Ahead of SUS19, we sat down to have a chat with each of the Startup Summit Competition finalists. What advice has got them to where they are now? Where do they see their company going? We’ve got the scoop, so you know what they’re about before you watch them pitch live on October 30th.
Daniel Winterstein, Good-Loop
Good-Loop is a disruptive digital media platform which turns advertising money into funding for charitable causes - as well as delivering better ROI and capturing valuable permission-based data - in a market worth £150 billion.
What piece of startup advice has got you to where you are now?
Business is a team game. From the skills each employee brings to the table to the culture you instil in the office, creating a space where everyone wants to work together towards a common goal is critical.
Firstly, you have to get a team with a full range of skills - and the ability to work well together to boot. Once you've got the skills you need to get your business operational, you need to build team spirit. By instilling trust, care, and shared goals, you can make your company more than the sum of its parts.
Why is now the right time for Good-Loop?
Digital advertising is not a niche market anymore: it is growing as the reach of social media spreads. With more scope comes potential influence, so now is the right time to put values before our actions. We need to do it justly - and take advantage of that potential to increase our positive impact.
What does success look like to you?
When we have created a world where ads-for-good — respectful advertising that benefits the world — becomes the norm, I know that we will have succeeded in our mission.
Pasquale Saviano, Photocert
Photocert's software establishes and certifies the validity of pictures and videos, delivering 3rd party trust between businesses and their customers. Photocert the authenticity and trust in images so people can trust their validity.
What piece of startup advice has got you to where you are now?
In one word: "Listen!"
By this, I mean to your prospects, to your mentors, to other founders and to your colleagues. Sometimes it's difficult to listen, especially when you think you know best - but the reality is, you often don't.
Why is now the right time for Photocert?
We recently graduated from the Barclays Accelerator programme, powered by Techstars, for which Techstars and Barclays selected us from over 700 applicants across more than 50 countries. This accelerator helped us build a vast network and more traction.
On the programme, we improved our product through the feedback received from prospects, mentors and successful pilot testing. We're now in the fortunate position of having more leads than we have the capacity for.
What does success look like to you?
When I'm on the tube in London, I see people playing famous games, or using popular social networks or instant messaging on their mobile phones. I imagine a day where, while sitting next to a stranger on a bus or train, I notice them using Photocert to check an image or video’s validity.
Our vision is to become the worldwide recognised authority for certified pictures.
Dr. Elizabeth Fairley, Talking Medicines
Talking Medicines brings medicines to life for improved insight into how patients take their medications. It captures the voice of the patient and reinvents the way pharmaceutical companies buy consumer insight about the who, what and why people take medicines.
What piece of startup advice has got you to where you are now?
Stay strong. Starting a business can be a rocky road, so maintaining resilience is essential in those early stages. Having three people in our founding team means we can bounce things off of each other and deal with the ups and downs together.
Clear vision. To make sure you get the support you need, you need to have a clear proposition - and one that can be understood by those in and out of your sector. A clear vision or story will come across and make sense of where you want to go, what problem you are solving and why you are different in the marketplace.
Professionalism. Set up your corporate governance early. From banking to legal to your board structure - set up your systems from the get-go so they can scale as you grow.
Why is now the right time for Talking Medicines?
The rate of change in the healthcare industry is gaining momentum. Pharmaceutical companies are looking to improve the outcomes of their medicines as they face new competition from faster-to-market drugs.
Additionally, the patient voice is growing louder as people become more empowered digitally, ask questions and research treatment solutions themselves. We support pharmaceutical companies to improve how they benchmark their medicines and target marketing to the people who matter: patients.
What does success look like to you?
Our goal is to create a global gold-standard healthcare platform for the patient voice - but how we get there is just as important to us. While commercial success is critical for the team and our investors, we believe that success goes beyond our finances. Our robust set of ethics guides our work, and we measure our social impact by how we help patients take control of their medicines.
Daniel, Pasquale and Elizabeth will go head-to-head for a top prize worth over £220,000 in front of 1,000 attendees at this year's Startup Summit. Don't miss it! Join us at Assembly Rooms on October 30th: get your ticket to Startup Summit today.