Resources
Here are some resources to help you on your journey to build your startup. Whether you are early stages with an idea or have an incorporated business, there is something for everyone!Accelerator Programmes
Looking to take your idea to the next level, fast? Accelerators are a great way of getting seed investment as well as a programme of activity to keep you on track.
Creative Destruction Lab
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organisation that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies.
Mathsworks
MathWorks Accelerator helps startups advance their development and ELab startups can get technical support and guidance from domain experts, plus free access to industry-proven software.
Techstars
Each year, Techstars choose over 500 early-stage companies to join one of our 3-month, mentorship-driven accelerators, investing $120K and providing hands-on mentorship and access to the Techstars network for life.
Y Combinator
Twice a year Y Combinator invest $500,000 per company in a large number of startups. They work intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors.
E-Lab Perks
We have special deals with some essential services. Here are the partners we’re working with.
Amazon Web Services
On-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs
Get up to $100,000 in AWS Credits for 12 months or $25,000 for 24 months. Also 1 year of AWS Business Support (up to $10,000).
Hubspot
Software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service
Get 90% off year 1, 50% off in the second year and 25% off ongoing.
Notion
Productivity software with notes, databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars and reminders
Get $1,000 in free Notion credits.
Stripe
Payment processing software and application programming interfaces for e-commerce websites and mobile applications
Get £15,000 in Stripe processing fees waived and discounted Stripe Atlas incorporation.
Essential Reading
Great reads from trusted sources! And all available to borrow for FREE from the Enterprise Lab Library.
Don’t forget that your Imperial student/alumni/staff email also gives you access to Imperial’s digital resource library where you’ll find a ton of hyper-relevant databases and resources, like PitchBook and Practical Law.
The Lean Startup
Learn about what your customers really want from Eric Reis!
The Founder's Pocket Guides
Easy-to-read guides by entrepreneur, Stephen R Poland that cover the financial basics.
Testing Business Ideas
David J. Bland and Alexander Osterwalder practical guide to increasing the success of any venture with rapid experimentation.
Where To Play
Marc Gruber and Sharon Tal explain how to identify, evaluate and focus on the right marketing opportunities.
The Mom Test
Rob Fitzgerald explains the best way to conduct customer interviews that don’t involve asking your mum!
Four Steps to Epiphany
The Godfather of lean, Steve Blank’s bestselling classic that launched 10,000 startups and new corporate ventures.
Running Lean
Ash Maurya offers a strategy for achieving a product/market fit for your venture.
The Unicorn’s Shadow
Ethan Mollick dispels the dangerous myths that hold back startups, founders and investors.
Think Again
For anyone who wants to create a culture of learning and exploration, this book by Adam Grant is a great place to start.
Zero to One: Notes on Startups
Looking to get inspired? PayPal Founder, Peter Thiel, explains that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create.
Talking to Humans
Giff Constable’s practical guide to structuring and running effective customer interviews – an indispensable skill for vetting and improving any new startup or innovation.
Funding
Thinking about funding either now or in the future? Here are a few different ways you can make it happen.
Guides
Grant Tree have prepared this easy-to-follow guide to the various financial options available to UK startups. It covers crowdfunding, equity investment, corporate loans, and GrantTree’s own area of expertise: government funding.
Grants
Innovate UK – Since 2007, we have invested around £2.5 billion to help businesses across the country to innovate, with match funding from industry taking the total value of projects above £4.3 billion.
Competitions
The London Mayor’s Competition – A competition that asks London’s students to come up with viable, sustainable business ideas for the City with up to £20k to be won.
The Pitch – The Pitch is a free competition that helps startups create a kick-ass pitch and gives them the platform to use it.
Santander X Entrepreneurship Award– One of the UK’s largest student and graduate business pitching competition where you could win up to £75k in equity-free funding, mentoring and startup support.
Rising Stars – The opportunity to put your business in front of leading investors, influencers and corporates.
Clean Tech Challenge – A global business plan competition for students with innovative clean technology ideas.
British Small Business Awards – Highlighting the achievements of both small companies with less than 50 employees, as well as growing companies with between 50 and 250 employees.
EDF Pulse Start-up Awards – Offering a marketing campaign and up to €80,000to European startups using new technological solutions to build tomorrow’s world.
Celebrating Small Business Awards – Free to enter with winners from each category securing a spot at the prestigious UK final and a chance to be crowned the UK Small Business of the Year.
TATA Varsity Pitch – The Tata Varsity Pitch Competition, powered by NACUE, is a national early-stage business pitching competition that celebrates the best businesses coming out of colleges and universities across the UK.
Awards Intelligence – Want to make sure you award application is the best it can be? Let Awards Intelligence help you write the perfect entry.
Shake To Create – Companies over two years old have the opportunity to work with an award-winning creative agency, for free.
DBACE– The Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs has a £60k prize fund and £100k of business support on offer.
Angel
How to raise Angel Investment in 6 steps – All you need to know about Angel Investment from the experts at Seed Legals
VC
What Investors Really Look For – In this podcast by Masters of Scale, entrepreneur and investor, Mark Cuban, gives his insight on what qualities investors look for in a founder, and what entrepreneurs should be looking for in return.
The definitive guide to London seed venture funds – Although put together in 2018, this guide by Fred Destin is still hugely relevant to those looking for investment in London.
Incubators & Networks
Take your business from fledgling to high-flyer with a industry-specific programme of support and access to valuable networks.
Indie Bio
Indie Bio’s mission is to turn scientists into entrepreneurs who can save lives and the planet. It’s the world’s first accelerator devoted to startups that use biology to solve the world’s largest problems.
South East Health Technology Alliance (SEHTA)
SEHTA provides business support to its members who represent health technology SMEs, health professionals, care providers and academia. And it’s free to join!
Newsletters & Inspiring Blogs
Stay up-to-date on news from all corners of the startup world and beyond!
Sign up for the Enterprise Lab’s fortnightly e-newsletter to get the latest news from our community and upcoming events.
Bruce Daisley bringing evidence and facts on how to make the workplace a better place.
A regular round-up of discussions on different topics. Catch up by yourself or join the discussion!
In-depth reporting on startups – backed by the Financial Times.
Startup Job Boards
Looking to build your team? Or maybe find a job with a startup? Check out these websites.
Imperial Career Service
Looking for world-class STEM talent? (I.e. Imperial students and recent alumni) Post your vacancy on JobsLive by Imperial Careers Service.
Unicorn Hunt
Europe’s magical beast of a startup job board, with +10,000 unique users and hundreds of new positions posted each month!
Sifted Jobs
Connecting the Sifted Community with the best jobs in European Startups and Innovators.
Work in Startups
The home of UK startup jobs has tons of listings across all kinds of organisations and roles.
Tools
Useful tools to support your day-to-day activities and events and make you and your team work smarter, not harder.
Biorender
Pre-made icons and templates from more than 30 fields of life sciences. Great for making pitch decks and websites.
Bridge
Scale your company faster and avoid operational mistakes with Bridge. All you need to do is provide some basic information about their business, and answer a few questions. In return you’ll get a profile on how your company compares to other companies at a similar stage of fundraising. You’ll also get a prioritised action list to help you get ready for the next round of funding.
Google Forms
Create a survey, target respondents and generate statistically significant results in just days. Great for early stage customer discovery!
Google Analytics
Gives you the free tools you need to analyse data for your business in one place, so you can make smarter decisions
Food Packaging and Labelling
Get the low-down on the legal requirements that you have to follow as a food business.
Landscape
A one-stop shop for founder-friendly tools including investor lists, VC reviews (by founders) and partner discounts. The platform also encourages founders to showcase their venture to potential investors. You can also receive and offer help to other founders.
Mentimeter
Great tool for creating interactive presentations, interactive polls, quizzes and surveys available to all Imperial students staff and alumni. (NB alumni can get an alumni imperial email address to retain access)
Mural
Mural enables innovative teams to think and collaborate visually to solve problems. A great tool for collaborating with your team, especially when working remotely!
Odin
A free resource for founders to discover and contact investors anywhere.
Strategyzer
Silicon Valley originals, Alexander Osterwalder and David J. Bland have built this platform to help entrepreneurs build their company. With masterclasses, books and canvases to get you started.
The Business Model Canvas
Globally recognised software to design business models.
Value Proposition Canvas
A great tool to help you understand your customers
Training
Looking to upskill in a certain area or give your team some personal development? Here are some recommended training courses to help guide you through your startup journey, at any stage.
EdX
2,000 free online courses from 140 leading institutions worldwide including Harvard, MIT and Berkeley. Courses like:
Creative Thinking (online course)
Learn how to apply tools and techniques to better solve problems, generate ideas, and excel in your chosen career.
Udacity courses
Go beyond academic learning and develop core skills with online courses that will help you wherever you go – including:
How to Build a Startup (fee applies)
An introduction to the basics of the famous Customer Development Process, Steve Blank provides insight into the key steps needed to build a successful startup.
Managing Conflict (fee applies)
Learn how to turn conflicts into positive outcomes in this workshop-style course with philosopher of leadership and LinkedIn Influencer Fred Kofman.
Food Standards Agency – Food Labelling
A free online course by the Food Standards Agency with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department of Health
How-to Talks
Check out our past talks, where our expert speakers cover all kinds of startup-related subjects from protecting your data to dealing with difficult people and resilience.
