A Decade Into My Founder Journey

Ziylo Ltd was incorporated on 14 May 2014. To mark the decade, I wanted to share how it all started.

Ten years ago, I embarked on my journey as a founder. At that time, I was wrapping up lab work and beginning to write my PhD thesis on a new platform for creating glucose sensors that could aid diabetics—a concept our research group had pioneered. Two years prior, we had filed a patent and published our new discovery in Nature Chemistry.

My PhD was not sponsored, so I had to cover my living expenses and tuition fees by working evenings and weekends as a waiter at Pizza Express in Bristol, at the top of Park Street. I remember working seven days a week for three months without a break. This experience of running out of money and working 80-hour weeks was a good foundation for life as a founder.

Thankfully, my supervisor, Anthony Davis , was very supportive. He helped me secure a small ten-month grant to support the commercialization of my research. This grant allowed me to dream up a new company that could change lives.

But the funding ended, and I faced a daunting financial situation: a large overdraft, several maxed-out credit cards, and the looming challenge of writing my PhD thesis, which I wasn’t exactly thrilled about given my dyslexia.

We all possess our own strengths and weaknesses. Luckily for me, I have both dyslexia and ADHD. My strengths lie in building, problem-solving, creativity, and thinking laterally—skills that translate well into science and business. However, my challenges include reading, writing, sitting still, and concentrating. Back in 2014, I realized that to complete my PhD, I would need a rigid routine involving copious amounts of coffee, early mornings in the library, and regular running. With such a demanding schedule, could I manage a startup on the side?

I always contemplated starting a company with Tony from my early days in the lab. We frequently discussed how our next experiment could provide the data to persuade potential investors. Despite my colleagues' scepticism and my own doubts, I remained obsessed with the idea. I believed it was a risk worth taking, as opportunities like this don’t come around often. Additionally, I didn’t have much to lose; all I saw was the asymmetric upside.

Luckily, I wasn’t the only one with an unrelenting enthusiasm for new ventures and a need to clear credit cards. Tom Smart , my friend, flatmate, and fellow runner, who had an interest in finance and business and better writing skills than mine, became a crucial part of this venture. But our first mission was to get our finances in order.

My luck turned a corner when my Virgin credit card arrived in the post. I’m sure Richard Branson would have approved it. With my finances in order and the rent covered for six months, I was able to leave my job at the restaurant.

From our basement flat in Bristol, Tom and I knew our next three steps:

1. Find a name: We logged onto a random word generator and, 15 minutes later, unanimously chose Ziylo and registered the .com domain.
2. Incorporate: Credit card in hand, we paid a ￡15 fee and registered Ziylo Ltd with myself, Tom, and Tony as the co-founders and directors.
3. Write a business plan and convince the University to license the patent: We emailed the University of Bristol asking for a license for a patent filed two years earlier.

And so, the journey began. The twists, turns, and hurdles along the way were beyond anticipation. The grit, resilience, and insane juggling skills I had learned during my time at Pizza Express and doing a PhD became crucial when my founder journey started.

This founding pathway led me to deep tech incubators, exits, venture capital, and, most importantly, working with founders. Helping them spin out and build impactful deep tech companies from their research has always been, and will always be, a rewarding experience.

With a third incubator about to start construction, accelerator programs underway, a community of hundreds of startups, a second venture capital fund, and working alongside 28 full-time colleagues at Science Creates, I'm looking forward to watching many more founder paths unfold over the next decade.

About Science Creates : Science Creates is an ecosystem designed to support and empower deep tech startups focused on health and sustainability. Founded in 2015 by deep tech entrepreneurs, it encompasses four key pillars:

1. Incubators: Providing physical deep tech facilities with lab space, hot desking, meeting rooms, office space, and event space, along with incubator design and development services.
2. Venture Capital ( SCVC ): Investing in startups emerging from scientific research at universities.
3. Platform: Offering national programs, accelerators, a digital community, partnerships, and public engagement initiatives to support startups at various stages of their journey.
4. Foundation: Inspiring children to pursue STEM subjects and deep tech entrepreneurship through our charitable arm, Science Creates Outreach .

#FounderJourney #DeepTech #Entrepreneurship #ScienceCreates