Alexander Trewby

One of the most exciting up and coming startups in Scotland - MedAscend - showcasing their interactive medical education AI avatar platform. Hana and Ahmed (School of Medicine, University of Dundee students) were talking about the incredible progress they have made in the last 12 months at the annual Elevator academic accelerator showcase. Scottish EDGE Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Dundee Techscaler Scottish Enterprise A great career overview from Chris Martin as well scaling software companies since the 90s creating hundreds of jobs and economic impact for Dundee in the process. Well done to this years accelerator participants and Andrew Cameron for guiding them over the last two months

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As I head back to my desk in London, I’ve noticed a few founders (often in their first year or so) have been musing/seeking advice on holidays. Here’s the nuggets I’ve collated over the last 5 years, some obvious, some less so. Also, this is through the lens of a company that is shipping SAAS. Some businesses (European enterprise SAAS) will be very similar, others (e.g. B2C Christmas decoration e-commerce) will be wildly different: 1. Holidays are good. Probably necessary. Founding a category defining company is a 10 year+ game. If you work 18/7/365 you will almost certainly burn out. There’s probably some age dependence. I’d guess a typical 22 year old coming out of investment banking could last 2-3 years like this (not long enough); someone in mid 30’s likely a year-18 months (definitely not long enough) 2. Too much holiday is bad. Your business almost certainly performs hugely worse without you. If you’re taking 10 weeks fully off a year, your business is likely dead 3. I see two principal purposes: 1. Rest (to recharge your batteries and keep the intensity going long term) 2. Spend time with loved ones (compared to a more chilled job, many founders unthinkingly lose the relationships most important to them) 4. Rest is deeply personal. Different people recharge batteries in different ways. Nailing what effective rest is for you is similarly important to other aspects of maximising the impact of how you spend your time. It’s taken me a while to crack this formula. For me: 4 days intense partying with close friends, and then a week of complete isolation and quiet with my girlfriend seems optimal (I’ve iterated this over 5 years). For me a week of road biking would be the definition of hell and probably expedite burnout (but I know this is perfection for others) 5. Timing is vital. Practically no one buys shipping software in early August. So the impact on the business of me being “off” is an order of magnitude + smaller then. Many of the shipping SAAS CEO’s I respect most were “off” at the same time. 6. Don’t expect to be off 100%. I don’t think a founder can ever be off 100%. Something will come up. It’s less stressful to accept this upfront. And make sure those you are travelling with understand. That said I think cutting workload by 70-90% is totally possible. 7. What to cut when you’re “off”: -Internal meetings, the lack of which are not blocking team members that are “on” -Internal admin, the lack of which are not blocking team members that are “on” -External admin, which will not have meaningful business consequences -New business outreach 8. Things not to cut when you’re off: -Responding to client/prospect queries/requests -Excom meetings -Any work that has a major net positive impact on the cash position of the business -Running team responses to serious issues -Answering questions from team, where the lack of an answer would block them Now time to get back to my desk!! #shipsandshipping #maritime #founder #vc #seriesA

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“The UK has the best talent in the world, but we sometimes lack ambition”   Grateful for Neil Buchanan @ Lodestar Space (‘bodyguards for satellites’) inspiring and educating our emerging founders spinning out from UK Atomic Energy Authority (thank you) > If you’re pre-idea and pre-cofounder you’ll benefit from doing the Entrepreneurs First programme (if you can get on). The speed of learning and environment truly accelerate founders > Unlocking early adopter demand: LinkedIn outreach, speak to people with common interests, build networks, keep the cadence of outreach, running a customer discovery process (‘mom test’ - Rob Fitzpatrick ) > Sizing the opportunity: top down look for $10BNs to $100BNs market problems and then look bottom up with an eye to the future. Bottom up is always the sobering one and should be your north star - never lie to your team, investors and worst of all: yourself.  > Engaging VCs often: reduce the risk as much as possible (team, market, tech) show how you’re hiring to fit a few key gaps can be fine > Founders need to be confident to be selective with the investors they partner with. Being mindful if you’re taking investment from a key player in an industry (is it for their ultimate M&A activity, is it going to impact your sales). Ideally you’re ambitious and don’t want an early exit but also investment from a defence prime if you’re dual use can unlock channels > Building for dual use or defence? Prioritise USA GTM in the short term. > Finding non-dilutive sources of cash: run a process to identify relevant organisations, keep an open mind / keep it wide to keep options open. Keeping burn low you can achieve a lot prior to dilutive capital > Don’t get distracted by the shiny numbers of a big raise - it's needed for strong talent acquisition & credibility boosting but the best talent will resonate with the high impact mission & tech dev to get there - the rest of your time for focus on where it needs to be: customers and sales > Geopolitics impacting decisions on which markets to target, hiring decisions, who to have on the cap table ▪️If you’re an investor / founder and you’d like to do a lunchtime Q&A to educate and inspire our emerging founders please DM

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We’re thrilled to share a landmark moment for us at Haylo: we have acquired Plessey Semiconductors Ltd, the UK’s leader in microLED display technology. For me, as a co-founder of Haylo, this isn’t just another deal, it’s a bold step towards shaping the future of AR/VR, optical computing, and AI-powered devices, industries set to be worth around £600bn by 2034. Over the next five years, we will: - Invest over £100m to scale from low-volume manufacturing to high-volume global production - Create and protect highly skilled jobs in Plymouth and the wider region - Build the hardware foundation for the next era of immersive, intelligent computing MicroLEDs will power the next generation of devices, from ultra-efficient AR/VR displays to optical processors that make AI faster, cooler, and far more sustainable. With Plessey’s end-to-end capabilities, world-class team, and deep IP portfolio, we’re ready to turn microLED breakthroughs into mass-market reality. This is a proud moment for me personally, for our brilliant team, our partners, and for the future of computing. And the journey is only just beginning. https://lnkd.in/ev7Hczth

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At Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), we help transform Oxford’s world-leading science into companies with the ambition and potential to solve the world’s biggest challenges. But true global impact and scale requires access to the world's most important markets. We see it as part of OSE's role to help open up those markets for our companies early on. How? We’re building strategic international partnerships that open doors and accelerate new market entry for Oxford’s breakthrough innovations. Our ambition is to create a global network of "launchpads" to help connect Oxford’s high-growth companies with the local innovation networks, customers, partners and capital that they need to expand commercially beyond the UK.   This year, we took two important steps in that journey: in the United States and Japan. 🌏 ➡️ Earlier this year, we joined forces with leading US healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai to bring leading-edge UK health tech innovation to the all-important US market. Together, we aim to co-build and co-invest in new ventures emerging from Oxford with the potential to transform patient care, accelerating their entry and growth in the US. Our first joint investment was in Neu Health – a University of Oxford spinout developing a smartphone-based neurology care platform for Parkinson’s and dementia patients. With Cedars-Sinai’s clinical expertise and US commercial insights, Neu Health is now piloting its technology in Los Angeles, accelerating its journey to impact patients on both sides of the Atlantic.   ➡️ This month, as part of our international acceleration strategy, we’re delighted to also be partnering with Scrum Ventures and Tokyu Land Corporation to join the Sakura Deeptech Shibuya Accelerator in Tokyo. This collaboration gives our deep tech start-ups direct access to Japan’s thriving innovation and investor networks, plus workspace, mentorship, and connections to leading Japanese partners. For our portfolio, it’s a fast-track route into one of the most advanced technology markets in the world. Our ambition with these partnerships is to create a two-way street of opportunity: alongside opening pathways for our companies to commercialise globally, we also want to draw international partners and investors from those markets back into Oxford’s rapidly expanding innovation ecosystem – sparking new international collaborations and driving growth. Learn more about our Japan partnership here: https://lnkd.in/eK_9vu3U   #OxfordInnovation #GlobalLaunchpads #DeepTech #HealthTech #GlobalPartnerships #ScalingScience #BillionDollarScience

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1.6M GLP-1 prescriptions and no plan on how to handle them. One in five UK adults tried to get their hands on a GLP-1 medication last year. And in April alone, 1.6 million packs of Wegovy and Mounjaro were sold. But what struck me most wasn’t the demand, it was how unprepared our systems are to handle it. Pharmacists are being asked to manage eligibility, navigate shortages, and support patient education, all while being left out of the planning conversations. And in some cases, patients are turning to unregulated sources when the system can’t keep up. We keep talking about “scaling access,” but the harder question is: what does responsible scale actually look like? Who triages requests? Who ensures continuity? Who protects against misuse? These are operational questions just as much as clinical ones. And they highlight why pharmacy needs more than supply, it needs structure. With generic #Ozempic soon arriving in Canada, we can expect a huge surge in prescriptions. It’s essential that pharmacy infrastructure evolves now to meet that demand effectively and safely.  #pharmacyconsult #primarycare #healthcareinnovation #pharmacists #pharmacy

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