START-UPS & SUCCESSES Start-Up Successes Power


The future of powering the city? The answer might be right under our feet...


While working at one of the world’s largest energy companies, Laurence Kemball-


Cook had a lightbulb moment. Is it possible, he thought, to convert energy created by footsteps to power lighting? Six months later, the entrepreneur made


the fi rst – and biggest – step in realising this idea, receiving £5,000 from the Royal Society of Arts to develop state-of-the-art kinetic tiles, before crowdfunding for the business garnered 2,000 backers. The result was the foundation of successful


start-up Pavegen, which partnered with electrical giants Siemens in 2017 in a bid to power ‘smart cities of tomorrow’. The company also boasts over 150 projects worldwide, with


Top three tips for start-ups from Laurence Kendall-Cook


Get your product out there Understand the market Build a tribe


walking


the environment-focused tiles located at Heathrow Airport, Canary Wharf and outside the White House in Washington D.C. But getting this far wasn’t


a walk in the park. “There were failures early on,” he says. “But one of the biggest tips for start-ups is to get your product out there and experience failure quickly. I don’t care if your product is rubbish early on – you can spend two years developing but not get it out there. You must engage your product with people as soon as possible.” Tirelessly experimenting with trial and


error, Kemball-Cook fi rst had to question whether people would step on unfamiliar tiles on pavements. Thankfully the answer was a resounding ‘yes’. “I placed big green tiles on the pavements


of Oxford Street, sat down and just watched. Everyone was stepping on them – they weren’t put off and kids were actually jumping on them,” he says. Pavegen then teamed up with Shell to power a deprived favela in Rio de Janeiro by


Pavegen tiles have


been experimented in Rio de Janeiro and outside the White House


converting the energy created from children playing football nearby: “We did this to test the tiles in the harshest of environments – to force failure on the product and to challenge ourselves. “But it’s also crucial you build a tribe around


you. What I mean by that is a network of people who support you through challenges – this is one of the biggest components of success.” B.


Absolute Collagen Maxine Laceby, 51, created Absolute Collagen at her kitchen table. “I started taking bone broth and everyone said how good my skin looked. It was the collagen in the broth – so I created a Daily Dose of Beauty using high-quality marine collagen peptides.” For men and women, visit absolutecollagen.com


Double Dutch Drinks: Mixing gin with success


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“With a strong belief that quality spirits deserve to have a complementary and uniquely balanced mixer, we decided to take it upon ourselves to create the necessary change.” Twin sisters


devote their dissertation to fi nding an innovative solution for their frustrations. Graduating in September 2014 having taken on-


Joyce and Raissa De Haas,


founders of Double Dutch Drinks, had a big idea for a new drinks company, but had little of the formal entrepreneurial knowledge required to get it up and running. “Our


ingrained in us


inspiration was from


an early age, with our parents owning a gin and spirits shop. We grew up in the Netherlands which is the birthplace of gin, and so our education started at a fairly young age. The knowledge and eye for sophisticated fl avour that we have acquired is something that comes directly from our Dutch heritage. “Being exposed to high quality spirits throughout formative professional years meant we


our


understood that mixers and tonics had a lot of room for growth if they were to be as refi ned as the spirits they were mixed with.” Wanting to pursue this change, the twins moved


to London to study the MSc Entrepreneurship at UCL School of Management, and decided to


'We’re super excited


board the knowledge and skills from the school’s leading academics, they won the UCL Bright Ideas Award for most promising start-up. This was their fi rst recognition and the award gave them a fi nancial investment which they used for their fi rst production lines, and a year of free London offi ce space. Now, four years


about the future of Double Dutch. When we were


developing the idea while studying at UCL, we could


only dream of the progress we’ve made.'


down the line, the business is growing at


a remarkable


rate, with growth of 200% year-on-year expected in 2018. On top of that, the


business is signing deals


with high


profi le restaurants, including casual dining chain Zizzi, to become the premium mixer and tonic brand of choice. “We’re super excited about the future of


Double Dutch. When we were developing the idea while studying at UCL, we could only dream of the progress we’ve made. “To start a business and be your own boss,


you defi nitely have to have a thick skin. There is a lot of rejection involved in the beginning,


Be Your Own Boss distributed with 53


so you need to make sure you stick to believing in yourself. Luckily for us, we always had each other to motivate and encourage. "Staying passionate and keeping your beliefs


strong are defi nitely things that will get you through the tough times.”


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For more information about the MSc Entrepreneurship programme, visit mgmt.ucl.ac.uk/BeYourOwnBoss


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