Sectors: Entrepreneurship and self-employment

Where to start

Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Playlist

To hear from founders sharing their own journey to a social innovation venture, or perhaps you want to learn more about commercialising your research, follow our ‘Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation Playlist’.

You don’t need to have a fully-formed business idea to explore entrepreneurship. You can establish a good foundation by building your network, learning the ins-and-outs of funding, and finding a mentor.

Each business relies on a high-quality idea and the funding to support it, but its success also depends on the founder’s personal resilience and determination. You should be able to recover from failure, and pivot your ideas into something that might work better. The key to this is building your network and accepting advice.

Do some soul searching and honest thinking about your strengths and particularly your weaknesses. Do you have the resilience, discipline and thick skin you’ll need? Some questions to get you started:

  • What is your attitude to risk?
  • How do you react to crisis or failure?
  • Are you prepared for hard work, often with little free time?
  • Are you prepared to have much less money than your peers in your early days?
  • Can you work without feedback and guidance from bosses or colleagues?

Autonomy is often the biggest personal driver for entrepreneurs, alongside financial independence and doing something you really believe in. These rewards can outweigh the risks of entrepreneurship, particularly if you're:

  • focused on getting things done
  • able to enthuse others          
  • resourceful    
  • positive-minded
  • possessed of strong self-belief         
  • good at networking

If you want to get some insight into the workings of a start-up before going it alone, working for a start-up can be a good idea. Aside from networking, here are just some of the ways you can find opportunities:

Job boards

Start-up incubators and co-working spaces

Events

Talks, workshops, and pitch sessions are run by various societies and groups in Cambridge (see the section below on ‘what Cambridge can offer’). Careers Fairs, particularly the Science & Engineering Fair, often have start-ups looking to recruit graduates to their unique teams. 

Resources

Entrepreneurship at Cambridge: A directory of support (under Entrepreneurship)

One of the joyful and accessible elements of becoming a founder is that there are no formal qualifications needed. There are no ‘golden tickets’ to becoming a founder - but having a good grasp of funding and business administration is useful and you may find that entrepreneurship topics are of such interest to you, you would like to research them.

You can access a range of short courses or classes to support your founding journey via IE Cambridge.

Further study 

Postgraduate courses, Fellowships and other types of study/research into entrepreneurship topics can deepen your expertise and provide resources for research (social innovation; funding and space for cutting edge research, for example).  

If you are interested in an entrepreneurial view on your research interests, Masters programs, PhDs or Fellowships that have an innovation focus can maximise the commercial potential of your research interests.  

Examples of entrepreneurship and innovation further study 

These are examples of programmes where entrepreneurship is a main focus of study, but it is useful to ask questions of any programme: Do they have optional entrepreneurship modules? What types of organisations/guest speakers do they have connections with? 

At Cambridge 

These are example programmes, for a full list of current programmes, see the course directory for postgraduate study.  

Other examples via universities, academies and professional bodies 

Immersion programmes - you can join before you have a specific business idea

Accelerator programmes - see the NESTA report on UK Start-up Support Programmes and Accelerators

Competitions, prizes and grants

Other support

  • The Cambridge start-up scene is vast and very active, but can be complicated to navigate. As a student the best place to start is by joining a student society. They run some fantastic events, bring in high-profile guest speakers, and give you a chance to meet like-minded people - even potential co-founders.
  • You can access a range of support at Cambridge, whether you are just working out what 'entrepreneurship' means or you are ready to develop your business, there is support, networking and guidance available. The below guides will give you the stepping stones of where to start:
  • Access the useful 'Entrepreneurship in Cambridge' Guide (PDF) from the Careers Service in our Graduate Digital Publications (scroll down to Entrepreneurship).
  • Explore the landscape with the Royal Academy of Engineering. Their Explore The Entrepreneur’s Handbook and their Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub: The Entrepreneur’s Handbook.
  • IE Cambridge is the collective hub of activity in Cambridge. This site can guide your journey whether you’re eager to learn more and get involved, got a great idea, starting a venture or are ready to grow your company. Join the entrepreneurship community, see events and search for support via IE Cambridge.

Now you have looked at this page, think about your next steps. Everyone's journey is different. There are many ways to move forward. Here are some actions you could take now: