Opportunity Recognition

This session is delivered by two young, charismatic entrepreneurs, both of whom are experiencing success but in different ways. Dr Shamus Husheer completed his PhD at Cambridge, while Rahul Vohra took leave from his PhD and went to Silicon Valley with his co-founders to pursue his entrepreneurial dream. Shamus is building a business from Cambridge and Rahul has already made an exit by selling his venture to LinkedIn.

This Enterprise Tuesday lecture took place on 27 November 2012.

WWW:
Rahul Vohra's Biography
Dr Shamus Husheer's Biography

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• Introduction to Serendipity or Hard Work
• What is Serendipity?
• The Start of the Story - Serendipity or Hard Work?
• Building Teams
• Networking
• Key Skills - Selling and Raising Money
• Working with a Team to Develop Ideas
• Making an Old Idea Happen
• Accessing Resources and the Right Environment
• The Start of the Story
• Doing a PhD and Being a Parallel Entrepreneur
• Building the Team
• If Hard Work Led to Success...
• If Intelligence Led to Success...
• If Being Lucky Bought Success...
• If Persistence Led to Success...
• So What Works?

Q&A:

• Do you have any solutions for networking for introverts?
• Have you had experiences of the word 'NO'?
• How did you manage the process of deciding which ideas to work on persistently over time?
• What is it like in the early days when you are working hard but have no money? Can you set up a company alongside having a job?
• How do you balance skills, chemistry and equity when building a team?

One of the more popular definitions of entrepreneurship is by Professor Howard Stevenson at Harvard Business School: "It is that an opportunity is pursued regardless of access to resources." This may well apply to some opportunities but can it also apply to the translation of deep research into commercially viable products and services?

This question was examined at the first Enterprise Tuesday session of the 2012/2013 series through a live example, Eight19, a "hot" Cambridge company and the third start-up of Professor Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge. Eight19 has plastic solar technology that can revolutionise lives of people who are "off-grid". The game changer is a printable plastic solar cell that is extremely affordable and scalable.

The guest speakers are members of a top team both in terms of scientific research and commercialisation. Professor Sir Richard Friend is co-presenting with Dr Simon Bransfield Garth, CEO of Eight19 who has deep experience of taking disruptive technology to market and a PhD in Engineering from St Johns College. They will be joined by Dr Seena Rejal, who has a strong track record too including time at the Clinton Climate Initiative, and was Chairman of Cambridge University Entrepreneurs when he was a PhD at Cambridge.

This lecture from the Enterprise Tuesday session on 6 November 2012 was chaired by CfEL Director Dr Shai Vyakarnam.

WWW:
Professor Sir Richard Friend's Biography
Simon Bransfield-Garth's Biography
Seena Rejal's Biography

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• The Scientist, The Technology and The Landscape
• Technology Logic and Economic Logic
• Technology Push - A good sell?
• Eight 19 and Organic Solar Panels
• Finding a Viable Market
• New Market, New Business Model
• The Energy Escalator - Vision and Journey
• Why do we do it?
• The Lessons
• The Personal Journey to the Opportunity
• Key Influences: Sustainability and Entrepreneurship
• Serendipity, Eight 19 and Building the Brand

Dr David Brown is a scientist, intrapreneur and has held many senior positions in the Bio/Pharma industry. He has a truly distinguished record of not only doing the science, but also of taking key discoveries to market. Dr Brown is one of the patent holders of that 'accidental' discovery Viagra, one of the biggest brand names of recent years. He is also part of the team that actually made it a commercial success taking it through the early years of drug efficacy trials.

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• Big Companies and Small Companies
• Learning Drug Discovery
• Lessons, Luck and Challenges of a Low Priority Project
• Moving to Clinical Trials, but Heading for Failure
• Serendipity and Hard Work Intersect
• Getting a Breakthrough Medicine to Market
• Other Uses for Viagra
• Success - Challenges and Rapid Growth
• Systematic Exploration
• Spontaneous Recognition
• Timeliness and Creativity
• Excellent Execution
• Does this fit the models of Serendipity and Discovery?

Q&A:

• What would you have done if you didn't get funding for the clinical trial?
• Did you work on projects that didn't succeed? How were they different?
• Would discovering Viagra be easier in a start up company?
• Does the timing of patenting influence subsequent IP strategy?
• Would you recommend funding your own research?
• Is hard work enough? When do you decide to give up?
• What led you to do the initial research into MED? Have you considered developing something similar for women?
• Is it possible for a small company to take a drug to market?
• When you raise money for start ups now, how much influence does your previous success have?
• Is there a way to redefine markets and business models for the rarer diseases? What are the opportunities?

WWW:
Robert Brady's Biography
Shamus Husheer's Biography

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• What is worth pursuing and what is not? Who is responsible?
• The first critical decision
• Key Criteria for Opportunities
• Not all businesses meet the criteria
• Getting the world to recognise your opportunity
• What do you need to start a company?
• The opportunity
• The team
• Devising a Plan
• Iterating the Plan
• The CEO and Shareholder Value
• Raising Finance

Q&A:

• Do you have a work permit right now?
• Do you have IP Protection for your Product?
• How do you remain open with an idea that may become disruptive?
• Is there a leap of faith in going from a soft start to a product? How do you make the decision?
• How does Mojo relate to the Groupon Model?
• Was starting several companies at the same time a benefit or a hindrance?
• When you realise you have missed an opportunity, how do you deal with it at a personal level?
• What kind of business model do you operate to deliver your service?
• As an investor, what do you say to companies who have a strong theoretical base but not product, but are looking for finance?
• How have you dealt with self-doubt as you have developed your idea?
• What were the biggest challenges in moving from the academic to commercial world?
• Teams and Ideas – how did you build your team?

Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, speaking at the CfEL's Enterprise Tuesday lecture series in November 2010.

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• Introduction
• Most Business Ideas are not new
• The Entrepreneurial Journey - with the odds against you
• Riding the waves
• Starting from nothing
• Challenges of success
• Adapt or die
• Keeping a wider perspective
• Funding - challenges and opportunities
• A Joint Venture that works
• What makes an extraordinary brand
• The vision and a definition of Entrepreneurship

Q&A:

• Why choose a law degree before going into business?
• How important is social media marketing?
• Is the link to curry culture an impediment to global marketing?
• How do you protect your idea whilst you raise funds?
• How do you choose partners and what do you look for?

From an idea to a business vision requires a step change in thinking. How does an idea look like a business opportunity. This talk is about the journey from the lab to business. You will learn about the practicalities, issues, rewards and challenges that are encountered in the journey from the lab to the market place. Prof Derek Fray will illustrate these issues through examples from personal experience. He has patented many technologies and has been involved in several start-ups and commercial discussions with large organisations that have licensed his technology. Prof DEREK FRAY Dept of Materials Science & Metallurgy Derek Fray is a Fellow of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of the Materials Society and the American Institute of Metallurgical engineers. He has published over 320 articles on materials processing and is cited as the inventor on over 160 published patents. Twelve projects are now under active industrial development both in the U.K. and Europe, Australia and the United States. He is a founder director of Ion Science Ltd., Ion Science Messtechnik Gmbh., Ion Science (Americas) llc., Environmental Monitoring and Control Ltd., Cambridge Advanced Materials Ltd., Metalysis Ltd., Camfridge Lt, Ion Medicare Ltd and British Titanium plc. All these companies are exploiting technology developed by Derek Fray.

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This session is about setting out a big vision, how ideas can lead to a big vision which, when commercialised, can make a big difference to society and benefit the inventors. You will begin to understand why it is essential that entrepreneurs need to have a strong and clear vision for their business that can be clearly communicated to and understood by their team, potential investors and customers. You will also start to consider some of the key issues and challenges facing an entrepreneur. Prof CHRIS LOWE Institute of Biotechnology Chris is currently a Fellow of Trinity College and a Professor and Director of the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge. His research work is multidisciplinary and covers aspects of biochemistry, microbiology, chemistry, electrochemistry, physics, electronics and chemical engineering. He is also actively involved in scientific work that includes prototype product development and R&D strategy. His work has led to the launch of many innovative products in the Life Sciences industry over the last 30 years. He is actively involved in many worldwide collaborations, is on the Editorial Boards of a number of academic journals and is a member of several UK Research Council and Government Committees on Scientific Policy.

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These two seasoned investors will talk about what they have and have not invested in and why. Out of the many investment possibilities how do they filter out the best and what criteria do they use? Hear about the successes and learn from the one or two opportunities which did not meet expectations. Both David and Andy are highly entertaining and animated presenters and are on national and international platforms when it comes to their contributions to policy, entrepreneurship and corporate lives.

WWW:
David Cleevely
Dr Andy Richards

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• Setting the Scene - Monty Pythons 'Four Yorkshiremen'
• The way it used to be
• Ideas about opportunities
• Analysys - brilliant timing?
• 3 way networks - opportunities for exit
• Missing opportunities - A good call on timing?
• Chiroscience - opportunities from regulatory change
• Conversations and the stress test
• Getting value from the stress test
• Ideas, timing, resources and drive
• Arakis - the trigger
• Abcam - the trigger

Q&A:

• How do you know a group of inexperienced people can execute an idea?
• How do you get to a big exit quickly?
• How many years does it take to exit on a trade sale?
• As an angel investor what's your success to failure ratio?
• What do you look for when you invest and how well developed are the business plans?
• How much does the educational background of a team matter?

Entrepreneurs who either spot or create a trend can make it possible for new businesses to be established. They are often thought to be lucky but it is more a matter of being able to know when to do something by being alert to business cycles, trends and timing.

When is an idea a business opportunity? Our hugely successful Visiting Entrepreneur is interviewed at the 2008/2009 Enterprise Tuesday series.