UCL and Congenica hosted the first entrepreneurial lab within the framework of the GROWTH ERASMUS + project in London
Early September 2018, UCL and Congenica hosted the first entrepreneurial lab within the framework of the GROWTH ERASMUS + project in London. This 2 day Masterclass titled ‘Growing a Life Sciences Company’ was organized as an interactive course focused on taking a start-up to the next stage and successful funding.
The purpose of the course was to explore the do’s and the don’ts when outgrowing the start-up phase, drawing on a combination of real-life, personal experience and own case studies. The participants, mostly executive officers, represented different medtech/biotech start-ups in Europe.
The keynote presentation was given by David Atkins, CEO of Congenica, who stayed at the workshop for the whole day to answer any questions or queries that arose.
During the second day the participants focused on finance with Sohaib Mir, Investment Associate at Cambridge Innovation Capital. His insight in to what investors are looking for and the different financial options and terminologies used by financiers was highly appreciated by the group. Next, the participants worked on a 4-minute pitch which they delivered to a panel of six investors. The feedback and constructive criticism from the panel was perceived as very useful by all participants.
This is underlined by the very enthusiastic feedback we received from Annegret Van der Aa (COO, OCTIMET): “I found the 2-day course intense but extremely relevant and of very high quality. The relatively small size of the group stimulated exchange of ideas and challenges in a very open way. The facilitator was very good, focusing on important aspects of success for a start-up. The invited speakers were also very open to share experiences.
The combination of theory/tools and translation of these aspects into practice has been very helpful. Learning from experienced peers is not only a plus for me personally, but also for start-ups like OCTIMET to increase chances for success. This ‘lab’ was of great value especially for the stage our company is in today. I really look forward to the next modules of the project!”
Loraine Daly, UCL project coordinator, “We found it very rewarding to see how well the group interacted and worked with each other. I definitely have very high hopes that they will continue to stay in touch with each other.” As a final point on the agenda, the networking event with the investors was very successful. At least three of the participants managed to schedule meetings with investors present.
In conclusion, all participants rated the quality of the course very high and considered the two days ‘very productive and useful’.
