A base for entrepreneurial activity offering the right advice – at just the right time 

There are many misconceptions about how easy – or hard – it is to become an entrepreneur. Some underestimate the challenges, thinking that just because they have a great idea, the rest will fall into place. But others go the other way, imagining they have to give 100 per cent all the time and stay up until 4am every day.

And that matters, because Imperial students are natural problem solvers who see the issues facing the world, and think: ‘How can I fix this?’ At Imperial’s Enterprise Lab, we help them to do that by offering the right advice at the right time.

Since 2016, the Enterprise Lab has been a base for entrepreneurial activity. Many Imperial people have the imagination and the technical ability to create a solution to a problem but might not know how to get that idea out into the world, to articulate it or speak to end users or investors. That’s where we come in, creating a community where everyone, at every stage of their journey, can learn from each other.

The Enterprise Lab supports people in several different scenarios. If you’d just like to develop your entrepreneurial skills or connect with different people across the university, you could take part in our termly Idea Challenges. Here, you’re put in cross-disciplinary teams, set a problem and then given support to generate a new idea. Or you could attend one of our Community Colliders, which bring together everyone from undergraduates to alumni to make new connections. We also organise open source sessions available to everyone, in which we share general entrepreneurial knowledge.

If you have formulated a specific idea and are keen to build a business around it, you can apply to join our two cohort-based programmes. The Venture Catalyst Challenge offers a three-month programme of one-to-one coaching, expert advice, evening workshops and pitch training, all focused around your specific business and developing your knowledge and skills to bring it to commercial reality. And WE Innovate, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, supports women-led teams to develop entrepreneurial leadership skills and launch and scale new ventures.

We also offer support to those who have tested and validated their idea and are ready to further build their startup, via business coaching, the Imperial Venture Mentoring Service, access to our Experts-in-Residence, and pro bono and bespoke advice as and when they need it, to help with any potential legal issues for example.

"Whatever your plans, we will help you explore them without judgment"

And even if at the end of the programmes, people decide not to pursue their startup, it’s still a positive experience – sometimes they go away and tweak their concept, or sometimes they realise it was just the wrong idea, but they’ve learned so much with us that they’re ready when they do find the right one.

Since the Enterprise Lab was established, we have helped more than 350 startups incorporate, which have raised more than £570 million in investment capital. But just as importantly, it’s encouraged entrepreneurial mindsets, creative thinking and the formulation of ideas. We don’t assess whether an idea is any good or not. What we will do is equip you with the tools to come to your own conclusions. Whatever your plans, we help you to explore them without judgment.

Having said that, we have seen some genius solutions. I was at the Imperial College Business School before coming to the Enterprise Lab, and I had absolutely no idea how amazing some of these startups are. I’m constantly blown away by the weird and wonderful ideas that we see, such as Untap Health, community sewage monitoring that can identify viruses and bacteria days before symptoms show, and Cyanoskin, new carbon capture technology utilising an algae-based coating designed to transform buildings into carbon dioxide-absorbing structures.

And what’s threaded through is the desire to tackle real-world issues. This tends to be the positive mindset Imperial gives its students: ‘Here is a problem, someone needs to solve it, I can be that person.’ Here at the Enterprise Lab we help them make that happen.

Sarah Ranchev-Hale is Head of Imperial Enterprise Lab and was interviewed by Peter Taylor-Whiffen.