Interested in hearing the ideas of the most promising entrepreneurs Cambridge has to over? Then mark your calendars for June 14^th, as Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) will be concluding one of its most successful business creation competitions to date at the CUE Grand Finale 2012.

Grand Finale 2012 will showcase the most outstanding business ideas in the areas of technology, biotechnology, software and social enterprise, and awards worth over £40,000 of cash and prizes will be handed out to the winners of CUE’s £5K Challenge.

Apart from the awards ceremony, the highlight of the evening will undoubtedly be a Dragon’s Den segment, where finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of renowned angel investors – comprising of Neil Davidson, Sherry Coutu, Tony Purnell, Paul Anson and Andy Richards. There will also be a keynote speech by Eben Upton, founder and trustee of Raspberry Pi, as well as poster and networking sessions.

The event will be held at the West Road Concert Hall from 6 to 9.30pm and interested guests should register at cuegrandfinale2012.eventbrite.com.

Thank you to all those who took part in CUE’s £5K training! We hope that the session gave you a better understanding of the different aspects of a business plan and we wish that you can translate this knowledge into winning entries in our 5K Challenge.

If you would like to refresh yourself on the various talks, you can download the audio recordings and slides from the links below.

Audio:

Talk 1: What a judge expects to see in the £5K competition.

Talk 2: Conducting effective market research.

Talk 3: Dealing with general legal issues.

Slides:

Talk 1: What a judge expects to see in the £5K competition

Talk 2: Conducting effective market research

Talk 3: Financing your business

Talk 4: Dealing with general legal issues

Talk 5: Intellectual property

Want tips on developing an outstanding business plan?

Join us at our training sessions and learn from the pros!

Session 1

When: Wednesday 7th March 2012, 18:30 - 21:30

Where: Lecture Room 4, Department of Engineering,

University of Cambridge, CB2 1PZ

Session 2

When: Friday 16th March 2012, 14:00 - 17:00

Where: LT1, Judge Business School,

University of Cambridge, CB2 1AG

REGISTER HERE: http://cue5ktraining2012.eventbrite.com/

The stakes are running high as we approach the final stage of CUE’s series of business creation competitions - the £5K Challenge. Entrants for the £5K Challenge are required to submit a 2000 to 3500 word business plan by the 27th of April. It is not required to have been an entrant or winner of the £100 for 100 words or £1K Challenge to participate in the £5K Challenge.

In line with the greater demands of this stage of the competition, CUE will be running two training sessions to give you the opportunity to pick up the skills you need to come up with a winning entry.

For Session 1, CUE has invited a series of experts from serial entrepreneurs to lawyers and financial gurus to cover all the aspects involved in a complete business plan. Not only will you get the chance to hear from these experts, you will also be able to get personalized advice for YOUR business during the surgeries.

Speakers for the session include:

Ted Dewhurst

Principal at Kesteven Law with extensive experience in dealing with venture capital and private equity transactions, as well as commercial agreements

Ilian Iliev

Serial entrepreneur and current CEO and co-founder of CambridgeIP with experience ranging from medical diagnostics to the electrical industry

Simon Anderson

Chief Strategy Officer for Green Energy Options

James Francis

Director at Ensors

Mentors for the surgeries include:

Daniel Paterson

Individual winner of 2012 Manufacturing Leadership 100 award in the Advocacy category, alongside famous inventor James Dyson

Angelo Mastrogiovanni

Senior project manager for FABCP Consulting, who will focus specifically on implementation of business plans

Schedule for Session 1

1800-1830    Registration
1830-1850    Talk: How to write a winning business plan
1850-1910    Talk: Conducting effective market research
1910-1930    Talk: Financing your business
1930-1950    Talk: Dealing with general legal issues
1950-2010    Talk: Intellectual property management
2010-2130    Personalized surgeries and networking

In Session 2, we will have one of our competition judges, Dr Darrin Disley, to give tailored advice to the participants through 1-2-1 surgeries. Darrin will meet with individual teams for 30 minutes each to give his thoughts on their business ideas and how they should carry their ideas forward to the 5K competition and beyond.

To register, e-mail nicholas.tan@cue.org.uk with the subject “5K training - Session 2″ and state your team name, one preferred time slot (14:00-14:30, 14:30-15:00 etc), one alternative time slot and the names and phone numbers of the members that will be attending the surgery.

Spaces are HIGHLY LIMITED, so ACT NOW!

By Nicholas Tan

Over 150 people gathered at the Wolfson lecture theatre last night to listen to business ideas of some of the brightest young minds Cambridge has to offer at Cambridge University Entrepreneurs’ (CUE) £1k awards ceremony.

Last night’s event marked the close of CUE’s £1k business plan sub-competition, which required entrants to submit executive summaries of their business ideas in not more than 1500 words. This year’s competition received an unprecedented number of entries, which more than doubled the number from last year. Despite the large increase in quantity, David Gill, Managing Director of St John’s Innovation Centre and one of the competition judges, was quick to point out that the quality of the submissions remained impressive.

The event was kicked off with a keynote speech from Prof Ian White, master of Jesus College, who highlighted CUE’s business plan competition as a key part of the University’s efforts to support entrepreneurship at various levels, be it spin-outs, spawn-outs or snuck-outs.

Ready, get set, pitch! The exciting and fast-paced pitching segment allowed participants up to 75 seconds to share their business ideas, which ranged from designer genetic solutions to a device that allows for advertising on bicycle wheels. Participants used a variety of techniques to capture the attention of the audience during their 75 seconds of fame, including the use of videos, props and even a live demonstration of their technology.

As the pitching session drew to a close, we reached the climax of the night, where the £1k award winners were announced. This year saw an unprecedented number of prizes being handed out, with 7 winners, 8 runner-ups, as well as prizes for the best pitch and best poster. In total, over £7000 in cash and over £11000 worth of patent database subscriptions were handed out to our winners.

The award winners of this year’s £1k business plan competition are:

£1k prize winners: Cambridge Biocompatibility, CamPores, RealiaWind, Old Bond, Wedu, Green Tutor, Cambridge Interactive Video Solutions

£1k runner ups: Cambridge Stem cell Systems, Heliomobil, TPS Limited, Shuruat Mobility, Simple Tax Calculator, Collide, Hopskip, VocallQ

Best pitch: Cedric Deur representing StuStu

Best poster: Self-Cervix

As the participants look towards the upcoming £5k business plan competition and beyond, John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, encouraged them to pay greater attention to their presentation skills and to show greater enthusiasm and clarity when pitching their ideas, which will be important when seeking investor funding for their businesses.

Also, Dr Andy Richards, founding member of the Cambridge Angels and serial entrepreneur, urged participants to think about whether they just want to win the business plan competition or to actually start a business. If they seek the latter, he cautioned that a considerable amount of effort is required to implement a business plan and bring it to fruition.

We hope to see more brilliant and exciting entries in our £5k competition, which opens on the 7th of March.

CUE would like to thank our generous sponsors for their support, without which this event would have never been possible.

Gold sponsors: Horizon Discovery, EPSRC, Carpe Diem, ARM

Silver sponsor: Redgate

Bronze sponsors: Cambridge Science Park, Ensors

We would also like to thank CambridgeIP for sponsoring the patent database subscriptions.

CUE is proudly presenting the £1K award ceremony of 2011-2012 competition.

When: 18:30 - 21:30 Wednesday 22nd February 2012,

Where: Wolfson Lecture Theater, Department of Chemistry,

University of Cambridge, CB2 1EW.

Register at: http://cue1kaward2012.eventbrite.com/

This year, CUE’s £1K Awards Ceremony is promising to present a banquet of fresh and exhilarating business ideas, including pitches and poster presentation from all entrants of the £1K competition. Up to 10 £1K prizes will be given out during the evening.

For the entrants, this event is not to be missed as you will find out if you are one of the 10 best budding entrepreneurs during the evening. You will also have the chance to pitch in front of the the audience, among which you might find your future investers. The networking session of the evening if your best chance to find your prospective mentors.

Come along, even if you have not thought of entrepreneurship before. You will be treated to a night of inspirational and exciting new ideas that are most likely to open you to a world of new possibilities.There will be free food, drinks and the chance to network with the CEOs and representatives from ARM, RedGate, Cambridge Angels, Cambridge Enterprise, venture capitalists and CUE mentors.

Please sign up now to avoid disappointment as we do expect a huge crowd for the  evening!

Agenda of the evening:

18:00-18:30 Registration

18:30-18:45 Keynote speech

18:45-19:40 Pitching session

19:45-20:00 Comments from a judge

20:00-20:15 Winner announcement

20:15-21:30 Networking

What more can you do before submitting your executive summary?

Come join us for a free training!

Proudly presented by CUE:

The Entrepreneurs’ £1K Competition

Second Training Event

Date and Time: 14:00-17:00 Monday, 16 January, 2011

Location: Lecture Room 4 (LR4), Department of Engineering

Register at: http://cue1ktraining2011.eventbrite.com/

Dr. Darrin Disley, one of our competition judges is dedicating half a day to help you make your executive summary better before the competition closes on 20th January. Don’t miss your chance to increase your odds of winning the 1K competition!

Dr Darrin Disley is CEO of Horizon Discovery Ltd, the fast growing Cambridge-based company that provides research tools to support the development of personalized cancer medicines. A Cambridge alumni with a PhD in Biotechnology, Darrin is now an experienced and successful parallel entrepreneur who has been involved in the start-up and growth of ten high-tech business ventures.

The £1k Competition – What’s the market?

SubmissionDeadline: 20thJanuary, 2012 11:59pm

Winners Announced at the £1k Awards Ceremony:22February,2012

Our second competition is about you developing your business opportunity and writing an executive summary of no more than 1500 words. The £1k prizes are awarded to well‐presented propositions that show clear market potential and competitive advantages.You will need to clearly identify and quantify your market niche.Upto 10 cash prizes of £1k each will be awarded and winners and runners-up get free entry to £5k Competition.

Details of the submission can be found on https://www.cue.org.uk/2011/11/23/cue-1k-competition-registration/.

Thanks for all who made the £1k Training Event last night!

The video of the judges’ talk is available for viewing now with the slides downloadable here.

Part I

Part II

More photos can be viewed on CUE Facebook Page.

By Nicholas Tan

Almost 100 students, aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned serial entrepreneurs from around Cambridge came together to share their ideas and to network at tonight’s inaugural Co-founder Speed Dating event organized by the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE).

Participants were given the opportunity to interact through a fast paced speed dating format, where they had 2 minutes to exchange ideas, and business cards, before being rotated to different partners.

This was designed to give participants the opportunity to meet as many like-minded individuals as possible within a short time, in hopes that they will be able to build strong teams to further develop their businesses and ideas.

Over 20 individuals also took to the stage to give 1 minute elevator pitches of their business ideas to the crowd.

These business ideas spanned a wide range of areas – from the new methods to create embryonic stem cells to a website that analyses patterns in grocery shopping and even an attempt at generating coherent conversational threads from random twitter posts.

Feedback from the participants was extremely positive and most went home with new business partners and even new business ideas.

The climax of the night came when CUE vice president Michelle Stewart announced the 25 winners of the £100 for 100 words competition.

The winning entries for this year can be viewed at www.cue.org.uk.

Next up in CUE’s Business Creation Competition is the £1k competition and it is now officially open. Entrants are required to submit a 1000 word executive summary of their business plan by 20th January 2012 and will stand a chance of winning £1000.

Entry to the £1k competition is open to all and not limited to those that participated in the £100 competition.

To provide additional support for aspiring entrepreneurs in preparing for this upcoming competition, CUE will also be organizing a training session led by two of the competition judges next Wednesday, 23rd November.
Interested parties can register at http://cue1000training2011.eventbrite.com/.

Want to learn to write like a CEO?

Come join us for a free training!

Proudly presented by CUE:

The CUE £1K Competition

Training Event

Date and Time: 18:00-21:00 Wednesday, 23 November, 2011

Location: Lecture Room 4 (LR4), Department of Engineering

Register at: http://cue1000training2011.eventbrite.com/

The £1k Competition represents the next stage of the Entrepreneurs Business Creation Competition. New competition entrants are welcome. It is not required to have been a 100 word entrant or winner to enter this stage of the contest.  To enter the competition you must submit a 1000 word Executive Summary by the 20th of January. To help you write the best possible entry, CUE is running a £1K Competition Training Event on Wednesday, 23rd November 2011.

Two of our competition judges will talk at the event about what they want to see in the 1K business creation competition, followed by surgeries with CUE mentors, covering topics including Market research, Finance, Intellectual Property, and Legal, basically everything you need to know at this stage of the competition.

Agenda of the evening:

18:00  Arrival and registration

18:30  Main speech: What judges expect for an executive summary

19:00  Networking and Surgeries with mentors and experts in Market Research, Finance, Intellectual Property and General Legal Issues

(Photo by OneLeap)

By Shakiba Kaveh

H.I.P.P.B.E.R.T ! This was the buzz word of the night! Until that night, it is difficult to realise the power of a good pitch in attracting clients, investors and kick-starting an entrepreneurial career! Two of the Cambridge alumni and Simon Campbell, now a serial entrepreneur pitched us in 10 minutes how to give a “pick-up pitch”.  If you can articulate your idea in two sentences that is also appealing to the investor’s background, then you’ve nailed it! explains Simon. You need to Hook your audience with a magical sentence then Identify the Problem, Propose your idea and explain them the Benefits, indicate your Execution strategies, Repeat your idea again and Take action and ask for their business card. Simple!

This is why you see many scientists with patents but very few with a business. We are used to having at least 20 minutes for long and joyful discussions and this is often one of the pitfalls which we may fall into while pitching.

The event was a success and people have certainly learned something which they did not know before. We are not born with a natural instinct of entrepreneurship; we have to be trained and it takes a certain spirit to be one, a phoenix rising from the ashes type of mentality and CUE is doing exactly that.

Register here: http://cuespeeddating2011.eventbrite.com/

If you missed the night marking the beginning of a new round of CUE Business Creation Competition, here’s the highlight of the night!

By Michelle Stewart

Last Thursday, 13th October 2011, CUE kicked off the year with its annual Grand Launch event. More than 200 participants showed up to share the experience of ushering in a new year of exciting CUE events and activities for the 2011/2012 academic year.
The event kicked off with a brief introduction to the society and their renowned business creation competition. This was then followed by some very inspiring speeches by 3 extremely enigmatic and influential speakers, all of whom have had significant successes in entrepreneurship.

Dr Shamus Husheer, a former CUE business creation competition winner and Cambridge alumni kicked things off by sharing his experiences of taking his product and idea and turning it into a sustainable business venture. 4 years after winning the CUE business creation competition, his business venture, Cambridge Temperature Concepts (CTC), with their trademark product, the DuoFertility fertility monitor, have grown leaps and bounds. With the product now being sold in selected Boots stores nationwide and international expansion in sight, CTC is living proof that the initial challenges faced when starting your own company is well worth it as you see it succeed further along the road.

Next, Dr Darrin Disley, a successful parallel entrepreneur involved in the start-up and growth of no less than 10 high-tech business ventures, energised and motivated the audience through sound advice and words of wisdom from someone who has literally “been there and done that”. He stressed on the need to always try and never give up, as well as how sometimes, the simplest of ideas and innovations make the best businesses. But more importantly, he also emphasised the role of entrepreneurs in building and creating markets and the economy; successfully fuelling the crowd’s passion.

Last but not least, we were treated with Lord Karan Bilimoria’s heartfelt account of his journey when founding Cobra Beer. He narrated how his business venture was plagued with problems right from the start, including how he had almost lost it all on 3 separate occasions! But from these anecdotes, he drew some pretty important lessons for the audience, which were to seize every opportunity you get and to always believe in yourself. As our most experienced speaker, Lord Bilimoria really managed to capture the crowd’s attention and respect, instilling a new found conviction that they too can succeed as he had.

The night concluded with the customary networking over nibbles where Cambridge’s entrepreneurial minds mingled and shared visions for the future.

PitchMe!UK in association with CUE presents an evening of enterpreneurial tips, prizes and fun where you will learn how to master the art of the pitch!

Wednesday, 26 Oct, 2011

6:00pm – 9:00pm

Department of Engineering, Cambridge

Register at: http://cuepitchmeuktraining.eventbrite.com/

What’s a pitch?
Persuading people, normally in 60 seconds, why they should give you a shot at something you need.  Most probably them or their money.

Why go to this event?
Your goal might be to present your amazing business plan / demonstrate your product to investors.  But you’ve got to get there first.  Learn how to use 1 or 2 minutes to earn the attention you need to get there.  Learn how to turn chance encounters at networking meetups into the opportunities you need to get ahead.   That’s what the pitch is all about. This directly supports the skills you need to get ahead in this year’s CUE competitions.

Who should go?
Definitely entrepreneurs.  Equally anyone entrepreneurial, trying to get into a startup or entrepreneurial company, or just trying to get an edge in today’s competitive job market where playing the application lottery works for fewer and fewer people - even Cambridge grads.

Who’s running it?
PitchMe!UK is a national roadshow supported by OneLeap (the London/NYC startup of two former Cambridge alumni) and several corporate partners.  Successful entrepreneurs including serial entrepreneur Simon Campbell of the Sandpit, successful entrepreneur and startup marketing guru Charlotte Hogg, and OneLeap founders Hamish Forsyth and Robyn Scott will tell you the secrets of how they raised money, got partners and kickstarted their startups.

What’s in it for me (apart from free drinks?)
You’ll get tips, ask lots of questions, then you’ll practice it.  Prizes for the winners, free drinks for all! If you’ve got an entrepreneurial bone in your body, you’ll be there.  Otherwise, I gather there’s a tax professionals networking event on at the same time…?

Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) invites you to the Grand Launch of the CUE Business Creation Competition; a showcase of home-grown business talent and how you, too, can become an entrepreneur by entering the CUE competition!

CUE Grand Launch
Thursday, 13 Oct, 2011
6:00pm – 9:30pm
West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge

Register now

CUE invites students, investors, and all interested parties to the Grand Launch of the 2011-2012 CUE Business Creation Competition. Meet, mingle, and learn about CUE and the Competition, which has awarded over half a million pounds in prizes to help fund over 400 teams and their ideas in the past 11 years.

To kick-start a new academic year of creativity, CUE presents an exciting panel of speakers and business leaders: Dr. Darrin Disley, executive chairman of Horizon Discovery Group; Dr Shamus Husheer, co-founder and CEO of Cambridge Temperature Concepts, and Lord Bilmoria, founder of Cobra Beer.

Karan Bilimoria (Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea) is founder of the popular UK beer brand, Cobra Beer. Winner of 85 Gold Medal awards, it’s no wonder that Cobra Beer is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK, sold in nearly 48,000 restaurants, bars and supermarkets, with a retail value turnover of £178 million. Founded in 1990, Lord Bilimoria created a unique beer which led to a Joint Venture with Molson Coors, the biggest family owned brewer in the world. Lor Bilimoria has won numerous awards in recognition of his business achievements and charitable work, including an Honorary Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA). In 2006, he was appointed The Lord Bilimoria, of Chelsea.

Dr Darrin Disley is CEO of Horizon Discovery Ltd, the fast growing Cambridge-based company that provides research tools to support the development of personalized cancer medicines. A Cambridge alumni with a PhD in Biotechnology, Darrin is now an experienced and successful parallel entrepreneur who has been involved in the start-up and growth of ten high-tech business ventures.

Dr Shamus Husheer is co-founder and CEO of Cambridge Temperature Concepts. He is the inventor of the technology behind the successful DuoFertility and a proud winner of the CUE Entrepreneurs´ Challenge 2007. Shamus also returns as Cambridge alumni, with a PhD in Nuclear and Structural Chemistry, and has founded several other companies before the successful Temperature Concepts.

The event is free and open to everyone, including those with no business experience and only the slightest curiosity of what business entails. Over free refreshments and food, come meet like-minded potential teammates or simply learn about this year’s Entrepreneurs’ Challenge.

Previous winners and participants of CUE’s various competitions will be present to talk about their experience through CUE and the business development. Come along and find out what it takes to be a winner and how you can be one by entering the £100 for 100 Words Competition.

Agenda:

18:00-18:30 Registration, CUE alumni company showcase

18:30-18:45 Introduction to CUE and the business creation competition

18:45-19:00 Speech by CUE competition winner, Dr Shamus Husheer, CEO of Cambridge Temperature Concept

19:00-19:30 Speech by Dr Darrin Disley, CEO of Horizon Discovery Ltd.

19:30-20:00 Speech by Lord Karan Bilimoria, Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer

20:00-21:30 Canapé reception, CUE alumni company showcase, and networking

CUE is organising an Appathon as part of the Silicon Valley comes to the UK events! Registration is now open so sign up at: http://bit.ly/appathon

The Cambridge Appathon is a two-day hackathon event taking place on the 8th/9th October in the Computer Laboratory. Hundreds of students across the country will also take part in regional Appathons.

The aim is for students to get together and build web and mobile applications on well-known consumer facing platforms, using newly released government data sets. We’ll have support available on the day from the platform providers (to be revealed - though I’m sure you can guess!) and also the government data guys.

There are some spectacular prizes available for the best apps, including trips to Silicon Valley!

As you can imagine, numbers are strictly limited so please register now to save your place! http://bit.ly/appathon

For more info about the overall events, see svc2uk.com/appathon