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OxfordGuideToCareers2017
OxfordGuideToCareers2017
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WORKING FOR YOURSELF<br />
Agne Milukaite<br />
<br />
<br />
MSc in Migration Studies,<br />
2013<br />
WHAT: Agne is the founder of the peerto-peer<br />
bicycle sharing platform, Cycle.<br />
land.<br />
As a social scientist by training and<br />
an entrepreneur by profession, Agne<br />
is passionate about the opportunities<br />
that arise from the sharing economy for<br />
business and to address poverty. Prior to<br />
launching the business, Agne worked for<br />
a Canadian home robotics company in<br />
Berkeley, California.<br />
ABOUT CYCLE.LAND: Cycle.land is<br />
a vibrant social marketplace and a<br />
community of bike sharers. We connect<br />
people who are passionate about cycling<br />
and traveling and share a love of bikes,<br />
adventures, friendships, and the kindness<br />
of strangers.<br />
We match people who want a bike with<br />
people willing to hire out their bike for<br />
as little as £1 per day. We place every<br />
available bike on a map and anyone<br />
with a smartphone can access one at the<br />
click of a button.<br />
We make this sharing easy, enjoyable<br />
and safe. We verify personal profiles and<br />
listings and contact information remains<br />
private on our platform. Paypal makes<br />
payments safe and simple and bike<br />
owners and users also build trust<br />
by writing reviews after each bike<br />
sharing experience.<br />
Cycle.land has been incubated at<br />
the University of Oxford and went<br />
through the VIEW programme<br />
at Said Business School. As a<br />
student, Agne participated in The<br />
Student Consultancy programme<br />
run by the Careers Service gaining<br />
experience working in a team on a<br />
client project. Two years on she is<br />
now a programme client creating<br />
experience opportunities for other<br />
students.<br />
TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Entrepreneurship<br />
is about seizing the day, looking<br />
for opportunities and then going<br />
for it! Our aim is to revolutionise<br />
how people think about transport.<br />
I always knew that Cycle.land was<br />
going to solve people’s problems,<br />
but it has been amazing to see it<br />
happen!<br />
The most important lesson I’ve<br />
learned is to reach out to people:<br />
make the most of the help at Oxford<br />
and create a community around you.<br />
WORKING FOR YOURSELF<br />
Aditya Kasliwal<br />
Founder, SpeakSet, Healthcare<br />
<br />
<br />
Engineering Science, 2012<br />
WHAT: We are making it easier for older<br />
people to receive healthcare in their own<br />
homes. We’re over 3 years old and work<br />
with private and public health and social<br />
care organisations around the country.<br />
In startups you often just get stuck in with<br />
whatever needs doing whether that’s<br />
soldering up prototypes in a co-founders<br />
flat because the manufacturer fell through<br />
or building a ‘video calling platform’ or<br />
- my focus for the last year - building a<br />
team and sales process to get our tech<br />
into patients’ hands.<br />
Right now I’m looking at new opportunities<br />
to grow SpeakSet faster.<br />
WHY: You are ALWAYS learning and<br />
learning fast. I’ve done everything from<br />
coding to sales and marketing to working<br />
with investors. There’s also some fun perks<br />
like being invited by Google to speak in<br />
Brussels, regular visits to House of Lords<br />
or being selected in the Forbes 30 under<br />
30 list!<br />
A minor caveat though; it’s constantly<br />
intense; hard work both physically and<br />
emotionally and you have to make<br />
do with what you’ve got. For<br />
example, for the first year, I’d come<br />
down to London and couch surf – I<br />
wouldn’t recommend that!<br />
EARLY CAREER: I joined Entrepreneur<br />
First -EF - straight out of Uni. EF<br />
brings exceptional talent together<br />
and gives them the tools to start their<br />
own company and has a fantastic<br />
track record, their first 4 years of<br />
companies are collectively valued at<br />
over $300m.<br />
What was great about EF was that<br />
we had the space to try out different<br />
ideas. Before SpeakSet, I built guitar<br />
pedals and ran a food business for 4<br />
months - I learned a lot that I could<br />
use in building SpeakSet.<br />
TOP TIP: Passion! You have to be<br />
genuinely passionate about the job<br />
and the company you’re applying<br />
to. It makes a huge difference. Our<br />
hiring decisions are made primarily<br />
on passion, hunger and team fit.<br />
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