Dr Gabriela Juarez-Martinez
Centeo Biosciences

I was working as a life scientist and I needed to protect my samples from temperature changes so I designed a technique to help me to do this and I was very happy with the results. Then I thought, if I could incorporate this into a product, it will also be helpful for other scientists. But setting up a high tech business and developing your own product is quite challenging. It's like landing in a stadium, in the middle of a game, without knowing what is being played. And in order to win the game you need to understand the market and you need to adapt your product and your business to this market. You need to educate yourself and be a fast learner but the key thing is to create a team with the best people you can afford, the best advisers, the best business partners but most importantly – once you start playing, never give up. I think that you need to be prepared to work hard and believe that you cannot fail.