Matt Clifford - How to be a Founder and Why we shouldn't recreate Silicon Valley

This year has seen Jimmy’s Jobs talk to some of the most influential minds in the UK.

From Rishi Sunak and Andrew Bailey right through to Martha Lane Fox, these are the thinkers and shapers of the British economy, the voices that generate headlines and shape the national debate. 

Today’s guest is a worthy addition to this list- Matt Clifford is the founder of Entrepreneur First - a unique institution in the UK economy that backs entrepreneurs for who they are as much as their ideas. 

We had Matt’s co-founder, Alice Bentinck, on the show late last year and since then the pair have written a book - “How to be a Founder” has since become one of my go-to recommendations and I thoroughly recommend it.

Matt has recently taken up a new position as CEO and Chair of the new Advanced Research and Invention Agency- or ARIA for short - where he’ll oversee the funding of transformational UK science and technology. 

It is based on the DARPA model from the United States which was so influential behind the founding of Silicon Valley. 

We talk a bit in this show about the UK recreating Silicon Valley, and it’s a theme that I am picking up this week in my Times column. 

I will be republishing that through my email newsletter on substack this week, just check the link below to sign up. 


In this episode we discuss:

• How to be a Founder- why did he write the book?
• Finding your edge.
• Being elite but not elitist.
• Getting underprivileged people into entrepreneurship.
• The myths of what makes an entrepreneur.
• The competition for investors in the VC industry.
• Matt’s thoughts on the wider technology ecosystem. 
• How will the pandemic change the world of entrepreneurship?
• Building co-founding relationships remotely.
• What will be the effects of this year’s political issues in building the UK economy. 
• What is ARIA - the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
• How the UK can become less silo’d between academia, policy and business. 
• Building talent outside the ‘golden triangle’. 
• What are the most exciting places of innovation in the UK? 
• The pressure of being such a big name in the business industry.
• Why willpower is rechargeable and the danger of valourising founders.
• The collision of biology and software

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