With Will Medd (Scientist & Investor)
Thanks to the recommendation from tutor, Zuleika. I gained a chance to talk with Will Medd. Will is a scientist and long friend with Applied Imagination. According to his own introduction, his study background is physics and he worked for Babcock International Group, The World Bank and Department for Business and Trade, UK as advisors and consultant before. Now, he is the founder of Goldsmith Partner, a company expert in technical Due Diligence, technology horizon scanning, technology selection, integration and implementation, international business development and trade Advice, technical bid writing, new market strategy and tech startup mentoring.
The talking with Will is concentrating on 3 aspects: pitching feedback, operation strategy and other adjustment advice. It was so glad Will show interest to bio-synthetic fur through my pitching presentation and his talking gave me strong confidence to continue developing bio-synthetic fur.
As a intensive consultant and advisor, he pointed my direction was related to at least 3 trusts who are interest about investing animal welfare and environment protection. That was a huge boost to my project. In respect of my current working, he gave me suggestions in 2 aspects. Firstly, properly written budget models are essential in a commercial pitching, which allows investors to better understand the financial metrics of the project and to give them a sense of the professionalism of the project planning. Secondly, Will encouraged me to produce relevant samples as soon as possible, as even a small output would greatly increase the confidence of the outside world, which in turn would influence the financing in the future.
While acknowledging the collaboration, he made two suggestions, the first being whether it was appropriate for KC Lab, as a laboratory with a leading focus on earth and environmental engineering research, to study bio-synthetic fur as a new material, and here he suggested that I should do more research. And the second being that, in view of above, he suggested that when I sign a documented collaboration agreement with KC Lab, I must be clear about all the terms of the collaboration in order to prevent myself from being put in a corner by some binding terms. As a start-up project, these are two very practical tips that injected more holistic consideration to my pre-departure preparation to USA.
Last but not least, In terms of considering who to invest in, Will also gave me great insight, due to some big brands of placing separate bets to reduce risk, in addition to what I wrote in my pitching, I could try to approach some investors in competing projects, which might be a new way forward. To be honest, this is a new philosophy that I hadn’t learned from conversation with any other stakeholders before, and it was the most rewarding part of the Will’s interview because it broadened my mind all of a sudden.