APPLICATIONS have opened for the latest Co-Founders programme at Catalyst Inc, which connects talented individuals with skilled professionals in knowledge economy jobs to form early stage start-up teams.
The programme has been created to address the 10 per cent working in corporate, academia or industry in Northern Ireland who have ideas and expertise to solve problems in their sector, but who require support, mentoring and signposting to funding to make it happen.
The early stage start-up teams created through Co-Founders work together over 12 weeks on a part-time basis to test if their idea is fit for market by finding out if customers will really want it, as well as testing if the team is strong enough to succeed long-term.
Catalyst Inc programme manager Sonya Kerr said: "The Co-Founders programme has given candidates the confidence to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship and has given some the impetus to leave their jobs to drive their product forward on a full-time basis.
"Previous teams have successfully gone on to receive proof-of-concept funding through Techstart NI and at least six teams have progressed to Invest NI’s Propel programme."
One team which successfully went through a past Co-Founders programme is Belfast-based Overwatch Research, a medical research company which focuses on a digital platform for enhancing pre-clinical trials.
Brothers Paul and Graham Wilsdon left their full-time jobs in design and software development and partnered with Chris Armstrong, a cancer researcher for Queen's University, to set up Overwatch Research.
The team is hoping to tap into the 55,000 research facilities worldwide. Having already attracted users within major research organisations, global pharma companies and universities in Singapore, Australia, and the US with several new facilities lined up for the first quarter of this year.
“Our parents work in traditional sectors and couldn’t believe we wanted to leave well-paid corporate positions to start our own business,” said Paul.
“Co- Founders allowed us to test Chris’s assumptions around his product idea measuring pre-clinical trials, we hatched our business idea, and having faith in our combined expertise we knew we would succeed.”
Overwatch Research has created an online platform that automates many of the error-prone tasks facing researchers in pre-clinical trials, freeing up valuable research time to focus on higher-value activities.
“Our product is built by researchers and for researchers. It reduces the need for paper and spreadsheets, thus making it easier to share accurate information in real-time with colleagues, often in other labs across the world.
“Our goal now is to secure a seed round by demonstrating a revolutionary product in a niche space. We wouldn’t be in this position if we hadn’t gone on the Co-Founders journey. It focused our minds, gave us the chance to try out our idea and ultimately gave us the confidence to go for it.”
Applications for Co-Founders are open until February 4 (registration details at hcp://connect.catalyst-inc.org/ programmes/co-founders)
