Blog
Investing in Startups – Part 1: Are investors Still Investing?
2020 has been a destabilising year for startup founders. The COVID pandemic locked the world down, bringing business to a standstill and the threat of a global recession loomed. Venture capitalists and investors pulled their haunches in, but all is not lost, the investors are still out there, and they are still looking for startups…
Read MoreLooking forward to 2021
When the clock struck midnight on 31st December 2019, and we welcomed in the new decade, whoever thought 2020 would turn out the way that did? No matter where we turn, COVID19 has impacted our lives and will continue to do so for some time to come. It has brought about tears of sadness but…
Read MoreWhen your Boardroom is ready for a refresh
Over the last decade and into this one, startup businesses have come of age. Some will remain as small operators, but for many, the ultimate goal is to “scale up” and become attractive to larger investors, and when this happens, it is critical that you surround yourself with a team of like-minded people who are…
Read MoreWhat does the future hold for University Spinouts?
Universities in the UK are some of the very best in the world when it comes to research. Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, to name but a few. Importantly, however, they are all capitalising on their research programmes by creating businesses which, in turn, are helping to boost the British economy. Whilst these start-up businesses…
Read MoreDoes Biotech Leadership have a glass ceiling?
A Growing Industry Sector The Biotech industry is one of the fasting growing sectors at almost 10% CAGR and is predicted to be worth over $750 billion by 2025. In my role helping Biotech CEOs attract and hire executives to build their leadership teams, I can’t help but notice the lack of female leaders in…
Read MoreWhen will a COVID vaccine become widely available?
Fantastic news emerged on the afternoon of the 20th July that the vaccine being developed jointly between Oxford University and AstraZeneca had been confirmed to be safe and induces an antibody response to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. It will now move to the next stage of research to demonstrate whether or not it can effectively protect…
Read MorePost-Pandemic Leadership – Is this a time for the brave and the bold, or do leaders need a different skillset?
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed demands on leaders that are above and beyond anything that they may have expected. For many, it has been the ultimate leadership test. Leadership Challenges Being able to adopt a typical crisis response may have all but gone out of the window as it became clear that Coronavirus was not…
Read MoreBeating COVID-19 the Oxford Way
As early as 2018, The World Health Organisation added a “Disease X” to its list of disease threats that could cause a global pandemic. “Disease X” would sit alongside other highly contagious diseases such as SARS and Ebola. This was a placeholder for an unknown human disease – in 2020, this disease finally emerged. It…
Read MoreBurnout in the C Suite
In 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised burnout as a chronic medical condition, and with over 60% of board-level executives reporting feelings of high anxiety and stress on a regular basis, burnout in the C Suite is of growing concern. These are people who are at the heart of the business, and without them…
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