Fulcrum Direct is a service business that helps inventors, academic institutions and research companies to commercialise and make money out of their ideas. We focus on technology and life science companies but any business ideas can be developed by us.

Take time to really think about what you want to do. Plan and organise before you jump in.

I wanted to get back to Wales and the kind of job or company that I wanted to work for were few and far between, or difficult to get into, so I decided to start my own company. I have a science background and have always been interested in innovation and new technology. The difficulty with all the ideas and inventions that are made whether by individuals, research groups or companies is how to make money out of them and this is why we started the company.

We are inspired by seeing projects that we work on getting through to full commercialisation with products being used in society as well as making enough money to get them into the market. Our ongoing challenge as a service business is how to grow. If one person can do one project you need ten people to do ten projects and so you are always resource dependant and there's such risk associated with employing people.

We are now much better at knowing how many people need for any project and so can manage our business better. Being your own boss is equally rewarding and challenging. You know that when you are successful then you as the business owner will benefit from that, especially financially, the opposite being if you don't earn much money it’s you who will suffer. If you can start a business doing something that you enjoy then there's nothing better.

Website: fulcrumdirect.co.uk/