Start! magazine 2017-2018

START

Entrepreneurship Institute Issue three 2017–18

kingsentrepreneurship

@InnovateKings Growing a global business Start-up advice from fashion designer Cath Kidston MBE Page 22

Joe Wicks, The Body Coach Journey of a social media entrepreneur Page 25

Rewriting the rulebook Amit Bhatia, QPR football club co-owner on giving entrepreneurship a shot Page 24

Tinie Tempah ‘An entrepreneur is an opportunist’

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

In this issue

Meet the team 7

Entrepreneurial women 18

Start! here

Advice corner

Journeys

Welcome 4

Community building on a shoestring 36

Employed, empowered, ecstatic

Tips to build your start-up tribe

Student Clara Zourray shares her LightMountain story

The Entrepreneurship Institute

6

Don’t just make it look pretty

Who we are and how we can support you

Open your mind

8

Cracking the code!

9 10 28

Explore our global impact

Letters page Reggie answers your questions

An expert coaching guide

Jamal Edwards MBE

14

The music mogul on founding SBTV

Tang-ible benefits

45

Jack Tang’s story of Urban Massage

Hackers, hipsters and hustlers

50

Professor Bill Aulet, MIT, shares advice from his book Disciplined Entrepreneurship

Renowned entrepreneur Prof Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE gives his views

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17

19

34

26

46

40

42

48

20 21

How to create a more inclusive and progressive culture

Entrepreneurship advice on growing a global business

33

Brewing an empire

38

Essential characteristics of an entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurship at King’s

49

Photo albums King’s entrepreneurial women

18

Awards and recognition

54

Milestones 55

Features

Cath Kidston MBE, fashion designer

30

Professor Susan Trenholm introduces

Paediatrician Tamara Bugembe on combining medicine and business

Leading by example

Sahar Hashemi OBE Jo Malone MBE, fragrance queen

King’s law alumnus Jesse Lozano talks about co-founding pi-top

Re-inventing the wheel?

Moonpig.com founder, Nick Jenkins Valuing start-ups and the beauty of niches

The value of a diverse workplace

The culinary innovator on fuelling creativity

More than invention

The reality of launching a start-up

25

Using social media to create a fitness brand

Matteo Kotch, Gluru, on start-ups as a positive career choice

Team diversity

Opinion Heston Blumenthal OBE

Jo Malone MBE 38

Consider working for a start-up

24

Have hope & wear purple

Joe Wicks, The Body Coach

King’s med alumna Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi shares her inspiring journey

Nick Jenkins 30

32

13

Med student Térouz Pasha explains why doctors make great entrepreneurs

C the Signs: a life less ordinary

52

King’s student David Wexler talks to the rapper and entrepreneur

Amit Bhatia, co-owner of QPR FC

Alicia Beylan, President, KCL Tech Society on gender equality in tech

Books for budding entrepreneurs

Tinie Tempah: being opportunistic

Innovation in health

Hacking equality, globally!

44

Interviews 53

Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi 26

Insight from business psychologist Gilly Wiscarson

Book club

Join King’s entrepreneurially-inclined societies

Global entrepreneurship

The business case for visual design

Careers advice from ex-Googler Frederic Kalinke

Learn to code with KCL Tech Society

Student community

37

Create a view, not a curriculum vitae 41

Hear from King’s Entrepreneurs’ Society President

Tinie Tempah talks to a King's music student about being opportunistic 14

Urban massage 45

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.

Editor: Anandana Bakshi Co-editor: Hemali Patel Sub-editor: Amy Lothian Design: calverts.coop Aproved by brand@kcl.ac.uk August 2017

22

Advice from Cath Kidston MBE 22

WELCOME

WELCOME

Welcome to the Entrepreneurship Institute’s magazine

They have created a unique support framework to inspire, up-skill and empower you, focusing on ideation and creativity, starting and scaling, leadership, resilience, personal branding and self-efficacy.

At the Students’ Union, our vision is for all students to be active members of the community – the King’s community, London-wide community and global community of which we’re so proud.

Entrepreneurship, and thinking and acting innovatively, can be a great way to positively contribute to these communities.

I would highly recommend you all to get involved in the Entrepreneurship Institute as it will not only be a source of fun and learning but will also continuously stimulate you to contribute to innovation and change. It’s student-led and I encourage you to join the Student Advisory Board to help shape and direct the programmes. The Institute is accessible and welcoming and its events, activities and drop-in sessions are a fantastic place to meet a diverse group of people.

Our students have amazing ideas and we want to help them convert these ideas into tangible reality. The Institute works with students from all faculties and has helped develop exciting ventures in a wide variety of sectors including the arts and culture, media and publishing, AI, med tech, education and social enterprise. By building a multitude of start-ups every year, our students are actively contributing to society and doing us proud.

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.

Momin Saqib President, King’s College London Students’ Union 2017–18

King’s is home to some truly remarkable and innovative students, staff and alumni.

The Entrepreneurship Institute aims to seek out and support this interest and talent and equip the King’s community with the vital skills required as future employers, employees, leaders and changemakers.

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

Entrepreneurial minds at King’s have influenced many of the advances that shape modern life, from the discovery of the structure of DNA, to research that led to the development of modern telecommunications. If we want to positively contribute to global challenges, entrepreneurship is vital. No matter what career you have ahead of you, skills to innovate and to be entrepreneurial will be valuable. Our vision is that by 2029 everyone at King’s will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA. The Institute and our community is going from strength to strength. We’ve grown and moved to our new co-working space on the first floor of Bush House, supported student societies whose members are interested in entrepreneurship, and worked with all faculties across King’s to grow a thriving, diverse and supportive collective.

We’ve taken students on unique learning experiences through Idea Factory and the London Venture Crawl, awarded a record number of students the King’s Enterprise Award and brought outstanding speakers to King’s. We’ve helped accelerate exciting new student, staff and alumni ventures across a wide variety of sectors – helping move important ideas to the next level and make a positive impact on society.

In 2017–18 there’s more to come, lots more! All planned to support students and their growing appetite for entrepreneurial skills and experiences.

We look forward to hearing your exciting ideas and welcoming you to our community.

Julie Devonshire OBE Director, Entrepreneurship Institute

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@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 5

ABOUT US

MEET THE TEAM

The Entrepreneurship Institute Benefits to you Gain new skills and boost your career Increase your understanding of entrepreneurship, build your confidence, leadership and resilience, and gain essential new skills to set yourself apart from your peers.

Come to our workshops We run workshops on pitching and presentation skills, business planning, idea generation, creative thinking and more.

Left to right: YeeMun Thum, Josh Blackburn, Amy Lothian, Ed Halliday, Julie Devonshire OBE, Professor Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE, Leila Burridge, Jeremy Shorter, Hemali Patel and Anandana Bakshi.

Who we are

The Entrepreneurship Institute exists to support entrepreneurial thinking, skills and experiences amongst 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 create agile corporate employees, entrepreneurial public sector staff and innovative medics.

Our vision

Entrepreneurship is vital if we want to positively contribute to global challenges and create a better society. Our vision is that by 2029 everyone at King’s will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA.

Get involved in our activities

Our support is delivered through three main programme strands: engage, learn and accelerate. We are a student-led institute, and these programmes are driven by the needs expressed by students, societies and the King’s community.

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Complete the King’s Enterprise Award The Award will contribute to your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR).

Enrol on online KEATS course Guides, start-up kits, downloads and videos, in partnership with Enterprise Nation.

Join our Student Advisory Board Student society presidents, vice presidents and nominated committee members can join our Student Advisory Board. Help shape our programmes. Great for your CV.

Win prizes and apply for funding Enter Idea Factory Idea Factory is King's flagship idea generation competition. Aimed at discovering the biggest and best ideas from across the university, you could win support and funding to help turn your idea into reality.

Apply for grant funding of up to £2,000 Student societies can apply for up to £2,000 grant funding to run initiatives that introduce students to entrepreneurship, have entrepreneurial experiences, or develop transferable skills that enhance their careers.

Explore your enterprising personality, get connected and inspired Feed your curiosity, meet inspirational people, and be inspired to be more innovative.

Hop on board the Venture Bus We hire a routemaster bus to take you on a unique ‘Venture Crawl’ around London, stopping off at innovation hubs including Facebook, Accenture’s Innovation Centre and Geovation, and meet entrepreneurial people at different stages.

Read START! magazine START! is packed with inspirational interviews, top tips and activities. Also available online.

Come to our inspirational events We hold popular events with leading figures such as Heston Blumenthal OBE, Joe Wicks and Jo Malone MBE. Join a student society Many societies at King’s have an entrepreneurial focus or run entrepreneurial activities. For example Enactus KCL, KCL Tech Society, KCL Robotics, Innovation Forum and KCLBC.

Build your enterprise Apply for the King’s20 accelerator A unique 12-month programme to help turn your idea into reality. £30,000 worth of support including mentoring, office space and investment opportunities to help you build your venture.

Apply to be endorsed for the Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) 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 endorse up to 20 visas per year, including those renewing from the year before.

Connect with us kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute Kingsentrepreneurship @Innovatekings Kingsentrepreneurship Kingsentrepreneurship

Meet the team Julie Devonshire OBE – Director, Entrepreneurship Institute As Director I am responsible for encouraging innovation and entrepreneurial skill at King’s College London amongst students, staff and alumni. If we want to positively contribute to global challenges, entrepreneurship is vital. No matter what career you have ahead of you, skills to innovate and to be entrepreneurial will be valuable. Our vision is that by 2029 everyone at King’s will have had the opportunity to make entrepreneurship part of their DNA. @Juliedevonshire Anandana Bakshi – Head of Entrepreneurship As Head of Entrepreneurship I am responsible for ensuring we create, deliver and evolve our programmes to serve the needs of our audiences and of society. The Institute is unique – we are student-led, celebrate diversity in all aspects of what we do, and focus on developing individuals as leaders.

Hemali Patel – Engagement Manager I lead the Institute’s inspirational, informative and exciting engagement programme, which will feed your curiosity, demonstrate that entrepreneurship applies to a broad spectrum of industries, and empower you to take control of your future.

I introduce the concept of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking across the university through: our Student Advisory Board; a Fund supporting student societies in creating King’s entrepreneurial community; co-created tailor-made events for King’s Faculties, with relevant societies; and much more!

Jeremy Shorter – Learning Programme Manager I lead the learn strand of the Institute. My aim is to enable our audiences to learn and develop skills that can enhance their futures and improve the student experience.

We do this through experiential learning – ‘learning by doing’ initiatives such as the Venture Crawl, the Idea Factory competition, workshops, online resources and the King’s Enterprise Award.

Ed Halliday – Accelerator Manager I lead the 12-month King’s20 accelerator programme. We find and develop 20 early-stage, high potential ventures from across King’s students, staff and alumni. My role is to design the programme, act as a mentor and help create a network of experts and investors to support them.

Josh Blackburn – Programme Support Assistant I undertake tasks associated with administering the Entrepreneurship Institute’s strategy, and assist with the delivery of the Institute’s programmes and events. I also coordinate the Institute’s internship programme.

Amy Lothian – Communications & Insight Support Manager I am responsible for managing the Institute’s communications. We want to reach out to more people, build our community and highlight why you should get involved in our fantastic programmes. I also identify insight to help us develop and deliver our activities and report on the impact we’ve created.

@InnovateKings

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START HERE

START HERE

Open your mind and get involved!

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Vaishnavi Nagaraj, President, King’s Entrepreneurs’ Society, explains how getting involved will raise your chances of being entrepreneurial. entrepreneurship. Being part of the committee early on aided me to become the president of the society for this year (2017–18).

This provides me with a wider scope to provide more events for students, thus contributing to the entrepreneurial culture within the student body; something that has already been a brilliant part of King’s to be involved with. From the inspirational talks from established entrepreneurs to the workshops led by many other societies,

I have had the chance to learn from the brightest minds and most accomplished entrepreneurs in the world.

Entrepreneurship and what it stands for is becoming a large part of every student’s experience, regardless of their background. The resources and opportunities provided by the Entrepreneurship Institute and King’s societies are endless, and open to all students to make the most of during their time at King’s and after.

To further the relationship between entrepreneurship and students, the King’s College London Entrepreneurs’ Society will be holding bimonthly Entrepreneur Cafés across the main three campuses.

Students can chat with our society over food and drinks to discuss anything, from opportunities to be entrepreneurial to last night’s football match! ¦

In the midst of the technological revolution, second year Computer Science student, Joshua Bradbury, explains why and how you can move with the times.

The best skill you can have for the future, is being able to programme. With the rise of technology, almost everything relies on some form of programming. No matter what job role you are in, even having a basic understanding of programming and how certain technologies work can make a dramatic difference.

‘No matter what job role you are in, even having a basic understanding of programming and how certain technologies work can make a dramatic difference.’

I started learning to programme when I was almost 13, after I had been introduced to a game called ‘Minecraft’, although I wish I had started learning sooner. I was so inspired playing this game that I wanted to learn how it was made, and wanted to learn how to make my own games. Nowadays I still try to make games, but I have a much greater appreciation for the wider tech community, and it is incredible how vast the field of Computer Science is.

I am fortunate enough to have been given opportunities along the way to have placements in a large tech company, Imagination

Technologies, where I gained a deeper understanding of a wide span of technology.

I am proud to be treasurer of the KCL Tech Society this year. We run a large array of events that give you (including any non-Computer Science students) the opportunity to learn about technology, whilst also bridging the gaps the Computer Science course doesn’t always cover. Our activities allow you to learn new skills regardless of what stage your studies are at. We are excited to be running coding workshops for staff and also students from local Sixth Forms in the 2017–18 academic year, alongside weekly workshops for current King’s students.

Not only can you get involved in our weekly workshops, we also run exciting special events called Hackathons! These are competitions where you can create and develop a project, individually or by forming new teams, irrespective of your experience and level of skills (technical and non-technical). The end results are amazing, which the participants are always proud of, especially as you can win some great prizes while you’re at it – last year we gave away an Amazon Echo and Amazon Dot! ¦ Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more details about the events and when they are happening – especially because they are free!

KCLTech.

Start-up internships career fair, Strand Campus.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 9

Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash

The entrepreneurial dynamic has grown within King’s College London, with more and more students from a wide range of academic backgrounds becoming involved with societies and events that focus on entrepreneurship.

The awareness of what being an entrepreneur means has become so broad: innovation, passion, commitment and hard work are all synonymous with the term. As a student along with others, I look to constantly develop these skills.

During my first year at King’s, I engaged with the Entrepreneurship Institute predominantly via the many events and workshops held to develop the essential skills required to be a successful entrepreneur. As a biochemistry student, my initial knowledge of the technical aspects required to develop an idea into a business were minimal. However, I had the opportunity to participate in the Idea Factory competition where I learnt to develop my idea for an app and how to pitch it effectively. Events like these also helped develop the key skills required to start a business or start-up.

King’s College London also consists of a large range of societies that focus on entrepreneurship, many of which I joined in my first year. As the Events and Communication Director for King’s College London Entrepreneurs’ Society, I was able to participate in the Student Entrepreneur Conference to listen to angel investors, start-up founders and others to discuss various aspects of

Cracking the code!

STUDENT COMMUNITY

Student societies

STUDENT COMMUNITY

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KCL Tech Society

King’s AppConnect

KCL Tech Society

We connect innovators and entrepreneurs with the right people and skills.

By joining King’s AppConnect you can network with like-minded people, get business and entrepreneurship skills through workshops and gain lifelong mentors.

We are a group of students passionate about technology and building tech products and companies. We teach people the basics of coding for different technologies. We connect our members with the industry and with like-minded people to help them develop their own ideas and get the necessary mentorship.

Arunita Roy, President E kingsappconnect@gmail.com

Enactus KCL At Enactus KCL we help students initiate and develop social enterprises that tackle both local and global issues to transform the lives of people in need.

Enactus KCL teaches you to be creative, to think out-of-the-box and use business skills to develop sustainable, fair and innovative solutions to real life challenges.

Emily Brothwood, President W www.enactuskcl.org Enactus KCL

Enactus KCL

Alicia Beylan, President W http://kcl.tech @kcltech

Roar News Roar News is King’s College London’s multiaward winning student newspaper. From the exploitation of cleaners to investment in tobacco industries – we have a proven track record of holding the College and Union accountable by uncovering exclusives and scoops that matter to our student audience.

Staying on top of innovative developments in the media industry lies at the heart of what we do. We have big plans for the digitisation of our paper – including app development, video content creation, etc. We are always looking for entrepreneurially-minded people to join our team and help think about how we can grow as a business and generate more revenue so that our students can stay informed! We currently have a vacancy for the position of Treasurer – head to bit.ly/roartrsr if you’re interested.

Rebekah Evans, Editor in Chief 2017–18.

W http://roarnews.co.uk @Roar_News

Innovation Forum KCL

KCL Robotics

We are one branch of a global, not-for-profit organisation that drives scientific development and innovation by connecting academia, industry and policymakers. Benefits of joining: networking opportunities, access to a community of entrepreneurial scientists, and developing skills in event organisation and marketing.

We live in a world of technology. KCL Robotics may be the start of your path in robotics, artificial intelligence or programming.

We always try to stay updated with the latest technology, and this is the material that we use to make people evolve. We also run workshops, talks and socials, so get involved!

Victoria Butt, President W http://inno-forum.org/ E kcl@inno-forum.org @KCL_IF

The IoPPN Pre-Doctoral Researcher Network We are a network that provides research assistants and pre-doctoral research staff with opportunities for networking, professional development and peer support.

We support pre-doctoral research staff to network with experts in their field and allied fields, and to pursue innovative ideas and career goals.

Michaela Flynn and Alexandra Melaugh, Co-chairs E predocnetwork@kcl.ac.uk @IoPPN_PreDoc

Alin Fulga, President W https://www.kclrobotics.com @KCL_Robotics robotics.kings E roboticskcl@gmail.com

King’s College London Business Club (KCLBC) KCLBC is the largest business society at King’s College London and we strive to provide our student community with their best shot at achieving their dreams. We hold value adding events in finance, consulting, start-ups and international relations.

Our start-ups division holds activities to help students’ ideas gain exposure and traction through industry insights and experiences.

Toby Bottomley, President E hello@kclbc.com

King's Health Societies

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Society

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Society (PPE) Our society is concerned with discussing multi-dimensional social issues from the intersection of politics and economics, with a special regard to the ethical implications of these subjects.

We focus on providing members of our society with an entrepreneurial outlook on social issues, which we deem to be the most effective way of solving those problems.

Jakub Maksymilian Wójcik, President W www.kclppe.com kclppe

King’s College London Entrepreneurs’ Society Our purpose is to build and continually foster a robust and engaging community of entrepreneurs in KCL; this is achieved by providing students with the resources to succeed and connecting them to the larger start-up ecosystem.

We hold workshops to help students develop their entrepreneurial skills, social sessions known as ‘Entrepreneurs Cafe’ to engage students in a more casual manner and many large-scale events to help budding entrepreneurs develop their ideas.

Vaishnavi Nagaraj, President W kcle.co.uk KCL Entrepreneurs’ Society – KCLE King’s College London Entrepreneurs’ Society E kclentrepreneurs@gmail.com

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 11

STUDENT COMMUNITY

JOURNEYS We promote the interests of medical student groups such as sports and societies, for example through our Medical Societies Academic Forum. This year I hope to offer you; training, networking, co-branding and publicity. I’m interested in collaborating with the other health schools’ student associations, particularly on events.

Omar Risk, President GKTMSA @GKTMSA E MSA@kcl.ac.uk

King’s MedTech Society Women in STEM Society

KCL Fitness Feat Hub Fitness Feat is KCL’s largest student ‘fit-fam’, providing a wellbeing-conscious environment and health/fitness group activities.

Students undergo a holistic selfdevelopment journey during the year, which not only supports them in their academia, but also encourages many to innovate within the fit-fam to further develop the wellbeing community at King’s.

Eleanor Thornett, President W www.fitnessfeat.org @fitness_feat_pt E fitnessfeatkcl@gmail.com

Medical Students Association at Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ (MSA) We exist to promote the experience and education of medical students, and to nurture the culture and community of GKT. Our network of elected reps advocate for our 2500 medical students. Our directors, officers and subcommittees offer the entire community a selection of diverse events and services across welfare, entertainment and education.

Student Advisory Board

King’s College London Dental Society We host activities such as academic, social and charity events for members of the Dental Institute.

From creating viral videos to going out to schools as part of widening participation, we encourage all of our members to be innovative, entrepreneurial and give back to wider society.

Arjun J Varma, President W kcldentalsociety.com kcl.dentalsociety E dental-society@kcl.ac.uk

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Presidents and Vice Presidents from ANY society can join the Institute's Student Advisory Board, and shape the programmes we run. As a student-led

We are passionate about health entrepreneurship and innovation, and the crucial role of MedTech in the provision of effective, efficient and equitable healthcare globally.

Through high quality lectures, workshops and conferences we provide students with the skills necessary to become successful innovators, whilst simultaneously creating a platform for the generation of ideas and the development of real-life solutions.

Ramon Fernandes, President W http://kingsmedtech.com King’s MedTech

Institute we co-create our activities with our community and we focus on diversity, inclusivity and being a collective.

The Board meets monthly, both formally and informally, to identify effective ways of introducing entrepreneurship to people of all backgrounds, up-skilling our students, enhancing their experiences and contributing to their future success.

It’s a great opportunity to develop your CV, meet other societies and create an entrepreneurial movement at King’s.

Dates and sign up information can be found on our website: kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute.

EMPLOYED EMPOWERED ECSTATIC I joined Enactus KCL three years ago as one of four team members of LightMountain, a project we created to combat indoor air pollution in developing countries. I had never even heard of Enactus or social enterprise but was drawn for two reasons: I am a stubborn optimist, and as a science student, I am driven to discover sustainable solutions to global issues.

During the first year, we researched, assessed potential solutions and developed ideas. We learnt that this global health issue takes 20,000 lives annually in Tanzania and is mediated by inefficient cooking practices, which particularly affects women and children.

Women on average earn less than 3x that of their male counterparts in rural communities and lack opportunities. We decided to create a social enterprise employing local women to distribute clean cooking solutions, empower themselves and benefit their community.

After a year, I became Project Leader and we launched the first pilot in 2015. Since then, we have developed two products: a locally-made clean cookstove, and charcoal briquettes made from agricultural waste, both helping to decrease exposure to toxic emissions during cooking. They also have economic and environmental benefits as they reduce reliance on wood charcoal, a major cause of deforestation. More importantly, we transferred key entrepreneurial and technical skills to seven local women in the Tanzanian village of Mkuyuni who retail the products, significantly increasing their incomes.

Clara Zourray has been working hard developing entrepreneurial skills such as leadership, pitching, product development, financial forecasting and research. Here she tells us how they have helped her reduce air pollution and empower women in Tanzania.

Clara receives a Social Impact Award from businesswoman Dr Margaret Mountford and Chris Mottershead (Senior VP, King’s College London) at the Idea Factory Competition.

‘Since LightMountain came in and trained us, my business has really improved. Selling the stoves, my income has increased by 60% and I am now able to send one of my children to secondary school.’

Mkuyuni resident Leading this project without previous leadership experience was not easy! When faced with challenges, I always tried to find a solution and take advice. I realised it was ok to fail, but not be stubborn and make the same mistakes again. My science background allowed me to break down problems and assess potential answers. However,

I found that I lacked self-confidence and entrepreneurial knowledge.

Thankfully, throughout my journey I was lucky to benefit from the support of Enactus UK and the Entrepreneurship Institute through various events such as Future Leaders training, King’s Enterprise Award, presentation workshops, and the Idea Factory. The latter was a turning point in allowing me to confidently publically present the project. With this competition and further pitching competitions from EY and Unilever, we were able to secure £2,950 for the project this year alone, allowing us to expand to 10 communities by next year, empowering 60 local female entrepreneurs and providing more than 20,000 people with access to clean and affordable energy.

Joining Enactus KCL and becoming Project Leader of LightMountain have been some of the best choices I have made at King’s. Being able to see that it is possible to make a sustainable change through innovative and ethical entrepreneurship has been extremely rewarding.

Enactus KCL will be representing the UK at the Enactus World Cup 2017, which will take place in London on 26 to 28 September 2017. ¦ For more information on the World Cup: http://enactusuk.org/world-cup/ Read more about Social Enterprise at King’s and Enactus on page 49.

@InnovateKings

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COVER INTERVIEW

TINIE TEMPAH:

Being opportunistic Tinie Tempah is a rapper, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur.

Alongside running his fashion business and record label, he has found time to write seven UK number ones and a platinum selling album.

He talks to David Wexler, King’s music student and founder of GripBeats, about what inspires him.

Coming from a working class background, how did you handle any adversities you faced on your journey to stardom and entrepreneurship?

The older you get, the more you realise who you really are. I have always been creative with a great imagination, so it was easier for me to think past the immediate barriers I was facing at the time. I knew I wasn’t going to be the average stereotype, so I would pay less attention to rejections and criticism because I felt like the comments never really applied to me.

Even if these boundaries did apply to me, I wasn’t going to let it affect what I was trying to do and where I was trying to be.

What was the driving force behind your confidence in yourself and your ability?

To succeed in anything, I believe that you need people who inspire and motivate you. My inspiration came a

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lot from my family. My parents came over to London from Nigeria and they both used to work and study at the same time. They exhausted themselves just to give us the life that we had. Even with their hard work, I still came from humble beginnings.

I think my work ethic is a direct result of my parents and how they raised me. According to my parents, I must work 20x harder to get the things I want in life and that mentality has stuck with me, so I still think this way today. My mum always reminded us how hard her and my dad worked. She used to teach us all about her own regular daily struggles. I didn’t welcome the advice when I was younger but as I’m growing older, I feel like I appreciate her wisdom more and more. I believe that you can always learn from others, especially those who inspire you.

I believe that there is an entrepreneur in everyone. There are loads of unique stories of entrepreneurship readily available online, on platforms like YouTube, if you watch enough of them you’ll find someone successful just like you.

With being such a family man and being so busy with work commitments, how do you prioritise your time effectively?

I wouldn’t say that I’ve achieved the perfect work-life balance yet. With anything that I develop passion for, I become so driven to get somewhere or work towards something that the opportunity ends up being the biggest priority at that time. However, I’m trying a lot harder to balance my time better now. If I were to give any advice, I would say to make sure that you work hard but enjoy the times when you’re not working too.

Going back to my family, I do always make sure that I invite my family to my events when I can;

@InnovateKings

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COVER INTERVIEW

Tinie Tempah: tiniegram GripBeats: www.GripBeats.com

JOURNEYS

especially my parents. For example, I took my parents to the second presentation for my fashion show yesterday and it was great to spend time around them, even if I’m always around lots of people too. I also work closely with my other family members, like my sister and cousins, so that always helps too. Every other month, I organise a basketball game for the whole team where we rent out a leisure hall for a few hours and invite everyone. I think everyone is used to my fast-paced lifestyle now because I’ve been doing it for so long, but at the start my time was definitely a lot harder to manage.

As a successful performer, what’s your main motivation for starting your own business?

It’s easy to forget that everything is business-related; from what we buy to survive to how we choose to express ourselves. Often artists are so focused on their craft that they end up overlooking the commercial aspect of what they’re doing. Luckily for me, our team set up our own record label and licensed our product to a major record label ourselves, so I was always privy to the business side of things as I was a key stakeholder.

Over time, I started to understand and be involved in the business side more.

It also got to a stage in my career where I wanted to show a different side of how my mind works, and business facilitated that.

If I were to give any advice, I would say to make sure that you work hard but enjoy the times when you’re not working too.

Did you ever see yourself being affiliated with ‘entrepreneurship’ and what made you realise that the word was relevant to you?

Being an ‘entrepreneur’ has always attracted me but I feel like the word itself has become overcomplicated: the way it’s used and the people it’s associated with can make a lot of people feel like they can’t relate to it.

To me, entrepreneurship simply means that you’re a great opportunist in business strategy and you want to do a multitude of different things to make the most of the opportunities you are presented with. For example, when I was at school, I would multiply my pocket money by selling sweets in the playground, which I would say was quite entrepreneurial. Moreover, I believe that there is an entrepreneur in everyone. There are loads of unique stories of entrepreneurship readily available online, on platforms like YouTube, if you watch enough of them you’ll find someone successful just like you.

I know you’ve said in the past that you would like to pursue further education. If you were to do a degree, what would you study?

It’s a hard question because there are so many great courses available now. If I could find the time, I would love to learn coding and computer science because the field is so interesting.

Finally, what advice would you like to share with our budding entrepreneurs?

Try your best in what you do. Mistakes are normal in business, so nothing should scare you out of doing something or trying something. Also, employ people that you trust and people that are great at their job.

It’s all a learning curve and as you go along, you’ll realise who you want to be as an entrepreneur and who you want to work with. ¦

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Innovation in health Térouz Pasha, King’s medical student explains why doctors make the best entrepreneurs.

As a medical student, the idea of incorporating innovative ideas into everyday clinical practice seems extremely daunting, let alone starting your own business! We feel like we can’t compete with fellow students owing to a lack of exposure to topics such as business and economics. In fact, doctors make great entrepreneurs! We are trained to use clinical judgement, develop pattern recognition abilities and regularly perform risk and cost-benefit decisions.

I quickly learned this when I joined the

King’s Enterprise Award after being introduced to the Entrepreneurship Institute through their ‘Advancing Innovation in Health’ event (pictured). Inspiring speakers from healthcare backgrounds presented their innovations and discussed how they incorporated entrepreneurship into their everyday careers. This sparked a real motivation in me to want to do the same and I wasted no time in signing up.

Being involved with the Institute was one of the highlights of my year and opened my eyes to possibilities beyond traditional medicine. I attended events from public speaking workshops to visiting Facebook HQ and met some inspiring entrepreneurs – many of whom had a medical background.

Even if you don’t have a business idea (I didn’t!), the Enterprise Award can help

foster your leadership and problem-solving skills. It also brought together innovative minds from students of different disciplines, which gave me a fresh perspective, and fostered a community to nurture this new way of thinking, which is something not commonly found on Guy’s campus.

As medical professionals, we don’t have to look very far to find things that need improving. Solutions are in everyone’s best interest, but are not always as complicated as we think. I’ve been inspired not to shy away but approach any challenge from a fresh perspective. I have developed a vital ‘entrepreneurial mindset’.

So, next time you’re walking around hospital on your placement and get frustrated with the inefficiencies, why not consider the idea of entrepreneurship? ¦

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 17

PHOTO ALBUM

JOURNEYS

King’s entrepreneurial women

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Hacking equality, globally!

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Just some of the brilliant entrepreneurial women at King’s College London.

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Below: KCL Tech Society, organisers of HackCortona, Italy.

Alicia Beylan, President of KCL Tech Society, shares her experiences of the tech global scene. Especially as more women are getting involved in the tech scene globally and in events such as Web Summit Lisbon.

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This has been a memorable year for the tech community at King’s; most notably because of the increase in the number of women interested in tech. An encouraging trend seen Europe-wide, efforts have been tailored towards attracting more women to tech events through waiving or discounting entrance fees for events such as Web Summit Lisbon in both 2016 and 2017.

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1 Rohini Durve, Vice President, KCL Entrepreneurs’ Society • 2 YeeMun Thum, co-founder of Scarlett of Soho • 3 Barbara Njau and Kudakwashe Kamupira, co-founders, Bahati Books • 4 Ana Bakshi, Head of Entrepreneurship, meets London Mayor Sadiq Khan • 5 Alae Ismail and Kiran Yoliswa, co-founders, Styled By Africa • 6 Alice Holden and Fleurette Mulcahy, co-founders, Attollo Lingerie • 7 Olga Kravchenko, co-founder, Memento • 8 Lauren Kienzle and Dima Alazzi, co-founders, Moovr • 9 Alicia Beylan, President, KCL Tech • 10 Madeleine Bayon, VP of start-ups, KCLBC.

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Left: Former President of KCL Tech Society (2016–17), Alex Telek and then VP, Alicia Beylan at Web Summit Lisbon 2016.

Remarkably, 40% of the attendees were female – a tremendous improvement from the usual gender ratio of 4:1.

The Entrepreneurship Institute facilitated my attendance to Web Summit Lisbon in 2016. And I would highly recommend it to everyone, whether or not you have a technical background. It featured new technologies from both tech giants (such as Facebook, Deliveroo) and lesser-known start-ups. High-level executives from these companies were also present to give talks and offer networking opportunities for the participants.

Following the theme of making the event more attractive to females, one project

in particular allowed users to – with the simple push of a button on a bracelet – send emotions to their friends or family with the same bracelets. This I felt particularly appealed to young girls and teenagers (and they could configure it as they wanted), and it is also something that you wouldn’t see on a daily basis, especially not at a tech event.

Last summer, KCL Tech Society hosted their first hackathon abroad: HackCortona.

It was the first student-led hackathon in Italy and had over 50 attendees.

Remarkably, 40% of the attendees were female – a tremendous improvement from the usual gender ratio of 4:1, male to female. Steps have been taken to sustain girls' attendance and interest by hosting workshops in hackathons and by having meet-ups for our female members to develop a sense of community. Due to the success of HackCortona, we are already organising the next hackathon.

(Follow our social media profiles if you want to spend a weekend hacking in the lovely city of Cortona in 2018!)

When I joined King’s three years ago, the ratio of men to women was rather imbalanced and remained unchanged in all tech events, but there has been an

improvement in recent years: this year, 30% of the Tech Society are female. In fact, half of our leadership committees are helmed by women, with us having our first female president and (one of our) vice presidents.

The improvements revealed during tech events becomes exceedingly exciting when it translates to the progressiveness of the industry, in terms of opening its doors to those without prior exposure, and to a previously unrepresented demographic.

We at KCL Tech feel we have contributed in appealing to more women in the bigger hackathons; HackKing’s was open to underage students, and it was fantastic to see so many young people interested in learning how to code (out of the 200 participants, half of them were girls).

London is an amazing place to be in if you are interested in tech (even if you don’t have a technical background at all). Initially it might seem scary, but once you meet the amazing – and welcoming – community, you will never regret entering the tech scene. ¦ Keep up to date with all of the KCL Tech Society’s events via their website: kcl.tech

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 19

FEATURES

FEATURES

Team diversity, your not so secret advantage!

Suzanne Alleyne is an Arts Council England changemaker, through which she is currently Commercial and Brand Director for Apples and Snakes, the UK’s leading poetry and spoken word organisation; a Cultural Animateur for Signifer, the UK-based think tank for representation, and a King’s College London arts and cultural masters student. Here she sheds light on the value of having a diverse team.

Workforce diversity is of increasing significance globally. Whether working independently delivering inaugural projects that have no roadmap and thus require innovation; or working internally where reflexivity, resilience and entrepreneurial thinking are increasingly a requirement, team diversity can be a major asset. Since the early 80s, I have a history of delivering such targets, but with smaller, more cost effective and happier teams. The key to my success has always been diverse teams.

A diverse or inclusive team can be explained as a team made up of those who represent both majority and minority groups. By minorities I mean those not equally represented in wider society, or organisations or those who may not have equal power and influence. It is useful to remember some characteristics such as ethnicity and gender can often be seen, but others such as faith and disability are not necessarily as visual.

Much academic, business and government research supports the idea that workforce diversity can bring financial sustainability and increased profits and performance. Mckinsey’s 2015 Diversity

20 START! Issue three 2017–18

Matters report shows that, ‘The companies in the top quartile of gender diversity were 15% more likely to have financial returns that were above their national industry median.

Companies in the top quartile of racial/ ethnic diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their national industry median.’

Fanshawe explains that diverse teams produce innovation, often essential to the start-up, while established organisations operating in a fast changing global, economic and technological climate also require the flexibility that diverse teams can bring. Diversity of thinking is highlighted as bringing the resilience needed, but many academics point out that diverse teams badly managed can produce more problems than homogenous ones. So how can you harness diverse thinking? Here is one way.

At Apples and Snakes our organisational design specialist has given our senior management team a set of tools to help us see things from others’ perspective – she calls it the four street corners. But I think it's also a way of explaining how diverse teams work.

DID Y Stude OU KNOW? alum nts, staff ni o an accel n the 2016 d era –1 22 na tor are o 7 f tiona lities .

Let’s take four people witnessing a car accident from four different street corners, you see the same accident viewed completely differently. Same incident four different truths – we can apply this to a team. Your team will see the same challenge or opportunity differently and thus have different solutions.

The key is in drawing out their different responses and ideas. Here’s one way that you can do this. Give your team permission to offer different solutions to yours. How would they work or deliver differently? Literally ask what three things would you do differently if you were me and why would you do it that way? Creating that real space of including difference can ultimately bring benefits. It will take a little more of your time, but in my view the benefits can be extraordinary. ¦ Suzanne is also an independent consulting producer whose work can be seen on her website peoplebrandsevents.com

Diversity and inclusion in the UK CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) Diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Understand what diversity means for your workplace and how an effective diversity and inclusion strategy can support your business www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/ fundamentals/relations/diversity/ factsheet ACAS, help and advice for employers and employees, equality and diversity www.acas.org.uk/index. aspx?articleid=2566

Leading by example Sarah Guerra, Director of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), King’s College London, explains how King’s is creating a more inclusive and progressive culture.

I joined King’s College London in February 2017, taking on the challenge of leading on diversity and inclusion for the King’s community.

Broadly, success on diversity and inclusion requires cultural and systemic change, so we can widen the catchment from which we recruit talent and eliminate barriers to participation and success.

Previously, I worked as Head of Engagement and Culture at HM Revenue & Customs, as well as Head of Diversity & Inclusion at the Ministry of Defence. At King’s, my main goal is helping us deliver on our Vision 2029. Vision 2029 sets the ambition of providing an extraordinary student experience, being the best civic university in the heart of London and working globally to serve, shape and transform.

To do that we need the greatest range of talent to be attracted to King’s, and for them to be able to succeed. So that requires us systemically embedding equality, diversity and inclusive practice throughout King’s operations.

My remit covers staff and students’ experience at King’s, how we can attract, retain and develop the best and brightest people from all backgrounds.

Supporting me is a newly expanded team, including a new Head of Diversity & Inclusion, three additional

‘Success on diversity and inclusion requires cultural and systemic change, so we can widen the catchment from which we recruit talent and eliminate barriers to participation and success.’

Consultants, a Communications and Engagement Officer, Assistant Consultant and a new It Stops Here Officer.

King’s prides itself on being a leader and innovator in higher education diversity and inclusion, however there is always more that can be done. I feel

that our challenge will be transforming good intentions and goodwill into positive, meaningful personal action in sufficient volume to create sustainable organisational change.

On a practical level, this means looking over our behaviours, processes and systems with an analytical lens to confront some home truths, as discomforting as it might be. For example, understanding staff and student demographics and recognising who is participating and succeeding, and more importantly, who is not, and then acting to change those dynamics in our everyday work, research, teaching and learning.

Our Diversity & Inclusion team is a hub of experience and expertise, and is able to advise and support the King’s community to understand what it means to be equitable and inclusive as an employer and educator, plus how you can get involved in the various diversity networks and events at King’s.

We will need to listen, learn, be honest, brave and bold, and I hope that I can provide the confidence and leadership we need to catalyse the change we are looking for. ¦ @equalitywarrior D&I King’s blog www.kcl.ac.uk/hr/diversity/News%20&%20 Events/DI-Blog.aspx

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 21

FEATURES

FEATURES

Proving it wasn't beginner’s luck!

Fashion designer and entrepreneur, Cath Kidston MBE, explains how she grew a global business and what the future might hold.

Next year will be the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Cath Kidston brand, and two years since I left the fray. I am at the stage of thinking of starting something up again, so it is an interesting time to reflect.

People often ask, what was the key to the company’s success? How did it grow from a one-woman band into a global company with a £250m price tag? Growing a company is a pretty complex thing, but here are a few key things I reckon helped.

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I was so passionate about the idea I had for a lifestyle brand with cheerful vintage-inspired products, and that enthusiasm never waned, which saw me through the ups and downs. I was pretty naive when I started up, but in a way that helped me to take the risk.

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I was never motivated by money, my ambition was to create a company I could be really proud of.

This made the focus on product and customers and not on profit. I kept

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reinvesting for many years to build a unique and recognisable brand. I felt if I could achieve that, the value would follow.

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I had a very clear vision of what was on brand for the company.

Keeping this focus as commercial opportunities came my way was critical, as it often meant turning down very tempting and financially attractive offers that might have damaged our reputation long term.

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Being dyslexic, I knew I needed help in an organisational capacity – I didn’t expect to have a head for business. I am not good at some of the practical stuff, so I knew I needed someone to organise the financials for example. It turned out I am very interested in the bigger financial picture and some of the details, but tend to switch off for the bit in the middle. I reckon very few people have all round entrepreneurial skills so it’s helpful to know one’s shortcomings. My focus was very much on brand building.

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In the early days I limited my risk by subsidising the company with my day job as an interior designer.

Making a business plan was a stab in the dark. When I had the concept for CK it was really quite a disruptive idea with nothing like it out there. I couldn’t do customer research or predict sales, so I costed up the basic overheads and worked out I could cover these if I continued my design work. I ran both companies like this for five years which probably held me back, but I don’t have an appetite for debt so that was my personal choice. It helped me as I felt more comfortable working this way and didn’t have to compromise the brand. I’m not saying this is the right way to go, but it is important to evaluate your tolerance to risk as it will be tested.

With the brand protected, I was happy.

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The success came despite myself.

Every step of the way I thought I would be found out as I have no official qualifications, but despite this always took a deep breath and carried on. I reckon this helped me not be complacent. It’s a tremendous motivation to need to prove things to oneself.

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I always knew I would exit the brand one day. I felt it would be a measure of my personal success if I could hand it over to stand on its own two feet for the future. In a sense I always had that in the back of my mind, but it was probably the hardest thing to do.

So two years after stepping away and having a couple of ‘gap years’ to mull things over I am up for starting again. I still have that need to prove myself and check it wasn’t just a fluke.

I miss the creative buzz of an office.

So what advice will I give myself going forward?

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I must make sure the concept I develop is something I really believe in – once again I want to be driven to create the best product and not by money. Success and financial gain will only follow from excellence.

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I must enjoy what I do and feel passionate about it. This will see me through the ups and downs and will be necessary in order to enthuse a team. A happy team will be critical to building a success.

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I must not be too hard on myself.

No matter how much experience I have there will always be unexpected ups and down. I will try and accept my limitations and ask for help.

‘I believe if we are passionate about what we do and stay focused we have every chance of success.’

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I will be taking a risk. I will evaluate that risk as best I can but it is better to try and fail than look back with regret at not having tried.

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I will enjoy myself but try not to let work be all consuming.

I’d love just a small, perfectly formed business this time round.

So not much has changed really!

Good luck to all of you out there heading into the business world.

We all have different skills, but I do believe if we are passionate about what we do and stay focused we have every chance of success. ¦

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I will set really clear brand goals and stick to them. I must never compromise a brand for short-term financial gain. I will stay focused.

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I like working with a team and this allowed the business to grow. I have had some very good experiences of bringing investors in, and a great MD who could contribute their expertise to such a rapidly expanding company.

@InnovateKings

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FEATURES

FEATURES

HAVE HOPE & WEAR PURPLE!

Being an entrepreneur is really, really fun. So have the confidence in yourself to give it a go.

To help you along the way, Amit Bhatia, serial entrepreneur, founder of Swordfish Investments and co-owner and Vice Chairman of QPR football club shares his tips on rewriting the rulebook.

@Amit_Bhatia99 www.swordfishinvestments.com

1. Take unexpected opportunities

4. Embrace the ups and downs

In India we had long summer breaks, so my family set out to travel abroad. I wanted to share my adventures, but it was before the time of Facebook. So I collected airline luggage stickers to show kids at school. To my amazement, they were interested to not only see but also pay to own some of them. The sticker fad didn’t last forever, but we developed a new marketplace. This was my first brush with entrepreneurship and I really enjoyed it.

I love all the challenges and the freedoms that being an entrepreneur brings me. Of course there will be failures, which are a part of life. Failures are not just investments that don’t work out but also ideas you’ve had but haven’t done anything about. I’ve had many a good idea but been too lazy or too busy to follow through. Don’t be like me – dream it, commit to it, do it and kill it!

2. Pay attention to your surroundings When I first arrived at Cornell, I spotted a lot of emotional goodbyes and a great business opportunity. Over the next holiday, I went home and made picture frames like the ones found at theme parks. The frame read, ‘My first day at Cornell’.

Remember this was 1997 and before the iPhone made taking pictures so easy.

On the next move-in day, I went to parents with my Polaroid to take their picture.

I told them. ‘It will cost you $10, but this is a memory of a lifetime that money can’t buy.’ Two days later, I had sold 300 photographs and made $3,000. I was 18 years old, so that felt like all the money in the world.

3. Ask for help

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My last venture was called Hope, a construction materials business. People used to ask me if I could be entrepreneurial in such an old industry; I told them that that’s the exact reason why we need to be! So we decided for Hope’s brand colour to be purple, because it was radically different from our competitors’. We rewrote the rulebook of how we interacted with our colleagues, our customers, our suppliers, our stakeholders. I loved this company so much that I used to wear purple socks every day – my homage to my business! My aspiration was to create a company that would make me feel very proud. Hope was acquired within its first three years, and I can confidently say that I am proud. ¦

Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach, social media entrepreneur and author of the Lean in 15 recipe books, joined us last year for an informative talk. He shared how he leveraged social media to transform people’s lives whilst creating a hugely successful business. Here are some key points from his journey.

I started out as a personal trainer and ‘The Body Coach’ was my brand. Being a personal trainer means getting up really early and being up really late, so many of us burn out. I thought I needed to grow my business and take back some free time by expanding online. A lot of other trainers were offering online training plans so I knew there was potential.

In 2013, I started tweeting with the hashtag #TeamLean2013, which took a year to get traction. The point was to encourage people to get out there and train with me – let’s get together, let’s work out together and have fun! All of my friends were laughing at me at the time and trying to get me to go back to my fitness boot camp and personal training, but I believed if I can inspire one person to do a workout or cook a healthy recipe, then it’s worth it.

I’m a massive self-believer – but I would never call myself an entrepreneur.

I just see myself as someone who is passionate and works really hard. When Instagram videos came out, I started using the hashtag #Leanin15 because I made 15-second videos showing how to cook 15-minute meals. I would make three meals a day and share them on social media, and when I first started no one followed me! The idea started in my kitchen in Surbiton, and grew to

my books. There are people who write negative comments about my videos, but I don’t let them get into my head and instead focus on the hundreds of other comments that are positive.

People are drawn to fun and positivity.

It’s possible to grow your business organically without paying for advertising or working with brands you don’t believe in. Unlike other fitness accounts, I post when I’m out having a drink or having a burger because people connect with the fact that I’m a real person. Authenticity is really important so if you followed me on day one, I’d still like to think that I'm the same today.

Some of my key milestones came along with good PR. The day I was on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, my Instagram went up by 15k followers.

My business sells digital products so people from all over the world can take part and join the community.

The Body Coach now has 50 employees and we are growing. I always say hire for attitude and train for skills. I’m going to transform the lives of millions of people in the world, so I hire passionate people who are on board with that dream and are in it for the long run (no pun intended). ¦

Photo: Connor McDonnell

After working in investment banking, I realised that it wasn’t fun working for somebody else. I decided to start my own business, but was not an expert in anything and had no money. As a young kid, I turned to family and friends and asked them to give me a chance and invest with me. A decade later, Swordfish was able to succeed and grow through intelligent investments. Very little of my success was down to me. I surround myself with people much smarter than me who can provide guidance and help.

5. Fall truly, deeply and madly in love with your business

Creating a fitness brand

For all things Joe Wicks, head to www.thebodycoach.com

@InnovateKings

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JOURNEYS

JOURNEYS

C the Signs: a life less ordinary

‘Find people who share your passion and your vision.

A room full of people laughed at my co-founder and I when we pitched our first idea – it didn't intimidate us because we supported each other.’

Adding a leaf to the Institute’s Talent Trees designed by Atelier Works.

Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi, is a GP, King’s medical alumna and co-founder of C the Signs, a King’s20 supported venture.

Throughout medical school, it felt like I was constantly jumping through hoops and working towards hitting the next milestone.

On qualifying, I was working weekends and nights and the hospital soon became my home. I grew increasingly frustrated by the inefficiencies in delivering high-quality care to patients. As junior doctors at the time, we were always talking about the constant obstacles we faced; yet we lacked the knowhow to lead change.

Six years later, I am now embracing a journey full of risk and uncertainty; truthfully, I have never been more motivated!

I co-founded C the Signs, a digital tool that uses AI and the latest research to help doctors detect any cancer at the earliest and most curable stage. The tool recommends what tests, investigations and referrals a

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2. Build a support network Medicine is one of the hardest and most mentally, physically and emotionally challenging vocations. Look after yourself.

Find people who share your passion and your vision. A room full of people laughed at my co-founder and I when we pitched our first idea – it didn't intimidate us because we supported each other.

3. Engage with key mentors As doctors, we are all too familiar with the vertical hierarchies within teams, wards and the NHS. The people closest to you may not be the best mentors to help take your idea off the ground and support your vision. If one person doesn’t get it, don’t be deterred.

Often, the best ideas fail because the wrong people were consulted to execute them.

Left to right: Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi and Dr Miles Payling, co-founders of C the Signs.

patient needs, in just 30 seconds. The King’s20 Accelerator programme has facilitated an environment that promotes growth, both as a company and as an individual.

We have been able to make significant progress over the last year, with support from leading cancer charities, winners of the Allesch–Taylor Scholarship for Entrepreneurship at King’s, and endorsements by key influencers within the NHS. We’ve launched the tool in two health authorities with 1,000 doctors covering a population of 850,000 patients.

We have been awarded a highly commended Social Entrepreneur of 2017 Award by

SEE Changemakers, and most recently we won the Tech4Good People’s Award 2017, celebrating people using tech to make the world a better place!

Looking back over the last 12 years, there are seven key learnings that I would love to share with you.

1. Say ‘no’ more Increasingly you will be told what to do, what projects to get involved in and what you should be prioritising. Take some time to think about what you want. Feel confident to say no to people who try to steer you down a path you have no desire to go down.

6. Put yourself forward Having spent so long in structured programmes, I realised how hard it is to break away and create your own path. There is actually a lot of research to suggest that women are far less confident in applying for roles, often thinking they’re not good enough.

Despite being active in the BMA for a few years, I hesitated to apply to their Junior Doctors negotiations team. To my surprise, I was selected as one of six negotiators for the contract negotiations, for a £3.8bn contract covering 56 different specialties.

7. Be creative We are often taught about process and progress in an extremely didactic way, with frameworks and structure. Think laterally and don’t be afraid to disrupt a process entirely. If you have a skill or interest, be creative about integrating your personal passions into your professional life.

In the words of Oscar Wilde, ‘Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail’. ¦ ¦

4. Challenge the status quo Early on, I was struck by how often I overheard the phrase ‘its always been done this way’. The status quo, by definition, is stagnant. If you feel like you could improve a service or process, at the very least, vocalise your thoughts.

5. Failure is good Failure over the years has taught me valuable lessons. If doors close other opportunities will arise, so persevere. For example, I had applied for a specialist health programme for two years running and was unsuccessful both times. Four years later, through the King’s accelerator, I stood on the same platform as the Director of that programme and presented my tool.

C the Signs team win the Tech4Good People’s Award, 2017.

If you would like to get involved or want to know more please get in touch!

Follow us @CtheSignsTool and see our tool in action at www.CtheSigns.co.uk

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 27

IMPACT MAP

IMPACT MAP

Global entrepreneurship

To develop innovations and solutions that will make a lasting, positive impact on the world, we need to harness the brightest and best ideas and talent from across the globe. We collaborate internationally and our community has a global impact.

On the map are examples of the people and places the Entrepreneurship Institute and our community have engaged with to help shape entrepreneurial policy and practice, and improve our support for King’s students, staff and alumni.

The map shows examples of some of the countries our community operates in.

KEY Institute contacts King’s ventures King’s societies

12 UK

CYCL, cofounded by King’s alumnus Agostino Stilli, distributes their products in 15 countries with a large market in Germany.

Professor Bill Aulet, Managing Director, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, was the Institute’s 2016 –17 Advisor.

Read his brilliant book the ‘Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook.’

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13 13 Lisbon, Portugal The Institute and representatives from KCL Tech Society attended the Web Summit in Lisbon.

60,000 people meet for the world’s largest technology conference – a place to find out about the latest tech trends and be inspired by 600 leading speakers including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Google and Facebook.

Join KCL Tech!

1

1 Mexico King’s alumna Romina Calatayud founded the Girls United Football Association, which runs football-based leadership camps for girls in Mexico.

2 Chile EatAbout, a company founded by a King’s alumnus, is on Start-up Chile, the leading accelerator in Latin America.

King’s has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Yunus Centre – founded by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus.

The Centre works to transform people’s lives through social business, microfinance and health economic research. In July 2017 the Institute and award-winning student society Enactus KCL attended a conference in Dhaka about social entrepreneurship. Join Enactus KCL!

We consulted about how best to support budding entrepreneurs.

10 Cortona, Italy

11 14 Boston, US

7 Dhaka, Bangladesh

9 Lund, Sweden

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12

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11 Germany

We visit universities across the UK to share best practice in entrepreneurial support. We attended the International Entrepreneurship Educators’ Conference (IEEC) in Liverpool, and are running a session at IEEC 2017 at Glasgow Caledonian University. We partner with innovation hubs across London for our annual Venture Crawl.

KCL Tech Society in collaboration with Cortona Mix Festival held the first studentled hackathon in Italy, bringing people interested in technology from all over Europe together to learn, build and share.

5

4 Kenya King’s20 venture Moovr won funding from the Institute’s Allesch-Taylor Scholarship for Entrepreneurship to pilot and develop their social enterprise in Kenya helping farmers transport livestock to market.

4 3

6

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6 Mumbai, India

8 Hong Kong

Mumbai is a rapidly growing start-up hub.

We shared best practice with them on their visit to London.

The Institute and four ventures on the King’s20 accelerator pitched and took part in sessions at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park.

3 Tanzania KCL Enactus’ project LightMountain sells clean cookstoves through a cooperative and has already improved the lives of 400 people.

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5 Dubai & Abu Dhabi, UAE The Institute and 25 King’s students went to Dubai and Abu Dhabi on a career trip organised by KCL Business Club. The group visited organisations including the New York University Abu Dhabi and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, plus accelerators Dubai 100, 1776, and Dubai Future Accelerators. The group experienced innovations including a visit to Masdar City – the world’s first city aiming to be zero-carbon, a journey in a selfdriving car, and a shopping experience using virtual reality and robot assistant. Join KCLBC!

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 29

FEATURES

Valuing start-ups and the beauty of niches Nick Jenkins is the founder of Moonpig.com and a ‘Dragon’ on the BBC Two business series Dragons’ Den. Nick gives us the scoop on what investors look for in a venture.

Nick’s tips on how to scare away investors 1. Tell them you are working on three businesses simultaneously.

(I have heard this more than once.

It really annoys me.)

2. When asked something you don’t know, just bluff it!

3. Plan to use the incoming money to pay yourself a larger salary than you have ever received in your entire career history.

(I have seen that too!)

What was your revenue in year one? £95,000

4. Turn up in a rented Aston Martin and rev the engine in the car park.

How much profit did you make?

We lost £1.1 million

Picture left to right: Agostino Stilli, Nick Jenkins and Luca Amaduzzi.

Nick invested in CYCL in 2017 on Dragons’ Den. CYCL is a Kings’s20 supported venture, founded by King’s PhD student Ago and business partner Luca.

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I raised money from Angels for Moonpig, and those investors went on to make a 40x return ten years later.

However, the business nearly failed on several occasions in the first four years and could very easily have resulted in a complete loss for investors.

I have often wondered how I would have fared if I had gone on Dragons’ Den at the end of the first year of starting Moonpig. I would have sounded like this…

What was your gross margin? £45,000

How much are you valuing the business at today? £3 million Cue coughing and spluttering and ridicule from most of the Dragons!

My own experience affects the way I now look at valuations as an investor.

There are a few key questions I look at in an early stage business.

Is this the right team to make this idea succeed?

Is there any evidence that customers really want it?

Can you make a healthy margin out of it?

Is it easily scalable and if so how big is the prize?

How quickly can you recover the cost of customer acquisition from gross margin?

Is it plausible that I could make a 10x return in four years?

What is the chance of this succeeding against all the other competitors?

What are the odds of complete failure?

I get presented with plenty of investment opportunities that claim to be ‘the Uber of…’ or ‘The Dollarshave of…’ but the reality is that for every Uber there were a thousand other companies that tried and failed at the same idea. We rarely hear about them. In the early days of the net there were several contenders for the role of the dominant search engine. Google won in the end and the others faded away, but they all had a good idea and good management teams.

If the prize is huge the competition will be very stiff and your chance of succeeding shrinks. On the other hand, if you pick a niche market with less competition your chance of succeeding increases and that has to be factored into the valuation.

Moonpig probably succeeded because it was a niche opportunity that was ignored by the big players until we had already proven that it was worthwhile, but by then our position as the dominant player was secure. We were also in the right place at the right time and we caught a good wave. That is more difficult to plan in advance. ¦

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 31

INTERVIEW

FEATURES

Ross Lindgren, a King’s business management alumnus, founder of 1ClickPromos and First Result and alumnus of our King’s20 accelerator programme, interviews Jamal Edwards MBE, founder of SBTV (SmokeyBarz), one of the leading online youth broadcasters, about being an entrepreneur and working with SBTV.

Music mogul

RL: When you were still working at Topshop and starting SBTV, did you get much support and encouragement from your family and friends? Or were you faced with a lot of cynicism and negativity?

It wasn’t negativity, but there wasn’t much support especially as it was quite new. But then after a little while it started taking off and everyone started realising what I was doing, and then it started to get bigger and it was like oh cool, he’s creating a business.

Ross Lindgreen: www.firstresult.co www.1clickpromos.com Jamal Edwards: www.sbtv.co.uk

RL: How did artists react to your finished videos when you delivered them in the early days?

When I first started it was all very basic, it was only certain things that I used to do like ads and stuff, and some days it was like yeah that’s it – but now it’s like I know I just have to keep doing different things and creating new content.

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Jamal Edwards MBE RL: When it came to securing investment for SBTV for the first time did you feel out of your depth?

A little bit, but now I realise that if it’s done in the right way it’s like a strategic investment, and that’s what’s important. When there’s a really good opportunity you can’t get complacent because it’s not going to be around forever. You can’t doubt yourself.

RL: Do you think that rappers are more entrepreneurial than they used to be, or is it more that people know more about it these days?

I think rappers have always had entrepreneurial qualities, it’s about figuring it out. I think everyone’s an entrepreneur in their own right, and it’s just about figuring out exactly what they’ll do with it. Artists in general are entrepreneurs; whether it’s through merch, lines, apps, anything really – they’re using their power in music and taking it to other areas.

RL: How do you feel your story has helped push other young entrepreneurs from tough backgrounds to achieve success?

For me it’s all really humbling and overwhelming. It’s inspiring for me to have that effect on people. I get excited by the simplest things; like when my mates’ promotions work I’m happy that I can inspire them to go and do that stuff as well. I just wanna make sure that I can carry on and take it to a different place and keep inspiring people. ¦

‘I met Jamal when I was in first year at King’s, working on a series for SBTV called Strings Sessions.

I remember being so inspired by seeing someone so young managing such a big team and operation.

It truly made me realise that age didn’t matter. You could still be taken seriously in the business world no matter how old you are.’

BREWING AN EMPIRE Sahar Hashemi OBE, co-founder of Coffee Republic and Skinny Candy, shares her journey of 15 years to become an ‘overnight success’.

I was brought up in the 1980s when there seemed to be only one entrepreneur in the UK – Richard Branson. You would look at him and think, ‘there is no way I can ever be like an entrepreneur – I’m not like him at all’. I became the opposite of an entrepreneur, a lawyer, and quickly realised that my two best qualities of enthusiasm and optimism were being wasted.

After practicing law for five years, I was completely shaken up by my dad’s sudden death. I visited my brother Bobby, who was an investment banker in New York. It was on this trip that I stumbled upon a new type of coffee bar, one of the predecessors to Starbucks, and totally became hooked on both the concept and skinny cappuccinos. When I got back to London, I couldn’t believe there wasn’t anything like it.

Bobby had a lightbulb moment and encouraged me to bring this concept to the UK. My reaction was, ‘hold on, you’ve got this completely wrong. I just want this as a customer.’

Bobby and I started off being completely clueless about coffee, retail, etc. But since then, I have stressed in my books the importance of being clueless because you can see the industry from an

outsider’s perspective and use it to your advantage.

My motto in life is that it takes 15 years to become an overnight success. When we opened our first Coffee Republic store in November 1995, no one came in. Our breakeven was £700 per day; for the first months, we were making only £200. We believed in our business and just kept going. Slowly, our sales crept towards breakeven. We later put an advert in a venture capitalist magazine and an angel investor helped us open seven more stores.

The company eventually went public and was valued at £50m with over 90 locations in the UK. After we sold the business, I wrote a book called Anyone Can Do It. I believe that everyone has dormant entrepreneurial DNA. Entrepreneurship is about finding what you love and what you are good at, so that work doesn’t feel like work any more. Starting a business might not be the only way; a lot of new companies these days offer very entrepreneurial work environments. Regardless, you don’t have to look like Richard Branson to activate that entrepreneurial potential. ¦ @saharhas www.saharhashemi.com

Ross Lindgren

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 33

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

RL: When did you know that the videos you were making could be the basis of a business?

I think when I found out that through YouTube you could make money out of videos, that’s when I realised I could have a business. If it was making me money then I could increase that to make even more money, and that’s what gave me the idea to create a business off the back of it.

‘It’s not just about money, it’s infrastructure, it’s contacts, it’s the plan. I think that’s what’s really important.’

OPINION

Step out of line and find your path

Photo by Alisa Connan

‘Perfection is the enemy of creativity.

It is a never-ending pursuit and never an absolute end that can be achieved.’

Culinary innovator and Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal OBE introduces us to the benefits of embracing non-linear thinking and how it fuels creativity.

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Left to Right: Former King’s student Philip Kallberg (co-founder of EatAbout), Principal and Professor Ed Byrne AC, Heston Blumenthal OBE, Ana Bakshi, Joe Wicks and Felix Braberg (co-founder of EatAbout), at a King’s talk on being unconventional entrepreneurs.

All great innovations come from non-linear thinking, which is about expanding an idea in multiple directions instead of taking a rigid, singular approach. Eating and cooking happen to encompass several subjects and span a number of disciplines, so it’s a great example of this type of thinking in action. The seemingly simple act of cooking dinner from a recipe can easily span English, History, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Art. I fell in love with food many years ago whilst on a family holiday in France. We visited the Michelin-starred restaurant L’Oustau de Baumaniere and to this day, I can vividly remember details about that evening. I was surrounded by a valley of lavender whilst the sun was slowly setting, the gravel crunched loudly under everyone’s feet and the sound of crickets filled the air. Pure magic. There were so many factors, conscious and non-conscious, that affected me when I sat down to eat.

Looking back, this was the moment when I realised eating was a completely multi-sensory experience. From there, I was hooked.

For the first eight years of my first restaurant, The Fat Duck, I worked 120 hour weeks. I was able to dedicate myself to my work because I was truly gripped by it. Once you find what makes you tick, not only will you excel – it won’t feel like work. Nevertheless, it took me a long time to achieve this focus and resilience, in fact, I left school with only a handful of O-levels! I would say one of the most pivotal moments that helped me find my path and build this inquisitive rigour was discovering a book written by Harold McGee – On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.

I was struck by the curiosity of the writing, and one bit of insight that has stayed with me ever since was ‘browning your meat does not seal in the juices’. This flew in the face of what was practised across the cooking world and everything I had read to date. But once Harold explained it, it was obvious. When you put a steak in a pan it sizzles, well, it’s the water that sizzles and that’s the juices coming out of the steak. If browning the meat kept in the juices it would be impossible to have a well-done brown piece of steak. I began to wonder how many other things we had taken as gospel. It was a life changing shift because it questioned one of the most biblical laws in cooking. That was when my whole ethos of questioning everything was born – I suddenly turned into a big kid who just asked why? It’s the motto on my coat of arms. If you question nothing you lose what it is to be human, because ultimately, we are imaginative and creative beings.

I am incredibly passionate about creativity and the role it has in our education system. It’s crucial that we foster creativity without fear of being rejected by peers. From reception age to PhD level, we need to encourage curiosity, playfulness and imagination. Our current teaching standards and obsession with measurement is strangling creativity. Perfection is the enemy of creativity.

It is a never-ending pursuit and never an absolute end that can be achieved. The Irish Playwright Samuel Beckett once wrote: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’ So I say to any reader – embrace failure, fail better, because it is an opportunity to learn. Push the boundaries of the possible and impossible in whatever discipline you work in and never stop asking questions. ¦

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 35

ADVICE CORNER

ADVICE CORNER

COMMUNITY BUILDING ON A SHOESTRING

1 Build trust Trust and reputation are vital to building a successful community. Personalise your communications and go for quality engagement over quantity. There’s no substitute for face-to-face contact, so make the most of networking events and informal and formal opportunities to meet new people.

The quality of communication has an impact on the impression people have of you so make sure photos are high resolution;

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4 Use free tools If you’re a solo founder or don’t have budget for staff or freelancers, there are lots of great free tools you can use to produce and schedule content.

spelling, grammar and design are to a high standard, and any data is referenced and up-to-date.

People don’t trust faceless brands so build on your personality and personal opinion. Clearly explain who you are, what you do and your business values. Choose the right messenger to communicate to your audience and publish online reviews of your product or service from people your audience respect.

Canva is a brilliant free design platform HubSpot for Customer Relationship Management Trello for Project Management Typeform for surveys ThingLink and Storify for storytelling Medium for blogs, WordPress, Wix and Squarespace for web design And sites such as Unsplash and Pixabay for high quality copyright free images.

2 Know your audiences and

5 Get feedback and build on it

build on what’s already there

Amy Lothian, Our Institute’s Communications & Insight Support Manager, gives her top five communication tips to building a community around your start-up.

sustainable community. Thank and reward loyal followers and contributors and run competitions to incentivise your audience.

This doesn’t have to be financial, people can be rewarded by helping raise their exposure or giving accreditation.

The best communities grow organically, at least initially, and show that there is a genuine need for/interest in your service or product. Utilise existing community leaders who are gatekeepers to the people you want to reach by encouraging and incentivising them to become your ambassadors. Know who your competitors are and research to see what channels and networks are out there that already do the job well. Clear messaging will encourage people to share your content and bring their friends and contacts to your events. Make sure that your tone, wording and imagery accurately reflect the people you’re trying to target.

3 Reward loyalty and

thank people

It’s amazing how much people appreciate a simple thank you, and it goes a long way in building a positive relationship and

Getting feedback from your audiences and insights from your communications is essential to avoid spending time and money on things that aren’t working. Don’t just get feedback from the most vocal or go-to person who engages with you (e.g. your friends or colleagues), but reach out to your wider network and community members.

Speak to people who don’t engage with you and ask them why they don’t, what you could change or improve. Journalists always say never read the comments, but reading comments people leave on your content is a great insight into who they are and what motivates them. They are why you’re here so listen to them and get to know them as much as possible. They are your greatest asset! ¦

blogs.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurshipatkings @kingsentrepreneurship KingsEntrepreneurship

Don’t just make it look pretty: the business case for visual design Serial entrepreneur and design evangelist Emma Sexton is Founder and Creative Director at Make Your Words Work™, an agency that challenges traditional design approaches. She has been voted one of Shiny Shiny’s Top 50 Inspirational Women, is winner of the Kantar Inspiration Award and is the Creative in Residence in the King's20 accelerator. She explains why visual design should be on your agenda right from the start.

Visual design is becoming more and more important for businesses, yet it is often the part of the business that is so difficult to understand and deliver.

For an early stage start-up, when money is tight, visual design is something you have the least amount of budget for – yet it can have the biggest impact on your success. As a fellow entrepreneur, I wanted to share my top tips and insights for how design can help your business in those early days and beyond.

Your brand identity is the first thing people will experience The visual identity of your company is just one small yet essential part of your brand experience. You can apply design in ways that can create the perception your business is larger and more established than it is, right through to making your product appear more expensive than it is. The real skill is to match the visual look and tone of

your brand to the perception you want to create in your audience’s mind – while also making sure it is in line with their brand experience.

Pitch it and win it Whether you are creating a slide deck to convince investors to give you their money, or a credentials presentation to win over new clients, visual design becomes your ’swiss army knife’ of business tools. With a little knowledge about visual hierarchy and some graphics and icons, you can make your content engaging to look at, easy to understand and most importantly of all – convincing.

How it works is as important as how it looks Whilst visual design often focuses too much just on the way something looks, it should never be just about the styling. How

something looks (and ultimately works) could dramatically improve (or even ruin) the online experience for your website or app. How easy you make something to understand or how usable a product is will affect your sales and users. So when you are setting up your business remember design is one of the most powerful tools for your success, just make sure you seek out a designer who can lead and advise you through the process. ¦ Check out Emma’s latest venture as co-founder of Flock Global (www.flock. global), a network for early stage entrepreneurs built on an ethos of collaboration who run meet-ups and international trade missions. @emmasexton @MYWWTeam www.MYWW.co.uk

@InnovateKings

@Flock.Global www.Flock.Global

Kingsentrepreneurship 37

FEATURES

Three’s a charm Serial entrepreneur Jo Malone MBE joined us at our speaker series and shared her journey of resilience, rediscovery and the essential characteristics of entrepreneurship.

Some 30 years ago, I built Jo Malone with four plastic jugs and a saucepan in a tiny little kitchen. That’s how it started out. Since that time, I have built a global brand, sold the global brand which was literally my name, and started all over again. During my entrepreneurial journey, I have learned that we all have self doubt – that is part of being human.

But being an entrepreneur means to work through your self doubt through focusing on your passion and letting your creativity rule and run.

We may not get to choose how we are born, but we do get to choose how we adapt ourselves to our circumstances.

I am very dyslexic. I still can’t tell my left from right, I can’t drive or swim or any of the normal things. Being dyslexic and a synesthetic means that I view the world in a different way. When I hear a piece of music, I am simultaneously

composing a fragrance in my head. I had to think of another way of doing things outside the norm. The ability to think differently makes being an entrepreneur really exciting. If everything had just been running exactly as we wanted, then it would not challenge us and help us to build up our resilience. Developing resilience is such an important ingredient to success.

Jo Loves, my new business, has just one little shop in London. When we first opened, it was like a little tapas bar for your nose. You would come in and have four courses, but all for your nose.

I believe that we are in the most exciting time in retail as it has entered a stage where the consumer is saying, ‘I want to create my product with you’. When we exercise our creativity, we inspire others’ creativity as well. We turn consumers into co-creators and artists. ¦

Jo’s tips on the most essential characteristics of an entrepreneur:

PASSION

RESILIENCE

CREATIVITY

You must have a passion for your product or service. Your passion is a tool of inspiration both for your consumers and other future business owners.

Nobody gets to where we have in life without falling down a few times.

Find a sense of humour even in the darkest times and start again.

Creativity thrives in two environments – freedom and security. Freedom to be creative and secure in knowing that you can pick up an idea and run with it.

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Get more advice from Jo’s talk at King’s on our YouTube: /EnterpriseConnect1 @jolovesofficial www.joloves.com

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 39

JOURNEYS

ADVICE CORNER

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

Matteo Tadjo Kotch, Product Marketing Executive at Gluru and King’s alumnus, shares his experience of working in a start-up and explains why he thinks it’s a positive career choice.

A shout-out to future graduates: your potential job pool is larger than you think In 2016, at the end of my MSc International Management course at King’s College London, my peers and I were applying for the same trainee consultant roles at large companies. Throughout our job search, we seemed to have neglected a crucial part of the economy responsible for >60% of private sector job creation – small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This includes start-ups!

Start-ups are extremely viable job options. Not only do they constantly hire, they also offer rewarding growth. After nine months at Gluru, an artificial intelligence start-up, I believe the skills I have learned, and the rate at which I have developed both personally and professionally, would not have been the same had I been working at a big company.

One of the key benefits of start-up life is that I'm not limited by my title, and have developed as an intrapreneur (someone within a company who promotes innovation).

Although a Product Marketing Executive, I would also assume the role of HR manager (interviewing), office manager (dealing with office-related issues), content manager

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(launching a new website), customer success, customer support and so on. Not only has this kept me extremely busy and satisfied, it has also enabled me to hone in on the jobs that I enjoy and the ones I don’t.

From a theoretical perspective, you could say that working at Gluru has strengthened my ‘T-shaped skills’, meaning that I’m not only developing expertise in a single field (the vertical bar in the T), but I can also collaborate across disciplines (the horizontal bar). I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my ability to make a direct difference to Gluru and have a tangible impact on our users.

Yes, I have been thrown in at the deep end, but the fact that I am accountable for all my actions has helped me grow quickly. This Read Matteo’s full article online: blogs.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurshipatkings Want to be more entrepreneurial in your chosen career? We can help you achieve just that: www.kcl.ac.uk/ entrepreneurship-institute

level of responsibility would have taken me years to achieve at a larger company, and the same goes for my rate of development.

Everyone’s career path is different, but I hope my experience can prompt you to consider start-ups.

But hey, don’t just take it from me, take it from the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma…

Before 20 years old: be a good student, learn some experience.

Before 30 years old: go to a small company. Normally in a big company you are part of a big machine and learn processes. When you go to a small company you learn about passion, pursuing dreams and how to do a lot of things all at one time. So before 30, it’s not a question of which company you go to, it’s which boss you follow.

Create a View, not a Curriculum Vitae Don’t get caught up in the mad dash of applying for 50 jobs at once. Frederic Kalinke, an ex-Googler and Managing Director of marketing technology company Amigo, explains why a targeted approach is most fruitful.

Everyone’s talking about tech and disruption.

Even the corporate brigade of bankers and consultants want in. As competition intensifies, the question is: how do you land an interview? Movies such as The Social Network make it look near impossible. But there’s a tried-and-tested formula that will get you interviews.

The Problem Graduates do not put enough thought into what they want to do and fail to craft compelling applications. The default is to create a generic CV (A4; one-sided; Arial font) and give control to a recruiter who then scatterguns employers to see what sticks.

This is lazy and you start the race with a limp.

The Solution Instead, be targeted. You should think about the companies that interest you and structure

an argument. If you want to work at a FinTech bank, do some competitor analysis on their positioning, pricing, marketing and visualise it. How do you create a View?

• Analyse relevant data. Google Trends is a fantastic resource that provides search query volumes. This is a goldmine to understand demand. You can plug in the names of the firms you are applying to and their top competitors.

• Construct an argument. Use the data to put together an argument about the business. It could be a website traffic benchmark with usability improvements inspired by competitors.

• Don’t put all your eggs in the CV basket. Supplement it with a colourful presentation, a website, a video.

Anything to mark yourself as thoughtful and tenacious.

Contact the CEO The last step is to send your View to the CEO (use hunter.io to find their email).

This is effective as the CEO will not often receive direct applications, especially well researched ones. The worst outcome is they send your application to HR, who will then be compelled to reply.

This works. A friend wanted a marketing job with a large fashion brand, so I suggested he ‘create a View’ by reporting on the brand’s social media on a website (www.why[brandname]needsme.com). He emailed it to the CEO and within a day got a summer internship.

Getting a job in tech is not easy. But you can achieve it by targeting a small set of companies and sending the CEO a View that helps their business. Don’t create a Curriculum Vitae, create a View. ¦ You can get in touch with Frederic at frederic.kalinke@amigotechnology.com – he’s always keen to hear from tenacious grads who are interested in pursuing a career in tech.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 41

JOURNEYS

The reality of launching a start-up Jesse Lozano is a King’s law alumnus and the co-founder and CEO of pi-top. Jesse shares his learnings from starting pi-top, and gives you a little perspective on what to expect at the beginning of your journey into entrepreneurship.

pi-top is a platform to teach STEM skills and Computer Science (CS) to students aged 10 to 18 based around a small micro-computer called Raspberry Pi. We are a ‘full in-house’ company in that we create every little piece of our product (the packaging, software and operating system etc) that turns

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the Raspberry Pi into a ‘silver bullet’ for STEM and CS-based learning in schools.

My original plan was to become a solicitor for a few years to get some ‘real world’ experience and some money, and then go about creating a company once I was ‘stable’. In reality it didn’t work out

quite to plan. I briefly worked at the City A.M. newspaper and then very quickly set up a political consulting company that ended up being my journey into the world of tech. Graduating from King’s in 2012 I did my own thing until I met Ryan Dunwoody, my co-founder, through a ‘pre-idea’ accelerator called Entrepreneur First. That was a difficult period as it took a while to really understand what I wanted to do and what I was passionate about. Although it was a great experience for us both and I highly recommend it as a path for any King’s graduate.

We have now gone from a ‘living room idea’ to a growing team of 45+ people with offices in London, Texas and China in just under three years, with $7 million in investment to date.

Our products are shipped to over 70 countries through a network of the largest educational technology providers in the world.

It is hugely important when starting your own company to be 100% committed, and it’s easier to do that when you are totally passionate about the problem you are trying to solve.

Watching your friends start great corporate careers will be tough and being broke will be tough, but that is just the price you pay.

So the first bit of advice is to be prepared for hardship, understand that starting a company is not glamorous and it will stretch you mentally, physically and likely take you far past what you thought the limit of hardship was.

The important part is to never give up, it gets much better but it takes time to get there and in the hard times the only thing that will propel you forward is if you 100% believe in what you are

‘It is hugely important when starting your own company to be 100% committed and it’s easier to do that when you are totally passionate about the problem you are trying to solve.’ doing. The money will come later, if it’s just money you want there are easier ways of getting it than starting a company!

My best advice when creating a start-up is to be able to self assess and mould yourself into one half of a natural force that when paired with your co-founder is greater than the sum of its parts. You are creating a new life for yourself and everyone else involved, so create the life you want – not just a life that is ‘ok’, because ‘ok’ never conquered the world and ‘ok’ isn’t going to attract great people to join your team.

When you do find a co-founder it is important to really identify what you are creating and then march forward and make that. Start by making an MVP and see if people are interested, take the feedback and make your idea better. Have strongly held beliefs that are easily changed in the face of irrefutable evidence. You can start with very little cost outlay. In the beginning before we did anything we made mock product renders and put them online, from that we had people who were enthusiastic about what we wanted to create. That gave us the feedback we needed to push forward and successfully launch on Indiegogo.

Finally, when you do get traction for your idea always look for people to learn from and work with. Learning will always be a huge part of your journey and no matter what business you start chances are if you don’t try and learn to be better it’s going to be very hard to be successful. ¦

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 43

ADVICE CORNER

INTERVIEW

An expert coaching guide

Tang-ible benefits

One of the support systems provided to our King’s20 entrepreneurs is the opportunity for one-to-one coaching with a qualified business coach. Gilly Wiscarson, a management consultant and business psychologist, gives you an insight into the value of coaching for you as an entrepreneur or innovator, based on some of the discussions – and successes – of what coaching has achieved within the King’s20 accelerator.

Former King’s student, Jack Tang, is the co-founder of the rapidly growing start-up, Urban Massage. King’s linguistic alumna Shivali Bennion met Jack at his office to hear his story.

There are two types of coaching sessions, either one-to-one sessions or coaching with your team.

Let’s first consider the work we have carried out with individuals on a one-to-one basis We have all recognised that entrepreneurs are highly motivated by their ideas, many of which are quite brilliant; and for a time it is exciting and enthusing for them to begin to develop them. But at some point reality kicks in, bringing doubts about: • the extent to which this idea is really something that can become reality • who might be the customers • where would the money come from for investment.

Because the creator is often sensitive to criticism, and nervous of copycats, they can become quite isolated and lose confidence, resulting in them perhaps working alone or long hours, and so developing more and more stress.

How can coaching help?

In the first place any discussion is entirely confidential so the entrepreneur can be sure that nobody else will ever hear about their fears or concerns. It is safe in that the idea won’t be discussed with anyone who might try to copy it before they are able to bring it to market. One-to-one

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discussions can be personal, for example about managing stress and pressure, about building a social supportive network, about managing time and planning priorities. The discussions sometimes are about business planning; where on the planning process has the entrepreneur got to and how they might identify their next steps.

The amount of support received during this year from the coaches was fantastic. Without their support in many diverse topics including business, personal development and creativity, we certainly would not have developed so quickly and productively.

King’s20 accelerator participant

Let’s now speak about coaching for teams New entrepreneurs have little experience of managing a team of employees and so can find themselves bewildered by the need to motivate their small team and get the work done. Sometimes entrepreneurs find it difficult to communicate their ideas and delegate sufficiently so that the team member feels valued and not over-supervised. So group coaching can explore communication and leadership styles, and in particular we have noticed that using a psychometric indicator such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator can open conversation so that people value each other and understand how they come across to other people. Developing a strategy within a group, so that everyone understands it and can buy into it, is a very powerful process and has led to teams working more effectively together. ¦

Build credibility through your experiences and others will believe in you. You need to demonstrate that you know both your industry and self-worth, don’t oversell or undersell yourself because you will regret it. Finally, listen and show empathy to others’ problems.

If this article has whetted your appetite to learn more about coaching, contact the Association for Coaching (www.associationforcoaching.com).

www.urbanmassage.com

Can you give us a summary of your journey so far?

At 16, I launched a business that offered a mixture of web design and online marketing, aimed at small businesses.

I always wanted to be in London because the City is in the middle of everything, so being at King’s really gave me the opportunity to build something of value. I realised that there was a need to find students part-time jobs so my co-founder and I founded thestudentjob.com. Over an 18 month period, we found 40,000 students jobs.

Following our success, we agreed on a partnership with a leading recruitment website, Jobsite. During this time, I went through rapid personal growth where I learnt more about things like the importance of hiring the right people, becoming more emotionally intelligent and gaining a better commercial acumen.

So as time went on, my co-founder and I wanted to create our own business. We saw a gap in the market for high-quality, professional massages and quickly acted upon it. We started a website urbanmassage.com, reached out to partnerships and created a call-centre, all from the front room of our London flat. From a lot of hard work and dedication, we are now a global business that is rapidly expanding.

Do you have any tips on choosing a co-founder?

Build a strong relationship that develops over time. It’s good to have

different yet complementary skills, so you can work together on issues but essentially you have to find someone that truly understands you and vice versa.

When you first started your own venture, how did you believe in yourself and your capabilities?

Fundamentally, you just have to ask yourself whether you want to be an entrepreneur. I really think you should try earlier rather than later. You will always be able to start a career if it doesn’t work out but the most important thing is that you tried.

Can you give us a better insight into you as an Angel Investor?

I often look at the person behind the idea. I’m not a massive believer of big business plans because there is no instruction manual on how to build an innovative business. Like many investors, I judge entrepreneurs on things like how adaptable they are, how resilient they are and how I think I could benefit them.

How do you get others to trust you and your idea, as an entrepreneur?

Firstly, build credibility through your experiences and others will believe in you. You also need to demonstrate that you know both your industry and your self-worth, don’t oversell or undersell yourself because you will regret it.

Finally, listen and show empathy to others’ problems. ¦

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 45

OPINION

Renowned entrepreneur, philanthropist and Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship at King’s College London, Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE, explains why entrepreneurship is about more than just invention.

Entrepreneurship is more than invention

@StefanMeansBiz

46 START! Issue three 2017–18

At the time of writing I have just spent every day for the last five days in the company of Ed Halliday and YeeMun Thum, my Entrepreneurship Institute colleagues and fellow judges, interviewing the 40+ shortlisted applicants for the 2017–18 King’s20 accelerator.

Listening to over 40 business pitches in five days is, usually – although not always – a fun and productive way to spend a week. In my 25 years of listening to start-up pitches a couple of questions always pop into my mind before all others… is this an inventor or an entrepreneur? Could it be the ‘holy grail’ of both? And is there a specialty coffee shop nearby?

I have said many times before that today entrepreneurship is more a state of mind than a job description. Being an entrepreneur does not just mean starting your own company, I have started many companies but I have also brought my experience to other company boards on which I sit that I did not start – I loved Jeff Stibels’ tongue in cheek description of this in the HBR recently as ‘an entrepreneur gone bad’ – I can relate to that.

I would like to make something crystal clear: having an idea, no matter how great (on paper) does not make you an entrepreneur. We all have ideas we think are ‘great’ at some point. Writing (or having someone else write) a business plan for your ‘great’ idea still doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. Implementation makes you an entrepreneur. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t invent it. Ask Alexander Graham Bell.

One thing I noticed in our prospective accelerator cohort was a firm belief in their ‘plans’ – inventors are invariably smart, they’re problem solving, they’re deploying logic and common sense.

The above traits however are not those of an entrepreneur, and inventors can seriously struggle with the concept that just because that have invented or are likely to

invent something, that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to get it to market, that it’s priced correctly or that it’s costed correctly. In truth all the discipline and skills they used to invent it are actually completely useless to their inner entrepreneur (if they have one). They need a fluid battle strategy; they have to be able to completely tear up one business plan in favour of a completely new one as the commercialisation process rolls on. And boy do inventors seriously struggle with that concept.

‘Having an idea, no matter how great, does not make you an entrepreneur.

Implementation makes you an entrepreneur.’

My battle cry here, to so many people I have seen over the last few years who are entrepreneurial first and perhaps not great inventors themselves, is ‘don’t be afraid’.

Don’t be afraid to work with an inventor to leverage their idea into a profitable sustainable business. You don’t need to be the genius behind the invention, in this game you need to focus, and that’s the key word here, FOCUS, on how to commercialise it.

So many inventors not grasping the entrepreneurial nettle, opine endlessly about their 1.0 invention, adding bells, whistles, and talking 2.0 before they have made a dime on 1.0. To an entrepreneur it’s very painful to watch and to an investor it’s terrifying to realise ‘post money’ as they say. Profitable. Sustainable. These are the drivers for an entrepreneur, the inventor masquerading as an entrepreneur, not willing to either bring in someone entrepreneurial or who is actually content with playing the deadliest of new business world games ‘giving good deck’ completely terrify me.

If I see one more tech company with some convoluted way to do something ‘bricks’ with ‘clicks’ (in theory) issue endless press releases about how much money they have raised from investors for the 5th time, I’ll probably scream. It’s a game of musical chairs that will stop – if you don’t believe me take a look at formerly London Stock Exchange AiM listed Phorm, Inc., to see a $250m cash burn master class, resulting in absolutely zero.

Inventors need to think very hard about how they intend to monetise their creations and in the start-up world it’s clear that the combination of both skill sets is a very rare thing. That’s fine, it just means there’s more work and opportunity to go round!

I am however in no way implying any form of inferiority in the inventor role versus the entrepreneurship role. They are very different. By its nature an inventor prefers an isolated existence, whereas an entrepreneur thrives on collaboration. An inventor is laser-focused, an entrepreneur is flexible and adaptable – (it’s a serious strength in a new venture). An inventor wants a prototype and an entrepreneur wants a route to market.

So should you be reading this article with one eye on joining the King’s 2018–19 cohort next year, decide which you are, an inventor or an entrepreneur. If you think you’re both then know we’re going to look for two people with two different ways of looking at life. It’s a very big ask of yourself. If you’re not both, then play to your strengths, find a worthy invention if you are focused on the skills sets I have mentioned above, or find an entrepreneurial partner if you are the inventor. Together your chances of success will be exponentially higher, faking it either way, won’t ultimately end well – even if you are a deck ‘god’. It’s simple. Inventors invent.

Entrepreneurs lead. ¦

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 47

JOURNEYS

Re-inventing the wheel?

Tamara Bugembe, Consultant Paediatrician and former employee of King’s College Hospital, shares how she came about founding her start-up – Helper Bees.

48 START! Issue three 2017–18

I am the kind of person who is always itching to re-invent the wheel, or at least check that it was invented correctly. I always thought this streak of curiosity would lead me to a career in medical research, but instead I ended up creating a business.

While I was a junior doctor I saw many ‘wheels’ that I thought needed re-inventing, but it was only when I completed my specialist training that I really had a look at the families I worked with and saw a need for specialist new-born childcare providers available on an ad-hoc basis. This led me to create Helper Bees, a niche childcare agency that specialises in helping exhausted parents of young babies with their childcare and household chores.

Finding the right person to look after a child can be quite a puzzling experience.

Babysitters, au pairs, doulas, nannies and maternity nurses all have a very distinct set of skills, report to different regulatory bodies, are willing to do very different tasks, and are looking for jobs of different lengths. The exhausted parents I saw in my clinic just didn’t have the time, energy or desire to start navigating this very confusing minefield and as first timers, many were anxious about trusting their precious baby to an unqualified carer.

But they still needed help.

I realised that many student nurses were willing to help these families once they were

discharged, so I decided to combine these two complementary groups and create Helper Bees.

‘I expected to feel torn between medicine and business, but found that my two roles complemented each other.’

Being a doctor gave me a unique insight into families’ lives and the pressures they faced. Once I started the business, I realised that I listened to my patients in a different way, looking beyond their health, which I hope made me a better doctor.

Creating a business has also made me more aware of the waste and inefficiencies in the health service and the reluctance to embrace new and innovative solutions. But I am hopeful that as we health professionals develop more of an entrepreneurial mindset, we will start to see health delivery move in a new more efficient direction where, as in the commercial world, consumers of health will have more of an influence on what we prioritise.

I think entrepreneurship should be taught to all health professionals, because the principles I have learned on my entrepreneurial journey have certainly helped me grow as a doctor. ¦

KNOW? DID YOU prises nter Social e £24 billion ute my. contrib K econo e to th U e nterpris Social E 013) UK (2

FEATURES

A social world

Susan Trenholm, Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at King’s and Emily Brothwood, President of Enactus KCL, introduce you to King’s social entrepreneurship eco-system.

Social entrepreneurship (SE) is an important and growing area of focus for King’s College London. But don’t just take our word for it.

The university has just won an UnLtd - SEE Changemaker Recognition Award for our innovative support to social entrepreneurs, and we are very proud of this achievement!

Our flagship Social Entrepreneurship Initiative runs throughout the academic year and gives students the opportunity to both learn about SE from leading practitioners from around the world, and to develop and pitch their own ideas for social businesses. The most successful teams win prize money, which they can use to put their plans into action. The Initiative is run jointly by the International Development

Institute and King’s Business School. King’s Entrepreneurship Institute lends invaluable support and expertise to the Initiative.

King’s is proud to be a Yunus Social Business Centre partner, and we are actively developing plans to maximise the potential of this opportunity. We are also active in academic research on SE. For example, we participate in an international research collaboration with Arizona State University and the University of New South Wales, which examines the role of social enterprises in delivering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

There are a wide variety of ways in which students can become involved in SE, including participating in the SE Initiative, attending talks and seminars given by expert practitioners, or becoming involved in student societies such as Enactus KCL. Enactus is a global community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world. Here at Enactus KCL we have projects in Tanzania, India and London

If you are a student nurse or midwife and would like to help families with young babies, please contact me on tamara@ helperbees.co.uk to find out more.

that work to empower a range of people by giving them skills they can use in different walks of life, as well as creating innovative solutions to their everyday problems.

‘Social enterprises are organisations that target the needs of a community and apply commercial strategies to maximise improvements in human and environmental wellbeing.’

Enactus KCL is open to any student at King's and we also work closely with staff through our Enactus University Advisors, as well as with Business Advisors from sponsor companies, such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, KPMG, GSK and many more.

The sustainable impact we are so passionate about goes further than our beneficiaries. Students at Enactus KCL are given a lot of responsibility and dedicated mentoring, allowing them to grow and develop skills that would otherwise not be available to them at this stage in their professional careers.

Our passion and dedication at Enactus KCL was all made worth it at the National Competition in April this year, where we did really well and will now be representing the UK at the World Cup in London at the end of September – for the first time in eight years! This is the first time in 16 years that the World Cup is being held in London and it is an honour to be representing the UK, to put all of the skills we have built individually and as a team to the test, and to proudly present the amazing work our projects have been doing over the past year. ¦ Read more about LightMountain, the project being pitched at the Enactus World Cup 2017 on page 13.

Clara teaching the Tanzanian community how to use the LightMountain cookstoves.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 49

INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

HACKERS, HIPSTERS & HUSTLERS

Hackers are often the engineers who like to build things. A Hustler is someone who likes to go talk to customers and who likes to get the business working and the Hipster is more into the user experience and design aspect of the product.

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HESA (2

Bill Aulet, author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Managing Director of The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and Professor of the Practice at MIT Sloan School, discusses entrepreneurship and his book with King’s20 entrepreneurs Barbara Njau and Kudakwashe Kamupira of Bahati Books, and Arthur Zargaryan, former president of the KCL Robotics Society (2016 –17).

50 START! Issue three 2017–18

You often state that passion is an important part of starting a venture, but can you be more specific on what you should be passionate about?

Passion and commitment are essential to entrepreneurship. It is so hard and there are so many ups and downs that the people who are doing it just for the money get washed out. The passion should be about the good your new company will do for the world. I call this a raison d’étre or reason for being.

That cause is what inspires your team to fight through the hard times. You might also call it a passion for the mission of the company.

Once a company has disrupted the market, how can it continue to innovate?

In our distinguished speaker series at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, we had a fascinating talk by Bengt Holmstrom, an MIT economist and a 2016 Noble Prize winner. His talk was called ‘Is Disruptive Innovation Overrated? In Praise of Immitation’. The point was that we have been obsessed with disruptive innovation but over 80% of the value created in the world is from imitation, or what I like to call ‘lateral innovation’. Imitation is not simply copying but rather taking an idea and refining it and applying it in a new context. When companies first start, they

often have disruptive products to break into the market and also because they have nothing to lose by disrupting the existing hierarchy. However once they have successful products, they have to think about incremental innovation and imitation much more so and not dismiss it as less interesting or valuable to them or their customers.

What are the difficulties you have encountered in the business world and how has that changed your perspective?

When I first entered the world of entrepreneurship, I believed the original idea was paramount. In fact, this is what stories and movies tend to have you believe. Of course you need an idea to start the process but if you spend too much time obsessing about getting it just right, you will fail. It is simply a starting point. As such, now I tell people that the original idea is the most overrated thing in entrepreneurship. It is much more important to be flexible and focus on the customer and have a clear process to translate the insights into a product. That is the essence of the Disciplined Entrepreneurship approach. Ironically, even more important than these items is the team and its capability and track record of excellent execution. There is a great book by Noam Wasserman on this topic called The Founder’s Dilemmas but it is also important that you can not form a team in a vacuum. While you are executing the process, you will discover the holes in your team and fix them and understand what people make for a great team. The team in the end will be the most important element but it has to be combined with a strong process, a viable customer base and, yes, an original starting point – that technology or idea.

You often speak about the Hipster, Hacker and Hustler. Can you explain these three concepts in a bit more detail?

Entrepreneurship should be a cross-functional enterprise. Hackers are often the engineers who like to build things. A Hustler is someone who likes to go talk to customers and who likes to get the business working, and the Hipster is more into the user experience and design aspect of the product.

Every company needs all three types of people, but the extent to which each character is needed differs industry-to-industry. The strength comes from the heterogeneity of the team. ¦

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs who are just starting this journey?

It’s about the people. Keep all your relationships going – both personal and business.

Everything is a balance. Try being different to your competition. When everyone is talking about being disruptive, think that maybe disruption is not the way to go.

The struggle is what makes you strong, so don’t avoid it.

Learn how to deal with mentors. No mentor has all the answers and it’s solely up to the founder to pull from advice.

Make sure you are asking the right questions to get the best possible answers. If you are getting narrow answers from a question that needs a more innovative solution, try repositioning the question to try and find answers through non-linear thinking methods.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 51

BOOK CLUB

LETTERS

What we’re reading…

Books we recommend to develop your skills and leave you feeling inspired and motivated!

The Lean Start-up: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

The Exceptional Speaker: How to Deliver Exceptional Speeches

Eric Ries This book has helped begin the ‘lean start-up’ revolution in entrepreneurship.

Eric Ries turns on its head the traditional approach of designing and building products before even speaking to a customer. Instead, he promotes learning from them what they really want – through questioning, experimenting and building and testing products, at low cost and high speed.

His book has become the go-to resource to help anyone wanting to build a company with products that work, sell and customers love.

Alan Stevens & Paul du Toit Giving a clear and confident presentation is a transferrable skill that’s vital for many different career paths. This book is a great guide and takes you right through from preparation to delivery. It covers topics including creating engaging content, body language and overcoming nerves with straightforward tips and exercises.

I recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their speaking skills.*

Ed Halliday, Accelerator Manager

Jeremy Shorter, Learning Programme Manager *The Entrepreneurship Institute runs a skills workshop series including pitching and presentation. Sign up in September 2017.

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable Tim S Grover

‘This book changed my outlook and left me feeling inspired and motivated.’

This book changed my outlook and left me feeling inspired and motivated.

It has stories and cases studies from leading competitors in sport and business and I recommend it to anyone who wants tips to get in the zone. Whenever I need a lift it’s brilliant to keep you going and show that anything is possible.

Josh Blackburn, CEO, Regal Gentleman and Entrepreneurship Institute team member

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Information is Beautiful and Knowledge is Beautiful David McCandless Communicating the problem your venture is trying to solve is vital to a successful pitch. Infographics can be an innovative way to do this. David McCandless is the godfather of infographics and his books are an inspiring source of design and data representation. They’re beautiful books to browse and start conversations and l’d recommend to anyone wanting to use imagery to simplify their ideas.

Amy Lothian, Communications & Insight Support Manager

Letters page Dear Reggie I have a great idea but I’m worried people are going to steal it. I’m really excited about it so it’s hard not to tell people. I don’t want people to beat me to it. Can you give me any advice?

Alumni, School of Management and Business We get a lot of people telling us they are reluctant to share their idea. Our advice is, don’t be! The best way to get your idea off the ground is to tell as many people as possible. You never know what unexpected contacts, tips and experience those people may have that can help you. Other people may have your idea but don’t be put off by competitors. While they may have a similar start-up, there’s only one you, and if you’re passionate enough, believe in yourself and are as open as possible, great things will happen.

If you’re still not convinced come to our monthly drop-in sessions for a chat, and if you have any questions about whether or not King’s owns your Intellectual Property (IP) then contact King’s IP & Licensing team.

For details of drop-in sessions follow: @innovatekings Contact the IP & Licensing team via twitter: @inventkings

that be making lists, focusing on one key outcome per day, or blocking out calendar time. Speak to a course advisor or keep a diary of your entrepreneurial journey and take time to reflect. The Entrepreneurship Institute learned tips from the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom about managing stress and being resilient under pressure you can read on our website.

You should also read the article by Farzana Baduel in our 2016–17 issue of START! where she suggests other tools that help with organising and managing tasks.

Remember to take time out so things don’t get too overwhelming. If it does, or to avoid this, talk to King’s wellbeing team – they offer lots of amazing support.

Dear Reggie I’m curious to find out about what entrepreneurship is but I don’t know where to begin. What should I do?

First year undergraduate, Faculty of Arts & Humanities That’s great you’re interested. We recommend joining a student society – lots of them are running exciting events and

activities you can get involved in e.g. PPE Entrepreneurs 4 Society, Hackathons and KCL Innovation Forum. We’ve got lots of great online videos, free KEATs course or come to one of our events to hear from inspirational speakers like Joe Wicks, Heston Blumenthal OBE and Jo Malone MBE. You can also come and speak to us at our drop-in sessions on the last Tuesday of every month.

Dear Reggie I really enjoy working on my venture but I don’t feel confident presenting it to other people. I’m worried I’ll be too nervous to talk to potential investors. What can I do?

Second year Psychology student There are lots of things you can do!

Practice in front of your friends and family, record yourself on your phone and ask people for feedback and come to one of our pitching and presentation skills workshops. You can also watch our videos of ventures pitching and learn from their techniques. Pitching is about selling yourself as much as your idea so focus on being confident presenting yourself and the business pitch will follow.

Dear Reggie I have an idea I’m really passionate about and have been spending a lot of time focusing on it. I’m worried I’ll get distracted from my university studies. Do you have any tips for managing different projects?

Third year undergraduate, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine When you have lots of things to juggle, managing your time can be difficult, but there are lots of time and project management tools such as Trello you can use to help. Everyone has their own method of managing their time, whether

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 53

PHOTO ALBUM

PHOTO ALBUM

Awards and recognition

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Milestones

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Congratulations to everyone in our community who received an award this year. Here are some examples.

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We were proud to have lots of firsts this year. Here are some of our key milestones.

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1 Enactus KCL at the Enactus National Expo • 2 Computer science student Clarence Ji voted in Top Ten entrepreneurs in London under 30 • 3 Our Director Julie Devonshire received her OBE at Buckingham Palace • 4 King’s20 complete leadership and resilience under pressure training at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom • 5 Winners and finalists of our Idea Factory competition.

Presentations at the House of Lords • 6 Fares Alaboud, founder of the Medic App, awarded a Soyoye Technology Innovation Prize of £20,000 • 7 Music student David Wexler awarded £13,000 for his venture GripBeats • 8 King’s20 C the Signs win the 2017 Tech4Good People’s Choice Award • 9 King’s20 ventures awarded the Allesch-Taylor Scholarship for Entrepreneurship.

10 29 students received the King’s Enterprise Award, including Shivali Bennion (pictured).

54 START! Issue three 2017–18

1 King’s entrepreneurs attend the Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace • 2 We launch our first King’s20 accelerator cohort • 3 Sir Robert Lechler, Vice Principal (health), King’s College London introduces Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director, NHS England at our innovation event • 4 HRH The Duke of York meets King’s entrepreneurs at Demo Day in Bush House • 5 Deputy Mayor for Business Rajesh Agrawal attends the launch of our first accelerator • 6 & 7 Our first live TV appearance! The Venture Crawl is featured on London Live • 8 We appoint our first Advisor for Entrepreneurship, Professor Bill Aulet, Managing Director of Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship • 9 King’s20 pep talk before the first Demo Day pitches begin • 10 Ed Halliday, Accelerator Manager; Nobel

Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus; and Emily Brothwood, President, Enactus KCL attend the 7th Social Business Day 2017 in Dhaka.

@InnovateKings

Kingsentrepreneurship 55

Entrepreneurship Institute

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W kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute Blog blogs.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurshipatkings E innovation@kcl.ac.uk Kingsentrepreneurship @Innovatekings Kingsentrepreneurship Kingsentrepreneurship YouTube /EnterpriseConnect1