(Steve Marsh, CEO of GeoSpock and CUE Entrepreneur of the Year 2012)

Angel technology investors have piled £160k into a Cambridge UK startup developing a real-time, geospatial social networking platform.

GeoSpock Limited is being backed by Execute Technologies Inc. alongside BioMedTech angels Darrin Disley, Jonathan Milner, Peter Keen and Dan Cowell. And it’s already looking at expansion into the US via a California hub.

In a bid to underpin global traction the young business is taking a Facebook-style approach to the commercial launch. Marsh said the company – whose development team was currently working at ideaSpace – had just secured a ‘Hacker House’ where they will live and work.

“It worked for Facebook in their early days and we’re hoping it will work for us too,” said Marsh.

The company has not only summoned the inspiration of Facebook but also evoked the spirit of Spock to power the new enterprise.

Marsh said: “The name GeoSpock is a portmanteau of geo, showing the focus on physical location, and Spock, whose primary job in Star Trek was to discover brave new worlds. The apps we are creating will act like Spock’s Tricorder, allowing people to manage and explore the global data environment and use it to enhance the way in which they interact with each other.”

CUE’s ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ believes the venture “will breathe new life into online social networking.”

The business is already in hiring mode and is looking for a couple of additional developers initially. “We have just hired an amazing iOS developer who is busy creating really slick mobile apps,” said Marsh.

“We’re also hoping to bring on board a Python and database guru to help us build our back-end Collide platform. The aim is to create world-class technology which can simultaneously power a multitude of geo-spatial applications.”

GeoSpock is instantly international. Marsh said: “Our mobile applications will be available worldwide on launch. Also, while we are currently based in Cambridge we have plans to open an additional office in San Francisco in two to three years-time.”

At the University, Marsh is researching real-time, large-scale super-computing solutions designed to model human brain functionality; he turned his mind in 2012 to building a platform that would bring passive social networking, professional networking and dating applications to life by facilitating real-time interaction via ‘user-defined,’ dynamic profile filtering and pinpoint location mapping.

The key to solving the issue of “how do you gets millions of users interacting in real time with their networks is scalability,” says Marsh. “It is a fantastic opportunity to develop a cool technology solution, but more than that – for us to build something which can improve people’s lives on a daily basis by solving real-world problems is an amazing feeling.”

In addition to the £160k investment, Marsh recently received £10,000 for the CEDAR Enterprise Fellowship 2012 awarded by Anglia Ruskin University and £2,500 from Carpe Diem Trust, sponsor of the Cambridge University Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The proceeds of both awards are being used to accelerate the business activities of the company.

Darrin Disley, CEO of personalised medicines trailblazer Horizon Discovery has become non-executive chairman of GeoSpock Ltd.

Dr Disley said: “I first spotted Steve while judging the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs business plan competition of 2012 and felt there was a touch of genius about this young working-class lad from Salford.

“I followed him through that competition and while his business plan did not meet the textbook requirements of the competition, a group of angels advising on the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award were unanimous that this was the guy we would like to back. This wish has now become a reality and we are happy to place our cash, time and experience behind such a great idea.

“The investment is being used to hire a crack back-end and front-end team to develop the core platform and release two initial applications in the social networking and dating space.”

- For more, visit Business Weekly

By: Michelle Jane Stewart

CUE recently sat down for a chat with Dr Darrin Disley, CEO of Horizon Discovery Ltd, to gain some insight into his experience as a Life Science entrepreneur, his time with Horizon and his views on the future of entrepreneurship in Cambridge.

As a successful and experienced parallel entrepreneur, Dr Disley has been involved in the founding and growth of no less than ten high-tech business ventures. He is a Cambridge alumnus with a PhD in Biotechnology and has been an advisor on commercialisation strategies to key technology centres in Europe, USA, India and Africa. Arguably his most successful venture to date, Horizon Discovery Ltd, a translational genomics company based at the Cambridge Research Park, is one of the fastest growing biotech companies in Europe, having raised £14mil of equity investment, closed >£12mil in sales and returned £3.5 mil to founders and early investors. This included an 11x return on the initial seed investment from Cambridge Enterprise in 2010.

As a serial entrepreneur, you have founded a variety of companies in the past. Have you noticed any key factors that make certain companies turn out more successful than others?

I think there are many ingredients to a successful business but it almost always starts with a disruptive solution to a problem. In my experience, rarely are ideas truly disruptive, in other words exhibiting the potential to completely change the way we do things or view the world. Many innovators make the mistake of providing solutions to problems that either do not exist or do not have critical value to a clearly-defined market demographic. To me, identifying problems is the hardest and most important part! Once you have that sorted, you can begin to innovate, identify a platform, product or service solution and quantify your company’s value to investors and most importantly your customers.

It is crucial in any venture to assemble the right team of people who can deliver both the technology and product development plans within the context of a well-conceived and realistic business plan. At the end of the day, investors back people as much as, if not more than, any technology, product or service. Personally, I am looking for people who realise that customers should always be the focus of their efforts and placed at the centre of their business plan. When I invest in a start-up team, I need to make sure that they are passionate and able to go the distance but at the same time, I also need them to be pragmatic and honest with themselves - knowing when to change course or even stop is just as important as knowing when to persist and not give up. Additionally, I also look at their leader to see if they are able to sell the business, not just to investors, but to the rest of the team and to customers. A good leader will also be able to inspire his team to band together even in the face of adversity or setbacks.

Often, the hardest step for aspiring entrepreneurs is making the transition from a paper-based business plan to actually establishing the business. Has this been a problem for you and how do you know when to stop planning and start doing?

It is right to say that a business plan is only an initial sales and operational planning tool, and soon you will have to make the leap and actually get your hands dirty, to begin implementation.As for when to stop planning and start doing, once you have determined the key risk vs reward milestones it is time to push the pedal to the metal. It is essential not to enter what is known as analysis paralysis (i.e. thinking too much) or become gun shy, but to get out there and meet your future partners, customers and investors.

I do find it interesting that many aspiring entrepreneurs I talk to have plans only as far as developing their technology, validating it with a few early-adopter deals, and then sell it off as soon as possible to a larger player (invariably one located outside of the UK). The classical start-up route often builds on a period of technology transfer, textbook financing strategies and conservative business development. There is a fundamental misalignment between this model and how most entrepreneurs that I know think. I look to build businesses in the most capital efficient and non-dilutive (of equity) manner possible, getting ahead of the classical financing game and gaining early customer validation or even customer investment. This, I would argue, gives you the best chance of building a long-term sustainable business.

Horizon Discovery is arguably your most successful company to date, having raised £14mil of equity investment, close to £12mil in sales and returned £3.5mil to founders and early investors including an 11x return on the initial seed investment from Cambridge Enterprise all over the past 3 years. What has made Horizon Discovery so successful?

I think the management team’s ability to maintain enterprise control of the company has much to do with our success to date. We got ahead of the game by importing a US technology that had been built with >$50 mil of NIH funding; then by in licensing a range of derivative products made using this technology at Universities located around the world we were able to generate product and service revenue from day one.  This is quite unconventional and allowed us to demonstrate a proven track record when we went for larger rounds of funding. By bringing in corporate investors (Genentech and Roche) whose motives were grounded more in early technology access rather than early financial returns, we were able to keep close alignment of interest between the early shareholders, investors, and incoming investors (by insisting on only a single share class and the generation of a private market liquidity). This allowed the management team much more freedom in decision and deal making. It was a difficult path to take when easier investment was available and we had to operate under sub-optimal operational conditions for a long time (without a fancy building or the usual trappings of a well backed VC start-up).

Additionally, we owe our success to the vision, experience and pragmatism of our founder Dr Chris Torrance who managed to bring the right people together for the business. Acknowledging that his scientific background conferred limitations when trying to establish and build the business, he graciously allowed other people (including yours truly) to take control over the broader business strategy, scale-up and globalisation of the business. Since then, we have collectively built an entrepreneur-based management team with a vision of growing and sustaining a successful UK based biotech company.

Horizon and yourself via direct donations and support from Carpe Diem Trust, represent CUE’s biggest sponsors with £22,500 of support in 2011/12 (£100k over 5 years). You also put in a significant amount of your personal time to support CUE business plan training, judging and other events. What motivates you to support us and what value do you see in it?

There are many reasons why I support CUE, but is the  main aim is to support the next generation of young entrepreneurs, as I believe the future of our living standards, social cohesion and the UK’s broader standing in the world is dependent on their success in building the knowledge-based economy essential to deliver high levels of growth for the future.  I think it’s important to maintain a healthy entrepreneurial environment at the University and I want to create an environment of challenge and opportunity for the next generation of entrepreneurs by passing on my skills or helping out financially. My generation has funded our lifestyles on high levels of debt for 30 years, which is unsustainable in the long run and harmful to the prosperity of future generations. We cannot focus solely on selling services to each other, nor can we rely on a contracting industrial base grounded in a golden age long since gone. The UK must build businesses with non-organic growth potential (healthcare, cleantech & high tech) to ensure jobs and prosperity in the future. Developing and honing entrepreneurship as well as entrepreneurial talent is paramount. This is why we hire mostly young people at Horizon to give them a chance, train them well and provide them with long-term mentorship and opportunities to lead.

CUE and its members constantly strive to provide better support for aspiring entrepreneurs in Cambridge. Do you have any advice or suggestions on how we can improve in the future?

I think CUE has done a wonderful job over the years but there are definite areas for improvement. While presenting a well laid out business plan is important, care should be taken to balance the academic vs. translational training given. CUE needs to educate its members of the multiple purposes of the business plan competition, namely to take budding entrepreneurs through the process of writing a business plan; provision of a platform for expression and recognition of their future CEO potential and; and in rare cases, the opportunity to deliver on a real business opportunity, as Owlstone Nanotech and Cambridge Temperature Concepts have done in recent years.

Enlisting a larger number of entrepreneurs (as opposed to consultants) as mentors/judges, especially at the earlier stages of the competition, would be beneficial to this cause and should achieve a more diversified and “real-world” view point. Secondly, we should focus not only on the quality of the business ideas but also on identifying talented entrepreneurs who might not necessarily have the best idea at that time. This is the main reason I am sponsoring new prizes this year for the most promising general and biotechnology entrepreneurs.

This feature on Dr Disley can also be viewed at Business Weekly.

“The kudos endemic in startup competitions carries an equally important payback to any cash prizes, the keynote speaker told Cambridge University Entrepreneurs’ £1k winners.

Professor Ian White, from the university’s Department of Engineering, said that while CUE had awarded over £500k in prize money to more than 40 start-ups since 1991 there was far more to winning than the cash….”

Exciting news has just come in from the technology community!

On the 22nd of February, Rapportive formally announced that it has been acquired by LinkedIn. While no official figures have been announced, technology analysts estimate the deal to be worth around US$15 million.

CUE wishes to extend our heartiest congratulations to former CUE president and current CEO of Rapportive, Rahul Vohra. After his time at Cambridge, Rahul co-founded and was involved with a number of start-ups, including Rapportive, a Gmail plugin which consolidates and displays the latest social networking updates from people you contact via email.

This serves as a true inspiration to all the budding entrepreneurs in Cambridge and beyond, and shows how CUE can help you achieve your entrepreneurial dreams!

Read more here and here

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.

“Teams bidding for glory in Cambridge University Entrepreneurs’ £1k challenge are set to unveil game-changing technologies worth billions in potential revenue but carrying the promise of priceless benefits for humanity. Healthcare and CleanTech are very much to the fore as more than 50 candidates bid for prizes and progress at the CUE showpiece on February 22 at the Wolfson Lecture Theatre…”

More details, including summaries of the entries, can be found @ Business Weekly

Thanks to all who made it to the Co-Founder Speed Dating! We hope you have met some interesting people and now on the road to starting a venture and to enter the CUE £1k Competition!

If you are still looking for team mates, CUE is proud to announce the launch of a trial version of the CUE Idea Marketplace, where you can post your ideas and advertisement for people to join your team.

Give it a go and let us know how it went (by commenting below)!

CUE Idea Marketplace

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/.

Congratulations on all who submitted entries to the £100 for 100 Words Competition!

Come to find out who are the winners of £100 prizes at the first ever Cofounder Speed Dating event on Wednesday, 16th November 2011.

While you are waiting, why not join us in the Enterprise Tuesday Discussion Group after attending the Enterprise Tuesday lecture series? Or go to events organised by our sister societies like CUTEC and Beyond Profit to learn more about technology and social enterprise start ups.

And get ready for the £1K Competition!

“…Developers from Apple, Facebook, Google and Nokia were on hand to provide advice to the teams, who used newly released Government data to create apps that will be judged on their impact, originality, functionality and viral potential…”

“…RISE Youth, which won Cambridge University Entrepreneurs’ Social Enterprise accolade this summer, has grabbed a large slice of the glory at another high profile pitch event…”

“Enecsys, a spinout company from the Department of Engineering and the leader in reliable, long-life solar micro inverter systems for residential and commercial applications, has secured a further £25 million ($41 million) in equity financing to invest in its growth plan.”

“… Cambridge University Entrepreneurs is seeing an increasing number of students interested in setting up their own companies, following a spell where the lure of safe jobs in industry threatened to stifle ambition…”

The Competition Handbook 2011/12 is out! Check out what’s news for this year’s competition. Make sure you’re aware of the changes this year intending to make the Business Creation Competition more accommodating and instrumental in your entrepreneurial journey than ever!

1. A General Innovation stream is introduced to the £1k and £5k Competitions to capture all business ideas that do not fit into the current competition stream structure.
2. £100 for 100 Words Competition entries will only be judged on one criterion: potential.
3. There will only be one £5k Competition stage: all entrants to this sub-competition are required to submit their entries by the deadline and come to the Grand Finale to find out who the winners are.
4. Business plans for the £5k Competition have a word limit of 2000 to 3500. Please be concise and convey your unique selling points to the judges within the word limit.
5. Alumni of the University of Cambridge are now eligible to enter the competition given that they graduated from the University no more than 12 months.
6. Past and current i-Teams participants are allowed to enter the £1k and £5k Competitions with the entry fee waived, provided that they obtain a letter from Amy Mokady and submit it with their entries.

An experienced judge for the software and web stream, Neil Davidson from RedGate Softwares, “rants” about what a judge would like to see in a winning business plan submitted for the CUE Business Creation Competition.

The Annual Review is out! Check out the winners of last year’s Business Creation Competition and find out how you can become one!

Come pick up the hard copies at the Grand Launch!

…the journey starts now – not just the four £5k prize winners but also for many other teams among the original entry of 300… Andy Richards, Serial entrepreneur.

Business Weekly

Having scooped one of the top accolades the night before in CUE’s Entrepreneurs’ Challenge, Qiqqa won £3000 from Red Gate Software and a three-month placement at Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play Tech Center…
Business Weekly

RISE, Qiqqa, Sphericos Biotechnologies and eComm won the four major £5k prizes at tonight’s CUE Entrepreneurs Challenge at Cambridge Union.

Business Weekly

….several of tonight’s finalists have the potential to be global commercial successes.

Business Weekly

With Qiqqa, pronounced ‘quicker’, you will complete your PhD in less time – by helping you work smarter, not harder.

Business Weekly

Asian student entrepreneurs dominate the final reckoning in a Cambridge University business competition encouraging student entrepreneurship.

Business Weekly

Twelve of the most innovative new technologies to emerge from Cambridge University students this year go on parade in the Grand Finals on June 8.

Business Weekly

Cambridge University Entrepreneurs presents the first ever careers event for Cambridge students and partner companies

On Wednesday May 4th, Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) will be launching its first ever Careers Event for local start-up and CUE alumni companies to attract and network with Cambridge undergraduate and graduate students for internships or full-time positions.

Date: Wednesday 4 May 2011, 16:30–19:30
Location: Hicks and Meade Room, Cambridge University Centre, Granta Place, Mill Lane

Schedule:

16:30–19:30 Main careers event, Hicks Room
16:45–19:30 Company pitching sessions (10 minutes per company), Meade Room

In collaboration with the Cambridge University Careers Service, Employment Bureau of Anglia Ruskin University, The Open University Careers Advisory Service and AIESEC Cambridge, the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) will be launching their first ever Careers Event for local start-up and CUE alumni companies to attract and network with Cambridge undergraduate and graduate students for internships or full-time positions.

Students are asked to register for free tickets at http://cuecareersevent2011.eventbrite.com/.

Event brochure – including profiles of companies, their representatives, and descriptions of advertised positions

Companies interested in taking part at the event can contact career_division@cue.org.uk.

Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) is a student society which organizes business and entrepreneurial events and training opportunities for students throughout the year and runs one of the most successful student-run business creation competitions in the world. Since 1999 CUE has awarded over £500k in prize money to more than 40 start-ups, many of which have developed into influential companies. Collectively, CUE alumni companies have secured over £42 million of investment.

What you can expect from being the CUE president:

• Have an impact, make a difference
• Working with many of the most talented in Cambridge and beyound
• Full-time sabbatical position with stipend
• Managing a £100,000 yearly budget
• Unparalleled access to high-profile sponsors and contacts within the Cambridge, London and international business community
• Future employment opportunities
• National leadership training and international conference opportunities

Do you have what it takes? 

• Passion
• Commitment
• Excellent communication skills
• Initiative, motivation, and creativity

Please submit a CV along with a cover letter by 15th April 2011. Should you have preliminary questions about the president position please get in touch with Shen L. Wei at shen.wei@cue.org.uk.

£5K Challenge Phase a (Business Plan Competition) Submission

Deadline Friday 25th February 13:00 pm

Finalist announcement: 23rd of March, 2011 [..]

Join CUE and 5K entrants for a free cocktail and more! 

 Finalist announcement & Cocktail party

 Date and Time: 18:00-21:30, Tuesday, 29 March, 2011

 Location: Main Bar, Cambridge Union 

Regisger at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1454112289

For your free cocktail, please register and bring your ticket along for the exchange of a token at reception.

18:00-18:30 pm: Registration 

18:30-19:30 pm: Poster Session and networking (snacks provided)

19:30-20:30 pm: Finalist announcements

 20:30-21:30 pm: Cocktails and networking

 
The £5K Entrepreneurial Challenge Cocktail Party is fast approaching! The cocktail party is a widely attended networking event during which the finalists shall be announced, thus marking the final leg of the challenge.

Come see which teams will have the chance to carry on in the Entrepreneurs’ Challenge and enjoy special guest speakers, networking, and drinks. The finalists will be put on the spot to pitch their plans and posters from all of the great entries we’ve received will be on display.

Join CUE and Cambridge Consultants for a short session on

Bathtub to Warehouse

  
Does your CUE business idea involve developing a product?  Either for a product company, or a service company or you may have a technology platform idea?  Would a demonstration of your concept and how it could be used help you sell your idea?  A really good demonstrator can help you not only gain the confidence of investors and potential customers but can also help you take huge steps towards a real order book.  

This session was also delivered at MIT, Cambridge, USA. [..]

Clothing courtesy of Mzansi Designers Emporium-Johannesburg. Transport provided by Virgin Atlantic. Make-up by Bobbi Brown. Part of Cambridge University Black & Ethnic Minority Week.

Touch of Africa intends to make African fashion accessible to the western market using responsible trading and buying practices, and is supported by Cambridge University Entrepeneurs.

CUTEC and CUE have come together to challenge entrepreneurial minded students with real-life, hands-on problems. Representatives from some of the most innovative Cambridge-based companies are joining us to stretch your imagination and find original and practical solutions to the problems they face.

[..]

How to make your elevator pitch the best of all?

How to make your business plan stand out from 1000 others?

Come join us for an afternoon of free training!

Well done to all entrants for the £1k competition! If you’re interested in getting involved but for £5k this time, come along to our £5k Training Event this Saturday, register at ‎www.5ktraining2011.eventbrite.com!

[..]

Mark your calendars now!

Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) warmly invites you to join us for one of the most exciting events in Cambridge, CUE Grand Launch, where you can find out how to be a real entrepreneur and win from £100 to £5K as a bonus.

18 Oct 2010, 6:30 - 9:30pm

[..]

CU Entrepreneurs runs one of the most successful student-run business creation competitions in the world. The CUE Committee is an exciting and dynamic team of students that meets regularly and runs the organisation.

The Committee attracts some of our most talented and interesting members – most of us want to start businesses on graduation, if we are not already running them. We’re getting great experience from building the Society and running it in a way that is a model for our members in terms of innovation, quality and ambition.

[..]

It’s easy: just pitch your business idea to us in 100 words or fewer. The challenge here is to condense what you want to say and get all the major points across in just a paragraph. There is no need to give away any private information – a public summary is enough to win the competition. Then, submit your summary online at www.cue.org.uk.

Submission deadline: 29th of October, 2010.

Come meet us on the 5th-6th of October at the Fresher’s fair!!!

A new alliance between Business Weekly and CUE – Cambridge University Entrepreneurs – to nourish and nurture grass roots enterprise at student level.

Business Weekly

The team formed as iSolve and entered the CUE (Cambridge University Entrepreneurs) 1k competition in January 2009, pitching its idea of a mobile phone apps business with Sudoku Magic at its core in the hope of grabbing a £1000 prize.

Business Weekly

I saw science and technology being commercialised and knew this was where I wanted to be.

Business Weekly