Young people have never been in a better position to attack the world of business, according to former venture capitalist and Sainsbury Management Fellow Simon Barnes.
Simon, who has spent the majority of his 30-year career investing in science-based university spin-outs, now works in academia as a Professor at the University of Warwick Business School, preparing the next generation of talent for the world of business and entrepreneurship.
He believes the heightened access to information younger people have today gives them the edge, allowing them to forge strong and successful business careers right from the start. And through his teaching work at Warwick Business School, he’s excited by what he sees.
He said: “There's a very different level of knowledge among young people now about the world of entrepreneurship. There's a different level of awareness, knowledge and ambition.
“The awareness they have of the question of how to turn science into a business is just light years away from what it was 25 years ago. Students today are far more switched on. They're far more knowledgeable. They're very creative and very ambitious.
“I see a lot of very, very interesting potential. Because if you see the lightbulb go on, then you think probably we're going to see someone make a big difference to the world here.
“I'm particularly excited about the interactions I have and what I see with the undergraduate class. When you see people really getting it and they're 21 or 20, they're going to go on and do something really, really exciting. And probably 20 years from now, we're going to find some pretty amazing success stories.”
Simon himself took a while to find his way in the business world after initially setting his sights on a career in science. His love for science grew after watching a TV drama called Life Story aired on the BBC in 1987 when he was studying for his A Levels.
He said: “Life Story was a docudrama type of programme about the discovery of the structure of DNA. I was absolutely fascinated by it and thought ‘that’s what I’m going to do – I’m going to go and work in biochemistry, molecular biology at Cambridge and I’m going to be a research scientist’. It was as simple as that. I wish I could say it was something more sophisticated than watching a TV show.”
Simon did indeed go onto study biochemistry, molecular biology and natural sciences at Cambridge, as well as staying on to do a PhD as he focused on forging a career in academic science.
But it was a few years later, while running a cotton biotechnology lab in Singapore, that Simon started being interested in the business world.
He said: “I became really interested in how all this science gets turned into a business. That was the real turning point for me. I just got fascinated by that one simple question: How do you turn all of this science into a business?
“It became clear to me that it wasn't going to be enough to do research, write papers and publish papers. Once you've done that a number of times, the thrill kind of wore off, so I thought, well, what's the point of doing all this science if it doesn't get turned into reality, into business, into something commercial?
“And that one singular question how to turn science into business has been the central theme of the remainder of my career.”
Science scholarship pioneer
Simon was one of the first scientists to be awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellows scholarship through a pilot programme in the 1990s, enabling him to study for an MBA at Imperial College London to further cement his business skills.
After graduating and subsequently working in venture capital for a few years, Simon co-founded Circadia Ventures – a venture capital fund backed by Tate and Lyle – which centred on biotech investments in food and nutrition.
Circadia Ventures was one of the first venture capital funds to be focused on university spin outs in the food sector. Simon and his team travelled the world to back companies in the US, Germany, Belgium and the UK, learning lessons about startup cultures in different countries.
Simon has also authored two books – Raising Venture Capital and Building Value: The Business of Venture Capital – almost 20 years apart, with the second full of the knowledge built up over a long career in business.
He said: “I think what I learned in the intervening 20 years was the importance of people in all of this and the core principle is that venture capital is a people business. Of course, you have to understand the numbers and of course, you have to understand the deal structuring aspects, but what it turns out to be is more about managing people and getting the best out of them and putting together entrepreneurial teams that are sufficiently motivated and driven to deliver what will be hopefully ultimate success. It’s about how you communicate, how you engage, how you get into other people’s shoes to understand their perspective.”
Advice for students
With university students finding themselves under pressure to find internships to kickstart their careers, Simon has other advice for them to stand out from the crowd.
He said: “Business school students are under big pressure to get internships. This seems to be the currency with which they all believe they're going to get a job, and they spend hours upon hours applying for multiple internships for either the summer or all their third year If they're doing a four-year course and the level of competition is just incredibly intense.
“And they often ask me what should they do? How can they stand out? And I tell them just to go in the opposite direction and go and work for a startup.
“A lot of students are very focused on working for big brand name companies because they believe that'll be their golden ticket to a high-flying career. But the constant advice I give them is just go in the other direction. Do what everyone else is not doing and go and work for a startup. That doesn't mean go and start a company. It just means go and be employee number five or six.
“It might be a failure, ultimately. Or it might be a success. And if it's successful, you could be employee number ten in the next big thing. If it's a failure, you're going to learn a lot. And although that's not going to be a great brand name on your CV, you're going to be incredibly knowledgeable about what it takes to build company and the next time you get involved with one you might be in a better position to ask all the right questions and then the next one even more so.”
Reflecting on the recent launch of the Sainsbury Science Management Fellows Scholarship, Simon believes the future is bright for young scientists.
He added: “EIBF is an incredibly prestigious and valuable organisation. The Sainsbury Management Fellows scholarship has already been having a big impact in engineering for many, many years and I would like to see something similar happen with science. There are so many great scientists in this country who just need a little bit of skills and nudging to create fantastic companies and I think the SMF can play a big role in that.”