Episode 93: Gerard Grech - MD of Founders at Cambridge & CEO of Tech Nation - Driving Innovation Trough Tech Ecosystems

EU-Startups Podcast

In this episode, we catch up with Gerard Grech, Managing Director of Founders at the University of Cambridge, a new strategic initiative focused on accelerating the formation and scaling of new deep technology-based companies. Gerard is also the founder, advisor and former Chief Executive of Tech Nation before it was acquired by the Founders Forum Group. Under his leadership, Tech Nation went on to shape Europe’s most productive digital ecosystem, creating dozens of nationwide programs that helped grow some of Britain’s biggest tech stars, from Monzo to Skyscanner, with over 1300 companies in between. A third of all tech unicorns ever created in the UK’s history graduated from one of Tech Nation’s programs, fuelling a 5x increase in the number of UK cities with a tech unicorn or more and securing the UK’s digital leadership position in Europe. The company was the 9th fastest growing technology-focused company in the UK public sector in 2022, making a return on state investment of 20x. Gerard talks about the unique aspects of various startup ecosystems, particularly comparing Europe and the US, and delve into the lessons learned from Tech Nation. Gerard shares insights on the importance of community, collaboration, and culture in scaling startups, as well as the role of universities in fostering innovation. The conversation also touches on the transformative potential of AI in tech and education, leadership lessons from Gerard's experience at Tech Nation and much more. Takeaways 1. A third of UK unicorns emerged from Tech Nation's programs. 2. One of the biggest mistakes startups make is scale too quickly without solid foundations. 3. The US has a way more risk-tolerant investment culture than Europe. 4. AI will transform not only tech companies but the educational institutions that are breeding tomorrow's innovators. 5. When you start to combine AI with new computational power like quantum computing the impact will be absolutely huge. EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. Compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, with Vanta it can be super simple. Trusted by over 7,000 companies, Vanta automates the pricey, time-consuming process of prepping for ISO 27001,SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, and more. Learn more here: http://vanta.com/eustartups