bioentrepreneurship seminar at karolinska university - james gupta & omair vaiyani from mycqs
TRANSCRIPT
Plan • Background & Introduction • Stories
– Part 1: Framing The Problem – Part 2: Thinking Differently
• Being a scientist entrepreneur: what are the disadvantages, what are the advantages? Why should people do it in the first place
• #innovation, #thinking, #entrepreneur, #scientist – Part 3: Finding and Validating an Idea
• How we came up with the idea for MyCQs after coming across a problem in our day to day life and looking for a better alternative. #ideation, #brainstorming
– Part 4: Growing & Scaling your Idea (JG) • Key Messages • Q&A / Discussion
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
James Background
• Medical student, Leeds University • Studying MSc Health Informatics • Formerly Chief Technical Officer at JumpIn, a
student taxi booking and sharing app • Currently Chief Executive Officer at MyCQs • Director for Doctorpreneurs • Innovator for Fourmore
• @gupta_james on Twitter
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Omair Background
• Medical student, Leeds University • Studying MSc Health Informatics • Currently Chief Technical Officer at MyCQs • Advisor for the UK Medical Students’ Assoc • Technical lead for InnovateHealth UK • Innovator for Fourmore
• @omairvaiyani on Twitter
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Omair / UKMSA
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Medics Handbook
#1 Medical App On Android
4 days aAer release
Framing The Problem Story 1
Don’t set out to start a company, aim to solve a problem
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions”
- Albert Einstein
Framing The Problem
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
80% of students study by
re-reading chapters of a textbook until they memorise it
MetacogniEve strategies in student learning: Do students pracEse retrieval when they study on their own?, Butler et al 2008.
99% of students study by cramming information in the days leading
up to an exam
The Stats Framing The Problem
“Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in the
sand, here today and gone tomorrow.
We are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we’re not
When the going is harder and slower and it
doesn’t feel productive, we are drawn to strategies that feel more fruitful, unaware that the gains from these strategies are often temporary”
Framing The Problem
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Evidence Based Learning
• Meaningful learning requires effort, not just time. • Effective techniques challenge you mentally,
forcing your brain to encode, consolidate and retrieve information in a range of different ways
Framing The Problem
The Problem Revisited
• Students are defaulting to ‘easy’ study methods
• Unaware of better alternatives
• Effective methods require more effort and take longer to see results
Framing The Problem
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Encourage students to become ac#ve agents in their own learning, instead of being passive receivers of informaEon.
The Solution Framing The Problem
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset Story 2
The importance of acquiring knowledge and culEvaEng creaEvity
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Q: Which is more powerful?
And why?
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
How did we figure this out?
Chance? Trial and error?
+ =
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.”
- Steve Jobs, Wired 1996
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Chance?
Trial and Error?
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
• In pure trial and error, you’d have to try millions of different things – Try a different brand of toothpaste? – More toothpaste, less toothpaste? – Warm the toothpaste first? What temperature? – Combine the toothpaste with something else?
• Expertise in a field greatly narrows the spectrum by excluding things that definitely won’t work
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Connecting the Dots
Buffer, The Secret to CreaEvity, Intelligence and ScienEfic Thinking
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
The human brain is a connector Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
We’re wired to see meaning and patterns
(even when they aren’t there!) Liu et al, Seeing Jesus in toast: Neural and behavioral correlates of face pareidolia
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Strawberries are soA
Straws are hard
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
GamificaEon
Mobile technology
Personalised Content
Spaced RepeEEon
Peer learning
Crowdsourcing Social
Networking
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
MyCQs
“What I cannot create, I do not understand” – Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1965
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
A Scientific Degree teaches…
• Technical knowledge of your domain • How to critically analyse data and interpret
evidence • Intellectual discipline
Highly valuable in business
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Low Hanging Fruit & Barriers to Entry
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways”
- Robert Greene, Mastery
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Medicine Technology
Enterprise
What we do Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Medicine
Technology Enterprise
cool stuff!!
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Key Point 1
Being a scien#st is about being analy%cal – gathering
deep knowledge and exper#se in a specific
domain
Being an entrepreneur is about being crea%ve, and combining knowledge from different fields in unique
ways
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Scientists & Entrepreneurs
The Great Divide?
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
“In order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces and build new castles”
- Maria Popova Brain Pickings, Networked Knowledge and Combinatorial CreaEvity
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Collect as many dots as possible!
Buffer, The Secret to CreaEvity, Intelligence and ScienEfic Thinking
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Key Point 2
Everything you learn about shapes the way you experience the world
Don’t s#ck rigidly to one
discipline: let your curiosity wonder and make
connec#ons
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Some ideas… • Programming
– Lets you create from your bedroom! • Neuroscience & Psychology
– How people think • Biology
– Nature has been running experiments on what works for millions of years!*
• Philosophy – The foundation of all knowledge
• History – Ideas throughout time and drawing parallels to modern
life
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Create a Stream of Great Content
Twitter • Use it! • Follow interesting people from various fields • Custom, curated newsfeed for your
interests • ‘At a glance’ Others: Feedly, Pocket etc
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Key Points • Scientists have great domain knowledge of
complex fields ripe for innovation • They also have good ability to interpret data
critically • Now you need to focus on letting yourself think
creatively as well as analytically • This means feeding your mind with knowledge
from other fields – giving yourself a unique filter to experience the world through
• Once you do this you’ll see things other people don’t
Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
The Startup Cycle Part 3
Start up. Cash in. Sell out. Bro down
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Early screening
• CompeEtor analysis • Who else is in the market • How successful are they • How their idea/service/product differs
• No compeEtors? • WHY?! • Quit while you’re ahead • Or seize the gap
The Startup Cycle
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Fail fast
Headd, B. Redefining Business Success: DisEnguishing Between Closure and Failure, 2002 # Shane, S. Startup Failure Rates – The Real Numbers, 2008 Phillips & Kirchhoff. Small Business: CriEcal PerspecEves
The Startup Cycle
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”
- Henry Ford
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
The Startup Cycle
Ac#ve Feedback Q: How do you study at present?
“Lots of reading from textbooks”
“Repeat until I can write out the whole doc. Do absolutely no
revision for anything the day before an exam.”
“Everything as it helps prevent boredom”
Source: MyCQs Survey of 25 students, August 2014
The Startup Cycle
Compe#tors
• Found many offering aspects of MyCQs • Social/Peer-‐to-‐Peer • Quiz creaEon • Good User Interface
• None covered all areas -‐> Gap in the market
The Startup Cycle
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Trend analysis
• Monitor updates • Adapt to changes
Site update, bounce rate down from 70% to 10%
The Startup Cycle
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Remaining ahead of the curve
• Spaced-‐repeEEon • Personalized learning
The Startup Cycle
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
So…
• You’ve come up with an idea that adds value to your life
• You’ve tested it and are reasonably sure it can add value to other people too
• How can you develop this idea and spread it to as many people as possible?
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Hockey Stick growth
Costs far outweigh revenue
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Downloads
When we first launched, 8 downloads a day at £2 Made it free one day…
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Downloads Scaling your Idea
13,000 downloads from people all over the world!
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
User Demographics
45% 18-‐24 – students 27% 25-‐34 – postgraduates, professionals
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Where is your business value?
Value Network
Content
Revenue
Partnerships
Team
Brand
SoAware
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Currently valued at $40 billion
hsp://www.cnbc.com/id/102243201#
Why?
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Currently valued at $40 billion
Why?
Scaling your Idea
Value Network
Content
Revenue
Partnerships
Team
Brand
SoAware
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Currently valued at $40 billion
Why?
Scaling your Idea
Value Network
Content
Revenue
Partnerships
Team
Brand
SoAware
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
“If we can get you a car in five minutes, we can get you anything in five minutes”
- Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber
Scaling your Idea
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Main Types of Investment • Friends & Family
– Easy to get in the beginning – May cause tensions
• Angel Investors – Add experience you may not have – Can help open doors and make connections
• Venture Capitalists – Expect high returns – Step in clauses
• Crowdfunding – Emerging model – Can be very good for some businesses
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
MyCQs Investment
• £5,000 (50,000 SEK) in grants so far – University – Education Technology charity
• Bootstrapping has let us get unusually far by ourselves
• Skipping angel investors, looking for VC investment ~£250,000 (2.5M SEK)
• BUT…
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Continuity Plan
Phase 1 • Feb-‐Sept 2015
Phase 2 • Sept 2015 – June 2017
Phase 3 • June 2017 – 2019
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Part 1: Framing the Problem
• Framing the problem accurately is vital for finding a solution
• Conduct surveys, look for existing data online
• Read around your subject • Qualitative AND quantitative both helpful
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Part 2: Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Your scientific background is immensely valuable in business
• Cultivate your creativity by learning about a range of different fields
• Allow your mind to make connections in unique ways
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Part 3: Finding and Validating Your Idea
• Fail fast: test your riskiest assumptions first and modify your business plan as appropriate
• Constantly test various aspects of your product and monitor the results
• Stay ahead of the curve!
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Part 4: Growing your Business
• Bootstrapping can be a great way to retain control of your business
• You don’t need to think about monetisation right from the start, but do start to test different models out and consider where your business value comes from
• Start to plan investment early: can take 6-12 months to secure
• Choose investment that suits your business
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Final Words
• Hard work, but a lot of fun! • You get to be your own boss, have freedom
to do what you want • But a lot of responsibility!!
• Scientist-Entrepreneurs is a growing movement!
Organisations
• Doctorpreneurs (doctorpreneurs.com) – Resources, support and events for medics &
scientists interested in enterprise • Fourmore (fourmore.eu)
– Mobile hackathon / think tank that takes people from a wide range of backgrounds and puts them in a team to work on healthcare problems
• Kairos Society (kairossociety.org) – International network of young entrepreneurs
interested in healthcare, education and clean technology.
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Websites
• Buffer Blog (blog.bufferapp.com) – Buffer is a social media management startup, they
publish a lot of amazing blog posts on creativity, entreprenership etc, well worth a read!
• GrowthHackers (growthhackers.com) – Community articles on startups, growth, enterprise
etc • Reddit Startups (reddit.com/r/startups)
– Active community of entrepreneurs • VentureBeat (www.venturebeat.com)
– Great, well respected authority on enterprise related topics
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Books Enterprise & Startups • The Lean Startup, Eric Ries • Mastery, Robert Greene
Healthcare • The Innovator’s Prescription, Clayton Christensen • The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande • The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine, James Le Fanu Neuroscience & Psychology • Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter Brown • Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Podcasts
• The Joe Rogan Podcast – Not business related but a huge range of guests
from fields such as neuroscience, history, cognitive psychology etc giving overviews of their work in a very accessible way
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History – Key events and movements in history brought to
life and their relevance to modern day examined by a self-proclaimed ‘amateur historian’
• Entrepreneurs Only by Experience Ambition – Relatively new podcast consisting of interviews with
entrepreneurs in different fields.
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Articles
• Finding Your Niche (James Gupta) • What researchers who want to be
entrepreneurs need to know • The Biomedical Dropout Club • Why I encourage students to create
startups • The Secret to Creativity, Intelligence and
Scientific Thinking: Being able to make connections
@mycqs | @gupta_james | @omairvaiyani
Slides bit.ly/ki_careers_mycqs
MyCQs
mycqs.com !@mycqs
QuesEons, Comments?
Follow James on Twiser @gupta_james or email him
Follow Omair on Twiser @omairvaiyani or email him