89 Assessing start-up science companies and creating the right experiments with Andrea Mica of Oxford Technology

The EIS Navigator

Investing in companies that are starting out presents different challenges from when they are more established. Oxford Technology has probably been investing in new science and technology companies for longer than than anyone else in the (S)EIS/UK VC world. We get Director Andrea Mica to discuss how to go about it.

In a discussion that is full of examples, both successful and unsuccessful, we cover a wider range of areas:

• how to validate the science / technology when there is no sales
• how to invest without specialist knowledge
• building appropriate experiments
• looking beyond the first experiment
• the importance of testing commerciality
• avoiding solutions looking for a problem
• developing founder skills and encouraging them to try sales
• the value of contrarianism

With lots of experience, Andrea gives lots of great insights into how they approach the challenge and there is plenty for investors and founders to learn from. Hope you enjoy it!

00:45 Intro to Andrea

06:00 History of Oxford Technology

09:40 Geographically close companies versus distant

12:30 Validating the science / product at the early stage

16:00 Example - viral pathway

21:00 The usefulness of specialist knowledge

26:30 How to building experiments - appropriate size and looking to future experiments

28:30 Testing commerciality: balancing exploration vs definitive answers

33:00 Example - value of testing hand strength vs recovering hand functionality

36:00 Solutions looking for a problem

40:00 Challenge of products that reduce pay of those buying. example - technology to discriminate moles

43:00 Founder skills

46:00 Importance of sales and persuading founders to learn to like it

50:00 Recent trends and the value of contrarianism

55:30 Favourite questions

Links

Oxford Technology website - https://www.oxfordtechnology.com/

Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen

Suggested book and media

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Bio

Andrea Mica

Director, Oxford Technology

Investment Career

Oxford Technology Management Ltd – OT(S)EIS Fund Director. Responsible for souring selecting and supporting companies in the fund. The Fund now has invested £11m.

2009 - Royal Society Enterprise Fund at the Royal Society.

Short term role to help structure the investment evaluation process, train an incoming analyst and help carry out due diligence on the first investments.

2005 IP Group Plc - Responsible for selecting investment opportunities in the partner universities, conducting technology and market due diligence , building startup up team and presenting the investment case to the investment board.

This was followed by a period as director of the companies formed

1999: CFB Technology, Flintstone Plc - Responsible for investigating the technologies in which the group invested and then in helping the teams/companies get started.

Other

Oxford Creativity Trainer and Problem Solver

Cleansteel Ltd – (Business developing and running a recycling process) Co- Founder

Oxford University Begbroke Business Development Fellow

IntelliKraft Ltd. Oxford, UK Piezoceramic and Battery Technology Founding Director Sales & Marketing, Consultant

JRA Technology Ltd, Marlow, UK, Technology Commercialisation Consultancy Senior Project Engineer

D’Appolonia S.p.A, Genova, Italy, Engineering & Technology Commercialisation Consultancy

Innovation Consultant, Leiden, Netherlands

Study

Masters Product Design – Delft University of Technology

Graduate Study – Creativity and Innovation State University College Buffalo