Focus on Enterprise Week 2017

Focus on Enterprise Week returns with a series of events and workshops to provide insights into working for an SME or start-up - or starting your own!

They're the stuff of enterprising legend; the Mark Zuckerbergs, the Steve Jobs, the Spiegels, Murphys and Browns.

Yes, those remarkable individuals who stumbled upon a great idea, had the resources and the tenacity to make it work and within a few years, they’re multi-millionaires.

Sometimes it can feel like the only way to success is the conventional one – get a place on a graduate scheme and climb the ladder. But most of us have at some point wondered about working for ourselves, and most of us have had an idea that, if we just knew how, might actually take off. Welcome to the Focus on Enterprise Week – your chance to find out the secrets of the start-ups, and just maybe, join the ranks of the brightest and best in global entrepreneurship.

From technology to tutoring, from finance to fine dining – you bring the idea and the determination, and we’ll help develop the skills and knowledge you need to succeed.

Tuesday 7^th February

Starting a Scientific Start-Up - Overleaf (Lunchtime Talk)
13.00 – 13.50, SAF G34

Overleaf, originally launched as WriteLaTeX, is an online collaborative editor for writing scientific documents, like papers and theses. It started as idea and a hodgepodge of scripts written by co-founder John Lees-Miller as a PhD student.

Now Overleaf is a high growth, venture-backed start-up and social enterprise, with over half a million of users around the world. John will talk about his start-up story, some of the technical challenges faced in bringing a 30-year old technology (TeX) online and in scaling up (covering Docker, Ruby on Rails, data protection, cloud services, and bugs!), and finally how you can use Overleaf in your work at Imperial.

About the Speaker: John is co-founder and technical lead at Overleaf, a London-based start-up and social enterprise that builds modern collaborative authoring tools for scientists to help make science faster, more open and more transparent. Previously, he read computer science and then did a PhD in engineering mathematics on how to operate fleets of driverless cars efficiently, and he helped design and build the world's first driverless taxi system, the Heathrow Pod, at London's Heathrow Airport.

 Book to attend this talk via JobsLive.

Start-Up and Enterprise Networking Event
18.00 – 20.00, South Kensington campus (Location TBC)

Are you looking for a role within a smaller, high-growth organisation where you can make a real difference quickly? Do you have an interest in starting up your own company? Or, are you perhaps unsure whether working in a large organisation is right for you? If so, come along to the Start-up and Enterprise Networking Event!

This evening event will follow a speed-networking format, allowing you to move from one organisation to another in small groups, giving you the chance to explore opportunities in different industries with a range of employers, including:

• AKQA - idea and innovation design agency, running an internship scheme (Future Academy) - hired an Imperial student after last year's networking event.

• Annection - an investment company, funding early stage tech start-ups, co-founded by an Imperial alumnus
• Blue Optima - an SME producing products which monitor the efficiency and quality of software development, who have previously had an Imperial intern

• Flexciton - co-founded by an Imperial Chem Eng alumnus, the most advanced and intelligent software to help end-users of rotating equipment to minimize operational costs, reduce wear of the machines and reduce CO2 emissions. 
• Overleaf - an online collaborative platform for scientific writing, using LaTeX and Rich Text, who have taken Imperial students for placements and internships
• Retvas - a start-up company set up by Imperial medical alumna using automated software for retinal image analysis, providing information that could be life or sight saving
• Sequel Business Solutions - a tech company producing software solutions for the insurance market, who offered Imperial students internships last summer

Book to attend the Start-up and Enterprise Networking Event via JobsLive.

Wednesday 8^th February

BUSINESS ADVISOR DROP-INS
CAREERS SERVICE, LEVEL 5 SHERFIELD BUILDING 

If you've got a business idea but you're not sure what to do next, or how to take it from the idea stage, 20-minute consultations will be available for you to chat with a business advisor. Booking details TBC.

Business Game Workshop: DEVELOP YOUR COMMERCIAL AWARENESS
16.00 – 18.00, Seminar Room, Careers Service, Level 5 Sherfield Building

In a competitive graduate market place, employers are looking for applicants with skills like presentation, planning, and intuition. During this interactive and relaxed session, you will work in small teams and be given a business brief – it is then your task to create a business plan and pitch back to the rest of the group. A business plan generation game will be used during the session to decide on and plan a strategy to move the business from an initial idea to a defined goal.

This Business Game session will provide an understanding of a range of the key decisions which most businesses have to make in order to succeed, as well as enhancing your commercial awareness and business vocabulary. 

Note: this game is aimed at anyone who has little (or no) previous business experience. You are welcome to come along whether you have a business idea or not!

Book to attend the Business Game Workshop on JobsLive.

Thursday 9^th February

BEGINNING YOUR BUSINESS JOURNEY: LUNCHTIME PANEL DISCUSSION 
13.00 – 13.50, SAF G34

A panel of speakers share their insights and experiences in setting up businesses and enterprises, the challenges they’ve had to overcome, and their top advice for setting up your own venture. Even if you’re not looking to start-up, you’ll get the chance to understand how enterprising skills can be used in all walks of life.

Highly engaging speakers will include co-founder of fitness company LDN Muscle, Lloyd Bridger, himself a Chemistry graduate from the University of Bristol, Imperial PhD student and founder of Fresh Check, Alex Bond, a new way to visualise use-by dates on food, and George Northcott, co-founder and Head of Business Development at Founders Factory, an accelerator which helps start-ups over the world find partners and investors to grow their businesses.

Book to attend this panel discussion on JobsLive.

Charity & Not-for-Profit Forum
18.30 – 20.30, SAF G34

The Charities & Not for Profit Forum will provide insights into this exceptionally diverse sector delivered by speakers from different organisations and charities. Speakers will talk about their experience in the charity and not for profit sector, their career journey so far, and an overview of their organisation and the areas it works in.

Attendees include:

• Research charities (Wellcome Trust)
• Graduate schemes run across the charity sector (Charityworks, Worthwhile)
• An organisation focusing on the local community (Kensington & Chelsea Foundation)
• A charity running programmes reaching 34,000 young people in the UK, aiming to build a more integrated society (The Challenge)

After listening to the talks, there will be the chance for questions and then an opportunity to chat and network with the speakers afterwards, to find out more about their experiences and how you might go about getting involved in volunteering, or working with a charitable organisation longer term.

Book to attend this forum via JobsLive.

Friday 10^th February

Idea Generation Workshop - with Deep Science Ventures
12:30 – 14:00, 

SOUTH KENSINGTON CAMPUS (LOCATION TBC)

Have you ever considered starting your own company but don’t know where to start? If so, this workshop will introduce you to the basics of idea generation (ideation) and how to think innovatively – no ‘big ideas’ needed!

You’ll learn tips on how to create and hone your initial business idea, with a range of exercises and advice to help with the ideation process.

This session is hosted by Dominic Falcao from Deep Science Ventures, which is a programme and community to support scientists and engineers to start their own companies – regardless of whether they have a team or an idea.

Book to attend this session via JobsLive.