1
00:00:01,810 --> 00:00:10,700
Welcome to Oxford+, the podcast series
that takes you deep into the myths and

2
00:00:10,700 --> 00:00:13,140
truths of the Oxford investing landscape.

3
00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:16,269
I'm your host, Susannah de
Jager and I've spent over 15

4
00:00:16,269 --> 00:00:17,789
years in UK asset management.

5
00:00:18,500 --> 00:00:20,450
My guest today is Rowan Gardner.

6
00:00:20,820 --> 00:00:24,450
Rowan is a serial entrepreneur
and CEO with over 30 years of

7
00:00:24,450 --> 00:00:28,820
experience in health tech, digital
health, deep tech, and biotech.

8
00:00:29,210 --> 00:00:32,809
She has an unusual claim not only to have
been part of one of the university's first

9
00:00:32,810 --> 00:00:38,170
spin outs, Oxford Molecular Group in 1989,
but also to have subsequently listed it

10
00:00:38,199 --> 00:00:41,199
on the main London Stock Exchange in 1994.

11
00:00:41,770 --> 00:00:45,339
Rowan is currently Chief Business
and Investment Officer at Precision

12
00:00:45,339 --> 00:00:49,199
Life, a platform that links chronic
disease patients to the drugs they

13
00:00:49,199 --> 00:00:53,769
will respond to via mechanistic
patient stratification biomarkers.

14
00:00:54,209 --> 00:00:58,230
A huge advocate and advertisement for
Oxford, I am delighted to have Rowan here

15
00:00:58,449 --> 00:01:00,330
to share her experience and her views.

16
00:01:00,639 --> 00:01:03,419
Rowan, thank you so
much for joining today.

17
00:01:03,819 --> 00:01:07,900
So slightly different to what I've done
with other people, but because you are

18
00:01:07,910 --> 00:01:12,690
the guest with by far the most experience
of Oxford over a longer period of time

19
00:01:12,770 --> 00:01:18,370
to date, I'd love to just hear a little
bit of a roll call of some of the things

20
00:01:18,370 --> 00:01:22,470
you've been involved in and then we can
kind of go on from there because I think

21
00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:24,079
it'll be interesting for people to hear.

22
00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,240
Well, thank you for the opportunity,
Susannah and just reminding me that

23
00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:33,540
I'm quite old these days but I guess my
adventure in Oxford started like many,

24
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,520
I read biochemistry at the university
and really because I was absolutely

25
00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:43,940
fascinated by a picture of DNA I saw
as almost that early teenager being

26
00:01:43,940 --> 00:01:45,430
dragged around the science museum.

27
00:01:45,890 --> 00:01:50,460
You know, that really has been the
common thread, molecular thread through

28
00:01:50,460 --> 00:01:56,210
my career and very early on, I joined
a company called Oxford Molecular and

29
00:01:56,300 --> 00:02:01,289
some of the listeners will be familiar
with Oxford University's Innovation.

30
00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,519
They have a slide, which is a time
series of all of Oxford's spin outs

31
00:02:05,519 --> 00:02:08,940
and Oxford Molecular, I think, is
about number four and that was a great

32
00:02:08,940 --> 00:02:10,790
adventure very early on in my career.

33
00:02:11,390 --> 00:02:16,490
We listed on the main board of the
London Stock Exchange in 1995, we grew

34
00:02:16,490 --> 00:02:22,629
by acquisition of many US companies and
really that was a trailblazer for some

35
00:02:22,630 --> 00:02:28,425
of the Generative AI and high performance
computing applications around life

36
00:02:28,425 --> 00:02:31,295
science data that Oxford is known for.

37
00:02:31,305 --> 00:02:36,584
So we have Excientia, we have Genomics
PLC, Nanopore, all of those companies

38
00:02:36,584 --> 00:02:41,624
coming from that thread and I had
a great experience with Oxford.

39
00:02:41,665 --> 00:02:45,885
I did leave Oxford and go to the
other place for a period of time.

40
00:02:45,885 --> 00:02:46,155
Surely not!

41
00:02:47,030 --> 00:02:48,000
Sure, I did.

42
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:48,510
I did.

43
00:02:48,540 --> 00:02:52,500
But you know, that's what experience
teaches you, I came back and

44
00:02:52,890 --> 00:02:56,679
while I was based in Cambridge,
I ran an advisory business.

45
00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:02,170
I was a co-founder of a very early sort
of cloud computing architecture business

46
00:03:02,170 --> 00:03:07,089
called Sonomics, where we worked with
those people at CERN who are phenomenal,

47
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:12,060
in building an integration, architecture
for bringing together life science data

48
00:03:12,709 --> 00:03:20,009
and had a ball and really discovered the
technology behind the current work venture

49
00:03:20,009 --> 00:03:25,010
that I'm involved with, Precision Life
while we were in that entrepreneurial

50
00:03:25,010 --> 00:03:30,920
environment and so Precision Life has
three founders, myself, Steve Gardner

51
00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:37,300
and Gert Muller, who is a whip smart
mathematician based in Denmark and we

52
00:03:37,300 --> 00:03:43,230
are doing amazing world leading work
pioneering our understanding of chronic

53
00:03:43,230 --> 00:03:47,859
disease biology, which we believe will
make it much more efficient to both

54
00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:53,345
discover new medicines but also develop
them and enable the pharmaceutical

55
00:03:53,345 --> 00:03:59,574
industry to be much more effective in
how it invests capital to bring drugs to

56
00:03:59,574 --> 00:04:02,429
market that serve unmet clinical need.

57
00:04:02,735 --> 00:04:03,655
Wonderful, thank you!

58
00:04:03,655 --> 00:04:08,145
That was a brilliant and efficient
whistle stop tour of your years of

59
00:04:08,145 --> 00:04:12,084
experience and I wanted to just go
into something you touched on, being

60
00:04:12,084 --> 00:04:16,624
in Cambridge and I'd love to understand
from your perspective having started

61
00:04:16,624 --> 00:04:19,034
here gone to Cambridge now come back.

62
00:04:19,635 --> 00:04:21,404
Do you observe differences?

63
00:04:21,404 --> 00:04:23,405
Do you think they're more
similar than people make out?

64
00:04:23,725 --> 00:04:25,835
What's your experience
taught you about it?

65
00:04:26,050 --> 00:04:30,329
So I was thinking about that on the drive
over because it was an inevitable question

66
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,939
and I think what's slightly fascinating.

67
00:04:34,615 --> 00:04:40,034
is when I was at university, we
always used to observe that Oxford

68
00:04:40,075 --> 00:04:42,355
was a more multidimensional place.

69
00:04:42,385 --> 00:04:48,494
It had the car industry and it had
the university and you know, we like

70
00:04:48,494 --> 00:04:54,355
to observe that Cambridge was mostly
the university and you roll forward

71
00:04:54,434 --> 00:04:59,905
the several decades further on and
when it comes to entrepreneurship

72
00:04:59,965 --> 00:05:06,905
and innovation, Cambridge is
perhaps more  heterogeneous...

73
00:05:07,545 --> 00:05:07,785
Okay.

74
00:05:07,785 --> 00:05:16,720
...it has a greater focus on repeat
entrepreneurs and because of that

75
00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:22,420
it has a more heterogeneous funding
environment than perhaps Oxford,

76
00:05:23,059 --> 00:05:30,425
and Oxford really has built its game
around world class, phenomenal new

77
00:05:30,425 --> 00:05:36,145
ventures coming out of the university,
both high growth and social ventures.

78
00:05:37,675 --> 00:05:43,155
But the track record of repeat
entrepreneurs in Oxford is not quite

79
00:05:43,195 --> 00:05:47,214
as balanced as you see in Cambridge
and I think that's fascinating.

80
00:05:47,490 --> 00:05:51,260
That's really interesting and I've
certainly heard that from other guests

81
00:05:51,270 --> 00:05:56,769
already that there's less of that
recycling of talent but also that so

82
00:05:56,769 --> 00:06:01,760
often what can help companies that are
in their infancy is having the recycling

83
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:07,210
of capital from those really great
success stories and so it's both elements

84
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,580
that perhaps have room for improvement.

85
00:06:10,470 --> 00:06:14,629
You said something else about Oxford
that sort of caught my attention because

86
00:06:14,629 --> 00:06:19,399
actually we had a guest Mark Preston who
comes from Formula One and was talking

87
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:24,830
about the really amazing motorsports
cluster, however his view was that

88
00:06:25,090 --> 00:06:30,580
perhaps Oxford as a place the university
and indeed the industry have not made as

89
00:06:30,580 --> 00:06:36,495
much of their proximity to one another
as they might have done and what a shame

90
00:06:36,495 --> 00:06:38,575
that is because they could both benefit.

91
00:06:39,345 --> 00:06:45,715
So I would be interested to know if
you see any ways from your experience

92
00:06:45,875 --> 00:06:47,375
that could be improved upon?

93
00:06:47,645 --> 00:06:53,914
So, he's right, you know, most of the big
problems that society is facing is going

94
00:06:53,914 --> 00:06:59,315
to require all of the talents to solve
it and that involves bringing you know,

95
00:06:59,324 --> 00:07:04,685
world class engineering, sensing, data
scientists, computational scientists,

96
00:07:05,165 --> 00:07:09,505
the physical scientists, anybody from
the arts listening, we need you too.

97
00:07:10,255 --> 00:07:13,885
I will always start from a place
of science and there's some real

98
00:07:13,885 --> 00:07:19,255
lessons actually that I remember from
the conversations that I had with

99
00:07:19,294 --> 00:07:24,374
Paolo Zanella, who was a co founder
of Sonomics with us, which was the

100
00:07:24,405 --> 00:07:30,854
data integration business and Paolo
had led the computing lab at CERN.

101
00:07:30,864 --> 00:07:36,775
So Paolo was the guy who found funding
when there wasn't any to give Tim Berners

102
00:07:36,814 --> 00:07:42,264
Lee his computer to write the World Wide
Web on and you know, someone with that

103
00:07:42,264 --> 00:07:47,754
kind of imagination and flair you might
imagine as being quite interesting and

104
00:07:47,794 --> 00:07:53,914
we worked with a number of people in
that computing group and in the field

105
00:07:53,935 --> 00:07:59,445
of very large physics, you have to have
collaboration because the requirement

106
00:07:59,445 --> 00:08:04,964
for capital to fund big ideas, to do
the big experiments, means you have to

107
00:08:04,965 --> 00:08:11,224
coordinate and there are endless lessons
in what happens when the particle physics

108
00:08:11,255 --> 00:08:16,045
community organises to do that and so
you know, if you think back to the Large

109
00:08:16,045 --> 00:08:20,439
Hadron Collider, not only did we have a
large hadron collider and a great piece

110
00:08:20,439 --> 00:08:24,979
of particle physics, we found a hadron and
all the things that flowed from that, we

111
00:08:24,979 --> 00:08:32,699
also got cloud computing, we got very fast
networks, we got the ability to do atom

112
00:08:32,730 --> 00:08:40,799
perfect welding in order to build some of
the sensors, you got amazing innovation in

113
00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:44,169
terms of tackling very low cost sensors.

114
00:08:44,229 --> 00:08:48,050
There was endless innovation that
came from that big project because you

115
00:08:48,050 --> 00:08:54,069
had to bring all of the capabilities
together to do it and in the biosciences

116
00:08:54,100 --> 00:08:59,875
where I'm from, actually, much of
bioscience can be done by an individual

117
00:08:59,885 --> 00:09:05,545
with a pipette and a bench and so
trying to find those organisational

118
00:09:05,574 --> 00:09:10,994
principles and those questions that
allow us to move beyond our training

119
00:09:10,994 --> 00:09:13,314
area are quite few and far between.

120
00:09:13,814 --> 00:09:17,969
When they do happen, like the
Human Genome Project, you know,

121
00:09:17,969 --> 00:09:19,785
they can be transformative.

122
00:09:20,365 --> 00:09:25,835
But generally, the life sciences have
not had to do quite so much innovation

123
00:09:26,395 --> 00:09:29,765
that requires bringing different
skills together and I think the

124
00:09:29,765 --> 00:09:34,304
exception to that would be the genome
sequencing companies like Nanopore.

125
00:09:34,750 --> 00:09:38,620
Really interesting, and going back
to something you said earlier about

126
00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:43,199
precision life and what you're aiming
for and hoping which is you know, if

127
00:09:43,199 --> 00:09:46,750
I paraphrase it correctly really that
you can help, you know, pharmaceutical

128
00:09:46,750 --> 00:09:51,590
companies direct their R&D more
effectively by using  AI and data

129
00:09:51,590 --> 00:09:53,250
sets that will help them apply that.

130
00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,660
It occurs to me that more and more and
this is as a layperson but more and

131
00:09:57,660 --> 00:10:02,990
more R&D arms are being shut down and
that there seems to be an over reliance

132
00:10:03,410 --> 00:10:08,520
upon startups in each area and before
we went live you were talking about

133
00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:13,219
how much kind of research has gone in
which is brilliant to oncology but to

134
00:10:13,219 --> 00:10:18,950
the detriment of other areas and do you
think that with more precise directing

135
00:10:18,950 --> 00:10:24,340
from companies such as Precision Life
that there will be a change in that

136
00:10:24,410 --> 00:10:28,605
trend and that people will effectively
have more confidence that their

137
00:10:28,605 --> 00:10:32,115
investment in R&D will be yielding more?

138
00:10:32,805 --> 00:10:33,835
Yes, so that's a...

139
00:10:34,115 --> 00:10:35,635
I'm obviously going to say yes.

140
00:10:35,875 --> 00:10:37,495
I'm co founder Precision Life.

141
00:10:37,495 --> 00:10:38,775
Do I think it's going to change the world?

142
00:10:38,775 --> 00:10:39,065
Yes.

143
00:10:39,065 --> 00:10:39,325
Excellent!

144
00:10:40,175 --> 00:10:44,405
Now, that question you asked is like an
onion, there's a lot of things to peel.

145
00:10:44,445 --> 00:10:46,745
I know I'm bad at precision ironically.

146
00:10:46,945 --> 00:10:50,885
That's fine and you know, that's actually
the challenge in healthcare, right?

147
00:10:50,885 --> 00:10:54,364
So there are a lot of different
factors that, you know, the

148
00:10:54,365 --> 00:10:57,665
pharmaceutical industry face in
bringing new medicines to market.

149
00:10:57,675 --> 00:11:03,160
So if I sort of delve into the
origin story of Precision life a

150
00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:07,230
little bit, I think it, it starts
to answer some of those questions.

151
00:11:07,780 --> 00:11:12,000
So I mentioned the Human Genome Project,
and we were very fortunate, Steve and

152
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:17,910
myself, to be working at Oxford Molecular
in the very early days when Jim Watson,

153
00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,890
the Nobel laureate, was writing the
grant to the NIH for the Human Genome

154
00:11:21,890 --> 00:11:26,945
Project and I think, you know, if you'd
asked, most biologists in the early

155
00:11:26,945 --> 00:11:31,895
90s, you know, what was the impact
going to be of the Human Genome Project?

156
00:11:31,895 --> 00:11:35,605
Certainly, if you ask Jim Watson,
you know, he's a very reductionist

157
00:11:35,644 --> 00:11:40,405
person, still sort of that central
dogma, you know, one gene makes one

158
00:11:40,405 --> 00:11:42,224
protein, we know all that is rubbish.

159
00:11:42,564 --> 00:11:46,295
But, you know, we'd sequence the genome,
we'd find all the genes, we'd find all

160
00:11:46,295 --> 00:11:52,235
the bad genes that caused disease, we'd
wumpf up a drug, and hurrah, by now you

161
00:11:52,235 --> 00:11:57,665
know, I would still look like I did at 30,
we'd all be living well and ageing well.

162
00:11:57,694 --> 00:12:02,295
Of course, that isn't what happened
and that's because there are

163
00:12:02,295 --> 00:12:04,155
different types of diseases out there.

164
00:12:04,175 --> 00:12:11,305
So, you know, rare diseases tend
to be very single gene, you know,

165
00:12:11,615 --> 00:12:13,355
driving the disease biology.

166
00:12:13,775 --> 00:12:18,555
So one thing, we can find it, you know, if
we can find enough data to spot a pattern,

167
00:12:18,615 --> 00:12:22,935
we have a very good chance of developing
medicines and certainly the human genome

168
00:12:23,344 --> 00:12:25,555
has had a big impact on rare disease.

169
00:12:26,195 --> 00:12:31,840
In oncology, one of the reasons that
so much money has gone into oncology is

170
00:12:31,860 --> 00:12:37,290
because the cancer biologists have got
very good at characterising different

171
00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:43,709
types of tumors and therefore we are
beginning to see cancer at very high

172
00:12:43,710 --> 00:12:47,660
resolution and therefore we understand
the problem that we're trying to

173
00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:52,665
solve in finding new medicines and
we have become very experienced as

174
00:12:52,665 --> 00:12:58,725
an industry in making the case for
those medicines to be reimbursed and

175
00:12:58,725 --> 00:13:02,745
so pharma can see a way of creating
value for shareholders and, you know,

176
00:13:02,785 --> 00:13:07,984
oncology has driven a lot of investment
and healthcare outcomes for cancer

177
00:13:07,985 --> 00:13:10,724
patients over the last couple of decades.

178
00:13:11,435 --> 00:13:18,470
What we haven't seen is the human genome
impact chronic disease biology and that's

179
00:13:18,490 --> 00:13:24,900
because chronic disease biology is much
more complex at its heart, it's a time

180
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:33,450
bound situation and that means that we
have in each of us a genetic capability

181
00:13:33,450 --> 00:13:38,510
propensity to have certain risk factors
for disease and then we go out and live

182
00:13:38,510 --> 00:13:43,180
our lives and make certain choices and,
you know, maybe don't do the exercise or

183
00:13:43,180 --> 00:13:46,770
don't eat our five vegetables a day or
any of the other generalised advice that

184
00:13:46,780 --> 00:13:52,170
we get and so that will create different
disease processes in us and the second

185
00:13:52,170 --> 00:13:57,250
challenge for chronic disease is much
of the way that we diagnose it is really

186
00:13:57,700 --> 00:14:03,140
being built on the clinician's experience
of what they can observe in a patient.

187
00:14:03,770 --> 00:14:09,350
So we classify diseases on what we can
see in the clinic and not necessarily

188
00:14:09,350 --> 00:14:11,160
according to their underlying biology.

189
00:14:11,170 --> 00:14:16,530
So we've done an analysis of
Alzheimer's patients and yeah, we

190
00:14:16,530 --> 00:14:21,330
can see six broad disease processes
that are contributing to Alzheimer's.

191
00:14:21,930 --> 00:14:28,620
Only one of which is that amyloid tau
lipoprotein approach that the industry

192
00:14:28,629 --> 00:14:34,140
has, you know, spent a lot of money
trying to find effective medicines

193
00:14:34,619 --> 00:14:41,465
and I think there's about 139 failed
clinical trials in that space and if we

194
00:14:41,465 --> 00:14:46,095
can find, match the patients who will
benefit from those medicines, they will

195
00:14:46,095 --> 00:14:48,385
work really well for those patients.

196
00:14:49,255 --> 00:14:53,945
But there are still five other disease
processes that will be present in other

197
00:14:53,945 --> 00:15:00,275
patients who will still have unmet needs
and so what we're doing at Precision Life

198
00:15:00,295 --> 00:15:05,895
is we have a very smart branch of maths
that is allowing us to stratify patients

199
00:15:06,365 --> 00:15:12,975
and then see into those different patient
groups what's driving disease and that way

200
00:15:12,975 --> 00:15:17,955
we can land whether there are effective
drugs out there to treat patients already,

201
00:15:17,955 --> 00:15:23,445
perhaps repurposed medicines, or whether
we need to find new ones and it is

202
00:15:23,555 --> 00:15:25,515
tremendously exciting what we're doing.

203
00:15:25,745 --> 00:15:26,135
So...

204
00:15:26,495 --> 00:15:30,445
It sounds very exciting, I mean, you
know, it's interesting how much more

205
00:15:30,475 --> 00:15:34,835
discourse there is on this subject
of preventative medicine, how can

206
00:15:34,835 --> 00:15:36,535
we get in front of chronic disease?

207
00:15:37,195 --> 00:15:41,464
I've been reading the book Outlive by
Peter Attia which I'm sure has come

208
00:15:41,465 --> 00:15:45,035
across your radar even if you probably
don't need to read it and it talks

209
00:15:45,035 --> 00:15:49,570
about the four horsemen diseases that
we basically done nothing to move the

210
00:15:49,570 --> 00:15:53,730
needle on because it's preventative
medicine or we've been pointing in

211
00:15:53,730 --> 00:15:55,240
the wrong direction to your point.

212
00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:01,325
To the point that we were discussing
around sort of R&D and funding and again

213
00:16:01,335 --> 00:16:05,935
touching upon something you brought
up earlier about Cambridge having more

214
00:16:05,985 --> 00:16:12,525
heterogeneous sources of funding, do you
think that's something that Oxford in

215
00:16:12,525 --> 00:16:18,845
particular needs more of and if so how can
you see that it might make a difference

216
00:16:19,105 --> 00:16:20,425
or is that a bit of a red herring?

217
00:16:21,165 --> 00:16:23,875
So in some regards, Oxford
has a lot of funding.

218
00:16:24,005 --> 00:16:30,535
So you know, OSE is a wonderful example
of a lot of funding being in one place.

219
00:16:30,965 --> 00:16:35,675
They're doing a great job of
supporting the university spin outs.

220
00:16:36,125 --> 00:16:39,015
They are syndicating
well, we're seeing exits.

221
00:16:39,244 --> 00:16:45,805
So there's some real celebration, success
here and you know, we want that quantum of

222
00:16:45,805 --> 00:16:52,495
capital to be successful in our ecosystem
and then alongside that, what you might

223
00:16:52,495 --> 00:17:00,104
see in a more well developed balanced
ecosystem, you might also expect to see

224
00:17:00,355 --> 00:17:06,615
a vibrant angel investment community,
you might want to see family offices,

225
00:17:06,615 --> 00:17:13,195
you would want to see other investors in
the ecosystem funding the companies that

226
00:17:13,195 --> 00:17:18,395
perhaps OSE don't see so much of, you
know, if we're going to retain and recycle

227
00:17:18,844 --> 00:17:23,255
management and the fruits of wealth
creation amongst the entrepreneurial

228
00:17:23,255 --> 00:17:27,670
community, you know, where are the
funds that those people are investing

229
00:17:27,670 --> 00:17:33,110
in and how are they, looking to support
the next generation of entrepreneurs?

230
00:17:33,340 --> 00:17:38,340
And that in Oxford is just a little
bit thin, to the point that some

231
00:17:38,340 --> 00:17:48,040
of the venture funds probably would
lean more into London and yet their

232
00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,430
partners are probably living very...

233
00:17:50,820 --> 00:17:54,920
in Oxford or near to Oxford
and just a little example

234
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:57,695
of that was at the recent J.

235
00:17:57,695 --> 00:17:57,885
P.

236
00:17:57,885 --> 00:18:02,435
Morgan conference in San Francisco,
having flown all the way to San

237
00:18:02,435 --> 00:18:08,115
Francisco, at one of the first drinks
parties, I was speaking to a partner of

238
00:18:08,115 --> 00:18:13,455
a venture firm, phenomenally interesting
venture firm, very active in the UK and

239
00:18:13,455 --> 00:18:16,865
sort of two or three minutes into the
conversation, it turns out he lives a

240
00:18:16,865 --> 00:18:19,225
three minute cycle ride from our office.

241
00:18:19,675 --> 00:18:25,215
So I flew all the way to San Francisco
to find that out, so shame on me and

242
00:18:25,215 --> 00:18:28,195
that's one of the problems that You
know, that behavior is certainly driving

243
00:18:28,195 --> 00:18:29,795
climate change in the wrong direction.

244
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,710
No and listen, it's amusing, David
Ford, who is an angel investor and who

245
00:18:33,710 --> 00:18:37,590
you know in Oxford and Cambridge, said
exactly the same thing about the J.

246
00:18:37,590 --> 00:18:37,740
P.

247
00:18:37,740 --> 00:18:42,690
Morgan conference being where he can
meet people from Oxford and how ironic

248
00:18:42,740 --> 00:18:47,719
that is and so I suppose I would
ask you the explicit question and

249
00:18:47,770 --> 00:18:51,540
what would you want to see in Oxford
to make sure that doesn't happen?

250
00:18:51,590 --> 00:18:54,140
Do we need a conference here
where we just say, stop it.

251
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,090
Everyone just come five
minutes down the road.

252
00:18:57,835 --> 00:19:02,645
So I think part of it is we haven't
joined our ecosystem together very well.

253
00:19:02,655 --> 00:19:07,755
So you know, we have OBN, which
is a life science network.

254
00:19:08,165 --> 00:19:12,775
The O originally stood for Oxford,
they have a broader interest

255
00:19:12,775 --> 00:19:16,385
than just Oxford these days,
they have a series of meetings.

256
00:19:16,895 --> 00:19:21,415
We have the OION Angel Network
that has a series of meetings.

257
00:19:21,925 --> 00:19:24,365
There is a lot going on in the university.

258
00:19:24,530 --> 00:19:26,420
to encourage entrepreneurship.

259
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,520
But what there isn't is a lot of
quality crosstalk and it's the

260
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,960
crosstalk that is interesting to
the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem

261
00:19:36,990 --> 00:19:38,510
They don't care where you come from.

262
00:19:38,650 --> 00:19:40,320
They don't care what you represent.

263
00:19:40,370 --> 00:19:45,205
And you will see, you know, ideas
happening in different pools that when

264
00:19:45,205 --> 00:19:49,145
you put them together are, you know,
much more than the individual pieces.

265
00:19:49,735 --> 00:19:54,725
So I think that's a bit that's missing
and I also think, you know, where you've

266
00:19:54,725 --> 00:20:00,645
seen the Cambridge Angels have tremendous
leadership, Simon Thorpe did a lot of

267
00:20:00,645 --> 00:20:08,325
support of the Angel Academy Group, which
was developing female angel investors

268
00:20:08,345 --> 00:20:14,625
in London, we have Pam Garside as the
chair of Cambridge Angels, there is a

269
00:20:15,100 --> 00:20:22,720
active and strong female angel community
in Cambridge, and you look at what Jenny

270
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:29,700
Tooth has been doing at the British
Angel Network, we don't have the same

271
00:20:30,030 --> 00:20:37,370
participation in Oxford and that lack
of diversity makes us less competitive.

272
00:20:38,020 --> 00:20:43,790
You know, if we are about solving big
problems, then diversity is part of

273
00:20:44,290 --> 00:20:49,930
the ingredients that you want to bring,
because all of the work on diversity,

274
00:20:50,750 --> 00:20:56,620
whether it's the hard problems, or it's
management, or it's funding, you know,

275
00:20:56,620 --> 00:21:03,105
show that Diverse groups outperform,
you know, the kind of echo chamber

276
00:21:03,215 --> 00:21:05,975
of largely white Oxford educated men.

277
00:21:06,055 --> 00:21:07,655
Well, any group right?

278
00:21:07,655 --> 00:21:11,465
You know, Matthew Syed covers this
beautifully in his book Rebel Ideas, when

279
00:21:11,465 --> 00:21:16,985
he talks about just even one divergent
perspective makes the experience less

280
00:21:16,985 --> 00:21:22,535
harmonious, but the outcomes better and I
think that's an important point you make

281
00:21:22,535 --> 00:21:26,630
there and actually depressingly yesterday
in the press and you will have seen

282
00:21:26,630 --> 00:21:31,110
this, that they are re categorising what
it means to be a sophisticated investor

283
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:37,310
and that because they're raising it from
100,000 to 170,000 you need to earn, it's

284
00:21:37,310 --> 00:21:42,900
going to reduce the number of women that
qualify and I think it was from 320,000 to

285
00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:48,600
70,000 and that the impact that therefore
has on female funded businesses who are

286
00:21:49,230 --> 00:21:53,660
arguably proportionately, but you know,
get more funding from female angels, is

287
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:58,295
going to be very negative and we should
be doing lots of things, many of which

288
00:21:58,295 --> 00:22:03,295
you've pointed out just now to try and
mitigate what's not an unreasonable

289
00:22:03,295 --> 00:22:07,355
move in line with inflation, but will
have a disproportionate effect on female

290
00:22:07,355 --> 00:22:09,935
founded, in this case, businesses.

291
00:22:10,005 --> 00:22:12,365
And it reinforces so much inequity.

292
00:22:12,815 --> 00:22:19,060
So women for the same job are quite
frequently paid below the median.

293
00:22:19,540 --> 00:22:26,220
So, you know, there is a imbalance already
priced into those sorts of cutoffs that

294
00:22:26,220 --> 00:22:32,220
are imposed by the treasury and also
you know, it flies in the face of the

295
00:22:32,220 --> 00:22:37,645
experiences of more entrepreneurial
leaning communities around the world.

296
00:22:38,435 --> 00:22:39,785
So I think it's problematic.

297
00:22:39,815 --> 00:22:46,225
I also do have an observation that
the conversation comes down to women

298
00:22:46,225 --> 00:22:52,335
investing in women and I think it is a
bigger picture than that, in that when

299
00:22:52,345 --> 00:22:57,425
men and women come together and invest
together, everybody makes bigger returns.

300
00:22:57,925 --> 00:23:04,735
So the story needs to be told from a
perspective of what's in it for men.

301
00:23:06,405 --> 00:23:11,715
And indeed, you know, the pension funds
and everybody who's there creating long

302
00:23:11,715 --> 00:23:16,295
term value, I'm obviously, you know,
returning to the theme of I'm old.

303
00:23:16,385 --> 00:23:17,955
No, this is top of my list too!

304
00:23:17,975 --> 00:23:18,775
Don't worry, Rowan.

305
00:23:19,365 --> 00:23:24,345
But you know, the pension firms have so
much capital tied up and the ability to

306
00:23:24,345 --> 00:23:31,280
make high quality decisions is in part
about bringing diverse perspectives to

307
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,830
bear on those decisions and I love the
point that you say, well, the process

308
00:23:35,830 --> 00:23:41,100
of discussion may be, you know, more
argument based because there's a divergent

309
00:23:41,110 --> 00:23:45,520
thought in the room and then I go back
to the origins of Oxford University and

310
00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:50,610
the three R's of rhetoric, where, you
know, we used to debate actively and the

311
00:23:50,610 --> 00:23:56,245
term scoring points off each other comes
from us having an elongated thumb that

312
00:23:56,245 --> 00:24:01,175
we would kind of run over our opponent's
neck when we felt we'd landed a point very

313
00:24:01,175 --> 00:24:03,375
well, so I think, those through Oxford...

314
00:24:04,105 --> 00:24:04,685
I've never heard that!

315
00:24:04,715 --> 00:24:09,804
The Oxford, kind of system are more than
qualified to hold their own and make

316
00:24:09,805 --> 00:24:13,035
those points in a mixed environment.

317
00:24:13,170 --> 00:24:17,180
It really feels, this conversation,  it's
quite neatly sort of coming together

318
00:24:17,180 --> 00:24:21,210
insofar as it does feel that there are
meaningful things that can be done.

319
00:24:21,490 --> 00:24:24,800
That there needs to be, you know,
more bringing in of pharma, but

320
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,570
also industry, we spoke about the
cluster of motorsports around Oxford.

321
00:24:28,970 --> 00:24:33,305
There needs to be more bringing together
of the existing excellent networks, they

322
00:24:33,315 --> 00:24:38,685
shouldn't be standing on their own and
you know, if I captured it correctly,

323
00:24:38,705 --> 00:24:43,895
it sounds like Oxford is probably crying
out for a female specific Angel Network

324
00:24:43,895 --> 00:24:49,545
as well, to really encourage that thread
not to be too adversely affected by

325
00:24:49,545 --> 00:24:54,215
these changes at the top and to make sure
that we counteract as much as we can.

326
00:24:54,325 --> 00:24:58,730
And within the existing networks,
I'm a real fan of not recreating the

327
00:24:58,730 --> 00:25:04,280
wheel, but I think there are some
good foundations that have been built

328
00:25:04,290 --> 00:25:09,260
that we could add a lot of value to by
signaling very strongly that you are

329
00:25:09,260 --> 00:25:14,980
welcome, you know, please turn up at
the, you know, at OION, participate.

330
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,730
But there are other angel networks in
Oxford and other family offices, and

331
00:25:19,730 --> 00:25:25,515
the family offices I think are a very
important driver of this type of change.

332
00:25:25,525 --> 00:25:31,675
So just after I founded Precision Life,
I went off and was a CEO of a hygiene

333
00:25:31,675 --> 00:25:36,725
business in North Oxford for a period
of time and most of our capital was

334
00:25:36,725 --> 00:25:44,095
raised from either female angels, but
also from family offices and the thing

335
00:25:44,105 --> 00:25:48,695
about family offices is, you know,
you can't really have an effective

336
00:25:48,695 --> 00:25:51,035
family without women being involved.

337
00:25:51,035 --> 00:25:55,705
It's quite hard to produce the next
generation without us and so there is

338
00:25:55,715 --> 00:26:02,815
a very strong interest in how you plan
for long term value creation and you

339
00:26:02,825 --> 00:26:10,855
involve the entire family in some of those
decisions and the women can be significant

340
00:26:10,865 --> 00:26:16,335
drivers of change in investment
policy and that's been fantastic

341
00:26:16,335 --> 00:26:18,115
to see over the last two decades.

342
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,160
And actually, it is one of the few areas
in financial services that one sees

343
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:31,040
women over represented proportionately
is ESG, impact investing, that sort of

344
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,240
planning for the next generation and
I think you're right to draw it out in

345
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:39,545
family offices too because, as you say,
by their nature, there are women there and

346
00:26:39,545 --> 00:26:43,465
quite often they do bring these different
perspectives on how to create value,

347
00:26:44,095 --> 00:26:49,675
both in absolute terms, financially, but
also what does value mean if you are a

348
00:26:49,675 --> 00:26:54,795
wealthy family and how can you make sure
you apply your money in meaningful ways.

349
00:26:55,085 --> 00:27:00,485
Yes and I've seen so many advances
in the family office sector.

350
00:27:00,495 --> 00:27:06,205
So, I can think of a Middle Eastern
family office, which, you know, had the

351
00:27:06,205 --> 00:27:13,065
law changed in Saudi to enable the female
members of the family to make their own

352
00:27:13,075 --> 00:27:19,855
investment decisions without references
to husbands, brothers, uncles and you

353
00:27:19,855 --> 00:27:24,994
know, their priorities are perhaps
different to the men and it becomes a

354
00:27:24,995 --> 00:27:31,055
balanced portfolio across the family as
a result and I've also had conversations

355
00:27:31,055 --> 00:27:38,755
with younger generations of families
who perhaps have a greater interest in

356
00:27:39,005 --> 00:27:45,955
some of the ESG matters, you know, come
to the table with that perspective and

357
00:27:45,995 --> 00:27:53,270
ask for a proportion of the investments
that they will make in high growth

358
00:27:53,530 --> 00:27:57,650
businesses, which are generally a very
small proportion of the total wealth,

359
00:27:58,070 --> 00:28:02,990
you know, most of the wealth will go
into capital preservation activities,

360
00:28:02,990 --> 00:28:10,730
but on the capital growth agenda to
see an allocation to ESG or to specific

361
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,960
themes that they have an interest in.

362
00:28:13,370 --> 00:28:16,930
So that is a great driver of change
that we perhaps don't hear enough about.

363
00:28:18,470 --> 00:28:22,140
There was one thing when we met that I
just wanted to go into and we touched

364
00:28:22,140 --> 00:28:27,410
upon it but not in any detail, which is
the pension fund capital in the UK and

365
00:28:27,420 --> 00:28:31,290
how because of the Mansion House Compact,
which I spoke to Alderman Nicholas

366
00:28:31,300 --> 00:28:35,450
Lyons about, there is going to be this
influx of capital from currently DC

367
00:28:35,460 --> 00:28:39,100
pensions aiming for 5 percent by 2030.

368
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,230
You brought up something really
interesting, which I would not have

369
00:28:43,230 --> 00:28:49,880
observed from my seat, about the talent
that was coming into the UK, looking to

370
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,760
help advise those pension funds, who are
going to be in some cases, dipping a toe

371
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,880
for the first time into unlisted equities.

372
00:28:58,230 --> 00:29:01,100
I'd love to hear a little bit more about
what you're seeing and whether you saw

373
00:29:01,100 --> 00:29:03,240
anything more recently at JPM as well.

374
00:29:03,730 --> 00:29:07,140
So, I think the Mansion House
Accord is very exciting.

375
00:29:07,170 --> 00:29:11,780
So for all entrepreneurs who want to
see more capital flow into their areas,

376
00:29:11,780 --> 00:29:16,550
I think we're all watching it with
great interest and of course, the fund

377
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,360
managers in the UK are also very excited.

378
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:24,690
to see additional LP potential in the UK.

379
00:29:25,290 --> 00:29:33,040
I see it as potentially catalysing another
aspect of our investment ecosystem, which

380
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:39,985
is that funds around the world have always
come to London to raise money and they

381
00:29:39,985 --> 00:29:45,375
have raised money in London from high net
worth families and they have tended to

382
00:29:45,375 --> 00:29:51,425
return to their domestic environment to
invest there and it's one of the things

383
00:29:51,425 --> 00:29:55,385
that we don't track when we say, well, you
know, we've got money coming in, inward

384
00:29:55,385 --> 00:29:59,495
investment in the UK, it's quite often,
the money started in the UK, it went to

385
00:29:59,495 --> 00:30:03,725
a West Coast fund manager, perhaps, or
an investment group in New York, and it's

386
00:30:03,725 --> 00:30:05,504
come back into the UK to be invested.

387
00:30:05,845 --> 00:30:10,275
It's not so much foreign investment
as boomerang investment, but what I'm

388
00:30:10,275 --> 00:30:16,850
seeing with the Mansion House Accord
is more of the experienced big name

389
00:30:16,850 --> 00:30:23,750
investors that have huge track records
in the US actually coming to the UK

390
00:30:24,170 --> 00:30:32,180
and establishing funds in the UK and I
can't help but think that part of that

391
00:30:32,210 --> 00:30:37,730
is because they are very alive to the
opportunity of what the Mansion House

392
00:30:37,820 --> 00:30:41,635
Accord is and that means two things.

393
00:30:41,645 --> 00:30:44,885
It means that there will be more funds
out there competing for the money

394
00:30:44,885 --> 00:30:49,415
and that's generally a good thing,
and secondly, it also means that the

395
00:30:49,415 --> 00:30:55,355
talent pool that we are developing in
our investor base is enriched by that

396
00:30:55,355 --> 00:30:59,625
broader experience and I think that's
likely to be incredibly positive.

397
00:30:59,685 --> 00:31:00,335
Wonderful.

398
00:31:00,885 --> 00:31:04,165
Well that is a positive note on which
to leave this conversation, but is

399
00:31:04,165 --> 00:31:07,135
there anything else, Rowan, that you
wanted to add to the conversation?

400
00:31:07,170 --> 00:31:10,940
I think Susannah, just to thank
you for the focus on some of the

401
00:31:11,170 --> 00:31:13,750
opportunities that we have in Oxford.

402
00:31:13,750 --> 00:31:17,710
Of course, there are challenges, but
there is an incredible richness here

403
00:31:17,740 --> 00:31:24,940
that could be always improved on how
we deliver solutions to the world.

404
00:31:24,940 --> 00:31:28,300
So I wish you every success and thank
you very much for the opportunity.

405
00:31:28,575 --> 00:31:29,255
Thank you, Rowan.

406
00:31:29,525 --> 00:31:32,265
Thanks for listening to this
episode of Oxford+, presented

407
00:31:32,285 --> 00:31:33,695
by me, Susannah de Jager.

408
00:31:34,185 --> 00:31:37,595
If you want to stay up to date with all
things Oxford+, please visit our website,

409
00:31:37,635 --> 00:31:42,395
OxfordPlus.co.uk and sign up to our
newsletter so you never miss an update.

410
00:31:43,015 --> 00:31:46,195
Oxford+ was made in partnership
with Mishcon de Reya and is produced

411
00:31:46,195 --> 00:31:52,905
and edited by Story Ninety-Four.