Ansad Parayil won the Engineers in Business award at this year's Enterprise Challenge finals for his business SmartSwap, a device to help photographers on the move who have run out of camera storage. The £3000 prize money, workshops and expert mentoring has helped Ansad to continue working on his business after the competition and he's been making big progress in developing prototypes of his product.
Tell us about you and your business.
Hi everyone, my name is Ansad, I'm a second-year Computer Science, BSc Hons student, and this year I founded my company SmartSwap previously known as QuickSwitch. SmartSwap, helps clients transfer and backup files on the move, by creating a device that allows our clients to back up SD cards directly to an SSD or external storage device. This solves the worry of running out of storage on your SD card if you’re a drone, camera or action camera user. This solution allows clients to bypass the use of a laptop or PC, this helps when travelling on holiday, hiking or taking meaningful moments such as being a wedding photographer, this is because in these cases having extra weight is more of an inconvenience.
What was your experience of the Enterprise Challenge?
The enterprise challenge has allowed me to grow in so many aspects, from my first time pitching to developing and creating a product for the first time. My mentor Keith gave me clear guidance in this field and with his knowledge in tech and junior knowledge in business reached the finals with my business plan. This challenge has taught me the steps in launching a company as well as building the confidence in me to talk on stage in front of a large audience- I know doesn’t sound daunting but getting on that stage is a different story.
What was your biggest lesson?
My biggest lesson, I'd say preparation, there’s never too much preparation, there were times I felt like I could just do it without preparation, but it wouldn’t be the best of what I could offer. However, I learnt the most success I had was when I thoroughly prepared the pitches and worked on my designs. As then I was able to convey my ideas and thought process to the audience. Not everyone was a camera enthusiast or a content creator in my audience, but with preparation in how to convey my product, the audience and judges understood what my mission was.
What have you achieved since the Enterprise Challenge Finals?
After the enterprise challenge, I have successfully secured the circuit designs as well as the basic images of what the final product shall look like. From this, I plan to start crowdfunding so I can consult engineers on the manufacturing of the product. I've been able to attend a few tech events where I was able to pitch my idea and currently applying for another mentoring competition to raise more funds, and scope this project.
What advice would you give to other students taking part in the Enterprise Challenge?
If you’re not confident just do it, I remember submitting my application 5 minutes before the deadline. Never in my dreams would I have imagined it got this far. If you feel like all the ideas out there are taken, look at what you do as a hobby, passion project or around you, and ask yourself how can I make this better? I got my idea of climbing Snowdon of all places. And if you have an idea stick to it don’t let others deflate your balloon, just make yours better if you have the idea you also have the energy and enthusiasm to make it a success, don’t compare it to other people, you’ll have your journey in entrepreneurship as well as having your strength and weakness, my strength was I got along well with people I can build that link, however I can stage fright or find it hard to be organised. You can work on this, Good luck guys!
How did the workshops help you?
I found the cashflow workshop interesting, it added to my current knowledge as well as re-evaluated my thought process on certain topics such as creating my product abroad to reduce cost. But this would increase lead time, which might not be beneficial. The workshop also taught me the importance of marketing as well as networking.
How did your mentor help you during the process?
Keith was the key to my success in this competition, with the advice of Keith I was able to hone in on creating the basic blueprints on how the product will work. With his knowledge of electronics engineering, I was able to create a prototype using a Raspberry Pi. He also gave me feedback on my pitch slides as well critiqued my design choices helped me estimate the costs and parts required. He was one reason even after the competition I was able to continue and build my company
For me, I found that having regular catch-ups with my mentor helped me stay on track and motivated me to work on my product. Sometimes you may have an idea and you can be excited at first but your drive slowly fades. This is where my mentor helped me most. With my mentor, the informal meetings and the catch-up sessions we had were not set in a formal environment and I find that this helped us come up with use case ideas to help bring thoughts outside the box in from our personal use cases. One example I can think of is that Keith was a motorcycle rider and he’d use a Gopro, my device would help him back up his footage as he went on long rides.
What was your favourite part of the Enterprise Challenge 2024?
For me the finals were amazing, but I do remember loving our practice pitch sessions, and this was a joyful memory for me. The laughs as well as overcoming that stage fright. Another moment I loved was the photoshoot.
