successfu ide h t s g in u s g th s o e t in s help r bu for you sumptions can alk to as s These a ket research. T rs as you can r a m r u ustome an yo tential c s, we don’t me iple o p y n a r lt e m u custom d get m (and by nd family!) an a friends view. f o s t in o p nd why? sucks a le who a e id r op ou from pe . thinks y 4. Who ering feedback ve is invaluable h o t r , a p le G im mfortab ou can think y ht sound unco l pitfalls that ig This m tifying potentia et is very y n e id t t how ught of bu en’t tho you figure ou v a h u o d y elp sues an It can h useful. address these is e as you b l you wil r answers will u o y t . a s s h e w ur busin m build yo e proble he sam t g in lv o else is s that 5. Who e? st those ju t m o n s a r e oduct o titors ar Compe g a similar pr ne that is o rin are offe they are every problem – e e m a ic s v r e se th is o solve ho else trying t et to know w ! G as you. in your space g in t a r e op osition? lue prop r a v e u ou uniq rstand y t is my 6. Wha that you unde d to be able to ld u nee Now itors, yo customer shou t e p m o c a r y u h o y w

6. What is my un ique valu Now that you unde e proposition? rst competitors, you ne and your ed to be able to articulate why a cu stomer should choose you over th em solution quicker, ch . Is your eaper, better designed or more user-friendly? Tell me: why you? 7. What is my minimum viable product (MVP)? Once you’ve valid ated your idea, you’re ready to bu ild your first version to test. Th is should be the simplest version of yo service that you ca ur product or n test in order to get feedback; espe ciall how you can test yo y consider ur ideas without using technology. In conclusion: start small, gather lots of data, and get ou t and talk to your customers. Once you’ve got th e answers to these questions, w e recommend you book a drop-in sessi on with one of our team to talk th rough your next steps. You could als o complete a Lean C search for and anvas template and use this as a w orking document as you develop yo ur idea further.

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Stepping up

to the

sustainability challenge

By Katherine Horsham King’s was one of the first universities to declare a Climate Emergency in 2019. Here at the Entrepreneurship Institute, we have pledged to support the university’s commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We’re building sustainability into our model for venture development by piloting a new Expert in Residence – ‘XiR’ – focused on sustainability for start-ups. We also plan to use our influence with our partners – be they a student society, another university or business – to co-create in ways that reduce our environmental impact. We can all do more personally and collectively, but big brands that encourage consumption have more to do than most. Curious to discover what good work is happening in this space, Start! took a look at what some wellknown brands are doing to step up and act in the fight against climate change.

‘In 2016, Gucci unveiled its ‘culture of purpose’ strategy under the title Gucci Equilibrium. Commitments include guaranteeing 95% traceability of raw materials and being 100% powered by renewable energy by the end of 2020.’

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Gucci In 2016, Gucci unveiled its ‘culture of purpose’ strategy under the title Gucci Equilibrium. Commitments include guaranteeing 95% traceability of raw materials and being 100% powered by renewable energy by the end of 2020. As part of this series of pledges, Gucci also shifted to using Environmental Profit & Loss accounting – an approach which measures greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, water consumption, land use and waste production along the entire supply chain, and then calculates the approximate cost to society. This means Gucci can look to reduce the cost of its environmental impact, and track progress against targets. The Kering group, which owns Gucci, has also created an app called My EP&L that allows customers to do the same on a product by product basis and make more informed choices. This is quite a bold move, as it may prompt customers to question whether or not they should purchase an item at all. More recently in May 2020, Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director, announced that the brand will be dropping from five to two shows a year. Announcing the decision on Instagram, Michele said: “We understood that we went too far. We burned the house that we lived in.” As Gucci is such a high-profile fashion house, it is likely to prompt other fashion brands to take notice and reconsider their approach – hopefully leading to reduced waste from runway to retail.

Adidas At the end of 2019, Adidas launched a new 100% recyclable shoe – the Futurecraft.Loop – under the tagline ‘Made to be remade’. Fully recyclable and infinitely reusable, it’s made of a single material, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), meaning that at the end of its (first) life, it can be ground up into pellets and reused. The shoe represents the brand’s first major move to shift the sports industry towards closedloop design and a circular production model. As part of Adidas’s wider mission to ‘End Plastic Waste’ in its supply chain by 2030, it’s built a multidisciplinary team by joining forces with US-based environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans. Together, they created PrimeBlue, a high-performance material made of at least 40% of plastic fished out of the ocean. Eleven million shoes containing ocean plastic were sold in 2019 alone. Adidas will next scale the use of recycled plastics across its products and make them all easily recyclable, and ultimately aims to switch to biodegradable materials. This is a great example of a brand picking a particular issue to focus on and really going for it!

IKEA In 2018, IKEA announced some demanding goals for the business, such as its aim to cut 2.72 million tonnes of CO2 from a baseline of 3.4 million tonnes by 2030. This pledge forms part of its ambition to become a ‘People and Planet Positive business’, which it defines as an enterprise that gives more back to the environment and society than it takes in the course of running its operations. Recognising that a consumer shift was also urgently needed, IKEA ran an innovative behaviour change project to better understand how it could help its customers to live more sustainably at home. Live Lagom ran from 2015-18 as a partnership with the environmental charity Hubbub UK and researchers at the Centre for Environment & Sustainability at the University of Surrey.

The project delivered more than 400 workshops on topics like fermenting, growing food and making homes more energy efficient. Having proved successful, Live Lagom is now a corporate programme in IKEA UK and Ireland.

‘ 11 million shoes containing ocean plastic were sold in 2019 alone.’

If you’d like to do more personally, we suggest starting off by understanding what your current environmental impact is, as change starts with awareness. WWF’s footprint calculator is a great free resource to get your baseline and uncover where you can start reducing your impact: footprint.wwf.org.uk

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In 2018, the UK launched more vegan products than any other nation (Mintel Global New Products Database, 2018). Curious to know what it feels like to be a smaller player in this space, we sat down with King’s20 Accelerator Founder Natalie Slack to chat about the realities of running a vegan venture, and see how she’s dealing with the increased competition.

blackmilq.com @blackmilqicecream

Hi Natalie – you run award-winning plantbased ice-cream company Black Milq. Can you tell us how you became a food entrepreneur? I’ve always been fascinated with the interaction between food, people, society, culture and nutrition. My undergrad was in Food Science and Nutrition and I did a Masters in Dietetics. I also had a number of jobs in the food industry before becoming an entrepreneur. The idea for Black Milq started developing when I worked for a food start-up in 2015. We were looking at the future of food and plant-based replacements – like lab-grown meats and complete meal replacement powders – and it felt like something so obviously on the cusp of becoming massive. You left a job in the food industry to start Black Milq. What spurred you on to take that leap of faith? After studying, I was working in Tesco as a Product Developer and Technologist when a leadership change meant everyone was offered voluntary redundancy, and having always wanted to start a business, I decided to go for it. After that, I spent five months working for Innocent developing products before moving to a start-up called Proper. Proper was an interesting place with a super young talented team – and that’s when I started to understand what it was to be an entrepreneur and believe I could do it. What made you pick vegan ice cream? On a trip to New York, I was inspired by its ice-cream scene; they were making it all in-house, doing seasonal rotations on flavours, being experimental with colours. We didn’t have anything like that in the UK at the time. I combined that inspiration with what I’d seen about plant-based diets.

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developing an allergen-free base. My next priority is getting a retail range sold where my customers are most likely to shop. As one person, it can be difficult to find a balance between everything that needs to be done!

I was sure you were going to tell me you were a lifelong vegan and that’s how you got into selling plant-based ice cream! For me, it was about asking: how can I make ice cream better? What will it look like in the future? It’s going to be exciting flavours that people haven’t tried before, or flavours of the past reimagined.

Has this time helped you think about how you can keep a market share as your competition grows? Absolutely. A lot of American brands use a direct-to-consumer model, which I’m keen to explore. It’s about asking: how will people shop in the future, and want to access and experience products? Businesses that are nimble and pivot into direct-toconsumer models seem to be the most resilient – and that’s only been reinforced during the COVID-19 crisis. Customer loyalty is also really important, especially if you don’t want to be forced to constantly drive for the lowest price point! One of our differentiators is our unique flavours; the other is our brand. I’m starting to think creatively about what the people that buy our product want to hear and learn – is it recipes? Or tutorials?

It sounds like you have a great product/founder fit. How do you think the industry knowledge you gathered before starting your business has impacted your journey? Working at Tesco gave me full exposure to the concept of the food supply chain, and that’s where I got to understand that there was more than a factory involved in getting food on the shelf. On the flip side, everything at Tesco is up and running and its operations are super slick and resilient, so it’s hard to jump from that into a start-up environment. What helped you keep going through that transition? When I first launched in 2017, I had a stall at Hackney Vegan Market and I sold 500+ scoops of ice cream in a day. That’s when I knew that consumers were ready for this and it felt great. The market organiser – a guy called Sean O’ Callaghan, aka the Fat Gay Vegan – was also really keen on supporting women of colour and LGBT+ people in the food industry. And that was a really nice thing to be a part of, because bringing more underrepresented groups into the food industry is really important to me.

What’s next for Black Milq? It’s an emerging market, and people are catching on really fast. So I stopped trading for a while and took some time to think about how we continue to differentiate so we can have longevity. I focused on recipe reformulation and

Finally, what would your advice be to any budding entrepreneurs hoping to launch a food business? Be strategic early on, and map the operational stages involved in transforming that creative home-kitchen idea into something that entices enough people to pick it up on supermarket shelves. Building sustainability into your plans from the outset is also critical.

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Be resilient: how to build your bouncebackability Behavioural Change Life Coach and bestselling self-help Author Angela Cox – currently studying Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King’s – shares seven steps to build your resilience.

I work with entrepreneurs and business leaders on a daily basis – and many are stifled by self-doubt and fear. I can relate, as it’s something I’ve personally experienced both in my former corporate leadership roles as well as in my current career. One of the greatest weapons in this relentless battle with self-doubt is resilience: the ability to get up after a setback, learn from mistakes and adapt to new circumstances quickly – without losing focus. How do I help my clients develop their resilience? By sharing the following seven strategies that can keep you getting up, even when you’re dealt the heaviest of blows. Know where you are heading The first step in ensuring you have this all-important ‘bouncebackability’ is to determine a clear sense of direction. If you know where you are heading and what you are trying to achieve, it provides a strong reference point on those days when everything seems to go wayward. Breaking down goals into tactical steps also helps setbacks seem less huge as they only compromise the current step, rather than the entire goal. Choose how you react How you react to setbacks can make an incredible difference to not only the outcome of a situation, but the amount of energy it takes to get there. If things aren’t going your way, you can either let the frustration consume you, or you can pull on your positive pants, analyse the problem and tackle it using this step-by-step approach: 1.

Define what has happened – pinpoint exactly what the problem is.

Measure its impact – is it genuinely as big as it seems once you review it logically?

Analyse the situation – why did it occur? Can it be prevented? What are the potential solutions?

Fix it – remind yourself you can handle anything, breathe, then get on with implementing a solution.

Review – check in on the fix to see if it’s working and make small tweaks if required.

34 Start! Issue six 2020-21

Ask for help You don’t have to know or do everything – resilient people are not afraid to ask for help. Invest time in establishing and maintaining strong relationships and consider getting a mentor or coach. Having people who can support you is a proven way to be both happier and more resistant to stress, because you don’t feel so alone or vulnerable when the chips are down.

Have another interest Resilient people take mental and physical health seriously. Whether you are starting a business or working towards career goals, it’s important to have another interest to keep the balance and provide an outlet for stress. Find a pastime that will allow you to switch off from the day to day and refill your resilience tank. Like most things, your ability to bounce back comes with practise. So look back over your previous setbacks and notice that not only did you survive them, but also how they made you stronger.

Pivot While you may have a vision, plan and goals, be aware that sometimes you will need to change tack to succeed. This is called pivoting. If you can view a forced change as a pivot and you expect them to happen, you are less likely to be impacted by curve balls. Remember, there’s no point running at 100mph if you are running in the wrong direction!

Accept mistakes Perfectionism and fear of failure are common breeding grounds for selfdeprecation. Work on your growth mindset (see more on page 18) and view mistakes as an opportunity to learn and develop.

Reframe the negatives Having a positive outlook and being respectful of yourself and those around you will make you happier, and happier people are more resilient. You can learn how to reframe negative thoughts by using my STARS technique:

A – Acknowledge the feeling If you heard a stranger criticise you, you’d be angry or upset. But when we do this to ourselves, we generally accept it. Rather than accept the thoughts or feelings, lean into them and acknowledge that they are not acceptable.

S – Step back Once you hear the thought, take a physical step back or move your body. This shift in physiology activates a different part of the brain and stops the negative spiral in its tracks.

R – Reframe the thought Reframe the thought by thinking the direct opposite. If you’ve heard yourself say ‘nobody will listen because my ideas are useless’, reframe this to ‘my ideas add value and will be gratefully received’.

T – Take a breath Calm the system down by taking a deep breath. Thinking negative thoughts can activate an emotional response which can result in the release of adrenaline and subsequently cortisol – a stress hormone – into our system. The breath will prevent this.

S – Say it out loud Cement the new version of the thought by saying it out loud. This will feed your subconscious mind positive thoughts, and regardless of whether you believe what you are saying to be true, you will start to move towards it. @InnovateKings

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The femtech boom The femtech industry, which focuses on improving women’s wellbeing via tech-enabled products and services, is set to be worth $50bn by 2025 (Frost & Sullivan, 2018). Femtech Innovation & Gender Equality Entrepreneur Estrella Jaramillo and Founder of Well Made Health, LLC Katie McMillan share their thoughts on the rise of startups disrupting women’s healthcare with tech – from fertility trackers to breast pumps.

By Lisa Desai and Jessica Jurkschat

‘Women are like: ‘We are 50% of the population! Our health affects ourselves, our families, and our communities and we will not be ignored.’ I love that.’

36 Start! Issue six 2020-21

What is femtech?

How is the industry growing?

EJ: Femtech comprises devices, software and diagnostics, as well as tech-enabled products and services, that directly address women’s health issues. Think menstrual health, fertility, pregnancy and birth, parenting support, cancer prevention, sexual health education and pleasure. It also includes health issues that, even though they affect both men and women, haven’t been sufficiently researched or analysed from the perspective of women, and how these health issues manifest differently.

KM: Femtech is projected to be a $50bn industry by 2025. To put that in perspective, between 2013-17, femtech companies raised around $1.1bn. I think there are a variety of reasons why the industry is growing. More women attend college and medical school then men now, which leads to a variety of secondary benefits like expendable income, as well as access to professional networks and investment capital. Socially, I think a lot of subjects that were whispered in hushed tones – like menopause symptoms, incontinence and breastfeeding – are becoming destigmatised. Women are like: ‘We are 50% of the population! Our health affects ourselves, our families, and our communities, and we will not be ignored.’ I love that.

KM: I define femtech as apps, software, and connected devices that address a specific women’s healthcare need or goal. Femtech companies span from menstruation to menopause and everything in between! The majority are consumer-facing products, but there is also innovation happening in the medical device and treatment space as well.

‘ The space is still in its infancy and there’s lots of room for innovation.’

Who is investing in femtech? EJ: Business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan’s 2018 report, paired with recent wins by leading companies and the awareness generated by the female entrepreneur community, has helped the space get on the radar of prominent investors. For example, Mahmee – an LA-based digital start-up tackling the maternal health crisis – announced a $3m round that included tennis star Serena Williams and entrepreneur Mark Cuban as investors. In 2019, the space surpassed $1bn in total funding since 2014. How are women responding to the femtech boom? KM: I’ve given a few presentations around the US on femtech over the last two years, and it’s amazing how many head nods I get from audience members and comments afterwards from both women and men. I’ve had people share really intimate stories of their women’s health issues and how they’re going to try a product I’ve mentioned or shared through my #femtechfriday series on Instagram, where I highlight different innovations. I think no matter what stage of life, women or anyone who is able to give birth are looking for ways to best care for themselves, and advances in technology over the last 10 years have accelerated what is possible.

What are the top three femtech ventures we should be on the lookout for? KM: I’m particularly interested in the fertility companies out there like Ava, OvuSense and Trak Fertility, because I believe that they can be used both alone by women as consumers, but also as part of their overall family planning discussions with their healthcare providers. I’m also very excited about new breast pumps on the market – the Willow and Elvie. They’re exciting from both a discretion and convenience standpoint for mothers, but I think they will also encourage women to provide breast milk to their children for longer, leading to better child health outcomes. I got an Elvie pump (pictured) last year when I had my second child and it was such a game changer in my return to work. I could sit in meetings and pump and no one knew! It was such a different experience from my first child three years before, when I had to block my calendar to find time to pump alone in my office.

What do you think the future of femtech will look like in five years? EJ: The ecosystem is further consolidating. We need more funds investing in femtech, more accelerators, and more open doors to collaboration in big healthcare incumbents. The space is still in its infancy and there’s lots of room for innovation. It remains to be seen how COVID-19 and the resulting economic impact will affect the evolution of the space down the line – with less money in the system and an increased aversion to risk, many industries will suffer. However, we have to remain positive that the growth trajectory will continue once we have more perspective on the situation.

@InnovateKings

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Inspiration station

When it comes to seeking out inspiration, motivation and guidance, our diverse community has their finger on the pulse. Whether you’re into innovation, passionate about personal development or a sucker for all things start-up, we’ve got you covered with these recommendations.

Websites to bookmark Startups.co.uk A treasure trove for anyone looking to start or grow a business, practical tools and easy-to-navigate resources await. UKtech.news Everything you need to know about the UK’s tech ecosystem – we love their Tech Chats video series, too. Firstround.com/review Sharing knowledge from the brightest minds to bring you insights to apply in areas ranging from management to engineering and marketing.

The Entrepreneurs Network Full of up-to-date information and interesting policy debates.

The Heretic Pascal Finette’s cult newsletter is “a community of tens of thousands of crazy Innovation Forum Podcast people” receiving near-daily insights into Innovation Forum’s regular podcast shines leadership in exponential times. a light on sustainable business issues including plastic, modern slavery, and the Entrepreneurship Institute pressing need to move towards a more Join 10,000+ others from the King’s circular economy. community and start developing skills or building your venture with us. Join communities of like-minded people Easy-listening podcasts

Hbr.org This site is packed full of new ideas and classic advice on strategy, innovation and leadership. Its podcast HBR IdeaCast is also a team favourite.

Le Wagon Every week, globally renowned coding school Le Wagon invites a tech entrepreneur to share their story.

Medium.com With collections dedicated to industry, innovation & tech and freelancing, you’d struggle not to learn something from this vast publishing platform.

EntreLeadership From New York Times bestselling author Dave Ramsey, EntreLeadership is a toolbox for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (entrepreneurial people working within organisations).

Newsletters worth subscribing to Emerging Tech Brew Emerging Tech Brew is Morning Brew’s first industry-specific newsletter covering the latest technological advancements that are changing the world. Pioneers Post This social enterprise magazine sets the agenda for the fresh wave of social entrepreneurs and businesses driving social progress across the globe, with news, views, knowledge and analysis.

38 Start! Issue six 2020-21

Masters of Scale Co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman explains how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with industry leaders.

Enterprise Nation Resources, community, events and connections to help you reach your business goals. Check out the weekly online masterclasses to kickstart your business. Blooming Founders Blooming Founders exists to create a support infrastructure that makes the start-up world a better place for female founders.

Startup Grind The Twenty Minute VC Startup Grind is a global start-up Our very own King’s law alumnus Harry community designed to educate, inspire Stebbings hosts this series of 20-minute and connect entrepreneurs. interviews with today’s most successful and inspiring venture capitalists. Gimlet Media These award-winning podcasts are downloaded over 12 million times a month by listeners from 190 countries. We highly recommend Startup and The Pitch, where entrepreneurs pitch to real investors for real money.

Shoe Dog, Phil Knight This memoir by Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight chronicles the history of the brand from its early struggles to its Echo evolution into one of the world’s most Echo is a recognised and profitable companies. community where you can The Second Curve, Charles Handy trade your time A radical manifesto for business and the and skills. Whether DIY society from a prescient thinker. you’re looking to learn a new skill, launch a The Power of Unreasonable People: How project, or grow your Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets business, the Echo mar- that Change the World, John Elkington & ketplace offers a wealth of Pamela Hartigan services and opportunities Through vivid stories, the authors to suit your needs. identify the highly unconventional entrepreneurs who are solving some of The Changemakers the world’s most pressing economic, An active Facebook com- social and environmental problems. munity and London-based network for young people Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy who are dedicated to cre- Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and ating positive change in Transform Industries, Safi Bahcall the world. Loonshots looks at the birth of new and out-of-the-box ideas. It is packed full of Books you shouldn’t miss insight into how people (like you) can create and nurture world-changing ideas. The Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick Grit: Why Passion and Resilience are the We recommend this Secrets to Success, Angela Duckworth book more often In this must-read for anyone seeking to than any other! succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela If you want to Duckworth takes us on an eye-opening learn if your journey to discover the true qualities that business lead to outstanding achievement. idea is a good Resources to take advantage of one, you should KEATS read this Our KEATS page is teeming with book. resources including videos, articles and DIY exercises designed to help you be more entrepreneurial. Search: King’s Entrepreneurship Institute.

Last but not least, don’t forget to get your regular fix of inspiration directly from the team at the Entrepreneurship Institute:

range of resources and discounts. 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. Startacus Resources to help you connect, grow and scale. Bright Network Access exclusive careers advice and opportunities with the world’s best companies. Inspire2Enterprise This service provides support for individuals and established businesses to create and develop social enterprises across the UK. Resources include advice on business planning, finance and legal structures.

IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed Guides, training and events for students on how to successfully freelance and be self-employed. Access free student membership using the code KINGS2021 to unlock a wide

Scan me @InnovateKings

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I’m passionate about introducing the concept of entrepreneurship to everyone at King’s, and welcoming as many people as possible into our vibrant community.

I’m the behind-the-scenes ninja who makes our programmes happen by creating the right infrastructure. I’m also the community manager in our co-working space.

I’m the one behind all our social media channels and the high use of emojis in our monthly newsletter! I also capture the latest from our ventures to share with investors.

Léa Rozencwajg Henry, Communications Programme Support Co-ordinator

Alexandra Wu, Entrepreneurial Skills Programme Support Co-ordinator

40 Start! Issue six 2020-21

I’m the mastermind behind key initiatives in our Skills programme, such as Venture Crawl and Idea Factory. I also support the Start-Up Visa application process.

Katherine Horsham, Operations Officer

I enable the Entrepreneurship Institute to shout loud and proud about the amazing opportunities we have for people to develop themselves and their ventures. Armandine Bonnard, Strategic Projects Manager

I’m focused on widening participation in entrepreneurship, so whatever your background, you feel you can ‘smash it’ as a champion of innovation.

I empower people to develop and practice the Seven Skills of Entrepreneurship so that, whether you start up a business or embark on a career, you will make waves. Sarah Mander, Senior Communications Officer

Holly Knower, Head of Ventures I run the King’s20 Accelerator programme, where I support the 20 brightest early-stage ventures from across the university to build, scale and take over the world!

Rachel Stockey, Head of Entrepreneurial Skills

Hemali Patel, Head of Entrepreneurial Engagement

Julie Devonshire OBE, Director, Entrepreneurship Institute I’m on a special mission to ensure all King’s students, staff and alumni will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA by 2029.

About the Entrepreneurship Institute community Our vision is to help everyone at King’s develop the entrepreneurial mindset and skills needed to make the world a better place. We’re growing a community of innovative thinkers who are more disruptive, more resilient and more adept at getting the job done. We believe that everyone can develop an entrepreneurial version of themselves, and we’re here to show you how. Get involved now by signing up to our newsletter and following us on social media.

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The views, opinions and positions expressed by the authors and interviewees are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Entrepreneurship Institute and King’s College London. @InnovateKings

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© King’s College London Approved by Brand June 2020 Produced by the Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s College London — kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship Editor: Leonie Jarrett Sub-editors: Hemali Patel and Nadia Williams Designed by: Arke Agency — arkeagency.com

Start! magazine Issue 6 - Disruptors Edition

Articles inside

Black milq: Running a vegan venture

Aysha: my year since Idea Factory

Recipe boxes: Recipe boxes: the ‘new normal’ the ‘new for at-home dining? for at-home