Entrepreneur in Residence

From April 2023 to March 2026, I am the Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at CMS.

The programme consists of a lecture course, office hours and some occasional "fireside chats" with mathematicians who have become entrepreneurs.

Lecture Course

The lectures will be two hours each running from 15:30 to 17:30 in MR4

• 14th February
  • Introduction — what’s in the course, what is entrepreneurship?
  • The idea — where do they come from, how to identify good ideas and bad ideas
• 28th February
  • The business plan — what should be in it and why?
  • Presenting — writing a pitch deck, presenting the pitch deck
• 13th March
  • Raising money — grants, debt, equity, dilution, ownership
  • Customers —  finding them, selling, marketing, product development, go to market
• 24th April
  • Companies, legal, IP, accounting, HR — the boring but necessary stuff
  • The Cambridge Ecosystem — what is it and how to use it.  Guest appearances from various players in Cambridge

The course is not examined.

It would be helpful if people could sign up for the course so we've got some idea of numbers. You can sign up here.  There will be opportunity to chat with some nibbles and drinks afterwards.

I am also arranging some "fireside chats" with people who have been mathematicians in the past and started businesses or applied their mathematical skills in the commercial world.  These will be announced here and to the "cms-all" email list when they are confirmed.

Office Hours

I am running Office Hours at CMS where undergraduates, Part III students, postgraduates and faculty can drop in to discuss ideas they might have or even how they might go about turning research or ideas into a viable business.  I'm also happy to just to "shoot the breeze" about career paths or cool mathematics.

You can book an appointment here.  I generally make dates available up to two weeks in advance so if there isn't a slot that's convenient, check back here or email me to see if I can free up some alternative slots.

About me

I have a bit of a portfolio career right now.

• Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (which is the important bit)
• Chair of the Mangagement Committee of the Isaac Newton Institute
• Chair of DeepTech Labs a deeptech accelerator here in Cambridge
• Head of the Innovation and Technology Main Board Committee for BAE Systems PLC
• Co-Founder of the Turner Kirk Charitable Trust
• On the board of a variety of FinTech and Deeptech companies

Prior to having a portfolio career, 

• Degree in Natural Philosophy and Astronomy
• Part III Maths Tripos (Queens')
• Ph.D in Classical General Relativity
• Partner in charge of the Strategy Group at Goldman Sachs (700 mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists)
• Founder and CIO of Cantab Capital Partners (a $5bn quantitative and systematic hedge fund based in Cambridge)