Raoul-Gabriel Urma is the founder and CEO of Cambridge Spark, an edtech business that works with companies to provide AI and data upskilling.
In this week’s Founder in Five Q&A, Urma discusses trusting your own instincts, the innovative power of education and founders getting distracted from their clients by focusing too much on tech and operations.
What advice would you give to a first-time founder?
Be a hustler. You’ve got to where you are by doing things your way, so you must trust your instincts and continue to forge your own path. Get involved in all aspects of your business and set an example by showing others how to get stuff done. Remember you are a founder, not a manager.
This requires resilience and endurance, and you may come across as unconventional at times. But that’s what being a founder is all about, disrupting the industry by doing things differently. It won’t always go to plan, but you must roll with the punches.
What’s the best way to promote diversity in the workplace?
Showcasing the achievements and potential of people from different backgrounds. This helps break stereotypes and inspire others to tear down outdated barriers. Employers should ask themselves how they can level the playing field and provide everyone with the skills they require to succeed.
That is why initiatives like the Female Founders in AI Award are so important. They highlight the brilliance of women driving innovation in the industry, while overcoming the hurdles of prejudice and discrimination.
In another life you’d be?
A professor. I’ve always been passionate about education and I love learning and teaching. Education is the key to innovation, which is why I actively seek out opportunities to contribute to it. I lecture at the University of Cambridge and I’ve published a collection of academic articles that have received more than 700 citations. This has been some of my most fulfilling work.
Excluding your sector, what’s a sector that’s ripe for disruption?
It has to be the primary and secondary education sector – it simply isn’t teaching the next generation skills relevant for the modern world. Technology is evolving more and more quickly and schools find it hard to keep up with new developments, meaning curriculums are often outdated.
The same applies to universities. They often fail to keep up with employer needs and they face bureaucracy and red tape when changing their curriculum or introducing new courses.
What’s a common mistake you see founders make?
Getting distracted from their clients. Too often I have seen founders focus too heavily on tech and operations of the businesses, becoming obsessed with coding and building.
The tech is important, but you need to constantly remind yourself that you are working for a client. You must give them just as much attention as the tech and tools you’re using, otherwise you’ll lose them entirely. You need to fall in love with the client and be passionate about making a difference to them, not making a difference to you and your technology.
Founder in Five – a UKTN Q&A series with the entrepreneurs behind the UK’s innovative tech startups, scaleups and unicorns – is published every Friday.
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