Hi Everyone

Hope you all enjoyed yesterdays event but not really doubting it given that I almost had to kick people out after 2 hours of networking.

For those of you who couldnt make it I am afraid you ll live to regret not showing up.

We had Sachin Duggal introcuding us to the wonders of cloud computing, virtual desktops and we had an exclusive glimps of the cheapest computer in the world $50! The next Google from our very own IC .

Oliver Woolley (BBAA,Envestors)dispelled the myths surrounding raising finance in start-ups in an informative and entertaining way.

Despair not!

Our next event on the 26th is on “Marketing and Strategy” and we have Tazeeb Rajwani(Bravenewtalent),David Langer(Groupspaces) and Anand Aiyer.

Its shaping up to be phenomenal so looking forward to see you all there.

In the meantime read this great article which is an excerpt of this weeks special report in the Economist.
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13216025

Best

Niccolo

Hi everyone

Our next event is on the 16th at 6.20pm Imperial College, Blackett LecT1, Prince Consort Road SW7.

The talk is on Raising and managing finance and we have Oliver Woolley(BBAA and Envestors) and Sachin Duggal (Nivio),both very successful Imperial Alumni, coming along so it’s bound to be exciting .
You will also get a chance of meeting some your mentors for the competition for our networking/drinks to follow.

Oliver is a Founder Partner of Envestors LLP in 2004 and an Executive Director of the British Business Angels Association (BBAA).

Envestors LLP matches entrepreneurs with investors. The firm runs a network of 420 private investors looking to invest between £20,000 and £2m in early-stage ventures. It holds events every two months where companies seeking finance present to private investors, banks and investment funds. In 2008, Envestors won the BBAA Business Angel of the Year Award and Best Equity-backed Deal of the Year Award. www.envestors.co.uk.

The British Business Angels Association (BBAA) is the National Trade Association for the UK’s Business Angel Networks and the early stage investment market and is backed by the UK Government (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). The BBAA promotes the recognition of Member Business Angel Networks and organised angel groups. Its roles include highlighting the contribution business angels make to the entrepreneurial culture, lobbying government and encouraging the exchange of best practice. www.bbaa.org.uk

After Bristol university, Oliver decided not to become an accountant but instead raised private equity and bank debt to start his own venture in the food industry - including a retail catering business in central London and organic sausage shops in the south-east of England. In 1997 he sold the business and moved into early-stage investing. Oliver has invested in, and sits on the board of, several early-stage businesses. Oliver has a MBA from Imperial College, London.

At 25, Sachin Duggal’s profile is a rich mosaic of experiences. He was an entrepreneur at 15, worked for the United Nations and wrote the declaration of youth rights before he completed his first degree from Imperial College. Sachin has also built a successful software business and was an investment banking prodigy in parallel. Sachin’s dream now hinges on his attempt to redefine computing completely by introducing simple, economical & effective services.

Sachin started his public foray very early in life, at the age of 12 he went on stage in front of 1200 people and the world media to demand something be done about the state of the environment. He further went on to work as a Youth Minister and wrote the Declaration of Youth Rights and handed this to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Sachin’s career began at the age of 15, when he formed SMX Corporation along with a friend. They began operations (fixing computers) from his house. From there the company went through various iterations; from building PCs to virtual hosting onto software development. By 18, Sachin had taken the company solo and started work on SMX’s first portal for an agriculture client. By 19 Sachin and SMX had got their first big customer and since then the software business has evolved and transformed into a global provider of management systems.
In the midst of setting up this multi-million dollar business he obtained an Information Systems Engineering degree from the prestigious Imperial College, joined Deutsche Bank as their youngest employee at the age of 17 & built systems that generate tens of millions of dollars for the bank. Sachin is continuously striving to change the world. At Deutsche bank he was branded a serial innovator and shared the table with the top most management on the board of innovation. To that, Sachin is still approached time and again for ideas and suggestions from his previous bosses.
In August 2004, Sachin co-founded SMX iNet Global Services SA (now Nivio), a new addition to the SMX family with a view to explore Internet technologies. He got seed funding from two of his bosses! Originally named myremoteworkstation, he believed that the world of computing would change, become simple & hassle free. He dreamed of a desktop that was anywhere and nowhere; that was stress-free and fault-proof. Hence Nivio!
Fast forward to 4 years later, Nivio SA was selected as a technology pioneer at the World Economic Forum in January, 2009. Sachin made history in being the youngest attendees at the WEF in Davos. Furthering his accomplishments, he is of the youngest in WEF Davos history to win the Technology Pioneers of 2009 award. He now joins the elite likes of Google and Infosys.
Sachin’s other accolades include the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Leader of Tomorrow, the BBC Young Asian achiever of the Year and UNEP Global 500 Youth Award.
Sachin is also driven by the desire to educate the 3 rd world and particularly the children below the poverty line. He hopes to do this with his NGO in the making

Don’t forget to sign up by filling the seat booking form on
http://niccolo.wufoo.com/forms/3rd-event-seat-booking/
or drop your name on lm205@ic.ac.uk.
Places are filling up quickly! Don’t leave it to the last minute.

Can’t wait
N

Dear members

Our next event is on Monday 2nd of March at 6pm (Blackett Lect1,Prince Consort rd SW7). The Talk will be about Technology transfer and Intellectual property.
We are thrilled to have Hugh Penfold of Imperial Innovations to come and speak about his 20 years of experience with spinning out companies in the Bio-tech sector.

Have a look at his impressive Bio below!

Hugh Penfold has over twenty years experience in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries. He has held international business development positions in large and small companies (Medeva, Amersham, Celltech, Avidex), and in the public sector (British Technology Group). Prior to joining Imperial Innovations in June 2005, Hugh was Business Development Director for a non-profit organisation, MIHR, improving access to healthcare in the developing world through innovative management of intellectual property.
His experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology licensing and intellectual property includes small molecule drugs, biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, devices and drug delivery technologies. He has also established several profitable international collaborative ventures with the former Eastern bloc. Hugh’s training included undergraduate and postgraduate studies in genetics, and a postdoctoral fellowship studying mammalian cell genetics.

The talk will be followed by networking/drinks and introduction to mentors for competition entrants.
Expect the usual suspect on the Business Angel and Entrepreneurs front!

We will have a traffic light format (green entrepreneur/entrant, orange mentors, red investors) to maximize networking outcome.
This event is open to externals and we have had attendants from Cambridge, Oxford, KCL etc… in the past.
A membership fee of £5 applies to external (non IC) members for the entire year!

Join us on http://younoodle.com/groups/ideas_empowered for a chance to win £3000

Don’t forget to book your seat by sending your names to lm205@ic.ac.uk to avoid disappointment or fill in the following seat-booking form

http://niccolo.wufoo.com/forms/2nd-event-seat-booking/

All the best

Niccolo