Accelerate Cambridge associates

Gaining Traction as a Startup: Ash’s session is a Q&A designed to share his experiences in setting up, running, and expanding sales teams and creating business growth.

Based on his experience, he believes that the success stories of the future will be the organisations that look beyond shareholder value to deliver against the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit. Ashley led the drive for Positive Momentum to become a B Corp, an accreditation that reflects a global culture shift to redefine success in business by balancing purpose and profit.

Ashley is a consultant with Positive Momentum and whilst he has a broad range of clients his sweet spot is businesses with sustainability at their core. He has helped a wide range of clients to achieve stellar success, including Flowgem, a water-saving start-up that grew from zero to a £13 million sale to Centrica in 18 months.

Personifying the Positive Momentum maxim of no-nonsense business expertise, Ashley helps organisations to make the complex simple for employees, customers, and shareholders. He has an awesome network and boundless energy that he will devote to empowering your teams and your business to become everything you hope for.

Addicted to business from an early age, Ashley got his first paper round aged 11 and a second after-school job at 13. At 18 he was doing business with farmers, and by his early twenties was selling mobile phones – when they were £3,000 each! Today he lives in the East of England flatlands with his wife Ros. He loves a sporting challenge and is currently focused on a channel swim in the next couple of years. Ashley’s alter ego is Ordinary Bloke, who blogs about the issues he believes are vital to keeping 7.5 billion people+ alive and well on a healthy planet.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

In my commercial and strategy leadership roles, I have the pleasure of working with remarkable teams bringing impact to organisational direction and processes for consistent delivery working with and for clients/customers, strategic partners and more. During 18 years across diverse industries and organisations, I’ve developed a passion for cultivating strong collaboration across internal teams, building a strong understanding of clients/customers through direct engagement and research methodologies, and delivering on GTM strategy across commercial processes.

While building a robust flywheel led by existing business into marketing, sales and product for recurring revenue, I’ve achieved and look for shifts towards operational opportunities leveraging innovative sustainability to deliver on organisational and client/customer’s evolving needs.

My personal interests include sustainability, digital health, education, and outdoor adventures.

Innovate UK Business Growth: Daniel’s session on Innovate UK Business Growth will outline some of the funding options available for start-up businesses and the ways that Innovate UK Business Growth could help.

Daniel is an experienced technology commercialisation and innovation management consultant and mentor. He provides advice, coaching and mentoring to technology SMEs, universities and innovation programmes around innovation, technology, marketing, and funding strategies.

Daniel has many years of experience in the high-tech sector, around the digital health, communications systems, automotive and defence sectors and has a great deal of experience in the assessment and preparation of grant applications and management of grant-funded projects.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

We help companies track anything, anywhere – instantly, accurately and affordably. Whether it’s medicines, machine parts or medical devices; if it matters to your business, we’ll help you track it. We remove the need for expensive barcode scanners or tediously typing data into spreadsheets – just download the free Orca Scan mobile app and use the camera on your phone. It’s that simple.

Introduction to Intellectual Property: Chris’ session aims to give an overview of the ins and outs of intellectual property, and the role that securing IP can play in growing a business.

Chris is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney in our Electronics, Software and Communications team. The focus of his work is the filing and prosecution of patent applications in the fields of electronics, computer implemented inventions, sensor systems, medical devices and materials science. He handles multi-disciplinary inventions on a regular basis.
Christopher mainly works on the drafting and prosecution of patent applications. In addition, he regularly works closely with clients and inventors to help them identify their inventions.

Christopher graduated from Cambridge University with a master’s degree in Experimental and Theoretical Physics. He also completed a PhD at the Cambridge Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, and worked as a postdoc on an EPSRC grant involving multiple universities and industrial partners prior to joining Venner Shipley.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

Marco Gomez-Jenkins is co-founder and CEO of SuperSharp, an Earth-Observation company developing unfolding space telescopes to capture ultra high-resolution images. He leads the development and execution of the business plan for the company as well as leading fundraising efforts and customer engagement. He holds an MBA from Imperial College London and was a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellow at the University of Cambridge, focusing on commercializing SuperSharp’s core technology developed at the Institute of Astronomy. Marco also has a background in aerospace engineering and was the Project Manager of the Irazú Project, a space mission that consisted of launching the first Central American satellite in 2018 to monitor carbon fixation in Costa Rican rainforests. He is a member of the Small Satellite Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics and of the Global Shapers community of the World Economic Forum.

Prototyping: Danny’s session will discuss the importance of prototypes and the role that prototyping and generating an MVP plays in securing investment.

Danny is a founding director of eg technology, an employee-owned product design & engineering specialist based in Cambridge, who now employ 50 staff. He has extensive experience at all stages of product development, from concept through to transfer-to-manufacture, specialising in medical devices, diagnostics and drug delivery devices.

Danny provides mentorship and guidance to clinical entrepreneurs, early-stage companies, start-ups and spin-outs at all stages of the product development journey, offering breadth and depth of industry knowledge in addition to cross-disciplinary engineering expertise.

As a member of the Experts in Residence programme and MedTech Accelerator Awards Committee among other initiatives, he supports the wider product development community, bringing life-enhancing technologies to market. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

Mark has been in cybersecurity his entire life. The seed was sown when he discovered that an administrator’s login could be bypassed on the school’s BBC Micros! After school, he became a trusted cyber advisor to many businesses for many years.

He has implemented cyber compliance programs, authored academic papers, and taught undergraduates and postgraduates the art of penetration testing and network forensics.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

John is the founder and Director of Cambridge Machine Learning and an award-winning serial entrepreneur. He has started numerous tech ventures in software and A.I. in industries including healthcare, education, and big data. Now focusing on innovative applications of Generative AI, John and his team are preparing to disrupt the education/training industries with their new A.I. product.

Creating the Right Visual Content: Keith’s session will give tips, tricks, and technical help to consider when producing video content to advertise your business and products.

Keith is a multi-National award winning Picture Editor and photographer. With over 40 years’ experience in the media supplying photographs and video for use around the world, he’ll be sharing some of that expertise to help you have the best chance in creating video and photography for your businesses.

Starting in weekly newspapers, then running his own business Keith then went into daily newspapers, coming to Cambridge 23 years ago to be Picture Editor of the Cambridge Evening News photographic team and managing the supply of photographs to 11 Daily Editions and 10 weekly newspapers and magazines. Keith then joined the start-up Cambridge Independent as Picture Editor with just four people growing to16 by Sept 2016 since then they have been voted the best weekly newspaper in the country for five consecutive years and have grown to own 40 newspapers from Scotland to Hampshire, a radio station, and TV station.

Wellbeing and Resilience: Jodie’s session on Wellbeing and Resilience aims to help manage the stresses of entrepreneurship and teach how to build personal resilience.

Jodie is a Business Psychologist in OE Cam’s Talent Management practice. She has a keen interest in understanding the role individual differences play in the workplace; specifically how strengths, weaknesses and preferences impact the way people work individually and as part of a team. She applies a broad variety of psychometrics with her clients and is experienced in designing and facilitating leadership development to enable individuals to work more effectively.

Prior to OE Cam, Jodie worked at a multi-national corporation where she was responsible for the Go-To-Market strategy for training & development across EMEA. Therefore, she is well-versed in understanding and scoping bespoke learning needs and recommending appropriate solutions across a wide variety of organisations.

Manaz leads the equality, diversity and inclusion strategy at Cambridge Judge Business School and brings with her years of multi-sector experience of successfully developing and embedding diversity and inclusion practices.

Over her career, Manaz has enabled and facilitated much needed cultural change by including all stakeholders and prioritising inclusion from leadership right through to teams and staff.

Sales, Persuasion and Negotiation: Negotiations take place everyday, yet many people do not spend enough time preparing for them. Claire’s talk will address what you can do to enter everyday negotiations at an advantage.

As the head of Innovation at Hallmark Care Homes, I am passionate about creating positive change in the care industry through innovative solutions and technologies.

With over 15 years of experience in healthcare and innovation, I have led many successful projects and initiatives. My expertise lies in identifying and implementing cutting-edge technologies, and my deep understanding of the healthcare landscape allows me to develop innovative strategies with tangible results.

At Hallmark Care Homes, My role involves developing new products and services, exploring emerging technologies, and collaborating with key stakeholders to create new growth opportunities.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

Founder of Charco Neurotech, a design engineer who focuses on projects for patient care. She completed a masters in innovation design engineering at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art (Distinction), and a Korea University BA in industrial and informatic design.

She was a product designer at Samsung Design Membership and PDD London, and a marketing intern at Cheil Worldwide. She has carried out extensive research with patients to gain insights and develop prototypes through user testing.

Lucy’s team combines the skills of neuroscientists, design engineers, and medical professionals. Together they are developing the CUE1 device, with and for people with Parkinson’s, to improve their quality of life. They believe in simple, non-invasive technologies like CUE1 that can help improve quality of life for people with long term conditions, and to this end, they are continuously researching new treatment methods based in science.

Term Sheets: Chris will provide an overview of the key elements of a typical fundraising term sheet.

Chris is a partner and head of the emerging companies team at Taylor Vinters. He has over a decade of experience advising early-stage and fast-growth businesses, particularly in the technology sector. He practices both as a corporate lawyer and commercial and IP specialist, and splits his time between offices in the golden triangle of UK innovation; Cambridge (where he lives), London and Oxford. Taylor Vinters’ market-leading technology practice advises on over 150 fundraising transactions every year acting for both growth companies and angel, venture capital and corporate investors.

Visit Chris’s LinkedIn profile

Gathering Market Intelligence Quickly: Chris’s Gathering Market Intelligence session will explore and empower you to make the best data gathering methods for your vital market research.

Chris Lamaison started in market research in the BOC Group (after a chemistry and geology degree at Exeter University) and has 45 years of market research and marketing roles in technology companies (such as BOC, Edwards High Vacuum, Hughes Aircraft Company, Smiths Industries and Perkin Elmer). After working in a life sciences Cambridge startup company, he started Cambridge Resolution, a specialist market research company, in 1998. He has worked with approximately 100 organisations over the last 21 years.

Building IP Strategies to Secure Investment: Darren’s session will walk you through 7 tops to make your business investible and due diligence ready.

Darren works with both innovative and ambitious technology driven start-ups and the investors who provide the funding they need to progress. His extensive insight into the way both sides work allows Darren to instantly see the situation from his clients’ respective perspectives so that he can provide them with the very best advice.

For start-ups this means building the robust IP strategy that will ensure they secure investment and increase exit valuation. It means ensuring that technology driven businesses looking to attract a buyer or additional investment have an IP portfolio that is “due diligence ready” so sale or investment progresses smoothly.

For investors it means conducting comprehensive IP due diligence that stress-tests the assumptions others have made about valuation and uncovers any associated IP risks in the most pragmatic and cost-effective way.

This avoids investors being asked to pay over-the-odds for their stake or taking on unknown risks and liabilities. It also makes it much easier for them to integrate the target business into their portfolio.

Darren’s decades of experience protecting technological innovations as diverse as explosive detectors, performance apparel, and cardiac ablation devices, means he can quickly build trust and confidence between the parties as he leads them to a deal. He will show that underlying innovations are sound and can be protected, that IP is correctly managed, and that the risks relating to IP have been identified, evaluated and tackled.

Darren also has considerable experience before the UK Intellectual Property Office and overseas Patent Offices, both in relation to patents and designs. As a qualified Patent Attorney Litigator he has also been involved in complex multi-jurisdictional disputes.

Angel Investments and Business Exits: Based on Phil’s own experience, his talks will describe the process of raising early-stage investment and detail what Angel investors are seeking. Followed by a session discussing what a business exit might look like for your venture.

Phil O’Donovan, as co-founder and Managing Director, helped grow Cambridge-based CSR plc from a start-up of nine into a highly successful FTSE 250 listed fabless semiconductor company employing, in 2015, more than 2,000 people in 23 locations.

Within four years from 1999, CSR became the Bluetooth market leader and supplier of chips to hundreds of global high-volume consumer product manufacturers. By 2012, CSR had achieved annual revenue of $1 billion and, by 2015, had shipped close to four billion chips. CSR was acquired by US company Qualcomm in September 2015 for $2.5 billion.

Phil is an Engineer and a Cambridge-based mentor, coach and investor in technology start-ups where he takes a non-executive director or chairman role. He is also a speaker on entrepreneurial topics at universities and business schools and an advisor to organisations wishing to commercialise their IP.

Setting-up Entity and Documents: Scott’s session will run through some of the key documentation and legal processes that you should be considering when running a startup business.

Scott is a Managing Associate in the Corporate department. He has experience in both transactional and general corporate advisory work with a focus on venture and growth capital.

Scott advises both companies/founders and institutions on financing rounds (from start-up financing, to S/EIS-compliant investments, through to later stage financings), mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganisations, and other corporate transactions. He acts with companies whose interests span a range of industries, with a particular focus on technology (including green tech, health tech, and edu tech).

Pawel is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney in our Electronics, Software and Communications team. He has industry experience having previously worked as a researcher for a major multinational electronics company developing memory devices. He represents a wide variety of clients in the high technology sector including a significant number of private inventors and start-up companies and clients located in the UK, Europe, Japan and the US and large multinational companies.

Pawel specialises in the fields of physics, electronics and computer software, and also in inventions which are multi-disciplinary in nature. His areas of expertise include semiconductor devices, embedded systems, power electronics, automotive electronics, nanotechnology, spintronics, printed electronics, RFID devices, telecommunications, computer networks, computer simulation, optical systems, sensors and medical devices.

He handles applications, oppositions and appeals at the European Patent Office and the UK Intellectual Property Office. He is familiar with overseas practice, particularly the US, Japan, Korea and China, obtaining protection for his clients via local associates. He also give opinions on infringement and validity.

Pawel is regularly invited by companies and universities to lecture on intellectual property and to hold intellectual property ‘clinics’. He has been reported in the press and given radio interviews on intellectual property.

In 2006, he took the lead in opening Venner Shipley’s office in Cambridge.

He is a member of the International Liaison Committee of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

Presenting your Best Self: Jeremy will be sharing his experiences and guiding you through the process of honing down your key message as well as offering advice on how best to communicate that message clearly and concisely.

As a former multi award-winning broadcaster, Jeremy is excellently placed to offer a unique insight from the other side of the mic and camera. With over twenty years’ experience at the BBC working as a radio and television presenter at BBC Look East, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio 4, he also appeared on BBC Radio 1, 5 Live, and 6 Music. His career has seen him interview high-ranking politicians, business leaders and A-list celebrities from the worlds of music, film and sport. He now runs Sallis Media which specialises in helping companies share their message with the world more effectively through customised media training, empowering them to build audiences, boost sales and protect their reputation.

Kal manages a successful HR team at Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) who are together responsible for all aspects of HR service delivery to the Schools 450 plus staff members. She leads the academic recruitment at the Business School, which remains internationally competitive in attracting the most talented academics to the Business School and is passionate about equality and diversity related issues, driving this agenda in all aspects of her work. Kal started her career with the Lloyds Banking group, moving into HR soon after joining upon realising her passions were more people orientated. Prior to joining CJBS six years ago, in true entrepreneurial style, Kal ran her own company, a website for parents with kids!

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

Xann is a full stack strategist and seasoned entrepreneur working at the intersection of startup tech and the arts. Creating accessibility to music and ‘singing with others’ has been the strand that ties most of her life’s work together and a core tenet of that has been celebrating and empowering diversity in music.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

1Point5 is a strategic consulting firm and a software solution provider to the agri-food industry accelerating the digital transformation, helping businesses improve efficiency and making the food supply chains fully transparent and sustainable.

Accessing Grant Funding: Alex’s session aims to help you balance out the pros and cons of pursuing grand funding.

Alex provides innovation support services to entrepreneurs, small businesses and universities under the brand name of Cambridge Innovation Solutions.
As an Associate of Cambridge Enterprise Ltd, he helps to deliver its International Outreach Programme, under which he delivers consultancy, training, mentoring and visit programmes for universities and public sector organisations from all over the world that want to learn lessons from the Cambridge experience for the development of their own knowledge economies. He is also an assessor of grant applications for several grant funding bodies.

Alex provides innovation support services to entrepreneurs, small businesses and universities under the brand name of Cambridge Innovation Solutions.
As an Associate of Cambridge Enterprise Ltd, he helps to deliver its International Outreach Programme, under which he delivers consultancy, training, mentoring and visit programmes for universities and public sector organisations from all over the world that want to learn lessons from the Cambridge experience for the development of their own knowledge economies. He is also an assessor of grant applications for several grant funding bodies.

Accelerate Cambridge Alumni Venture Panels: Former Accelerate Cambridge participants return to share their experiences and the lessons learnt along the way

Hannah Sore, is Founder and CEO of PharmEnable. A medicinal chemist by training, she is recognised for championing innovative methods for discovering much needed new drugs. She brings over 20 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge, including 10 years consulting and business experience across healthcare sectors at Frost & Sullivan and HFS Scientific Ltd. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.

Cap Tables: In this session, Jeremy will be discussing the who, what, where, how, and other essentials relating to Cap Tables.

Dr Jeremy Sosabowski is Co-founder & CEO at AlgoDynamix, an AI-based financial price forecasting analytics company. Their products are used by asset managers, including CTAs, hedge funds, and family offices. Jeremy has over a decade of business and technology commercialisation experience. His previous roles include CTO at an instrumentation company (technology acquired) and data analyst within the online transaction space. Publications include a chapter on ‘Financial forecasting and portfolio optimization in the 21st Century’ in the global bestseller ‘The WealthTECH Book’, Wiley editions. His ‘IP portfolio’ includes several granted patents and more than 10 peer-reviewed publications. Jeremy has an undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees in engineering, including an Engineering PhD from the University of Cambridge (laser physics/quantum mechanics).

The Business Model Canvas & Testing your Value Proposition: Gordon will be walking you through how to use the Business Model Canvas and the insights it offers about the customers your serve and your value proposition.

Gordon is a management consultant, facilitator and entrepreneur with over 30 years experience, the last 17 with his own business, InoSens. He has worked across a broad range of industries, working with teams, to deliver innovative and practical solutions to thorny business challenges. Particular interests lie in business model and value proposition design and implementation. Gordon lives in Cambridge with his wife, two kids and three guitars.

Howard lives in Suffolk in the UK. He loves research and going through academic papers. Health Mindset and Lifespan is Howard’s first non-fiction book and has been an eye-opening experience of learning during the COVID lock-down times in 2021. Howard is very optimistic about the future and the long-term prospects for humanity.

Educated at Woodbridge School, and growing up in the countryside, he has an affinity with nature as well as travel.

Howard has an MBA from the University of Cambridge. He was a Benavitch scholar at St Catharine’s College with key values for study set within social and community benefit. Howard specialised in Social Innovation with study on the circular economy, social enterprise, value-driven leadership, and incorporating the Sustainability Development Goals into investments and business.

As part of his study at Cambridge Judge Business School, he completed projects with Twitter and Unilever on user behaviour and sustainability. He also worked with Shell to better understand people’s perception of hydrogen fuel. After his MBA, Howard completed an internship at the Cambridge-based charity, Centre for Global Equality, working with social enterprises.

Howard also has a First Class Masters Degree in Mathematics from The University of Nottingham where he focussed on applied mathematics, quantum physics, fluid mechanics, and biological modelling. Howard wrote his dissertation on how neurons can form synchronous impulses and patterns. Howard spent part of his degree studying at the University of Melbourne where he was a member of Ormond College. Howard played hockey for college teams throughout his university career.

Alongside his interests in Lifespan, Howard works at Frank Investments, a private investment office in London, where he focuses on portfolio management and investment research. Howard is also a Trustee of The London Ballet Foundation with his wife Sophie. Howard has one son and one daughter, who both keep him on his toes.

Felicity is a Business Psychologist with expertise in applying psychological principles and psychometric tools to improve individual, team, and organisational effectiveness.

Felicity specialises in leadership and team development and leads content development for OE Cam’s eLearning platform. Utilising a blended approach to learning, she is passionate about empowering individuals and teams to leverage their unique and collective strengths. She has a particular interest in personality interactions and decision-making processes for both individuals and teams.