{"id":13528,"date":"2017-11-12T18:21:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T18:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/?p=13528"},"modified":"2023-05-30T23:58:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T22:58:35","slug":"we-saw-an-opportunity-postgrads-who-turned-study-into-startup-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/2017\/11\/12\/we-saw-an-opportunity-postgrads-who-turned-study-into-startup-success\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We saw an opportunity&#8217;: postgrads who turned study into startup success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Worried about job hunting after graduation? A growing number of alumni are choosing to start their own business, en route to self-made success.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2017\/nov\/10\/skys-the-limit-student-startups-entrepreneurs-business\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;&#8216;We saw an opportunity&#8217;: postgrads who turned study into startup success&#8221; was written by Suzanne Bearne, for theguardian.com on Friday 10th November 2017 16.32 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Studying a master\u2019s can open doors into industries that otherwise often remain closed to those without a postgraduate qualification. But for some postgrads, the holy grail isn\u2019t necessarily securing a permanent job with an employer. Instead, many are taking the tools and knowledge they\u2019ve learned from a year of digging deep into their chosen subject and using it to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/entrepreneurs\">start their own businesses<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The lightbulb moment for Hannah Myers came while studying for a master\u2019s in product design at Nottingham Trent University. She had worked in a bike shop after university, and saw an opportunity for a womenswear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/cycling\">cycling<\/a> brand after feeling frustrated at the lack of options. The brand was a continuation of her final master\u2019s assignment on female-related products in the mountain bike sector. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/small-business-network\/2017\/sep\/01\/why-dont-universities-prepare-students-for-self-employment\">Why don&#8217;t universities better prepare students for self-employment?<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t set out to run a business but my master\u2019s project involved making&nbsp;a brand,\u201d says Myers, now 28. \u201cIt was back in 2012 and I realised that there weren\u2019t many womenswear cycling&nbsp;products around. If there were, they tended to be stereotypical \u2013 a \u201cshrink&nbsp;it and pink it\u201d approach \u2013 and the rest of the products were masculine in style. I ended up designing my whole brand out of the project.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before Myers had even graduated, she had registered the business with Companies House and&nbsp;started looking for manufacturers. Her company, <a href=\"https:\/\/flareclothingco.com\/\">Flare<\/a>, is now selling products online and is wholesaling in the&nbsp;UK and Europe, which now includes a men\u2019s range. \u201cMy master\u2019s gave me the&nbsp;mental space to concentrate on one topic and delve deeper into it,\u201d&nbsp;says Myers, who graduated in 2013. \u201cIt spurred me to start&nbsp;my own business.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Phillips met his future business partner Saul Johnstone while studying a master\u2019s in strategic digital marketing at the University of South Wales. A former business owner \u2013 he\u2019d run a ski business after working seasons at various ski resorts \u2013 Phillips returned to university after he decided he wanted&nbsp;to retrain in a different area. He thought that the course could help him stand out to future employers, but when they were researching marketing businesses in the local area as part of their master\u2019s research, the pair soon discovered another possible route ahead&nbsp;for them post-study.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2017\/nov\/10\/wo-degrees-better-than-one-career-prospects-postgraduate-students\">Will a master&#8217;s give you the edge in your career?<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWhen we focused on south Wales as part of&nbsp;our&nbsp;research, we realised that there were no agencies providing our skill set,\u201d&nbsp;says Phillips. \u201cWe saw an opportunity to launch a marketing agency offering everything from strategic&nbsp;planning to website build.\u201d&nbsp;The&nbsp;duo launched <a href=\"http:\/\/11fiftynine.co.uk\/\">11:FiftyNine<\/a> in 2016 \u2013 while they were still finishing&nbsp;their dissertation \u2013 and&nbsp;even&nbsp;picked up their first client&nbsp;before they\u2019d graduated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Holly Knower, chief executive officer&nbsp;at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nacue.com\/\">National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs<\/a>, says there&nbsp;does appear to be an increase in students manoeuvring away from traditional employment routes. \u201cWe\u2019ve&nbsp;found that recent postgraduates are looking for more creative and innovative ways to make their mark&nbsp;within their chosen disciplines, and this includes starting their own business,\u201d she says. \u201cThe current labour&nbsp;marker is not what it once&nbsp;was&nbsp;and therefore we will see a reduced number of young people fulfilling long-term careers in one dedicated role;&nbsp;instead they\u2019ll be making&nbsp;their own&nbsp;dream careers by starting up their&nbsp;own companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worried about job hunting after graduation? A growing number of alumni are choosing to start their own business, en route to self-made success<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10220698900476085_349663338397715":"","twitter_1370559253_1370559253":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[61,219,369,96,439,441,370,350,450,398],"class_list":["post-13528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-article","tag-cycling","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-features","tag-postgraduates","tag-professional-supplements","tag-small-business","tag-students","tag-suzanne-bearne","tag-uk-labs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}