Who is Mark Rands?
Lab Manager at Barclays Eagle Lab – “The home of UK start-ups”. Eagle Labs provide support for students, entrepreneurs, and businesses to help them grow. Rands introduced us to his position at Barclays and aims to give Games Industry the recognition it deserves by highlighting its potential.
“We incubate, inspire and educate ambitious UK founders and start-ups and help them to succeed and scale” https://labs.uk.barclays/
What did I find most interesting?
It's important for me to have an idea of what I'd like to do after university, and something that appeals to me the most is starting a business and taking forward my passion for 'Games for Change'. I was intrigued to learn more about Barclay’s support in student led businesses and independent Game studios.
Rands informed us about their ‘Accelerator Courses’ which previous Games Design Students have benefitted from in the past.
Accelerator Course - A course designed to build the foundations for a business idea from the ground up specifically for students after graduating University.
The programme offers support from basic ideation to fundraising, marketing, and pitching business ideas to potential investors and partners. To apply to this course, it’s required to be a student with an innovative business idea and have the time to dedicate towards this.
What have I learned?
I have been considering my options for after university to prepare myself accordingly. Some of which are the following:
Master’s degree studying Playable Design/Experiences, Mixed Reality, or general Games Design
Freelance Artist/Designer
Junior Games Designer in a small studio
Start a business - take forward the ideas I am passionate about with a group of people with similar ambitions
This talk has provided me with the support to further my interest in starting a business and act upon my aspiration to create games with a positive impact. I have learned that Eagle Labs can assist student led businesses and ideas despite the size of the team or if you work independently, however, recommend having clear intentions and goals beforehand. In addition to this, it’s important to distinguish your value and what you stand for as a studio. In my case, I am passionate towards providing people with games as a source for education and emotional support. I aim to make this clear within my project proposals and demonstrate this within my portfolio.
Mark Rands encouraged us to lay the foundations for our business idea by putting a plan in place before making any further decisions.
He firstly suggested using the ‘Business Model Canvas’ to organise our objectives and pinpoint exactly what we’d like to achieve.
Break down your idea into sections
What do we want to do?
Who is it marketed towards?
Who is the game aimed at? (Target Audience)
Do you have a specific goal or message to convey?
Why are you doing it? What is your aim?
Know your customer
How will you keep customers invested?
Know what your USP is as a studio – this is what Investors buy into.
Conclusion
As I am still in the process of deciding what I'd like to do post-university, Mark Rands has given me a bit of hope regarding next steps I can take to progress with this aim. I am now confident in what I need to establish before proceeding with a potential business idea and I am aware of the support I can get from Barclays Eagle Labs If decide to follow through with it. This talk has provided me with the reassurance I needed to pursue this goal as I lacked confidence in knowing how I could expand on this independently, however, I now feel more optimistic towards this direction and it’s certainly something I’d like to pursue.
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